Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1921-11-24
FORTUNES MADE
WITHOUT EFFORT
Profits of Stockholders in Mail
Order Houses Stagger the
Imagination.
CUSTOMERS SUPPLY CAPITAL
One Man Makes More Than $3.50 600
on $4,000 Investment in Nine
Years-Hundreds Like
Him.
(Copyright.)

it isn't by buying goods from them.
The man who thinks he is making
money by buying his goods from mail
order houses has only to read of the
amazing profits made by some of these
big corporations to realize that all the
money is being made by the man on
the other end of the deal
The stakeholder in big mail-order
concern tolls not and neither does he
spin, but he piles up his money so fast
that it makes the ordinary mans head
swim to read about it. Here is the
experience of the stakeholder in one
of the large mail-order concerns, as
told by reliable financial journal. 1t
gives glimpse into the inside work
ings of the mail-order business that
should be of interest to those who
have made such things possible.
How the Game Works.
In 1908 this man bought 600 shares
Of stock in the mail-order corporation
in question when the stock was selling
around $40 share, the 600 shares
costing him little less than $4,000.
In 1911 the company declared a stock
dividend Of 80 1-3 per cent. In other
words the company after paying cash
dividends regularly, had accumulated
a surplus profit Of one-third of the
amount of capital invested in the
business; but instead of distributing
this profit among the stockholders the
company kept the money in the bust
ness and issued stock for that amount
to the stockholders. By this action
200 more shares of stock were issued
to the man who had originally bought
500, increasing his holdings to 800
shares, without his having put any
more money into the business.
Another stock dividend of SO per
cent was declared in 1915 and this
added 400 shares more to his holdings,
giving him 1000 shares in all. A third
stock dividend of 25 per cent was paid
early in 1917, bringing this mans
stock holdings up to 1900 shares, still
without his having paid in any more
money. On this 1900 shares Of stock,
cash dividends of So share are now
being paid. This investor therefore
is now receiving $4,000 year from
his original investment of about $685.
900, and as the stock is now worth
around $3.50 a share, the present mar
ket value of his stock is $24O,OOO, CIV
ing him a profit of $215,O0O, in addi-
ton to cash dividends which he re-
ceived during nine years, amounting
to- many more thousands of dollars.
Only One of Hundreds.
This is the story of just one small
stakeholder in one mail-Order concern.
A profit of more than $215O00 made
by one small stakeholder in nine years
on an investment of less than $4,000 !!
It reads like fiction but it is financial
history. There are hundreds of other
stockholders in this and other mail
order corporations, some of whom
have made millions while this man
made thousands. Add the profits of
all these stockholders together and the
result is a sum that staggerS the imag-
inatiOn.
Small wonder that the men who own
the stock of the big mail-order houses
can live in palaces, ride in the highest
priced automobiles, own palatial pri-
vate yachts and buy 100000 paint
ings. But who has furnished the
money to pay for the palaces and the
automobiles and the yachts and the
100000 paintings? The people in the
country and the small towns who have
kept an endless stream of money flow
ing into the Golfers of the mail-order
houses have made all this possible
Their millions of dollars have gone to
the big cities to build up these great
concerns. Their millions Of dollars
have provided the automobiles and
yachts and other luxuries for the
Present From MaiI-order Buyers.
These men who have piled up such
big fortunes in the mail-order bust
ness have not even had to pay fol-
much Of the stock from which they are
now drawing princely dividends. The
people in the country and the small
towns, generous souls, have bought ii
for them. This is shown in the case
of the stakeholder just mentioned, who
originally invested. The generous
mail-order buyers have made him 9
present Of $215,OO worth of stock and
he has not had to turn his hand over
to get 1t. He has never even had tC
so much as write letter to get 1t
The generous mail-order buyers have
handed it to him on a golden platter
There's money in the mail-ordel
business without doubt, but it's or
the side of the man who does the sell
ing and not the one who does the
buying. If you must do business with
the mail-order house, buy some Of its
stock and let the fellow in the nex1
town buy you automobiles and private
yachts while he struggles with thu
hard times that come from draining
his town of.the cash that goes to keeI