Evening star., 1921-01-02

gourd. He was anxious to distribute
these among Bible students, but was
forced to require that one dollar be
sent to cover his expenses. One OF
those who fell the hardest was wom-
an writer of great prominence. who
wrote that she was anxious to get
| a second seed as despite extreme
care her first seed had not germinated
too severe" She received a second
seed with a letter which said that
| true to description in the Bible the
Jonah foi'rd. cam mp in ? nj" n q
| perished in night" The Post Office
| inspectors ferreted out that the min
listers advertisement was sheerest
chicanery, and that the seeds sold
for dollar were mere pumpkin seeds
/ which had been boiled until their ger
minating power was destroyed.
/ A eoro,lafy of thic fetch r.o-h>
| to the extent of at least $4,000, when
! "A Book for Gamblers-s1.00 90" was ad
vertised and an extremely cheap
Bible was sent to applicants.
Steel engraving portraits of our
Presidents have been advertised at al
luringly small charge-ten cents to
one dollar-and when the money was
paid postage stamp would be sent
! in return.
! Implements and directions for
drawing a tooth without pain have
! also been offered to the public at the
merely nominal charge of so cents.
The solicitor for the Post Office De-
partment was induced to issue a
fraud order when it was shown that
all the people got in return for many
vertiSements was a stub of lead pen
; Gil and sheet of paper. with the in
structions TO draw a picture of the
; tooth on the paper.
! lace company of New York is
! quoted by the postal authorities as
H.,vl Ia rsf
/! and idle-hour earning scheme The
prospect of earning SIS week in
| few spare moments was extolled
Many poor woman received an order
! for $50 worth of medallions and was
A.; prevailed upon to send 50 for a spe-
i cial machine. which really costs Sc
! cents. The agreement was to pay
cents per medallion. and these poor
| women found they could not possibly
make more than three an hour. Ac-
1850 persons sent in 50 each. and
| only $3.50 was paid back for finished
| medallions.
In the old days lotteries were sane
toned by church and state. Money
of tie National Capital was once Sc
cured by means of lottery sonc-
i toned by Congress. The law of 1872
| grew out of desire to protect the
! people against fraudulent lotteries.
l Oeen
] in operation since, being widened i'm
| 1890 and again in 1895. The last of
J the famous lotteries was the state
Lottery in Louisiana, which was pro-
, hibited in 1893
| X - X
DURING the last couple of years
there has been>a veritable orgy
of big frauds in stock-selling hoaxes
that have netted the perpetrators and
! promoters many millions OF dollars
! through Misrepresentation made in
1! communications sent through the
! mails. The chief inspector Of the
Post Office Department recently
| ordered a drive against these oil and
general mining schemes in New York
and about fifty arrests were made
More than generation aso the
roseal service waged successful war
/. fare against green goods swindlers
| and imitators OF the discredited
Lcuisiaha' lottery. The present-day
| outcroppings of this sort are exclud-
ed from the privileges of the mails
under the lottery section, 2I3, Of the
penal code. This operates against
! all games of chance, all schemes for
award of prizes. the old voting CON
! Of this sort of contests Is to have
people guess on the census returns.
Advertisements offering employment
fhas been a favorite practice A con-
Germ in New York offered 50 day for
| men to distribute circulars and tack
signs. This was before the war, when
50 day meant much more than now.
But 81 had to be sent to secure work
| All that was given in return for the