Evening star., 1922-09-16
FAKE STOCK SALES
WILL Be EXPOSED
Citizens Band Together in
Effort to Gust SWindIers
From District.
ST, 900, 900 LOST IN YEAR
Harvest Reaped Here by Wild
cat" Promoters, Witness
Tells Jury.
81, 900, 900 LOST IN YEAR

Business and professional men Of
Washington representing some of the
leading enterprises of the city banded
together yesterday at the call Of the
grand jury and pledged their whole
hearted support to a crusade TO lid
the District of wildcat" and fake
promotion schemes which. it is con
estimated, have been TAX
ink Sl,0000O0 a year and more from
trict.
Under the present laws, IL was
pointed out. there is no specific law
under which operators of fraudulent
schemes can he prosecuted. Although
legislation looking toward this end
is pending in Congress. ii was de
clared that months and possibly
years would go by before the pro
posed law becomes an actuality.
Eugene L. Thompson. foreman of
the grand jury. opened the meeting
and explained the necessity for i'm
mediate action. 1t was he who ad-
vanced the estimates that more than
s1,000,0O0 each year was going out
of the pockets of government clerks,
salaried employees of firms of the Dis
result of activities of firms which
paint pictures of wealth for the In
vestor in the near future and then
crash into bankruptcy on the financial
rocks.
Urges Publicity.
Civic groups, newspapers and the
better business bureau of Washington
were requested to step into the fight
and make Washington SO hot for the
promoter of wildcat" propositions
that the city would be freed Of such
enterprises.
Representing The Evening Star.
Henry q. Hanford assured the grand
jury of the whole-hearted support of
this newspaper. and declared that
even at the present time advertise
ments for propositions which had not
been thoroughly established as re-
liable. or which had not been investi-
gated, are not appearing in the adVer-
tising columns.
II think" he continued, that the
grand jury has also a specific duty to
perform along these lines. When an
indictment is asked in any OF these
cases, ! believe that it should be picked
out from the ordinary routine, and made
special proposition. Full publicity OF
questionable concerns can be easily
guaranteed, and the public protected by
allowing all the facts in such cases 10
be brought OUT
Support Of the campaign also was
pledged by Arthur D. Marks of the
Washington Post, Logan Payne Of the
Washington Times, and J. L. Rice or
the Washington Herald.
Representing the civic organizations
at the conference was William Knowles
Cooper, president of the Rotary Club;
Rudolph Jose. president Of the Civitan
Club. Thomas Bradley, president of the
Washington Board of Trade; Harry
Of hn Nar
Manufacturers Association. and Joshua
Evans. jr., president of the District OF
Columbia Bankers Association
United States District Attorney Pey-
ton Gordon was present at the confer
ence and from time 10 time gave valua-
Bile suggestions as to the conduct OF the
crusade.
Campaign Under Way.
With this array of organizations
pledging support. the crusade against
wildcatters in the District Of Colum-
bia is getting under way TODAY.
Plans for future action are bei
drawn up. and will be put into execu-
tion in the shortest possible time.
+. Y. Wholley. representing tae
whose object is mainly the suppress
sion of fraudulent enterprises IN the
District of Columbia, probably was
one of the most important or tn
speakers at the conference. He
pointed out the manner in which his
bureau had for several years been iE
vestigating concerns and renderIn;
reports upon their integrity.
Suggestion was made at the confer
ence. following the address of Mi
Wholley, that all possible Organize
tions be requested to take part in III
better business bureaus enterprisv
and to call upon the bureau for lid il.
questionable cases.