The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-08-03
Frederick Haskin's Letter
THE CHAN, LETTER EPIDEMIC

only . theory. Some chain lettS,.., =
read like the product Of joke-lov.
ing school boy.
The good luck epistle Is onlv -.
type Of chain letter. It il perha.s
the least Objectionable type becssss
II does not attempt to get monev a.
to promote the interests Of TIA vr.
iginat0r. A. soon AZ the chsi,
letter enters the business field =
takes on q more serious aspect
The post office department est.
numerous inquiries from poopls
who realize that the chain systsm
has remarkable possibilities n )
business device. A firm wants n
sell gloves or stockings or stick.
pins, perhaps. 1t plans to print
books Of tickets. "A" buys one
ticket for one dollar and sends the
ticket and three dollars more'to the
firm. In return he receives tia
stick pin advertised and q book Of
three tickets.
One dollar is the price Of the pin.
He RECEIVERS the three dollars sent
in extra by selling the three tick.
cts at one dollar each. The buyers
then each send three dollars and
the ticket to the firm, get min and
three tickets and sell the ticketI
and SO the project advances.
The firm cannot lose money. II
gets the price of one article and
the money Of the next three GUS
toners before it delivers a pin.
II the buyer cannot sell the three
tickets sent to him he loses that
money and the firm profits by his
loss.
The Postal Guide says that:
Endless chain enterprises design
ed for the sale or disposition Of
! merchandise or other things Of
! value through the circulation or
distribution of coupons tickets
certificates 'introductions,' and
the like are held to embrace the
elements Of lottery and also to
be fraudulent"
Charity Chain Letters. y
The chain scheme has been ap-
piled to charitable purposes. Or
! CARNATIONS of high standing write
to the post office to know whether
they may solicit funds by sending
out chain letters. Each person
would be acked to contribute, per-
haps, 10 cents ind copy the letter
five times. In other cases the
charitable organization exists only
in the mind of the writer. The
charitable chain letter asking for q
few cents seems an easy way to get
rich quick.
In one instance a political party
wrote to know whether it could
raise campaign funds by a chain
letter carrying a request for rs
cents and the mailing of four COP
les of the letter.
Some one in the postal service
! figured out how this apparently
trifling sum of rs cents would null
tiply if the chain were carried IN
broken to the Twenty-fifth series.
The number of percons reached, he
! said, would be 1,501, 1879 ,875, $50, lSi.
Put into words this runs into quad
rillions, or 100000 times the popu-
lation Of the world. The amount
collected would be S375 ,2s9, 96s, 947,-
Sal.
There is still another kind OF
chain letter which is used for ad-
vertising purposes. A firm sends
out letters describing the article il
handles. The letter says that if the
addressee will write to the firm he
will receive premium and 10
more letters which he is to send to
his friends in return for the prem
ium.
Where a chain letter is being
used to further some interest, the
person or organization back of II
can be traced. And if the facts
warrant, action may be taken
againSt the party, either in the way
| of criminal prosecution with ito re-
sultant fine and Imprisonment if he
is convicted, or by the issuance o!
a fraud order which would prevent
the delivery to the offending party
of any of the remittances mailed to
him.
1t is only the good luck letter
preying on superstition, that re-
! mains anonymous and flourishes
To attack it would be like attack
ing . ghost. 1t hobs up anywhere
and is more elusive than Conan
Doyle's ectoplasm. Only a prosaic
disbelief in lucky chains or a devil
may-care defiance can break down
the SYSTEM