The Washington herald., 1922-03-30
For Sale, Gold Dollars-5o Cents Each.

LARD TIMES. due to a peculiar complex in
il II the psychology of peoples. usually are good
times for dealers in ancestral Spanish castles,
baronial estates at the bottom OF the ocean, stock
in companies organized to extract moonshine from
watermelons, and like enticements. In prosperous
days the populace have the real thrill OF seeing
their bank accounts pile up and drawing little
real, hard coin for which they did not pay with
the sweat of their brows In bad times they find
it hard to give up these thrills and easy victims
for the glib takers who carry nicely engraved
stock about in the legs, of their boots
So prevalent have swindlers. takers and bogus
bond sellers become in the United States recently
that their activities have attracted the attention OF
the Treasury Department. Director Lew Wallace,
of the savings division, has issued warning
against the activities of such men. Most OF these
are clever enough to avoid becoming entanged IN
the mesh of Federal laws. They take refuge be-
hind the easy statutes of many States
The government has no method of reaching
the schemers who find it so easy to wheedle hard
earned money from the gullible, unless Federal
laws are broken. When the mails are used Tor de-
frauding people the government can reach OUT ana
seize the offender as we'll deny him the use
of the mails in the future by fraud order In
territory controlled by the United States the gov
eminent is also in a position to run down ana
punish criminals. But that control covers only
small area. The whole country, pracncahy' Is
policed by the different States, The States make
their own blue sky laws" and the swindlers ana
similar criminals must be arrested and punisheo
by the State authorities.
While the government did not naugurate the
Postal Savings System and the new issue OF Treas
ury Savings Certificates solely for the purpose OF
protecting the people against the confidence men,
II has no doubt saved many millions which would
have gone into the hands Of those who make
business of swindling people. Postal Savings de-
posts now. amount to $I4s,ooo.ooo, rs per cent
coming from people of foreign countries, although
the interest on such savings is only per cent.
The foreign born people believe that this money
is safe with the government
The need of the government for money
suited in the sale Of bonds and War Savings
Stamps. The Treasury Department learned that a
spirit Of saving had grown up in the country, but
the War Savings Stamps did not meet the re-
quirements of the people, and provision was made
to issue Treasury Savings Certificates which have
proven very popular. The government still needs
money; it must have money to refund and hquidate
war obligations We are still paying mighty sums
to finance a three years past and will con-
tinue to pay for years to come. Consequently the
Treasur;- couples with its plan of saving method
of putting into active channels of commerce millions
of money that would otherwise remain idle The
Treasury Department hopes that its attractive and
safe investments will save people from themselves;
save them from the shrewd criminals, the sleek
sharpers, the busy bunko men, and all others OF
that ilk who have been operating in every part
of the country with much success to themselves
and with such disastrous results to so many con-
fding people.