Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-03-06

| WASHINGTON, March e.-Each
year the gullible American public is
mulcted to the extent of approxi-
nately half billion dollars through
stock frauds This amazing state
ment was made at the recent con-
vention of life insurance executives,
and it is said to be conservative.
Half a billion dollars-that is q
head tax of almost IS on every man,
woman and child in the United
States. a sum equal to the annual
earnings of half a million laboring
men gone to the maintenance of an
iarnly of parasites who contribute no
useful service to the organized So
ciety An amount that would cover
a $500 bonus to each of a million of
boys who went to France to make
1.-THE world safe for democracy! And
levery dollar of it Wasted-thrown
laway-a carnival of confetti throw
ing in which the confetti is made of
! Uncle Sans good green and yellow
currency.
Where does it all come from? O.
| Henry answered this question in
! part, when he said there are peo-
| Pile whom the Lord made to be
buncoed-the sports and the round
ers, smart Alecs, street crowds, who
always have few dollars to throw
away, and the farmer who wouldn't
be happy if the CRATER did not come
around and play with him when he
sold his crops" But the great bulk
of this money does not come from
lthese sources, 1t cCnes-aStound-
ling as it may seem--from those who
are wise enough and thrifty enough
to save, since IL is obvious that peo-
pie cannot invest even in bogus Sc
curities unless they have surpluses
with which to make the investments.
Figures from the United States
treasury prove this when they tell
the story that in one short period
more than $400,000,000 in Liberty
bonds were pirated from unsuspect-
ing citizens. Those bonds repre-
sented savings-moet of them of the
buy until it hurts" kind.
The truth of the matter is, accord
ing to the experts, that there is
scarcely one person i'll ten who is
not a possible easy mark for some
one or another of the blue-sky prop
ositions. Quick money and easy
money are the lures that toll VIC
tins from every class of our citizen
ship. Business men, Doctors law
yers-even bankers-will fall at
times Just as readily as the veriest
financial boobs. OF course, the In
Vestment" must be safe but the
bigger the returns that are prom
ised, the less the victims think about
safety.
In the wallingford play when the
bright young man brings all his
money to the promoter and begs
him to invest it for him, the pro
noter says:
Let me get this straight: What
YOU want is something absolutely
safe that will pay you at least 10
per cent a months that right"
WE'LL" answers tbs bright young
man, "I want to make all can!
How One Salesman Worked
A veteran blue sky salesman-one
of the kind who can sell ratncoats
in the Sahara desert, ice to Eskimos,
Or snowshoes to Filipinos-Who was
III Washington this week, related an
example of hi separations that IS at
once illuminating and instructive.
Mr.. Lane, as h. may be called, for
he says he has used SO many names
that a new one makes no difference
TO him if it is not his right one,
claims to be an artist in his line, ana
his story makes good his claim.
An industrial plant was estap-
lshed in Middle West state unoer
unusually auspicious circumstances
It's capitalization was loW, ~ ""S
we'll managed, and it found an I'M
mediate market for all it could pro-
duce at extraordinarily high prices:
The result was lnat 1t earned ana
paid dividend of % per cent the
first year or its operation. There
was no fake about that.
Blue sky promoters were quick 10
see their opportunity. They organ
lied a company to build a similar
plant at a different place, but in the
same general territory. The first
plant wa sa bonaflde proposition,
closely capitalized. and conducted
solely to make it's profits out of the
Legitimate manufacturing and mar
keting of it's product. The second
was purely and simply a promotion
scheme. grossly overca pitalized, and
Intended primarily to yield large
profits TO the insiders through the
sale of the capital stock. The first
step os the promoters after the pre-
Iininaries OF organization had been
attended to, was to send out a crew
of stock statesmen to bring in the
dollars of the innocent investors.
Lane was a member OF that crew.
These statesmen worked on a COM
mission basis, the usual rate being