Evening star., 1924-11-23
SERVICE SW|NDLE
WARNING IS ISSUED
A. A. A. Cites War on Fakes
/ in New York as Lesson
to Rest of u. S.

With the attorney general of New
York State succeeding in a relentless
war on y-by-night concerns engaged
in selling meaningless service" con-
tracts to automobile owners. and with
these fake insurance and motor or
Eanizations fleeing to other parts of
the country for safety. automobilists
everywhere should be on their guard
and have dealings only with reputable
clubs and insurers This is the warn
ing just issues to the motorists of
the Nation by President Thomas P.
Henry of the American Automobile
Association. from the organizations
headquarters in this city.
The warning is being broadcast to
all affiliated A. A. A. clubs, with
recommendations for advising all mem-
bers to warn their friends against
being defrauded by this spreading
wave of graft"
Mr.. Henry's message discloses the
fact that the A. A. A. in its work of
prosecuting fake organizations of this
character found more than so oper-
ating in various parts of the coun-
try, gullible car owners being sold"
every conceivable kind of service,
from accident insurance, to discount
privileges at hotels.
Sees Spread OF EVIL.
While we are making headway in
our fight against this evil" Mr.. Henry
states, lit is obvious that the cam
paign against the numerous fakes
Will have pronounced tendency to
spread the evil. Whether the action on
the part of the judiciary of New York
will break up the practice of mulctins
the unwary motorist. or merely re-
locate 1T, depends largely upon the
average car owners familiarity with
the evil. .- --,
This explains the A. A. A. policy
of giving full publicity to the methods
used by these various outfits. Public
ity kills the mushroom outfit quicker
than anything else, in our experience.
But unless such publicity is national
lied the fake outfit actually thrives
on 1t.
For instance. if the motorist in
Chicago reads that a New York court
has closed fraudulent automobile
club and that the campaign against
fake outfits will continue until Man
haitian is rid of the evil, the Midwest
car owner is likely to relax his vigil
lance, thinking the evil stamped out.
This is just what the fy-by-nght
organization promoters want their
victims to believe. When they ap-
proach the Chicago motorist they
want to be able to assure him that
their proposition is on the square be-
cause all the questionable clubs nave
been closed up.
a permanent injunction has been
granted by Supreme Court Justice
Nichols of New York, against the
Aetna Automobile Service Corpora
ton on complaint of State Attorney
General Carl Sherman, who charged
infringement on the name of an es-
tablished insurance company and de-
ception for the purpose of obtaining
money under false pretenses. This is
only one of a chain of such injunc-
lions now in process. but the public
ity being given to these facts will
not produce results unless the man in
California, Texas. Florida or Michigan
knows about it, too.
The evil of mulcting the motoring
public through service swindle games
is quickly spread by the simple pro-
cess of forcing the promoters from
one locality to another. We can hope
to outwit them only when we have
put them off the mapaaltogether.
This will be possible when every
man who owns car realizes that
every victory over these outfits means
exercising still greater vigilance
against those that remain"