The Coconino sun., 1927-04-15

the past week the Flagstaff chamber
reports that Is persons applied for
letters of guarantee from the Better
Business Bureau department, as re-
quired in that city, and of these nine
claimed to be solicitors for the same
periodical, although they were cam
vassing separately. The firm which
they claimed to represent denied that
any of them were authorized to So
licit subscriptions. dn another case
headquarters recognized the solicitor
but refused to guarantee his response
bility.
ssThe question, now arises-what is
to be done?" they Flagstaff Chamber
of Commerce officials ask "Shall
we allow these peddlers, agents, ETC.,
to flood our state and take large sums
of money from Arizona into other
sections OF. the country? If we
desire magazines and other period
icals can they not be purchased in
Arizona establishments rather than
from someone whom we know nothing
about and in practically every case, is
unable to secure reliable and exact
information as to their responsibility
Besides causing unnecessary and con-
tinued annoyance, these solicitors
have nothing more to offer than our
local dealer. In many cases they arc
purely fraudulent
AS a means of ridding the state of
these solicitors, authorized or un-
authorized unless their firms guaran-
tees their honesty, the Flagstaff
chamber advocates that every COM
munity compel these agents to first
apply to the local credit bureau, the
latter to collect sufficient money with
which to paw for telegram to the
firm they claim to represent. Under
no circumstances would solicitor be
permitted to work city without first
complying with these provisions, and
when the information received from
the publisher indicates that the solicit
or is fraud this information would
be passed on to the public through the
press, according to the northern
chambers plan.
We heartily endorse Flagstaff's
plan to regulate, if not eradicate,
the magazine solicitor pest. Numer-
Gus men and women invade Bisbee
| during the year, most of whom claim
| to be working for a scholarship in
some university. Many of them are
frauds and collect the first payment
which they pocket. Nothing ever
heard from the magazine subscribed
to and the victim puts it down as
profit and lossAprofiting from ex-
perience, and of the money. Even
| if the solicitors are honest we believe
that the northern city is right when
it advocates home industry patronage.
Every magazine of any prominence
printed in America can be subscribed
to through local agent. The COM
mission paid by the publication stays
home, the subscriber has no worries
about whether he will get his maga-
zine and 'everybody's happy" There
fore, we urge that when the next
pretty girl knocks at your door and
tells you that she needs only one more
subscription to get scholarship in
Yale inform her firmly but politely
that if she hasn't bonafide credentials
signed by the president of the United
States and secretary of state she will
be handed scholarship in Jail with
out another subscription or further
solicitation. If you really want a
magazine call on any of the many
drug stores and news stands whose
proprietors have finished college and
will be in Bisbee much longer than the
vagrant solicitors seeking higher
education.