The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-03-29
In New York
Rv PAUL HARRISON


 New York,-Like grim recording angels, staff of workers on the~ ton floor of a Manhattan office building sits at its ledgers and voluminous index files and jots down laconic data on you, your neighbours neighbors- all over the, United States. Z" If you buy or sell a business; If your great aunt dies and leaves. you fortune; if you buy yacht or an airplane--if anything at all happens to you that involves .
 fair sum of money, news of 1t wills be duly noted by the recording angels of a large concern here named, oddly enough, "Boyd's City Dispatch" Boyd's complies and sells lists of names, and has been doing it l for 105 years. One can buy the names of all concerns involved in any kind of business. For exam-- pie, 273 brassiere manufacturers, $500; 4947 ice cream makers, $2O.O0; 773 leaf tobacco dealers.,i | $10.0O-and son on, into the thou. sands of categories. s. Rich Results ~ For varying sums you can learn how many people own saddle
  , or make hobby of tennis. Twen- ty dollars will get you the names of a thousand prominent Italians
 in New York City, Selected French residents come q little higher. If you want something really spe- | cia1, such as the names and ad-a dresses of all red-haired, woden- legged men under 50 years of age. ! living in Pittsburgh, Pa, Boyd's~ 1 may require little extra timer but it will provide the list. Such classifications of individ-s 1 uals are the most interesting part
 of the business. Names of 16,4SS | millionaires sell for $250; 2868 1 ly, A2014 of the later are widows. The 5198 wea1thiest widows of
 America are listed for $1o0.
 There are, however, 64.947 wo-a men in this country who, by dintu of careers or widowhood, are con-@ sidered wealthy. s5 Lists of monied people can be-. | had for any city, or even county
 of the United States. You can buy the names of all ar k Avenue
 residents having daughters under IS years of age. By the way, Park Avenue names cost less than a selection of residents of Buffalo, N. Y. And New York's commut- l ing miIlionaires seem to be worth ! twice as much as millionaires who just hang around town stagnat-., l ing in penthouses. V About the only assortment of names that Boyd's can't furnish, happens to he the only one I'd like. | to buy-a list of the people to- whom I ought to send Christmas
 cards next December. 7~ Tagged lists 's | Only a few blocks from that,
 busy office is somewhat simi-s, lar concern and known as Sher-s
 lock and Arnold. It deals mostly
 in automobile statistics, and has
 the names. motor numbers and li-
 cense numbers of every car owner l in New York and New ersey. | The figures collected are in de-r
 mand by insurance companies finance companies, auto agencies and surprising number of unal- | lied concerns. A jewelry concern.s for example. might call on John. l K. Sherlock for q list of all thGs people who have bought $3000
 automobiles during the last six. months. % Swanky night clubs. too have l solicited new customers from hist
 statistics on Rolls Royces ands
 Dusenbergs John D. Rockefeller.s
 Jr.. is considering a tricky idea !
 for special mail circulars to be
 sent out from his Rainbow Room. < They'll show pretty girl, or may
 be policeman, holding an auto
 license tag. the tag bearing the.
 number of the car owned by theF
 addressee. " l Besides the intricate statistical.
 work and market forecasts toA
 which his figures generally are
 put, Sherlock amuses himself with
 lesser merchandising schemes. A,
 corset manufacturer wanted lisf
 of stoutish women of sufficient af-s I fluence to afford his rather expen -e
 sive corsets. He hired twenty. men to wander about the streets. carrying notebooks. Whenever
 one of them saw a fat wofan in
 a good looking car he jotted down the licenses. From the numbers.
 names and addresses were obtain
 ed. The idea yielded thousands , of new projects.