The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1935-05-24
BY WILLIAM c. uTlE

" VERY day the President Of the
- United States receives in the
mail scores of letters from pri =
vate citizens, some finding fault
with his administration, some cheerful
In their endorsement of his New Deal,
many with axes to grind. It Is reason
able to suppose that plenty Of them
sack money, especially since only re-
Gently the Chief Executive has been
given a fresh roll Of nearly $5,OOO.-
$4,000 to spend.
OF this latter kind, all too few have
ught a sum so insignificant as sin
gle thin dime-that is. until the last
few days. Early this month no less
than 200 letters of the "Brother-can-
you-spare-a-dime?" variety popped up
in. the Presidential post. And every
one of them offered Mr.. Roosevelt re-
turn on his investment that would have
startled the Imagination of even
1929 investor.
The text of any one Of them would
be recognized at sight by almost every
English-speaking inhabitant Of the
land:
"Faith-Hope-Chari
"This chain was started in the hope
Of bringing prosperity to you.
"Within three days, make FIVE copies
Of this letter, leaving off the top name
and address and adding your name and
address at the bottom of the list, and
mail to five of your friends to whom
you wish prosperity to come.
SIN emitting the top name, send that
person ten cents wrapped in paper as
a charity donation.
SIN turn, as your names leave the
top, you will receive 1925 letters
with donations amounting to $1,625.50.
"Now, is this worth dime to you?
slave the faith that your friend had
and this chain will not be broken"
Aches and Aches.
The Presidents 200 letters were, Of
course, ordinary specimens of the
chain letters that have swept over the
country by storm, thrown whole COM
munities into frenzies of speculation,
given postal officials a nationwide
headache and postal carriers ma
tion-wide backache.
No White House secretaries an
swered these letters as they have prac-
tically all others. They were turned
over to Postmaster General James A.
Farley, with the possibility ensuing
that their senders may be denied the
use of the United States mails. Post
hot he nd
and lottery laws the department could
hold up all mail addressed to persons
known to have written such letters. In
such a case, post offices would be re-
quired to stamp all such mail "fraudu
lent" and return it to the senders.
Mechanically, if the chain were
carried through perfectly, and every
member sent out his five letters and
a dime, the originator would receive
his $1,625.50, sure enough. So far,
despite the millions of such letters
which are known to have flooded the
mails, there has been not single case
reported In which any participant ben
Gifted to the extent of the full amount,
or anything like 1t. This element of
chance-that the chain may not be
c0mpleted-makes the scheme lot
terry, and If the Post Office department
wants to get nasty about 1t, 1t lays
the participant, under Section 601 OF
the postal regulations. based on title
Is, section 1886, of the United States
criminal code, open to five years in
the penitentiary or fine Of $1,000.
Drastic prosecution of such scheme
would be nothing new.
1.-THE endless chain schemes were
started for the purpose of selling mer.
chandise, approximately 80 years ago."
said Henry L. Fuller, of the st. Louis
post office, where chain letters have
caused IS per cent increase In the
first class mail. "They were consid-
cred fraudulent on account of the
fact that If the chain was broken, per-
sons who had made remittances to the
promoters neither received the mer-
chandise nor were they compensated
for the money spent Fraud orders
were issued, prohibiting the use of the
mails to endless chain systems"
Fad Will Die Out.
The Post Office department. how
ever. has no intention of attempting to
seek the arrest of everyone who con-
tributes to one OF the chains The
principal reason seems to be that II
al Of them were arrested. there would