Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1942-05-28
Business Warned
OF Rackets
During Wartime

Wartime curbS are freezing
the marketing system for legiti-
mate distributors, but for those
shady fellows who specialize in
selling the Brooklyn bridge it's
field day. Although the ration
ing system hasn't yet been made
extensive enough to evoke any
real black markets, the shortage
of durable goods and the emphas-
is on Army-Navy requirements
are enough to bring out a new
crop of takers.
HOW THEY OPERATE
Checkups by better business
bureaus indicate that these petty
racketeers are currently concen-
trating their efforts on (D pro-
noting phony repair services,
(2) organizing official" Army
Navy clubs, exhibitions, maga-
zines, and charities, and (3) sell
ing phony merchandise of the
hard-to-get variety.
The repair" boys operate
most viciously in the plumbing
and heating fields. They gener-
ally organize a sort of house-to-
house campaign, offering to
check up on the home owners
furnace or plumbing. After tink-
ering a bit, they walk away with
enough pipes, valves, etc, to
make the racket worthwhile.
EPSON SALTS FOR
BATTERIES
Another variation is the sale
Of "dopes." A fairly common ex-
ample is peddling EPSON salts
(under fancy name) to give
new "life" to storage batteries.
It's the military field, however,
that offers the widest latitude
for ingenuity, because it's easy
to drum up sympathy and patri-
otism in these times. Here are
some of the commoner schemes:
KEEP EN- FLYING CLUBS"
These are organized for no
other purpose than to get suck
ers to contribute to membership.
"OFFICIAL" PUBLICATIONS
Army Navy publications whose
subscriptions and advertising
contracts are on an all-cash bas-
is. Publication of these journ-
ais rarely comes to pass, and
where an actual issue is printed,
it's either too skimpy to mean
anything or the distribution is
too narrow. A variation on this
scheme is the some of "official"
flags. incidentally, there is no
such thing as special, official
service flag.)
''DEFENSE" EXHIBITIONS
Purporting to stimulate local
trade. AS practiced recently in
Philadelphia, this scheme was
called National Defense Exhibi-
tion and Stamp-Ede." 1t involved
the raising of money for chari-
ties through various contests
Gncluding the inevitable baby
contest). But the whole thing
was nipped in the bud when the
enterprising promoters were ar
rested on charges of fraudulent
conversion, setting up an illegal
lottery, and violating the Solici-
tations Act.
Then there is the "unhonored"
merchandise gags, which involve
the mailing of handkerchiefs,
pencils and other trinkets to per-
sons who didn't order them. The
recipients are supposed to send
a contribution to the charity"
in return for the gift. Because
numerous reputable charities use
this system, too, it's hard to de-
tect the phonies.
Refugee" organization drives
are also hard to detect because of
legitimate ventures in the field.
'WHO'S WHO BOOKS
An old-timer which has for it's
latest version roster of persons
contributing to nation defense.
Patriotic books and contests re-
quiring special entry fees are
variations of the same gag.
"HARD-TO-GET"
Phony merchandise now being
sold as hard-to-get includes
paint generously diluted with
water), refugee" personal eff
fects tart objects and chinaware
of low grade-are prominent
here), seed for victory gardens,
] and among other things, "spec-