The farmer and mechanic. [volume], February 23, 1915, Page 13, Image 13

About The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??

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THE FARMER AND MECHANIC.
13
Mill. SWINDLERS GET THIRD
OF BILUON IN FIVE YEARS
Qi;irpris
r rested Took That Sum, Federal Estimates
Show Figures Not Complete as All Schemers Were
Noi Caught.
. ,,,,11 swindlers who hav i
'.' r rested by t lie Federal aulhori
jn: ,' the last live years have
f...ui the American public
.'.no. Those, arrested during
iv.bral fiscal year of 1914 took
.i,Mj of thin total, $14,000,000
."(', .1. those arrested in 1913 and
ri'M,. inr than those arrested
. y. i - whieh seems to indicate that
'h . iL-ri' un public is becoming less
' ,i m than more sophisticated, says
' ' 'rtw J.. in the New York Times.
' vi'-.-sis of the annual reports of
.u" p,.-ii..fi"i'e Department for the
rL-il vc.r 1014, recently printed for
.Hslribution, vnn analysis oi.
preceding annual reports,
. 1 . I'iiyll fJ
.j.l.-ri'i-; the
' . . ja4 AAA AAA .-A.
he lotal ot s.iol.uyu.uuu, greai as
is but a part of the stupendous
mentioned, in con
tribute which Americans
each year to the mail
should be noted, however,
it
it '
K
irfj! tribute
which goes into dishon
...t r.wketH via tne man route eacn
,v.-.-1ve months. For the $351,000,
,.() i- thrt estimate of the Federal au-ii.uitfi.-.s
' the haul only of those pcr-
j.,- - arretted.
m no m-:isis all the mail swindlers
,,!' tlx 1'nited .States are arrested;
tr.iu.' nbra do the work of stop
,,in- their operations in some instan
... in others it is impossible for the
i'...ti.fi'ire Inspectors to obtain the
...idem whieh wuld justify crimi
,,! ro ut o-tion; in sttii others tne ae-
i;,i,i,.s .f ihe .swindlers never come to
ii,.- t i'MUioii of the authorities at all.
Tiv ii is obvious that the loot of
!hn - arrested is but a part. no man
- iv how small or great a part
,1 the total sum of money filched
ft . . A .
i -tr m mail sua rpers jmrn nit;
f .; :i ll posketbook.
J'ivi-Year Kcfonl.
. following is the record of
.Mitnutnl to have geen
. i . mail swindlers actually
,i' $68,000,000
Ml , $ OS, 000, 00
the
o.i: r,4,000,000
.-: .-2,000,000
p. 11 77,000,000
j'M.i 100,000,000
$
::ri,ooo,ooo
i:d
number of persons arrested
the years tabulated was 2,861.
money obtained had been di-
cually between them each
have had a. dishonest gain of
i-..'sl, proof of the lucrative na
iiip of swindles which are carried on
?.' of be mails. There 1 were
airests in VJ1 4 than in any oi
other e:irs under cnsideration,
r'-eord of arrests and convictions
.i- follows:
Arrest?
7 62
310
i 1 f i : 1 .
If t I L
i.)-.!
1 .
I.
I-'
) ! 1 2
i 1 m
'I'll.
im.iI:
fivi-
'onviotions.
370
::04
263
184
Mot stated
m
r,20
livi-ion of winnings from the
was however, naturally not
some of the promoters of the
Ui borate schemes during the
ars are
tated by the Federal
soithorities to have cleared millions,
.bi'e others got hundreds of thou
smuhs. In other cases the l'ostoffice
!u.l--ctors got on the trail of the
v.-Ut(1ler.-j before they had a chance
ike.-o any large number of victims.
Tb. r'ipf of the fradulent mail
b -ss i xi this country may be
j i '!.: m I to some extent from the sim
:!' siateiueni that 34,000 complaints
''niing schemes to defraud were
')! to the Postoffke Popartment
''""i.-r the lust tis al year, in addition
ih. routine inspections of the Post-
' IToximately Io0 different kinds
.vimll-.v are included in the
h mes whereby the mail operators
v- u'athi'red in 'the coin of the in-
! -it -iri. 1910. Schemes for stock
"'Ii .-; utid for treating diseases by
".'.i ir' the two swindles which have.
!,"t'l unue money than any other
'' K. In tho rejort of the Solicitor
'" ib I'ostoffb-e. Department it is
.-t-. t-d that in 1014 of the frauds sup-r-
- through the issuance of fraud
" 'lor -whieh bar the mails to the
-!' tM.-r specific therein the most
liial le were those operated for the
'' 'iiii. -nt of disease. Jn 1913. on the
"'ti' r hand, it was stated that "the
' '. -lling proposition seems to ap
!"'! i, ihe jiblic more than any oth
fraud scheme unearthed."
Tlie Mnlicals luds.
me medical Irauds the report 101
ays:
some man who had graduated as a
doctor, but was without much experi
ence or practice. The business was
conducted in his name, and ht was
featured in the literature as a man of
singular ability and great scientific
attainment in the medical nrofpssinn
who had spent years in the study of
the. particular ailments which ad
vertised to treat and who had made,
wonderful discoveries of rpmpdip
which would cure the diseases repre
sented by a number of svmntoms list
ed in the advertisments.
It was represented that such doc
tor and his alleged corps of assistants,
would give personal attention to en eh
case, and that they would prescribe
such remedies as they should find by
their superior facilities and experience
were needed in the treatmut of any of
tne uiseases tney advertised to cure.
Even in those instances where a doc-
to or doctors were connected with tho
business this was solely for the pur
pose of lending color to their fraud
ulent representations, and the diag
nosing and prescribing were nearly
always made by mere clerks.
Stock-Selling Swindlers.
Of the stock-selling swindlers those
who have netted the largest amount
are those who have dealt with mining
and fftl properties, although bitr sums
have also been eoaxed out of Dockets
of the guileless by the golden promises
of fortunes to be made from buying
stock in land companies and even in
industrial companies.
one of tin' wti.M features of the
stoeksclling seheme.'. is that it is large
ly those who can least afford to lose
who buy the worthless securities. In
the gray old Federal Building of New
York there have, within the last three
years, been told stories on the witness
stand by dupes which might well leave
a perpetual blush of shame on the face
of any man guilty of such contempti
ble swindles.
In one trial, for instance a poor
little music teacher told how, after
saving for eigh yet.js, she had man
aged to accumulate $400. She had
then read one of the prospectuses of
the swindlers who were sitting at the
counsel table a few feet from her
wnen sne was giving her evidence.
This prospectus had told her that her
$400 would make her rich for life if
she would only forward it at once for
stock in the astounding gold mine
which the swindlers owned. She
wrote to the company, stating her po
sition and how much of self-sacrifice
the $400 meant to her, and received
back "a lovely letter" from the presi
dent, telling her how interested he
was in her case, and how certain he
was that she wrould soon be able to
give up teaching music if she would
only forward the $400 right away.
And the little teacher sent the money.
and the mine was worthless, and she
half-fainted as she finished her story
in the witness chair.
J)c Iaixe Book Fake.
One of the few mail swindles which
touched the wealthy classes exclusive
ly was the so-called de luxe book
swindle, by which volumes worth $10
or $20 were sold to rich and ignorant
book collectors for prices running up
to many hundreds.
Among other swindles carried on
through the mails are inducing betting
on "fake" horse races and athletic.
contests, selling worthless goods
through misrepresentations, obtaining
commissions on fraudulent orders,
selling divining rods for locating min
erals, guaranteeing stocks and bonds,
using forged bills of lading in cotton
deals, brokerage frauds, obtaining mo
ney by impersonating other persons,
obtaining goods under false pretenses,
selling State rights and establishing
'fictitious agencies, selling unfair gam
bling devices, using "no-fund" checks,
in stopping the operations Indeed,
the departmental reports state that in
some cases the swindlers have con
tinued the operation of their business
during arrest, trial, conviction, and
imprisonment whereas fraud orders
bar the mails to the operaotxs of the
scheme. Thus the depatment is now
using both fraud orders and criminal
prosecutions.
The Fraud Older Question.
The report of the Postmaster Gen
eral for 1914. in discussing the fraud
order question, says:
This administration has insisted
upoi. vigorous enforcement of the
statutes providing for the issuance of
fraud orders. Under the urior uostal
administration these salutary laws
had fallen into disuse. In consequence
a new lease of life had been taken
on by numerous concerns and indi
viduals who used the mails for the
conduct of schemes to defraud.
Efforts to suppress swindles of this
character by criminal prosecution only
had been ineffective. The delays in
cident to" such prosecutions, and the
fact that, when successful, the penal
ty imposed vras frequently merely a
fine which the promoters could well
afford to pay, militated materially
against their effectiveness. The expe
rience of a year in the renewed en
forcement of these statutes has dem
onstrated clearly that the discontinu
ance of action under them was follow
ed by a large increase in the number
of concerps and individuals taiking
advantage of the postal establishment
to defraud the public. The tax law en
forcement also encouraged tne widen
ing of the scone of operations of
some wrho had theretofore been de
terred from extending their business
bv fear of on abrupt termination of
the schemes by the issuance of fraud
orders with a consequent loss of the
capital invested.
Hence the department has had to
deal with enterprises of unusua
growth, and fraud orders have been
issued against a large number of con
cerns and individuals. Every oppor
tunity has been extended to those ae
eused to make full and complete an
swer to the charges, and the evidence
in each case has had careful and im
partial- consideration.
The action ot the department m
this connection has been questioned
by court proceedings in but one case
In this an injunction was asKed in
the United States District Court
Chicago to restrain the postmaster
from carrying out the provisions of tht
fraud order. A temporary restraining
order was granted, but upon argument
the temporary injunction was denied
and the action of the depatment sus
tained. From this decision an ppeal
was taken, but was later dismissed
upon the motion of the appellants.
The evidence in one of the cases in
which a fraud order was issued show
eded that the amount of money ob
tained by the company from the pub
lic in one year was $3r0,000. In
manv instances nothing whatever of
value was returned for the money.
none was tne return mat wmcn
purchaser was induced to believe
was to receive.
ARE THE FRIERS
GETTING El W
The Consumer Pass Di-aii
But Who Gets Most of
the Dollar?
Ohap-l Hill. Feb. Lu. - U
'arolina farmer receiving a righto. u
of tlie consumers" dollar? 'on
upon coiicn i:i
bused
were produced bv the Xorth
Club in its semi-monthly
to make Positive that th
l ha;
in ot e
share
elusions,
stances.
Carolina
meeting
iarmer is not recfivintr an ihIhuim
proportion of the wealth he create-.
The tabulation of figures and th- dis
cussion OI tne Slinlri't v-r . m -i.?. Kir
Marion B. Fowler of Durham eountv,
a fctudent in the Fniveritv.
The subject concerned itself wit'.i
the investigation of the tt,t ot liv
ing ot today, and the relation
h ume 10 i no iarmer. rne
ot tiie t nited States Department of
Commerce were given to prove that
the cost of living is steadily increas
ing. According to these figures, 257
articles being taken as a basis, of com
putation, the average price of food
stuffs for the ten years from IS 90 to
1899 is forty-five per cent higher now
than then.
Then, the question centered around
the inquiry whether the farmer wa
getting the benefit of thee higher
prices. The crop wealth of-the Xorth
Carolina farmers more than equals
the resources of all the banks. Statw
and national, accumulated in the last
250 years. Yet tlie per capita wealth
of the country folks in the State is
only $322 as compared with $S29 in
Oklahoma.
Haw Versus Fini-heo!.
HE CilLMtDEB $4,000,000.
schemes were insidious, vie
and highly detrimental to tne
"iblio welfare, while the methods
I' l' 'o d were the most unconscionable
'ith which the department had to
"'1 In view of certain decisions of
ih" eourts they were also the most dif-
' 'di with which successfully to cope
U the hearings in many of these
asf-s the testimony of the proprietors
i thuso enterprises, under cross-ex
1 1,1 in;! lion by counsel for the govern
!i; d, showed that they had little ed
'anon of Jiny kind, and they made
o.vohitely no claim to any knowledge
rnedWine. Invariably they were
I'lvjy shrewd and unscrupolous ad-
TtUers
-"'ifi-Mlly speaking they fnployed
matrimonial schemes., selling canceled
postage stamps and Mexican money,
obtaining expense money on promise
to sell stocks, collecting fees for imag
inary positions, selling right to a pa
tent many times in the. same State, se
curing advance payments on goods not
delivered, obtaining payment from
relatives of deceased persons for goods
supposed to have been ordered before
death, obtaining money from alleged
heirs to estates, obtaining money to
assist in securing fictious in heritances
sales of sham recipes, trading in green
rrnnitw -.1-kf fjiiiinrr onseT-mHof!.; for noil-
existent charitable institutions, run
ning sham employment bureaus, sell
ing interests in non-existent moving-
picture theatres, selling diplomas lor
whirli no studv hCrenuired. failing to
distribute advertising matter as called
for by contract, and blackmail.
In 1914 more fraud orders were is
sued than has been the case lor some
time. In 1910 the Postoffice authori
ties began to issue fewrer fraud or
ders than bad been customary in the
belief that it would be better to prose
cute criminally those operating fraud
ulent schemes. "Whereas in 1909 there
were 2f0 fraud orders, in 1910 there
were but 131, and in 1911 only 77.
There was a still further decrease in
1912, the number being nineteen,
while in 1913 there were only three
fraud orders issued. The number in
1914 was forty-five.
It has been found that criminal
prosecution is not always successful
Man Who Carried. Fortune Aeros-y
Continent in Suitcase, lies in
Frisco.
San Francisco Chronicle.
With the death at the Alameda
County Infirmary Wednesday night of
William Frederick Marshall, 65 years
of age, said to be a, relative of John
Marshall, the discoverer of gold m
California, there was brought to a
pintift thp life of a man who once car
ried Si4.a00.000 . in bonus across tlie
continent.
MMrsluill. who for the past ten
vcara v.j rAsiiled with Ml'S. Mai'V
Bowers, 146S Eighth street, was eom
misioned by T. G. Crothers and K. D.
Mitchell, the executors of tke James
f. Fair estate in California, in 1897,
to bring the $4.u00,000 in bonds from
New York to San Francisco. Wflls,
Fargo &. Company wanted $4r812 for
the same service, and the executors
decided to saye this amount.
Accordingly on October Z of that
year Marshall left New York with the
bonds in three suitcases, heavily
armed, in a private drawing room. He
delivered the bonds to the executors
in San Francisco without mishap on
October 10. En route tne train was
held up and the passengers robbed of
personal belonging in Utah by a gang
of highwaymen, who fortunately
overloked the three suitcases.
Examples were produced to show
the widel$- varying diiierem
tween the juice of the raw pr-..i
and the manufactured article or ihr
arucle when served to the consumer.
A bushel of potatoes served on the
of j tables of a New York restaurant co.-s
the consumer as much as the f:;?nsei-
of eastern North Carolina receiver, for
150 bushels. A cow- bought of the
farmer for $50, when served on the
tables of hotels and restaurants costs
tlie consumer around $2,000.
The smokers of Chapel Hill pay live
cents tor an ounce bag of smoking to
bacco. The consumer buys the tobacco
at the rate of eighty cents a pound.
while the tobacco in the raw state
brings the farmer of Durham and
Orange counties on an average of ten
cents a pound. The tobacco ware
houses of Durham, Mebane and Winston-Salem
bought tobacco during the
month of December, 1914. for that av
erage price.
A box of chewing tobacco weighs
ten pounds, net weight, and contains
forty-four plugs, which, at ten
cents a plug amounts to $1.40. The
farmer's share of that amount is $1;
tlie mercahnt gets 19 cents out of the
consumer's dollar, and the farmer 2?
cents- The question is raised by the
North Carolina Club as to who gets the.
52 cents.
An analysis of the cotton situation
reveals a somewhat similar result.
Cotton is selling for 8 cents a pound.
A pound of cotton will produce sis
pairs of ladies' stockings of the cheap-
Tn
t he-he
'Victim'
and
rSFS THIEF AS A CI7UB.
' frasvis One Hob Dor hy I oet
l'u nimel s . com pi I cc.
Eos Angeles Times.
Two masked men reckoned without
their host early yesterday mornins
when they entered the room of N. II.
Hobbs, 570 South San Pedro street,
and attempted to hold him up at the
point of a revolver.
Mr. Hobbs was awakened by the
sound of the men entering his room.
As he jumped from the bed one of
tiiem e-vabbed him and told him if he
moved he was a dead man.
At this time things commenced to
happen. Mr. Hobbs, who moves
pianos as a means of earning his "liv
ing, took the first intruder firmly by
both feet and used him as a club to
subdue the other man.
Neighbors, awakened by the cries
for mercv uttered by the near-bandits,
sent in "a call for the 'police. Mr.
Hobbs, however, thought the men had
been sufficiently punished and allow
ed them to go.
er grade, whieh sell for f if ten cents a
pair. Thus one pound of cotton sold
to the consumer in' the form of hose
will cost ninety cents.
An investigation shows that a farm
er gets one ton of cotton seed cake
or cotton seed meal in exchange for
his ton of cotton seed. A letter from
a large fertilizer manufacturing com
pany says: "Sixty-six and, two-thirds
bushels of cotton seed are equal to a
a ton. One bushel of cotton seed will
yield practically two-thirds of a gallon
of oil." One ton of seed yields 4 4 4-j
gallons of oil. Cotton oil in the form
of cottolene sells at the local store
for twelve and a half cents a pound,
a gallont .. bucket of it weighing ten
pounds. This means a price of $1.2
a. gallon, or $o5"4 that tlie consumer
has to pay for a ton of cotton seen
and beef tallow converted into cott
lene. The farmer's share disappears,
receiving no money value; only the ad
vantage of a better fertilizer from the
cotton seed which he sold.
The North Carolina Club attached a
large part of the blame of the farmer's
failure to realize his share of the con
sumer's dollar at his own door. Cot
ton and tobacco raised by tenants
must be sold at the demand of time
credit accounts. The rush to the mar
ket sends the price of the product
downward in times when tlie farmer i-j
forced to sell.i
Here's the remedy proposed by the
club: Crow less cotton, more cotton
raised by farm owners, more clean
high grade cotton, increase of operat
ing capital in farm regions, less de
pendence on supply merchants, more
co-operative buving and selling.
the
The clerk of
in Mill Valiey, i
following case: "George v asnir.g
re. -old t
ivcf rv.Jy
r's court
filed ?he
e. li-cn
versus Christopher Columbus
loufs action to recover rent."
m
Many of the Arabian peasav:
lation of Palestine have r
emigrated to North and South
io3 .
-la nd-
popu--eently
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