Show DAILY DAIL Y HASKIN LETTER THE POSTAL SERVICE Driving Out Frauds I By FREDERIO J. J HASKIN The department has been fighting the tho fraudulent use UBe of the tho mails for many years Jears The rhe first effort in that direction was to issue a fraud order a against the tho person or association guilty of fraudulent practices and denying to them t the e use uso of the mails either in inthe the tho receipt or dispatch of mail mat mat- ter This helped some ome but thoro were so 50 man many ways to got get around it that the tho fraud order method of was sas not productive of the tho most satisfactory saUs satis factory results in the efforts of the tho dc- dc to prevent the tho use of the tho mail service in the tho promotion of fraud Then the tho department decided to in in- a system of prosecutions against those who advertise tempting bait balt for a and ld use uso the tho mails in their op operations orations AU sorts of schemes have been hatched up tip to part the tho unwary from their coin through the tho mails Ono One of the favorite favorito schemes of getting money is through the tho of I stocks with high par values I and a cent cont on the tho dollar selling value aluc The ho victims in prospect arc advised to remember the tho story stor of Standard Oil and hear again the tho story stor ot of arc aro gravel told th thit t hero bero IS ISa isa a chanc to fo down an honest dollar that ultimately will bring in returns re turns that will make Standard Oil incomes in in- comes look Jook like starvation dividends in comparison The Tho stock advertised may bo be that of an alleged d gold oll or of If a aland land Jand co owning that sol dom doni above low Jow tide or of a com coni ho holding din the patent rights to any sort of device from one guaranteed to revolutionize the tho art of transportation on to one that will mal mako o diamonds out of eggshells F Faiths Do Extensive Business The advertiser of fake falco medicines and alto alfo medical appliances usually finds himself ablo to do n. n land office busi ness until a Postal inspector comes around and finds out just what ho is doing Some Soma of thorn advertise remo dies which have ha just about as much therapeutic value as s bread pills and red colored water while hile others expatiate upon the tho of appliances t that at arc aro about as us useful ful in effecting a euro cure as a astrin string tied around Bround the little finger is useful in staving stavin off rheumatism But they get et plenty a in spite of it all The faKe commission house is a swindle that catches thousands of unsuspecting farmers The advertises ad for produce to bo be handled on the commission basis For a little while thin things s go alop alon in fine fino shape tho farmers getting a good return in tho accounts f sales les rendered such good returns returns- that tho excellence of the tho b sines of the tho commission h house fets ets to b ba 0 co community r household word wordin lD in rural sections But some fine a after cr thousands of shipments have como come In the tho sells sells' out i d the tho owners skip with commissions and returns as well leaving a thousand farmers armors in the tho lurch Ordering goods under fictitious names 1 is another scheme for defrauding and andin in spite o of tho best that Dun Dnn and Brad street can do thousands dg of firms got c caught b by filling such orders the tho consignee con can signee leaves between the setting and the rising of the tho and goes oes else else- whore to repent repeat his 1119 performance Other individuals irti and firms order goods and fail ful to pay for them A still stillar larger ar cr number send checks with their orders tho business houses fm fill the orders or or- ders first fust md deposit the tho checks after after- ward A little later the tho house I tile the order gets a note noto from irom it its bank ban that the tho check in payment has been by by the tho bank upon w which ich it was drawn and that it bears the tho legend no fuu s. s Old Schemes Are Still Used One would think that as completely as tho gold brick and the tho Spanish prisoner fraud ha have v been exposed ex- ex posed that no ono one would be foolish enough to bite at either of them and that consequently no one would hc be cl c- c l to try to capitalize on either ither scheme again But the gold brick laick man still succeeds and the prisoner in Spain still gets his remittances s and somo omo of them have havo gone to prison within the thelast past last year rear for using t tho o mails in plying their nefarIous deceptions There Ther Is a a. class or of advertisers who patronize the want ad olumn of oC many newspapers net with the tho view or of making capital capital cap cap- ital out or of that widespread Idea IdEn among the uninformed that n a man c can n become a newspaper writer b by mall and that all ho he has to do Is to talc taie a little course I In a corr correspondence school and that thereafter r lie he can make at least a month during his spare Hmo wrIting ne newspaper stories These advertisers ad catch thousands of ambitious people but sometimes they get cau caught ht In turn Clairvoyants astrologers ers ann and p who a advertise to tell you 1 0 anything yOu OU want to know about or about an any one else find Ond almost as man many suckerS ready to bite a as the we will teach you ou how to earn a month journalistic scheme and the government Jo I net gets many many or of them In a years year's time 1 Perhaps one of oC the tho wor wort t of oC the frauds Is the advertisement or of I work ot at homo home schemes You are told that it If you ou order an outfit from the advertiser you can use I. I It and that the advertiser will buy your product In return Us 11 1 II the scheme i appeals to poor people who can Ill afford I to hose a cent and yet et who hope to supplement sup sup- an all too meager family income 1 by doln doing some little lIlUe extra work 1 Good Salaries Are Promised I Fako detective agencies that agree to tomake make malte a detective out of you and to pay paya I a good salary to you ou for Cor your our servIces as their representative In your community I catch thousands or of poor chaps who evIdence their shill In tho thie detection or of crime by overlooking the tho case right before be- be tore fore them The Tho list or of species or of fraud perpetrated through the tho malls mails Is a lon long one Tin Tin- personating relatives picture re puzzle schemes fake tire fire Insurance policies advertising ad- ad for tor companions and securing a deposit from rom each pe nerson on nn- nn the ad ad Jn for Cor partners and requirIng a a. little earnest monc money advertising ad- ad that a young heiress Wants to advIsing the would b bo swains who answer that she hc needs a little mon money y for her these transportation are arc but a afew ato to few of the tho many kinds or of which use the mails as 33 a a. medium The department finds It rather hard to combat these evils because tim tho federal courts alt fai 10 0 realize the nation wide operations of oC brought before them through h tho work or of the tho inspectors In a 8 number or of Instances persons who have robbed the tho p or of millions of at dollars have havo rec received jail sen- sen cn- cn or of only a few ew months month It If all tho courts uphold the action or of the district jud judge c cIn In th tho northern dis or of the po department will make short shrift or of many or of the people who use the malls for or fraudulent purposes Formerly It was t hel held 1 that It was wats necessary to provo that some omo person had actually been defrauded nut But In the tho case of Eu Eugene cne M Stockton the tho court held that convictIon ml might ht follow If I It Was the Intent of oC the tho defendant that Sonic some one should b be defrauded and that gives the department a means by which it can drIve out thousands of oC unlawful users or of the m mail There Thera Is a class cInes of oC lawyers who make It a a. practice to advise theIr clients us to ways an i means or of dodging the postal laws and the tho department has pulled the tho penal co code lf on thorn them c. c their n attention to thin tho provIsion which t says nys that ally ary one who al aids lR or 01 coUnsels the or of any crime Is a thereto the been bOGn ra rae rae- Idly cutting down tho use ot of th the malls mails the tho swindlers still UIl were able oble last year to filch a 8 million dollars a week from Crom the pockets or of the tho American people according to the estimate or of the chief Inspector The year before thO they sot got a a. million and a halt half a week Information received from the tho Canadian postal Indicates nearly all the tho mud with which It has haH to deal are operated by persons who have been driven out or of the United States and who havo accordingly transferred theIr activities across the border TheIr usual method Is to rent a a. lock box at a border border bor- bor der on the tho Canadian side and then to advertise In the tho United States s. s But the Canadian postal are aro moro more effective than ours It If a tranger Sets gets so 80 much mall mail as to attract attention the postmaster can hold bold It up Pending an investigation In- In and permanently refuse do- do livery I upon the tho advice ot of the tho depart depart- monte mont And the Canadian postmasters have begun to keep n. n weather eye 00 for Itinerant frauds Tomorrow THE POSTAL SERVICE Postal Organizations |