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Show LURES IN INVENTION SCHEMES. But no kind of industrial pitfall has lured more investors than "the invention inven-tion that will revolutionize industry." Every man who has ever invented anything believes, like Colonel Sellers, Sell-ers, that there is "millions in it." This feeling is often contagious, and af- fords one reason why so many people peo-ple are willing to put their money into that kind of speculative proposition. Practically all promoters of inventions inven-tions use the same method. It is this: Nearly every mechanical dc- v vice, no matter what its use, is heralded herald-ed as being "as good a proposition as was the Bell Telephone stock." There is big fascination in that statement, because it is pretty generally known that the people who were fortunate enough to buy Bell Telephone stock years ago made a great deal of money out of it, though they did not, make half as much as the shrewd promoter of the present day would have you believe. be-lieve. So thousands of people arc A looking for just another good thing " and the promoter encourages this hope to his own advantage. But telephones and air-brakes do not happen every day, and, if they did, the chances arc that they would not fall into the hands of "get-rich-quick" promoters for exploitation. Some people find it difficult to resist re-sist these allurements. In the case of hundreds of companies whose stock is being sold broadcast to innocent investors, the same situation is presented, pre-sented, and it is this situation that the investor should keep in mind. In the great majority of cases the invention inven-tion has not had a commercial test, and is, therefore, still an uncertainty as a money-maker. To buy its stock is to help finance a theory that has only a remote prospect pros-pect of being able to earn money. In other words, it has not been tried out in a practical way. The buyer of stock is shown models and sample machines in the offices ot the company. But these models and sample machines do not earn money. If the investor with savings who is attracted by the golden promises of such industrial advertisements would only do a little investigating on his own account he would soon see how doubtful the alleged "investment" is. Investigation should always be the first step in the making of any investment invest-ment , A great many industrial schemes could be cited to show how the public is being fleeced. In almost every case it is the same story; the investor with savings is asked to take the word of the promoter that "here is a golden an impossible undertaking that has an imsposible undertaking that has no chance of practical success. Tlieshrcwd manipulator of "industrials," "indus-trials," wrongfully called investment, is now using the mail-order idea in the exploitation of his stocks. In New York, Philadelphia and elsewhere else-where there arc energetic firms that arc selling millions of dollars' worth 6f stock by mail. They secure lists of names of people all over the ccun- ' try and deluge them with cunningly-written cunningly-written circulars, prospectuses and other kinds of literature. They are very persistent and they never let go. One of the most accomplished of the mail-order promoters of stocks told the investor that it was wrong to let his money stay in savings banks I or to buy bonds. Most of the promoters of industrial snares for investors frame up their p, propositions so cleverly that they evade legal prosecution. But it is a very good plan to turn over this ' gct-rich-quick" literature to the post-office post-office inspector. It will spare you further temptation, and may help in a small way to suppress a growing evil. There is just one good rule to follow fol-low with regard to all thcse industrial lures, and it is: "Let it alone." Saturday Post. |