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Show JfSllOf Interest toMaid andMatrOTff I -J ' WA EDITED BY 4 fef XIRGIN I A ! i? Bogus Firms and Agencies Lay Many Pitfalls for Girls Who Seek to Help in the ?i Support of Their Families and Many Are S the Schemes for Parting Them from Their Money (Orrrlrbt K'I2. hr the Nw Tork Herald Co All 'PPttTi! rlchts rcsem-d ) JJt EJTW'111 "" sorr,,,Cf1 "nmrin- and bgj iJ'.THon of woman" thorp Bsfi X lias s,)r,1"S illt0 existence 5 fM-1 ''l;,Rs of fakers who prey I. women, hanking on their yoit unprotected positions in foe tfcc business world to wring their mouev ntltttM . . tetahk rtov' 'hem W omen who venture into t f (, business are necessarily to a certain ex- OH tnt mor0 unprotected than those who depend on others. They compete with men on an equal footing, and are accordingly accord-ingly left pnttv mneh to tlnir own de- d if ir , t jt vices In The hurry and hustle of work. an . But not only do these sharks and or o(i crooked hiismess pom ems pn v on wompn j breadwinner thpy reach the limne ehd through . .itch ad vert i 11 i ri t s in a certain class of publications anci lure the mother ;' 14 who is forced to skimp for the family's in 1 On' of uPPnrt to sjMTjd r-nocga for a week's :- Hp food on some rnti.-inz, flimsy scheme Hwhich will hrmz 110 returns Thej ))ui 1 persuade the voim- girl whose presence 'ill 4 in the home 15 sadlv needed to go to a . u City and pay monpv in hopes of ohtainins 01T a p illion which upvpt materialize, and i$ BBthey will make all sorts of fraudulent ' mai agreements which cost the victim any- where from $.'J to $." and which are ablins ab-lins . WI solutely worthless. rife One of the mot profitable .unco! stM4! games from the point of . iew of the oper-RM oper-RM ntor. and one frequently employed, i the I fraudulent publication of novels flic j faker, or usually a number of f.ikers lure lu-re - gtjiptf corpora ted is n pnbl.-limg firm under If arthe law: . ' -.in.- Mp, find no difficulty in sctlin plenty of willing rid te tf SoDjetiine th.-y r- ich the gullible public Id 8I throuzn a.h.Ttising m some ,iieM ion.i hie ' MM and ? ,nr'1""1 Another m iy .c- in write di-Bit di-Bit : rectly to persons they think will be in las interested. llJaMn either case they make it known that apathey are looking for a really stiong and r worthy novel They want to put somi fori UHigBCw authors name on the market, the) say, and invite all persons who believe themselves capable of writing a novel to I communicate with them. This much they make known to severs thousand persons through advertisements or by sending circular Utters to addresses ad-dresses taken from directories or niaiiins, lists Women are the most sisily appealed ap-pealed to in this manner, and very often the "firm" makes it known that they de sire to promote a woman author Bucfa an announcement invariably 'Tines in thousands of letters, and the firm asks f..r sjiort outlines of the plots jof the proposed novels. When these are received (he next step is to write to the jmost promising applicant!", saying to each one that her plot is excellent; that eren I in the condensed outline of the novel she shows remarkable literary style and abll-lty abll-lty to depict character. The prospective 'author is informed that there is little doubt that her hook will enjoy enormous sales and she is asked to finish the work as soon as possible ' Then it is explained to her that th firm will be under heav expense In jetting jet-ting out the book and that they arc taking a certain rsk which should not f n 1 1 entirely upon them If the author's friends, they explain, have sufficient fnith in her ability and work to advance so that the firm will not suffer a total loss they will go ahead with the work. They, are sanguine about the outcome and paint in gloing colors the career and wealth which are ..pen to .1 new popular author. If the woman is abl to rais- the she scuds it t.. the firm with the manuscript manu-script They cet the novel nj- in cheap book form, send a few copies to the author au-thor and pocket a ReiCrOUl share of the ,$o00. Nothing is done about putting the novel on the market, and the author is ut her literary labor and the money which she must skimp and shtc to repay her friends. She may have a letter f rom j the firm regretting that the novel did uot 1 sell according to their expectations, j Usually she does not even receive this, A alallon of this game is the fraudulent fraud-ulent magazine. Eight out of ten women. I young or old, in every italk of life believe be-lieve they are capable of writing short stories. Many of them feel that they have missed their vocation, and that the literary va orld suffers because they have 'not taken to writing These women arc easily reached through advertising mediums me-diums or through circular letters ent according to mailing lists The publishers MjmM m Money Sharks Prey on I Women Breadwinners I should sMid to remunerate them Hundreds Hun-dreds of women do this and the magazine is printed, full of stories for the publication publica-tion of which the authors have paid. Besides this the magazine carries a volume of advertising, irhicb sll xoes to swell ihe profus of the fraudulent pub-I pub-I lisbers t China decorating is another medium ih rough which scores of fakers reach women Thej guarantee to purchase the china decorated by their pupils and they promise to teach the art in a slnzle lesson. They will not charge for the lesson, they , sny for tbev need skilled women to work for them. Tins opportunity appeals not onlj t" iromen with leisure, but to others 1 w ho w ork hard and are willing to give A "Shark" and His Prey. of the magazine invite contributions of short stories ajd offer to point out the fault and instruct the writer how lo better rhein iu order to have the story published. pub-lished. The only charge for this thus far is enougt) to cover the poa(Tr oxpenses. When the stories are received the better ones are returned to the writers with B letter stating that the work is good, and sngcesfmc certain ehanzes It is explained that the crucial point in the ! career of n writer is the publication of I Ins first story. After that, says the letter, everything is j plain sailing Other editors will see the name of the author and watch for her work, eager to buy it. The letter dwells , on the value of an author being able to append to her signature on a manuscript, "Author of So and So," Sic. Then comes the catch. According to the publishers of the magazine they have! been at considerable expense in having; experts read the work of the writer and criticising it. As it is her first story it ic actually worth more to her to have! it printed than it is to the firm to print, it. It is only fair, they say, that she up a fev hours iu the evening to add to their income, perhaps in behalf of those dependent on them. Then there are in-.iliis in-.iliis and cripples who are not able to leave their homes and who seek in this manner to help some little toward their own support Those who make inquiries following the advertisement or the circular letter are told that if they purchase an outfit, which generally costs from $3 to $10, tbey will be instructed in the srt of china decorating and they are again assured that their work will be purchased at a fair figUK As s mi tter of fact, In one lesson the? are taught to transfer pictures to china plates, but after they pay for the apparatus appa-ratus nothing further Is said about buying buy-ing their product. They are free to decorate chins for their own amusement and edification to their heart's content, hut the bogus firm pays no money. The lure of the stage Is another me dinm which the bunco steerers employ to separate women froai their money The "shark" sets himself op as an agent for some new opera company or perhaps, as in other case, several men combine to form a fake firm Girls are induced to pay anywhere from 8 t" $10 fee in order to obtain the services 0f the agency in seekiug a position The aRency itself holds fake rehearsal for which the girla are not paid, and after one or two meet ngi they are discharged fur incompetency incompe-tency Son times, with engaging frank ness, the bogus sgenu tell the girls they mint pay their fee for the instrifbtion they reinire before being fit ro appear on the stage. The result is always thp same. The fakir pockets the money and the cirl gets nothing in return. Similar to this is the artist's model srame Girls re advertised for to work as model They .ire required to par a nomine sum is registry fee. iu return for whn h they are supplied with a list of artists, who. they are told, are in need of modeN. I ually the girls find the artists are sisn painters, landscape artists, in nine arlisLs or. at any rate, men who do not require or wish models to pose for them. They, of course, have never authorized the fake agency to print their names in the lists supplied to the girls. Conducted on the same lines are crooked crook-ed schools for fashion designers, window m. aterior de orators and other employments. There are no shrewder students of human hu-man character than these crooked sharks who gamble on human credulity. They know that there are hundreds of womn who sincerely believe they have remark- MWWVWVWWVW vvs ably trim and attractive figures An 1 v' ' advertisement for cloak models always r. ' brings a few score of them to the office I-? of the fake agent. Each woman who ap- I plies for a position as a cloak model is treated In much the same manner. The fMf shark playg upon ber vanity in a manner ft nlmost diabolical. "Do you know,-1 he says, "you are the I - first woman vhoee application we have I I accepted to-day? It is so difficult to find I a firurc actually suited to show off a fashionable cloak to the best advantage. Your type of figure suits you especially for this work art, I might even call it for there are so many women of society I who have just such lines a.s yours. I would venture to say that yon have seen the day when but there, we never in- I riuire into our clients personal 2&ira "Now. the position which we would be glad to have you accept is one in a West- (V ern dty The salary is excellent. Tou , will have practically six weeks' vacation f-with f-with pay every year, for the firm will F wish yon to go to Europe to study the t, latest fashionable models iD Paris. Of IE course we require a small registry fes fe now and a second instalment will be I derfni red frirm your firs'- week's salary." F Then the agent make certain that the f applicant for the position is not familiar 1 'a the city which he is about to men- f (ion. Sure of this ground, he accepts the fee with thanks and gives the name of an imaginary department store JD some Western ity. It he happens to be operat- 1 in an Eastern city or vice versa. I Then he may obtain from the woman I a sum for a railroad ticket. At any rate, f in a day or so the applicant receives a j telegram, apparently from the Western I firm, cancelling the engagement. I Much the time is the dressmaking I fake. Girls are promised that after a I few lessons in dressmaking a certain I "firm" will buy all their output. They I pay so much for instruction and receive I three r four circular lessons. Then they " buy material at a premium and that is j the last they hear from the "firm " , From tjme to time the United Slates J Pool Office Inspectors make a raid on a number of these bogus firms, but a ne crop of fakirs soon springs up. Unci publicity is always given to the raids in ;the newspapers, but the women do not seem to learn from the sad experiences of their sisters. Whenever possible the fake firms avoid using the mails, for it is difficult to long evade the postal hv VVMMWVVUVUUWVWVVM |