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Show WAR SWINDLERS ARE NUMEROUS Paris Officials Conduct Exhaustive Ex-haustive Inquiry Into Methods Meth-ods of Charitable i Organizations. LARGE SUMS COLLECTED Two "Philantropists," Destitute Desti-tute Before War, Now Living Liv-ing in Style of Millionaires. Mil-lionaires. Paris, April 26. 5:15 a. ra. An exhaustive ex-haustive inquiry conducted by the judicial ju-dicial authorities of Paris as the result re-sult of c omplaints made by the public pub-lic has revealed, the Matin aays, that out of 147 charitable organizations formed since the war began, 76 are swindles. Thirty-five of them are reported to be conducted by men who were released from prison Just before or after mobilization Two of these ' philanthropists." in particular, attracted the attention of the Investigators. While they were destitute when the war began they now have handsome town and country coun-try residences, and automobiles, and are the hosts at sumptuous dinners. The receipts of their "charities" are said never to have fallen below 2000 francs ( $400 a day since they began onerations in September. 1 German and Austrian Exploiters. I It al6o has been discovered, accord- I ing to the Matin, that among these exploiters of the public are several j Germans and Austrians who were successful suc-cessful in gaining their release from concentration camps. M Magistrate Pacliot, who conducted the Inquiry, in bis report divides these j fraudulent enterprises into two class- JM es. The first Is described as purely commercial although operating under the cloak of charity Not only Is cash solicited, but the gift of articles of various kinds under the pretense that the articles will he sold and the entire en-tire proceeds distributed among the wounded, the sick and the refugees. The humblest of these organizations, it is said, nets at least 500 francs ($100) daily ' The second class send out collectors collec-tors who are given thirty per cent of what they get as a commission. Some of these collectors are said to have admitted making from 100 to 150 francs ($20 to $30 a day. Most of these "charities" have succeeded in obtaining the patronage of prominent promi-nent persons through misrepresentation misrepresenta-tion The persons thus secured have greatly facilitated the work of rais-Ing rais-Ing funds. Prosecutions will be begun, the Matin Ma-tin says, as the result of the investi- j gation. |