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Show FORTUNES MADE WITHOUT EFFORT Profits of Stockholders in Mail-Order Mail-Order Houses Stagger the Imagination. CUSTOMERS SUPPLY CAPITAL One Man Makes More Than $250,000 on $25,000 Investment in Nine Years Hundreds Like Hi Him. (Copyright.) There is one way to make money by dealing with the mail-order houses but it isn't by buying goods from them. The man who thinks he is making money by buying his goods from mailorder mail-order houses has only to read of the amazing profits made by some of these big corporations to realize that all the money Is being made by the man ou the other end of the deal. The stockholder in a big mail-order concern toils not and neither does he spin, but he piles up his money so fast that it makes the ordinary man's head swim to read about it. Here is the experience of the stockholder in one of the large mail-order concerns, as told by a reliable financial journal. It gives a glimpse into the inside workings work-ings of the mail-order business that should be of Interest to those who have made such things possible. How the Game Works. In 1908 this man bought 600 shares of stock In the mail-order corporation in question when the stock was selling around $-10 a share, the 600 shares costing him a little less than $25,000. In 1911 the company declared a stock dividend of 33 1-3 per cent. In other words the company after paying cash dividends regularly, had accumulated a surplus profit of one-third of the amount of capital Invested in the business; but instead of distributing this profit among the stockholders the company kept the money In the business busi-ness and issued stock for that amount to the stockholders. By this action 200 more shares of stock were Issued 'o the man who had originally bought 600, increasing his holdings to 800 shares, without his having put any more money into the business. Another stock dividend of 50 per cent was declared in 1915 and this added 400 shares more to his holdings, giving him 1,200 shares in all. A third stock dividend of 25 per cent was paid early in 1917, bringing this man's stock holdings up to 1,500 shares, still without his having paid in any more money. On this 1,500 shares of stock cash dividends of $8 a share are now-being now-being paid. This investor therefore Is now receiving .$12,000 a year from his original Investment of about $25,-000, $25,-000, and as the stock is now worth around $160 a share, the present market mar-ket value of Ills stock is $240,000, giving giv-ing him a profit of $215,000, in addition addi-tion to cash dividends which he received re-ceived during nine years, amounting to many more thousands of dollars. Only One of Hundreds. This is the story of just one small stockholder In one mull-order concern. A profit of more than $215,000 made iiy one small stockholder in nine years on an investment of less than $25,000! It reads like fiction but It is financial history. There are hundreds of other stockholders in this and other mailorder mail-order corporations, some of whom have made millions while this man made thousands. Add the profits of nil these stockholders together and the result is a sum that staggers the imagination.. imag-ination.. Small wonder that the men who nwn the stock of the big mall-order houses can live In palaces, ride in the highest-priced highest-priced automobiles, own palatini private pri-vate yachts and buy $100,000 paintings. paint-ings. But who has furnished the money to pay for the palaces and the nutomobiles and the yachts and the; $100,000 paintings? The people In the country and the small towns who have kept an endless stream of money (lowing (low-ing Into the coffers of the mail-order houses have made all this possible. Their millions of dollars have gone to the big cities to build up these great! concerns. Their millions of dollars have provided the automobiles and yachts and oilier luxuries for the stockholders in these corporal ions. Present From Mail-Order Buyers. These men who have idled up such big fortunes in the mail-order business busi-ness have not even had to pay for much of the stock from which they are now drawing princely dividends. The people In the country and the small towns, generous souls, have bought It for them. This is shown in the case of the stockholder Just mentioned, who originally Invested. The generous mail-order buyers have made him a present of $215,000 worth of stock and he has not luid to turn his bund over to get it. He has never even had to so much as write a letter to get It. The generous mail-order buyers have handed It to him ou a golden platter. There's money In the mail-order business without a doubt, but Its mi the side of the man who does the selling sell-ing and not the one who does the buying. If you must do business with the mail-order hoiis, buy some of Its stock and let the fellow in the next town buy you automobiles and private : yachts while lie struggles with the hard times that come from draining his town of the cash that goes to keep you in luxury. |