428 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



United States; a movement to be deprecated and delayed in the inter- 

 est of a higher plane of culture and comfort for the working classes, 

 if it cannot be Avholly averted. 



FRAUDS UPON FARMERS. 



Dishonesty is not content, in these greedful days, to manufacture 

 decei^tive wares or sell adulterated goods. It leaves its accustomed 

 city haunts, goes among the green fields in the pure air of the coun- 

 try, and seeks victims among the farmers. It does more : seeks to 

 develop dishonesty among the moral weaklings of the farming class. 



Twenty-five million people, living in comparative isolation, indus- 

 trious and prosperous, present tempting inducements to men who 

 live on the fruits of the labor of others, which have been improved 

 for years by many sharpers; and the agricultural press has exposed 

 the tricks and frauds attempted, preventing much loss, without eradi- 

 cating the evil. 



These dishonest schemes take protean forms, and appear in mani- 

 fold guise and disguise. They appeal to the farmer's ambition, econ- 

 omy, and cupidity. They offer, now a machine, labor-saving and effect- 

 ive; again, a variety of fruit tree or plant of marvelous productive- 

 ness and phenomenal quality. They excite his fears of law and 

 damages for infringement of some patent, and arouse the lurking 

 devil of greed in some artfully presented and speciously arrayed 

 scheme of dishonest gain. There is an opportunity for fraud in the 

 supply of all goods and chattels required on the farm. Trees, plants, 

 fertilizers, farm implements, household furniture, lightning-rods, 

 books, and crop returns even, are made the opportunity and medium 

 of fraudulent commerce. A prime necessity is the signature of the 

 farmer, and the most ingenious means are taken to obtain it. An 

 order, a receipt, is made to serve the purpose of a promissory note. 

 A favorite ruse is to induce him to act as agent for the sale of some 

 article of farm machinery, leave with him some specimens, taking a 

 receipt for them in such form that, either with or without change, it 

 can be used as a note for the money represented in the goods. Orders 

 for subscription books, in some instances for the revised New Testa- 

 ment, have been converted into notes, which are sold to bank or 

 broker — assumed to be an "innocent" third party — and promptly 

 collected. Another device is the appearance of the sharper as a 

 pretended agent of a bible or tract society, or of some charitable in- 

 stitution, at dinner-time, when he accepts an invitation to dine on the 

 sole condition that he may be permitted to pay for his meal, accord- 

 ing to the strict requirement oi his society. He takes a receipt in a 

 form which he carries to subserve his artful purpose, which returns 

 to the farmer as a promissory note for any sum which the scoundrel 

 sees fit to fill the blank with. 



It would be easy to present many pages of these artifices. If all 

 could be exposed, and every farmer made acquainted with them, the 

 ingenuity of swindlers would devise others of a character equally 

 vile. A few will suffice, and if they shall put their intended victims 

 " on their guard."' and prevent their dealing with strangers or giving 

 their signatures in such form as may admit of fraudulent use, the 

 purpose of this article will have been subserved. 



A lightning-rod agent agrees to put up lightning-rods about a house 

 for $5, and presents a bill for $105 — $100 for the rods and $5 for put- 

 ting them up. The collection of royalties on some patented article 



