430 REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



in certain connties in Wisconsin and New York as much as ten years 

 ago, but the swindle does not appear to have taken root in those 

 localities. In its more recent development it is reported on good 

 authority to have been imported from Canada about the year 1880 

 and planted in Northern Ohio, where it soon attained a particularly- 

 vigorous growth. It was early exposed, driven to western, to central, 

 and southern counties, and it soon spread through portions of Indi- 

 ana and Michigan, and eastwardly into Pennsylvania and New 

 York. During five years it has made its way into every Western 

 State, and made local incursions southward into Kentucky and Ten- 

 nessee, and is beginning to be heard of in the extreme East. 



Correspondents report the attempt, in some form, to sell this grain 

 at exorbitant rates in 25 States, and the ]>resence of the agents of the 

 organized swindle in 18. Ohio is the center of the infection, reports 

 having been received from 45 counties. Indiana makes return of 

 operations in 24 counties; from Michigan come reports from 16 coun- 

 ties, mostly in the southern part of the State, most of them among 

 the richest and most populous, and from 10 counties in different parts 

 of Illinois. In Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa agents have ap- 

 peared at fewer points, and only an occasional foray has as yet been 

 made into Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Dakota, on the west, and 

 Into Kentucky and Tennessee southward. Agents have apj)eared in 

 several counties in Western New York (10 are reported) and in Penn- 

 sylvania, and a few in West Virginia. One is reported in New Lon- 

 don, Conn., and one in Waldo, Me. Altogether, there are 130 coun- 

 ties where this fraud is reported, and it is possible, and indeed prob- 

 able, that a complete report would reveal its existence in 200 counties. 



The mode of operating has been exposed so thoroughly and in so 

 many places that it would seem superfluous to describe it, and yet 

 the returns show that it is entirely unknown in many districts, es- 

 pecially in the South, which may soon be invaded by an army of 

 depredators. 



A person representing himself as the agent of some distant com- 

 pany appears m the neighborhood and proposes to organize a com- 

 pany or association of farmers for the growth and sale of this grain. 

 He strives at the outset to draw into this enterprise some man whose 

 name will have weight and influence with others to be approached, 

 thus inspiring conficlence in his scheme and averting that critical in- 

 vestigation which would inevitably be fatal to its success. The com- 

 pany being formed, it is organized under the local laws. 



The members of this association are to monopolize for a year or 

 two at least the production. The grain is furnished, generally in 

 quantities of not less than 10 bushels to any one member, at $10 per 

 bushel, for which the farmer gives his note, payable, with interest, in 

 twelve months. He might hesitate, fearing his inability to reimburse 

 himself for this outlay by the sale of the produce of this seed, but 

 the agent's scheme is reassuring; he olf ers, on behalf of his company, 

 "a bond." in which it agrees to sell (but not to buy) twice the quan- 

 tity of oats purchased, at $10 per bushel, less 25 per cent, commission, 

 on or before a certain date, usually a month prior to the date at which 

 the note matures. Thus, if he gives his credit for $100, he expects 

 to receive $200, minus $50 as commission, and thus makes $50 clear 

 before the payment of a dollar. In fact, however, he gets a note 

 which runs another year before collection. 



The sale is not limited to 10 bushels, though the agent is careful to 

 convey an idea of limitation in quantity and in number of purchas- 



