1912. 
THE RTJRAL NEW -VORKER 
■41 
OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY. 
The first thought that came to me 
when reading the last E. G. Lewis 
scheme was that he was preparing to set 
up a plea of insanity for defense in his 
approaching criminal trial on indict¬ 
ments recently filed against him for al¬ 
leged fraudulent use of the mails. He 
is, he says, about to assume all the old 
obligations, amounting to eight or ten 
million dollars, and pay them all off 
through the profits made by the women 
of his League selling subscriptions to 
papers, beauty powders, and other goods 
which he is to supply. He wants them 
to send in their paper junk in the form 
of notes and stocks, and certificates and 
receipts; and he will issue some brand 
new papers in place of them once more. 
But once more, too, they must send 
some more brand new money—10 cents 
for each paper, large or small. That 
does not seem like much money, does 
it? But, dear madam, it would amount to 
more than many prosperous farmers are 
ever able to save in a lifetime. If all 
the papers issued were sent in it would 
probably amount to something between 
thirty and fifty thousand dollars. Cer¬ 
tainly junk paper cannot be called worth¬ 
less when it can be made to produce such 
a revenue. We have watched schemes of 
many kinds and proportions, but really 
have never before known a promoter to 
pursue his victims to this extent When 
we got to the 10-cent feature we aban¬ 
doned the insanity theory. In our home 
we have three babies completely mes¬ 
merized with the stories of Santa Claus. 
The older girls were cautioned not to 
tax their credulity too much. “Oh,” was 
the reply,- “they are so full of it you 
can tell them anything.” So it was. They 
questioned nothing. It is just possible 
that Lewis has been furnishing his read¬ 
ers confidence dope so long that some of 
them, like the babies, question nothing and 
that he can “tell them anything,” but it 
is hard to believe that he can induce 
any sensible person to believe that he 
is sincere in a promise to refund eight 
or ten millions lost money through the 
commissions on sales of subscriptions 
and merchandise. 
But aside from the worthless papers 
Lewis is making a bid for the mortgage 
notes which have some cash value. 
These notes with the total of dimes 
wanted make a snug little fortune in 
itself, if he should succeed in getting 
them. He got the old bank stock six 
years ago in the same way. He admits 
now that the paper he gave for it is 
worthless. The note holders will be 
wise if they insist on getting their share 
direct from the receiver, and others may 
as well save their dimes. 
After the old bank failure he got on 
his own testimony $1,400,000 for Lewis 
Publishing Company stock, and $700,000 
on his trustee notes, and he promptly 
voted himself a salary of $25,000 a year. 
He collected $2,416,383 from women on 
the League scheme, the Readers’ Pool 
scheme contributed probably $250,000; 
and the World’s Fair lottery scheme 
$200,000. It is estimated that he got 
$2,500,000 on secured and unsecured 
notes sold to country people, and he 
represented himself that he got about 
$1,500,000 on debentures. On the Peo¬ 
ple’s Savings Trust Company he re¬ 
ceived more than $1,000,000, and $700,- 
000 from the Development & Improve¬ 
ment Company; nearly $11,000,000 all 
told. 
Accounting for these millions was al¬ 
ways promised, but the creditors never 
knew where the money went. But with 
all this money bulging his pockets Mr. 
Lewis defaulted on both interest and 
principal to the people who sent it to 
him, and repudiated their claims when 
they matured. But his fellow-conspira¬ 
tors and cronies at St. Louis fared bet¬ 
ter. They have no cause of complaint. 
One after another of them went before 
the Congressional committee last month 
and testified that they had lost nothing 
in the Lewis schemes. When th$y 
wanted cash, Lewis sprung a new scheme 
on his country friends and got the 
money to repay his St. Louis friends. 
Some of them testified he took back 
worthless stock and paid them in full 
with interest. We have copies of letters 
written him at the same time by country 
women begging him to return a little 
of their money to save their children 
from disease and hunger, but he turned 
a deaf ear to them. They never got a 
cent. Yet at this very time he was 
squandering money lavishly to aggran¬ 
dize himself at St. Louis. When poor men 
who had sent him their all—the savings 
of a lifetime—felt the forewarnings of 
death, and wrote him with trembling 
hands to return enough to ease the neces¬ 
sities of a few declining days, he refused 
to even reply to the appeals; but paid 
nearly a hundred thousand dollars for 
the control of a St. Louis daily paper 
to pose as a big publisher. It is re¬ 
ported that he dropped a half million 
besides in operating it. More money 
was spent to convert a swamp into a 
beautiful landscape garden and lawns, 
and to build a palatial residence for 
himself, furnished, as the reporters tell 
us, with the costliest furniture and bric- 
a-brac and in taste to fit the fancy and 
luxury of a king. Automobiles carried 
himself and his friends from place to 
place, and liveried attendants waited on 
liis call at every turn. Money came 
easy, and as usual went easy. The men 
whose palms he tickled now testify to 
his honesty—to them—and to the good 
he did St. Louis—with country money. 
All the time of his high rolling he kept 
many old creditors quiet by exchanging 
one worthless piece of paper for an¬ 
other, and crediting up profits on memo¬ 
randum books, and went on gathering 
cash from new and old victims alike. 
Those who had no stomach for further 
jolly and confidence dope were ignored 
Now as a last resort, after years of 
neglect and jolly and fake, with the last 
dollar gone, and a criminal indictment 
hanging over his head, he again utilizes 
these neglected and repudiated papers 
in the hope of squeezing a last dime 
out of oft-deluded creditors. In the 
effort he marshals all of his old cun¬ 
ning. They must be all in by a fixed 
date. Back dues must be paid up, and 
it will not do to keep the secured notes 
that may pay something. The good 
must go with the bad, and all others 
will be abandoned. When the date is 
up, time will be extended to rope in a 
few more who hesitate, and all the fake 
tricks resorted to in order to allure 
the last dime from confiding or hopeful 
victims. 
MILK PRODUCERS LOSE AGAIN. 
The Dairy Products Company, which 
has been referred to in these columns 
many times during the past year or two, 
went into the hands of Matthew C. Flem¬ 
ing as receiver on January 3d. Definite 
statements of assets and liabilities have 
not yet been made up, but it is estimated 
that the concern owes farmers about 
$90,000 for milk. The purpose of Re¬ 
ceiver Fleming is to continue the busi¬ 
ness for a time so as to preserve its 
value as a going concern. If obliged to 
close up at once losses would be still 
greater, as the plants and equipments 
would be worth little if stripped of the 
business. Farmers will be sure of pay¬ 
ment for milk delivered since January 
3d, and from now on, as all the assets 
of the company will be available for 
these bills. At first thought producers, 
disgusted with the situation, might feel 
inclined to stop further deliveries, but 
this would not be wise in the present 
situation. Nothing could be gained now 
by doing so, and much would be lost if 
all patrons of the company did stoo ship¬ 
ments. The thing now is to get the most 
possible out of the situation. In any 
event the creditors at each station should 
hold a meeting and appoint some good 
business man or lawyer to represent 
their claims. Then if they can interest 
other companies in the local plant, the 
creditors will be in a position to nego¬ 
tiate through their spokesman. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Max Blanck and Isaac 
Harris wore acquitted December 27 in New 
York of the charge of manslaughter which 
was brought against them after the fire on 
March 25 last in the Triangle Waist Com¬ 
pany factory, of which they were the pro¬ 
prietors. One hundred and forty-six per¬ 
sons lost their lives in - the fire. Blanck 
and Harris were put on trial before Judge 
Crain in General Sessions on December 4. 
There are six other indictments against 
them charging manslaughter. District At¬ 
torney Whitman said that he did not know 
whether they would be brought to trial on 
any of the other indictments. The in¬ 
dictment on which Blanck and Harris were 
acquitted charged them with manslaughter 
in the first and second degrees. The first 
degree charge alleged that they had caused 
the death of Margaret Schwartz -while en¬ 
gaged in the commission of a misdemeanor, 
the misdemeanor being a violation of the 
section of the labor law which requires 
that factory doors be kept unlocked during 
working hours. The charge of manslaugh¬ 
ter in the second degree did not imply 
necessarily any violation of the labor law 
but required that the jury find the defend¬ 
ants guilty of culpable negligence. The 
other indictments against Blanck and Har¬ 
ris are similar in form but are based on 
the death of other girls whose bodies were 
found near the Washington place door on 
the ninth floor, which the prosecution con¬ 
tended was locked. 
Letters signed “Night Riders” have been 
received by W. L. Venner, the local Illinois 
Central Railroad agent at Marion, Ivy., or¬ 
dering him to see that no more cars are 
sidetracked for the removal of tobacco 
which has been purchased by independent 
tobacco buyers. The life of the agent is 
threatened in every letter which he has re¬ 
ceived. R. H. Kemp, an independent to¬ 
bacco buyer, has been threatened several 
times and has employed guards to watch 
his home. He has continued the delivery 
of the tobacco he has purchased. Farmers 
who are delivering tobacco are prepared for 
trouble with night riders. 
Prayers for the honor of the city and the 
soul of Mayor Harrison were offered in 
hundreds of Chicago churches at the mid¬ 
week meetings December 26-27. This is the 
result of the Mayor’s avowed determination 
not to interfere with the New Year’s or¬ 
gies, which have come to be considered by 
many an alarming menace to the city. 
Reports from many points in the Pan 
Handle and western Texas. December 28, 
tell of cattle losses due to the blizzard 
which has swept these parts of the State. 
Thousands of cattle have died, and if the 
snow does not disappear within a few days 
so the cattle can get to the grass under¬ 
neath the losses will be very heavy. Ranch¬ 
men are not prepared to feed the live stock. 
E. H. Gary, chairman of the board of 
the United States Steel Corporation, and 
P. A. Valentine, formerly treasurer for 
Armour & Co., figured December 27 in the 
triaF of the 10 Chicago packers charged 
with violation of the Sherman anti-trust 
law. The names of the two financiers 
came out when Pierce Butler, assistant to 
the Attorney-General, questioned Albert H. 
Vecder regarding contract No. 7, which 
provided for a loan of $15,000,000 in the 
formation of the National Packing Com¬ 
pany. The reading of the agreement 
showed that Mr. Gary was to take over 
all the assets of the packers in considera¬ 
tion for the loan. Mr. Valentine signed the 
agreement in behalf of J. Ogden Armour. 
The old pool of packers, it developed, was 
known only as “P. O. Box 247.” Mr. 
Veeder testified he knew of no name for 
the association, but it was said that “P. O. 
Box 247” was the mysterious name under 
which the pool worked. The merger of the 
following plants by the Chicago packers, he 
said, became known later as the National 
Packing Company : United Dressed Beef 
Company of New York, purchased June 10, 
1902. by the Morris interests. Fowler 
Packing Company, purchased June 11. 1902, 
by the Swift interests. Hammond Packing 
Company, purchased June 11. 1902, by the 
Armour interests. Omaha Packing Com¬ 
pany, purchased June 13, 1902, by the 
Armour interests. St. Louis Dressed Beef 
and Provision Company, purchased .Tune 2, 
1902, by the Morris interests. Veeder was 
asked why the Chicago packers did not take . 
over the Schwarzschikl & Sulzberger busi¬ 
ness in November. 1902, as contemplated. 
Mr. Veeder explained that the $500,000,000 
merger of the packers was in progress, but 
that the financial strain of 1903 prevented 
the promoters from securing a loan of $90,- 
000.000 from New York bankers to carry 
the deal through. 
George Cooper and August Theron, both 
of South Bay, a village near Utica. N. Y„ 
were rescued December 29 after having 
been marooned on Frenchman’s Island in 
Oneida Lake two days. The men were ex¬ 
hausted when rescued, having had nothing 
to eat but raw muskrat during the preced¬ 
ing 48 hours. They reached the island on 
a hunting expedition. A blizzard followed 
and then the lake froze, not hard enough 
to walk on, but so as to prevent their leav¬ 
ing in the boat. Rescuers chopped their 
way to the island, a mile and a half. 
The so-called money trust, the Atlantic 
shipping trust and the Harvester trust will 
be investigated by a single committee of 
seven members of the House, according to 
the latest plans of the Democratic leaders. 
The International Harvester Company is 
already under investigation by the Depart¬ 
ment of Justice and negotiations are in 
progress for its voluntary dissolution. 
Chairman Henry of the House Rules Com¬ 
mittee said December 29 that his commit¬ 
tee would recommend an investigation of 
these three trusts by a single committee. 
The House undoubtedly will agree to the 
proposition. It is proposed that the com¬ 
mittee shall have wide powers. 
Richard S. Patterson, a grain dealer of 
Wilkesbarre, Pa., who says lie has been 
boycotted and blacklisted, signed papers 
January 1 in a suit against the Corn Ex¬ 
change of Buffalo and 52 milling concerns, 
brokerage firm and others of Buffalo and 
vicinity. United States Attorney-General 
Wickersham has directed that there shall 
be a hearing of the case before the United 
States Circuit Court for the Western Dis¬ 
trict of New York, in Buffalo, January 4. 
Fatterson asks $150,000 damages. He says 
that he has been engaged for several years 
in buying grain in Buffalo. He now says 
that the 53 defendants conspired to ruin 
his business, that he was blacklisted on the 
Buffalo Corn Exchange and as he cannot 
buy there now his business suffers because 
he must buy at more distant points. 
The village of Tupper Lake,. N. Y.. a 
thriving Adirondack lumber community, 
was nearly wiped out December 30 by a 
fire that raged several hours, destroying a 
number of buildings and causing a loss of 
approximately $100,000. The temperature 
was 15 degrees below zero and the extreme 
cold handicapped the firemen in their ef¬ 
forts to subdue the blaze. 
Supreme Court Justice Pendleton of New 
York signed an order January 2 sustaining 
a writ of habeas corpus obtained by Joseph 
F. Darling, a lawyer who got himself 
arrested for keeping a revolver in his house 
in order to test the Sullivan anti-weapon 
law. The District Attorney will appeal the 
case. Justice Pendleton held that the 
Legislature didn’t intend that the law 
should apply to householders having wea¬ 
pons for the defence of their homes. 
In w r hat they believe to be the first prose¬ 
cution instituted by the Government under 
the Sherman anti trust law against a labor 
union, and charging restraint of trade, three 
officials of railway unions, whose men are 
on strike on the Hardman lines. December 
29 were ordered to appear in the Federal 
Court at Danville, ill,, on January 1. The 
officials are M. F. Ryan, general president 
of the Railway Carmen of America: J. A. 
Franklin, international president of the 
Brotherhood of Boilermakers, and A. Ilinz- 
man, its vice-president. The summons was 
issued at the order of Federal Judge Wright 
and is approved by Edward D. White, Chief 
Justice of the United States Supreme 
Court. The original order was directed 
against the International Association of 
Machinists and its president, James O. Con¬ 
nell, of Washington, D. C., and was brought 
by the Illinois Central Railway. The 
heads of other striking unions are also 
mentioned in the summons. 
Thirty persons were made homeless, two 
were injured, and property worth $200,000 
was destroyed by a fire which threatened 
at times to wipe out whole blocks in a 
thickly populated section of Halifax, N. S., 
December 29-30. Two hundred sailors from 
the Canadian cruiser Niobe and a detail of 
troops from the garrison assisted the com¬ 
bined fire departments of Halifax and 
Dartmouth. With the temperature at zero, 
firemen, sailors and soldiers worked hard 
to prevent further destruction. 
January 2 intense cold and blizzards ex¬ 
tended over much of the Northwest. 
Southern and eastern Colorado reported 15 
to 32 degrees below zero; Minneapolis, 
Minn., 19 below; Grand Forks, N. I)., was 
32 degrees below. It was 28 degrees below 
at Moorhead, Minn., Devil’s Lake, N. D., 
and Winnipeg, Canada. The mercury fell 
20 degrees in five hours at Blosburg, Mont. 
Three feet of snow have fallen at Lookout, 
the summit of the Northern Pacific Line in 
the Bitter Root Range, Mont. Range cattle 
are suffering greatly, the snow covering the 
pastures. 
The Federal Government has denied the 
formal requests made by Germany, Aus¬ 
tria-Hungary, Norway, Sweden arid Den¬ 
mark for the free admission into the 
United States of wood pulp, print paper 
and paper board made from wood pulp cut 
on unrestricted lands. Requests were made 
by these nations under the most favored 
nation clauses of their respective conven¬ 
tions with this Government. They de¬ 
manded the same concessions in regard to 
wood pulp and print papers as Canada now 
enjoys under the Canadian reciprocity act 
which became effective in this country so 
far as these items are concerned on July 1 
last. In rendering this decision the Treas¬ 
ury Department purposely opens the way 
for importers who are now paying the duty 
under protest to bring a test case before 
the Board of Generai Appraisers in New 
York which may be carried to the United 
States Court of Customs Appeals. Several 
bills are already pending in Congress to 
repeal the Canadian reciprocity act, but a 
decision by the Customs Court holding that 
it was not the intention of Congress to 
have the wood pulp provision of the reci¬ 
procity act effective unless Canada herself 
accepted the entire act will remove all 
troublesome features so far as the Govern¬ 
ment’s relations with European nations are 
concerned. The situation that has grown 
out of the wood pulp provision in the 
Canadian reciprocity law has already re¬ 
sulted in trade discriminations by Germany 
against this country. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—Little is known 
officially in Washington concerning the 
cattle raising project being started in 
Brazil by a group of American and Cana¬ 
dian stockmen. The State Department has 
not been asked to lend any assistance In 
the establishment of the concern in Brazil. 
Informally, however, officials of the Bureau 
of Trade Relations were aware that such 
an undertaking was being contemplated. 
The name of Murtagh McKenzie, a well- 
known cattleman of Colorado, is associated 
with the concern by Washington officials. 
According to the understanding here, a 
group of New York financial houses has 
agreed to finance the project. Just who is 
supplying the necessary money, however, is 
not known here. The company is reported 
to have arranged for the acquisition of 
9.000,000 acres of grazing land in North 
Brazil. The claim is made that it will be¬ 
come the largest cattle raising project in 
the world. It is the plan to engage wholly 
in the export trade to Europe. Mr. Mc¬ 
Kenzie, it is said here, intended to go to 
Brazil in January, 1912, to take charge as 
superintendent of operations. 
At a recent meeting of the Illinois State 
Horticultural Society, held at Champaign, 
a committee was appointed to obtain funds 
for the protection of orchards and nurser¬ 
ies from San .Tosfi scale. The members of 
the committee are W. A. Aldrich, W. S. Per- 
rine and J. C. B. Heaton. 
Government Crop Report. 
The final report, issued December 18, 
gives the corn yield of the United States 
ris: 2,531.488.000 bushels, from 105,825,000 
acres; wheat of all kinds, 621,338,000 
bushels, from 49,543,000 acres. The yield 
of oats, which exceeded wheat by 300,000,- 
000 bushels, was 922,298,000 bushels, acre¬ 
age, 37.763,000. Rye is a comparatively 
small crop. 33,119.000 bushels, on 2,097,000 
acres. Barley yielded 160.240,000 bushels, 
acreage, 7.627,000; buckwheat, 833,000 
acres, 17.549.000 bushels: rice, 696,000 
acres, 22,934,000 bushels ; linseed, 2,757,000 
acres, 19.370.000 bushels. The hay crop 
was the highest in six years, 47,444,000 
tons, from an area of 43,017.000 acres. 
This is nearly 25 per cent less than last 
year’s crop. There were 1,012,000 acres In 
tobacco, yielding 905,109,000 pounds. The 
potato area was about 100.000 acres less 
than last year and the yield 46,000,000 
bushels less, or 292,737,000 bushels. 
December was a record-breaker for open 
weather; some of the days seemed like In¬ 
dian Summer. There has been a large 
amount of Fall plowing done, also ditching, 
and general repair work on the farm. A 
good many are having wells driven with 
good results. Stock is doing well consid¬ 
ering the open weather; many are saving 
the high-priced hay and feeding coarse 
fodder. Very little stock is being fattened. 
Wheat, 92 cents; oats, 50 cents; barley, 
$1.15; corn, 70; potatoes, 90; hay, $20; 
veal, eight cents; pork. 5%; lambs, 5% 5 
beans, red marrows, $2.25; red kidneys, 
$2.50; butter, 32 cents; eggs, 32; chickens, 
10 ; turkeys, 20. E. T. b. 
Canandaigua, N. Y. 
In the extreme southwest corner of the 
Buckeye State the first four months of 1911 
were wet and cold, March 16 being rather 
the coldest of the season, killing most of 
the peaches on high ground. All other 
fruits, however, were above the average. 
May, .Tune and July were unusually hot and 
dry. Irish potatoes were a very poor crop; 
wheat and rye unusually heavy and per¬ 
fect grain; Timothy a very poor crop. 
Since the first of August we have had rain 
every few days and very little work was 
done in fields as it should have been done. 
A considerable quantity of potatoes wese 
under December 27; rain yesterday and 
snow to-day, so I guess we will not lack 
moisture for some time to come. Corn was 
a grand crop, but much of it rotted on 
the cob owing to wet weather; thousands 
of tons crow-foot grass hay was spoiled by 
the rainy weather, and both hay and straw 
are higher than I have ever known them to 
be at this season of the year, l. f. 
Cincinnati, O. 
