646 
THE RURAb NEW-YORKER 
May 3, 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
A verdict of guilty was returned Friday 
by a jury in the United States district 
court in the case of Herbert Myrick, presi¬ 
dent, and Janies M. Cunningham, subscrip¬ 
tion manager, of the Orange Judd North¬ 
west Farmstead, a paper published in 
Springfield. They were Charged in two in¬ 
dictments with conspiracy to defraud the 
United States Post Office Department by 
submitting alleged false statements regard¬ 
ing the subscription lists of their publica¬ 
tion. One indictment accused them of hav¬ 
ing submitted to Postmaster Louis C. Hyde 
of Springfield, in applying for second-class 
postage privileges, a statement that the 
subscription list of the Farmstead was 41,- 
273. The Government alleged it was 2(5,- 
(510. The indictment further claimed that 
Myrick and Cunningham stated that they 
had paid commissions of 33 1-3 per cent, 
to agents securing subscriptions, while the 
Government alleges that from 50 to 95 per 
cent, was paid them. 
The second indictment charged that the 
defendants conspired to defraud the Post 
Office Department by stating that six copies 
of a certain edition of their paper in Jan¬ 
uary, 1911, had been sent to persons whose 
subscriptions had been paid by others. The 
Government maintained that 6.408 copies 
were delivered. The defendants’ attorney 
asked for a suspension of sentence for 30 
days to file a bill of exceptions. The 
maximum penalty under the new law is 
two years’ imprisonment or $10,000 fine, or 
both.—Boston Herald. 
After Mr. Myrick bought the Minne¬ 
sota and Dakota Fanner in the latter 
part of 1910 he changed the name to 
the Orange Judd Northwest Farmstead 
and moved the publishing of it to Spring- 
held, Mass. Under the law he was 
obliged to make application to the post¬ 
master for the privilege of mailing it at 
Springfield at second-class rates. The 
law compels the government to carry 
publications to legitimate subscribers at 
the rate of one cent a pound. The rate 
to others than legitimate subscribers is 
one cent for every four ounces. The 
postal laws and regulations define what 
classes of publications are entitled to 
second class mail privileges and the in¬ 
formation on which the privilege is 
granted is furnished by the publisher 
under oath, or it may be developed 
through investigation by the officials. 
The law makes it a crime for the pub¬ 
lisher to falsify the information, be¬ 
cause the officials must rely in many 
cases on the publisher’s statement in 
granting the application. 
After Mr. Myrick made the applica¬ 
tion to mail 41,273 papers weekly he 
announced a circulation of 100,000, and 
established an advertising rate based on 
100,000 circulation. He sold advertising 
space on this basis and collected the 
money for it. The government, how¬ 
ever, was not satisfied as to the facts 
and began an investigation, requiring 
Mr. Myrick in the meantime to deposit 
the transient rate of four cents per 
pound for all mailings. It seems front 
the testimony that the government found 
only 26,610 legitimate subscribers. Mr. 
Myrick was advised of the finding and 
was given an opportunity to correct it 
if he did not agree with the finding. 
He had a hearing before Third Assist¬ 
ant Postmaster Britt in Washington, 
but produced no evidence to change the 
result of the official investigation. The 
government allowed the second-class 
privilege on the legitimate subscriptions 
and returned the extra deposit on them, 
but retained the transient postage on all 
papers mailed above the legitimate num¬ 
ber. On this state of affairs it was an¬ 
nounced in city papers through the As¬ 
sociated Press dispatches that Myrick 
made Uncle Sam back down. But many 
of the advertisers refused to accept the 
dispatches as final. They had paid their 
money on a guarantee of 100,000 legiti¬ 
mate subscribers. The evidence showed 
they did not get the service as repre¬ 
sented, and they demanded a return ot 
an equitable portion of their money. 
They got it. 
Mr. Myrick bought the paper from its 
former owners under agreement to pay 
$40,000. Pending adjustment they con¬ 
sented to accept stock in a new $1,000,- 
000 company to be formed by Mr. My¬ 
rick, but the stock was to be guaranteed 
by the Orange Judd Company of New 
York, another Myrick company, and re¬ 
deemable on six months’ notice. One of 
the holders filed the notice and de¬ 
manded his money. Mr. Myrick refused 
payment and repudiated the guarantee 
on the part of the Orange Judd Com¬ 
pany. A suit followed. The stockhold¬ 
er won, but the case was appealed and 
before the decision was handed down 
by the upper court the case was settled, 
the old owners agreeing to accept $32,- 
000. Shortly afterwards the decision 
was reported against Mr. Myrick. 
After this the business was reincor¬ 
porated in a $500,000 company. This 
gave every $100 share of stock a value 
in assets of $6.40 on the basis of the 
settlement. At the original price it would 
l ave cost $8. This stock was sold to 
the farmers who read Mr. Myrick’s 
papers at par. It was guaranteed by one 
of the Myrick companies for five years, 
and was advertised in bill poster style, 
big type and red ink, as a great invest¬ 
ment. Every farmer who paid $100 for 
that stock got in return what cost Mr. 
Myrick $6.40. The greater the confi¬ 
dence placed in Mr. Myrick by farmers 
because of his relation as publisher and 
editor, the surer they would be to in¬ 
vest their savings in his stock. Selling 
gold bricks to strangers is not a praise¬ 
worthy enterprise, but it is fairly re¬ 
spectable compared with the betrayal of 
a trust to bunco a confiding friend. 
For a long time Mr. Myrick succeeded 
in steering his publishing schemes in a 
narrower gauge between fake and legiti¬ 
mate transactions than other publishers 
who went into promotion schemes. He 
bought up run-down publications with 
good reputations and brought to his 
employ the service of some worthy and 
capable young men. Clothed with these 
elements of respectability and propelled 
by Mr. Myrick’s tireless energy and 
matchless versatility, his enterprises were 
for a time liberally patronized and his 
schemes escaped serious criticism; but 
of late, eithqr from boldness or neces¬ 
sity, he seems to have abandoned cau¬ 
tion, and through failure to appreciate 
changing sentiment has invited the 
criticism of the progressive and legiti¬ 
mate publishers of the country and 
finally provoked this criminal prosecu¬ 
tion of the Federal Government. 
Pasted on tlie wall of the Now York. 
New Haven & Hartford Railway station at 
Merwinsville, Conn., is a clipping' from a 
local paper stating that a Norwalk man 
purchased eggs, guaranteed as strictly fresh 
eggs, in the latter part of February, pay¬ 
ing 50 cents per dozen. He found each 
eggs stamped with the name and address of 
a Tennessee farmer. lie wrote this farmer 
inquiring when the eggs were sold and 
what price was received for them. The 
reply was that they were sold early in 
December and the Tennessee farmer had 
received 17 cents per dozen for them. 
New York. K. 
This is one of the ways consumers 
have been learning the reasons for the 
high cost of living. If for no other 
reason than this it would pay producers 
to mark their goods or put some adver¬ 
tising matter in each shipment. The 
name and address of the producer should 
always be given. When put on the pack¬ 
age only the commission men usually 
efface it before the goods are sold. A 
card or small circular might be put on 
the inside of the package. 
Can you tell me about the Central New 
York Oxygenator Co., Union Building, Syra¬ 
cuse, N. Y. ? Is their treatment reliable 
and what they claim for it? M. J. F. 
New York. 
The Oxygenator is an instrument that 
makes a claim of invigorating the body 
by means of electricity, and because of 
its greater power of causing the body to 
absorb oxygen cures diseases of the 
human body. There are several forms 
of them put up under slightly different 
names, but all practically making the 
same claims. The instrument has been 
examined by expert scientists and physi¬ 
cians, but the reports are that the in¬ 
strument creates no electric current 
whatever, and that it is of no possible 
value in the treatment of diseases. The 
cost of the instrument is usually $35, 
and the money is always a complete loss. 
Ralph M. Jacoby, who for 15 years con¬ 
ducted an “investment brokerage” business 
at 40 Wall Street, New York, was found 
guilty of using the mails to defraud. Jac¬ 
oby represented he was able to sell stocks 
and bonds of new corporations launched 
with his assistance. He required an ad¬ 
vanced fee of $200 to $300, and after rend¬ 
ering trifling services made no effort to ful¬ 
fill' his promises. It was said he made 
$250,000 in this way.—Daily Press. 
We are not burdened with sympathy 
for the people who lost on Jacoby’s 
schemes. His proposition was to sell 
stock that had no definite value. The 
people who bought it would lose their 
savings and Jacoby and the men he 
schemed with would divide the proceeds. 
Men who conspire to cheat others need 
look for little sympathy from us when 
the losses fall on themselves. 
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Building Papers 
If NEPonsET Waterproof 
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Are you going to build? Write for valuable information about modern ways to waterproof 
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1 
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Our Latest Save - The - Horse 
KOOK is our 17 Years Discov¬ 
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This BOOK-Sample Contract and Adviee-AT-L 
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SAVE- 
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P A MV AQ — Wagon Covers, Stack Covers. Duck at 
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A GENTS WANTED —To sell Fanners’ Account Book. 
Easy seller. Homo territory. Big inducements. 
Address. A. F. NAYLOR, 943 Main St., Ft. Wayno, Ind. 
HAY CAPS 
Stack, wagon and implement covers; 
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cloth, tents, etc. Circulars, samples. 
HENRY DERBY 
453 Y St. Paul’s Ave., Jersey City, N. J 
Yoi»kStateFai»ms for Sale 
Fruit, dairy and garden. Exception¬ 
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name of FARM BROKERS' ASSOCIATION OF 
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Address Slate Farm Brokers' Association, 
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Free Bulletin just issued. 
The Children’s Aid Society 
sirous of knowing the whereabouts of THOMAS LEAP 
or THOMAS McCARTY. fifteen years old, was last heard 
of in January, 1013, when he was working forGeorge 
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A Clean Dairy Bam 
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W J. E. PORTER CO., Ottawa, Ill. 
Your remittance for $1.80 for two coops 
lost by U. S. Express received. Permit me 
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ing same and trust that I may be able to 
do you a turn some day. j. g. 
Pennsylvania. 
^ A claim was entered with the United 
States Express Company on September 
18, 1911, for two crates returned by a 
commission house, charges prepaid. The 
crates had been lost in transit and re¬ 
ceipts turned over to the express com¬ 
pany, who mislaid them and arbitrarily 
declined the claim because we were un¬ 
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insistent following up finally resulted in 
voucher for $1.80, one year, 10 months 
and eight days after shipment. 
J- J. d. 
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