104 ^* 
THIS RURAL 
NEW-YORKER 
November 5, 
PUBLISHERS DESK 
OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY. 
Playing the Game with It. 
When E. G. Lewis, St. Louis, Mo., or¬ 
ganized his American Woman’s League 
he promised that University Heights 
should become the property of the 
League. Mortgages have since been re¬ 
corded against it, in some cases appar¬ 
ently three deep. Recently under his 
plan to raise about three million dollars 
from the members of the League on his 
debenture plan of issuing notes of a 
straw-man in exchange for cash, he 
promised that this property should be¬ 
come an asset of the Builder’s Fund, or 
straw-man, which was to issue the notes. 
We now find in the announcement in 
his own papers and the press generally 
that University Heights has been sold 
to a syndicate, and the property was ad¬ 
vertised to be auctioned off in parcels 
October 15) to 26 by the speculator who 
got possession of it. Whether there was 
a genuine sale to the land promoters, or 
whether the promoter was simply used 
as an agent to dispose of the land in the 
interest of Mr. Lewis or others, we do 
not know, but the nature of the whole 
matter would seem to indicate that there 
was some reason for the suspicion that 
the sale was a matter of necessity. Re¬ 
cently Mr. Lewis has made the statement 
that he would be able to sell real estate 
only at a sacrifice, and probably at about 
half of its real value. He prevailed on 
the members of the League to furnish 
money in exchange for debentures or 
notes with the assurance that the land 
could then be held for the increase in 
value and the better opportunity for 
sales. Mr. Lewis is continuing to urge 
women to loan him money on these 
notes. Can it be said, now that part of 
the property is sold, that he has kept 
faith with the subscribers to the deben¬ 
tures? If this property was turned into 
the Builder’s Fund or straw man as an 
asset as security for the notes, how 
could Lewis dispose of them? Can’t 
the women see that Mr. Lewis is ac¬ 
cepting their money and issuing notes 
on promises that are entirely ignored 
by Mr. Lewis after the money is re¬ 
ceived? In any event, what becomes of 
the original promise to the members of 
the League that the property should be¬ 
long to them, or to the debenture hold¬ 
ers that it would be an asset of the fund? 
Again, when Mr. Lewis organized the 
League he promised that the League 
would own not only the real estate but 
the Lewis Publishing Company and the 
People's Trust Company. Later, when 
the membership began to lag, he forgot 
his promise to the League as a whole, 
and organized what he called the Found¬ 
er’s Chapter of the first 100,000 members 
of the League, and to this chapter he 
promised an endowment of a million 
dollars of the stock of the Publishing 
Company and a million dollars of the 
stock of the Trust Company. He prom¬ 
ised these women that the stock of each 
of these companies would pay a dividend 
of 100 per cent the first year and many 
times that amount the following years, 
and that these dividends were to be paid 
semi-annually for life to the 100,000 
members of the Founder’s Chapter. 
In his debenture scheme, issued last 
Summer, he changed all this and prom¬ 
ised all of the real estate and all of the 
stock of every description whatever 
would become the property of the Build¬ 
er’s Fund as security for the debentures, 
and the members of the Founder’s 
Chapter were to receive a $20 note in 
lieu of the semi-annual dividend of sev¬ 
eral hundred dollars for the rest of their 
lives. During this time he represented 
that the Lewis Publishing Company was 
one of the largest and most prosperous 
publishing enterprises in the world; that 
its monthly publications had hundreds 
of thousands of circulation, and that it 
was prospering beyond his fondest hopes, 
and would soon be paying 100 per cent 
dividends. 
In a recent statement, however, lie in¬ 
forms us that the monthly publications 
were to his publishing company what a 
case of appendicitis is to the human 
body; then he goes on in a page article 
to explain how and why the monthly 
publications were not paying but losing- 
money from month to month, and he has 
had another dream and concluded to 
cut them all out, so that now the only 
publication he will have after January 
first will be the Woman’s National 
Daily, which bears no indications that 
we can see of a prosperous publication. 
It serves, however, as an advertising 
circular or a medium of communication 
between Mr. Lewis and the people to 
whom he expects to sell the debentures 
or notes, and in that way raise the 
money to keep his other schemes going. 
There is nothing in Mr. Lewis’s ex¬ 
planation to indicate that the Post Office 
Department insists that a publication 
must have a legitimate list of subscrip¬ 
tions in order to entitle it to the privil¬ 
eges of the United States mails at pound 
rates, so that everyone is left to form his 
own conclusions as to the reasons of 
the discontinuing of the monthly publi¬ 
cations which he recently boasted had 
circulations of hundreds of thousands 
and formed part of a prosperous publish¬ 
ing business. 
Ordinarily whether Mr. Lewis contin¬ 
ued his monthly publications or discon¬ 
tinued them would be a matter of in¬ 
difference to our subscribers and con¬ 
sequently to us, but it must be remem¬ 
bered that Mr. Lewis owes our people 
something like $20,000 which we have 
been trying to collect for them. Not 
only that, but he has been trying to raise 
three million of dollars on notes. He 
states now that the monthlies were run 
at an expense of $5,000 a day, and ad¬ 
mits that the Daily is still run at an 
expense of about $1500 a day. In view 
of all of the circumstances it seems our 
duty to tell our people just what the 
circumstances are, and let them form 
their own conclusions as to the value of 
the debentures or 10-year notes of the 
straw-man under Mr. Lewis’s control. 
The Government requires when the 
subscriptions of one paper are turned 
into another and the paper sent through 
the mail that the subscribers have the 
privilege of accepting tne new paper or 
demanding their cash returned. Mr. 
Lewis is complying with this require¬ 
ment, so that those who have subscribed 
for his other papers need not accept the 
Daily unless they wish to do so, and 
may demand the return of their cash for 
the unexpired term. Also the women 
who have sent him money for subscrip¬ 
tion certificates which were applicable to 
his monthly papers, and who yet hold 
those certificates, may make demand of 
Mr. Lewis for a return of the cash, and 
he would we think be under the obliga¬ 
tion of returning it under the rules of 
the Postal Department. If the Daily 
should later be discontinued or refused 
second class mail privileges, subscribers 
could hardly expect the return of the 
money in view of the fact that Mr. 
Lewis is now allowing his notes to go 
unpaid. 
An involuntary petition in bankruptcy 
lias been filed against the Ferris Milk & 
Cream Co., 511 West 36th street, New 
York City, on petition of J. H. Jones 
Corporation and others, in the sum of 
$6,76S. Producers of milk will no doubt 
file the heaviest claims. 
If you are invited to buy stock in the 
United Insurance Company, an Arizona 
corporation with an office at 100 William 
street, New York City, take your time 
about it and send to State Superintend¬ 
ent of Insurance Hotchkiss, Albany, 
N. Y., for a report on the company. In 
a report recently issued it is stated that 
it has so far cost the company $2.42 for 
every dollar’s worth of stock sold in this 
State. It seems to have done no other 
business in the State. 
On February 4, 1905, I advanced the 
United States Coaster Construction Com¬ 
pany. of Toledo, Ohio, .$100 for one share 
of stock in the above named company. On 
December 19, 1905, I received $12 divi¬ 
dend on above investment, since which time 
I have not been able to obtain anything 
from the company, as they claim if. is in 
the hands of a receiver. Can you do any¬ 
thing or inform me from the above state¬ 
ment? g. v. c. 
West Virginia. 
The company has been in the hands of 
a receiver, and there is absolutely noth¬ 
ing we or anyone else can do now to get 
the money back. Often when concerns 
are selling stock, they pay dividends for 
the purpose of inducing the old stock¬ 
holders to buy more, and to induce their 
friends to buy. When such dividends 
have not been earned, the directors may 
be sued by a stockholder for the amount 
of the dividend and forced to pay the 
amount distributed back to the company'. 
The directors would also be liable to 
criminal prosecution in some of the 
States. But few holders of small blocks 
of stock can afford to go into law about 
them, and the guilty directors escape 
for that reason. 
The affairs of the People’s Mutual 
Life Association, of Syracuse, N. Y., are 
now being liquidated by the State Su¬ 
perintendent of Insurance. The maid 
who brought in our breakfast one morn¬ 
ing last week exhibited with great satis¬ 
faction a check for 60 per cent of the 
money she had actually paid in during 
the several years she had been paying 
in monthly premiums. She, was prom¬ 
ised two dollars at the end of five years 
for every dollar paid in. Now’ she is 
glad to get back 60 cents. It is pos¬ 
sible that she will get another small 
dividend later, but not all she paid in. 
Under the old rule of liquidating such 
institutions through the courts and a re¬ 
ceiver, the member would probably not 
have received a cent. The then Lieu¬ 
tenant-Governor White acted as attorney 
for this association last year, when it 
was attempted to turn the assets over 
to a syndicate through a promoter. 
There was some juggling of $50,000 be¬ 
tween Syracuse and Canada. The report 
of the investigation was most indefinite; 
but Mr. White was to have a $20,000 
fee and the directors a liberal allowance. 
The president of the Syracuse bank 
which handled the $50,000 died suddenly, 
and Lieut.-Gov. White resigned from 
the board of directors. He has not since 
figured as a candidate for the nomina¬ 
tion for Governor of the State of New 
York. 
Women chiefly were induced to pass out 
money in return for spiritual advice. The 
letters produced in court showed that. One 
woman insisted in a note that a few hours 
daily spent in reading the correspondence 
of “Mystic No. 12“ had driven the blem¬ 
ishes from her face. Others wrote of other 
afflictions which had been dispelled by the 
spiritual epistles. But that evidence was 
brought in merely as a side issue, the 
point of importance being that alongside 
the letters of “Mystic No. 12" in the maga¬ 
zine appeared the following notice as an 
advertisement: 
‘“He that loveth Providence, lovetli and 
helpeth his brother all he can. This is the 
vitalizing principle of a pure, sweet, pow¬ 
erful and blissful life here, now and for¬ 
ever. What simpler or easier way can the 
reader or subscriber of our magazine em¬ 
ploy in doing good than by subscribing for 
shares of our magazine V” 
Persons who did subscribe, the prosecu¬ 
tion said, lost their money. Several wit¬ 
nesses were on hand to bear out that 
Mrs. C. Melven, of Webster Grove, St. Louis, 
testified she paid $100 for shares on a prom¬ 
ise from Ellis her money would earn 10 per 
cent yearly. It didn't. The magazine stock, 
Dorr said, was sold concurrently with Kor- 
nit, and both were worthless. Dorr read 
several advertisements from the magazine, 
one of which said : 
“Who has done this? Who has aided iu 
bringing health and prosperity to all man¬ 
kind? This gentleman, this publisher and 
financier is Mr. Charles E. Ellis, president 
of this magazine corporation. President 
Ellis's wealth easily would foot up to 
$1,000,000 or more if he should care to sell 
out and withdraw from his valuable pub¬ 
lishing business. But he is not that sort 
of a man. lie is a worker. He is one of 
the most successful business men in New 
York or iu the United States.” 
The ad also said Ellis did not want 
money so much as the co-operation of sub¬ 
scribers, and that “thousands of souls have 
been lifted out of the slough of despondency 
by powerful vibrations of our co-operation 
with our co-operatives, our co-partners, our 
co-workers and our shareholders. 
The above is taken from a news re¬ 
port of the trial of C. E. Ellis and E. R. 
Graves on a charge of conspiracy to de¬ 
fraud by use of the mails in selling 
worthless stocks of Kornit Co. and in 
the “Magazine of Mysteries.” The meth¬ 
ods of making the sales were similar lo 
those employed by E. G. Lewis to sell 
U. S. Fiber Stopper Co. stock, and Lewis 
Publishing Company stock. The Fiber 
stock was of exactly the same worthless 
character as the Kornit stock. They 
were both based on undeveloped patents, 
and sold under big promises. j. j. d. 
RICHLAND FARMS, Frederick, Md. 
S. C. WHITELEGHORNS 
WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCKS 
S. C. BLACK ORPINGTONS 
Now is the time to place your order for 
HATCHING EGGS and BAY OLI) CHICKS 
Six hundred and sixty-two acres devoted to the three 
breeds. All breeding stock have free range. No orders 
too small or too large. 
BREEDERS FOR SALE 
MT. PLEASANT FARM LEGHORNS 
SEASON OF 1911 
We are now booking advance orders for 
Hatching Eggs Day-Old Chicks 
On Oct. 15th we had chicks engaged for Spring 
delivery up to half our capacity. Hatching eggs 
for commercial plants a specialty, 250 acres de¬ 
voted to breeding the best S. (J. W. Leghorns. 
MT. PLEASANT FARM, Box Y, Havre de Grace, Md. 
Free Poultry Catalogue 
EAST DONEGAL POULTRY YARDS MARIETTA PA. 
R. C: Rhode island Reds and Indian Runner 
nnpl/q—Strong, vigorous strains for utility, show 
i:.. _ 0 and export. All stock sold on approval. 
SINCLAIR SMITH, 602 Fifth Street, Brooklyn, New York. 
5,000 S. C. WHITE LEGHORN 
Yearling hens, pullets and cockerels. Bred for eggs- 
American Poultry Plant, Collins, Ohio. 
THE FARMER’S FOWL— Rose Comb Reds, best winter 
layers on earth. Kggs, $1.00 per 15. Catalogue 
free. TITOS. WILDER, Route 1, Richland, N. Y. 
S. C. WHITE LEGHORNS 
I’uro bred, pure white S. C. Leghorn Cockerels. 
Carefully raised. Personal attention given each 
customer. Prices upon application. 
J. L. LEE. Carmel, New York. 
KEAN’S WHITE WYANDOTTES 
are bred for heavy laying, heavy weight and vigor. 
CHOICE COCKKKKLS for sale at $2.50 each for 
immediate shipment. Write for further descrip¬ 
tions. Address E. FRANKLIN KEAN, STANLEY, N. Y. 
0 Kind, Famous Lakewood Strain, Young and old 
stock cor sale: Hatching eggs for early delivery. 
SUNNY HILL FARM, Flemineton, New Jersey. 
LIGHT BRAHMA? 
B. P. Bocks. White P. 
Bocks, Col. Wyandottes, 
Black Minorcas, $0 and $8 a trio. Fine Birds. 
J. A. BOBEBT8, Malvern, Pa. 
S. C. WHITE LEGHORNS 
A number of very choice April hatched Cockerels 
for breeding. Prices right for quality. 
WHITE & KICK, Yorktown, New York. 
FOR SALE. 
100 Single Comb White Leghorn Cockerels at $1 
each. Blanchard strain. 
J.SCHNEIDEB, R. F. D., Port Jervis, New York. 
THE 
PCI CRDATCn HUNGARIAN AND ENGLISH 
ULLLDiiH I CU PARTRIDGES and pheasants 
Wild turkeys, quails, rabbits, deer, etc., for stock¬ 
ing purposes. Fancy pheasants, peafowl, cranes, 
swans, storks, ornamental geese and ducks, foxes, 
squirrels, ferrets, and all kinds of birds and ani¬ 
mals. WBNZ & MACKENSEN, Dept. 10. Pheas- 
antry and Game Park, Yardley, Pa. 
IMPERIAL PEKIN DRAKES in any quantity at 
and SINGLE COMB WHITE bargain prices 
LEGHORN COCKERELS Joultry* farm! 
New Rochelle, N.Y. 
INDIAN RUNNER DUCKLINGS— from 200-egg strain—$1.00 
I and $2.00 each. C. GOUDON, Sprakers, N. Y. 
White Holland Turkeys 
PC BE BRED—PRIZE WINNEB8. 
MRS. A. L. SPINK, Route C. WATERTOWN, N. Y. 
TWO Bags of 
Poultry Feed for 
the Price of ONE 
25c 
One 25c bag Purina] 
Chicken Chowder 
One 25c bag Purina( 
Scratch Feed 
(A Trial Offer only. Not more than 
two bags to a person. Offer limited 
to people living east of the Rockies.) 
Col. Purina’s Offer: 
I want you to thoroughly test Purina Chicken Chowder, a 
perfect mash for laying hens. It is the natural egg producing 
feed, containing just the ingredients that are found in an egg. 
It’s clean and pure and is properly propor¬ 
tioned for producing the most eggs. When 
used in connection with Purina Scratch 
Feed, it will produce more egga than any 
other feed in the world and I can prove it 
to you with your hens. 
I guarantee to increase your eggs 
or return your money 
That’s a bold statement and I couldn’t make 
it if didn’t have the best feed in the country 
—the feed that will make your hens lay 
more eggs. 
Wrap a quarter in a piece of paper (or send 
stamps) and mail it to us today, with your 
dealer’s name, and I will ship, through your 
dealer, two 25c bags of Purina Poultry 
Feed, freight prepaid. If you fail to get 
more eggs, the feed will not cost you a 
penny. You have nothing to lose and 
everything to gain. The offer ia limited, 
so mail the coupon today. 
Col. Purina % Ralston Purina Mills, 
St. Louis, Mo. 
PURINA CHICKEN 
CHOWDER 
| Ralston Purina Co., St. Louis, Mo. | 
Please sendme one25cbag 
Purina Chicken Chowder 
and one 25c bag Purina 
Scratch (Feed on a more 
eggs or money back guar¬ 
antee. 
Inclosed Is 25c—I want my 
hens to lay more eggs. 
Your 
Name __ 
St. 
No_ 
Town 
Sta te_ 
Dealers 
Name _ 
You can join with three of 
your neighbors, making a club 
of four, and send one dollar for 
eightbags for the priceof four. 
Offer limited—mail today. 13 
