970 
•Che RURAL N E W-Y O R K E R 
August 10, 1918 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
The old adage that “A leopard doesn't 
change his spots” is well illustrated in 
the career of George Graham llice, who 
was arrested by the Federal authorities 
oil July 29 on the charge of using the 
mails to defraud in connection with his 
stockbrokerage business. The particu¬ 
lar complaint causing the arrest alleges 
that .$720 was sent to Rice by an Ohio 
customer for the purchase of stock, and 
Rice appropriated the money to his own 
use. Rice’s history as revealed in the 
daily press shows that his father had 
him committed to the Elmira Reforma¬ 
tory when 19 years of age as incorrigible. 
Three years after his release from Elmira 
he was convicted of swindling and sen¬ 
tenced to five years in Sing Sing. Ilis 
father’s name was Herzig. but since 
emerging from Sing Sing he has been 
known as George Graham Rice. He 
afterward turned his attention to pro¬ 
moting mining stocks of a shady charac¬ 
ter, and in 1930 pleaded guilty to a 
charge of using the mails to defraud and 
served one year on Rlackwell’s Island. 
This is therefore the third time the 
authorities have been obliged in the in¬ 
terest of the public to step in and inter¬ 
fere with his quest of easy money. It 
has been our experience that it is about 
as easy to cure these easy-money artists 
as to reform a sheep-killing dog—the only 
way with the dog is to hang him. 
Here is something on the line of safe 
and sane investment (?) that may inter¬ 
est some of your I’eaders. I am impatient 
to invest in such a sure thing as this ap¬ 
pears to be—on paper. You might return 
the literature after you have digested it 
as I’d like it as a curiosity. w. p. w. 
Maine. 
The enclosures are letters from the 
Metropolitan Securities Company offering 
stock in the Consumers’ Oil & Shale C’om- 
pany; the exact location is not given. 
It is proposed to extract oil from shale 
rook found in the northwestern part of 
Colorado. This stock is being offered at 
five cents per share, and is rejiresentcd 
to pay 12 per cent annually. We do not 
know whether the shale rock of Colorado 
contains oil or not or, if so, whether it 
is possible to extract it in a commercial 
way. If the company has such bright 
prospects ns represented in the Metro¬ 
politan Securities’ literature and is pay¬ 
ing 12 per cent dividends, we think the 
promoters should hold on to the stock. 
It is unselfish of them to want to share 
the big profits with the public. The mails 
are filled with these investment schemes, 
and the promoters are no doubt raking in 
large sums of money which the inexperi¬ 
enced investor can ill afford to lose. If 
this money were loaned to the Govern¬ 
ment it would not only help to finance 
the war but also would be a financial 
prop for the investor in time of need. 
Withi refreshing frankness, Redman F. 
Sheridan confwses he is enp^ged on a 
drive to sell High Gi’avity Gil Sales Co. 
stock and as a lure to induce the guileless 
to bite he quickly refers to the sale of a 
lease one-half mile away from the com¬ 
pany’s own leases for .$75,000. Rut it 
happens that this lease is a valuable 
one, owned by legitimate oil developers, 
and any comparison of it with this 
phony oil proposition is a libel on the 
legitimate concern. If the postal authori¬ 
ties will cap Sheridan’s gas it won’t be 
mis.sed by anyone. Ills drive upon inno¬ 
cent investors should be halted at once.— 
Financial World. 
This R. F. Sheridan is the same who 
conducted a stock-brokerage house in 
Chicago before the Illinois Blue Sky law 
interfered with the selling of worthless 
stock certificates to the public. Now 
Sheridan sends out the same variety of 
investment dope from Kentucky that he 
formerly ground out in Chicago, and the 
oil proposition gives him a good subject 
on which, to develop his imagination. In 
the July 29th issue the Financial World 
devotes a whole page to the various fake 
oil stock promotions. 
As a well-plea.sed subscriber to The R. 
N.-Y. I enclose an official receipt given 
by an agent of R. E. Edison’s Subscrip¬ 
tion Agency, 1024 Broad St., Newark, 
N. .1., showing that I paid for a three- 
years’ subscription f<tr an illustrat»*d 
journal for the general public December. 
1917, of which up to the present I have 
%iot received a single copy. I have writ¬ 
ten them, only to be altogether ignored. 
Will you look into the matter for me, and 
if they are found to be crooked show them 
up for the benefit of R. N.-Y. readers? 
I wish to say a word for the Publisher’s 
Desk department; it alone has saved 
many times the subscription price to 
scores of its readers, and if all agricul¬ 
tural journals would establish a Publish¬ 
er’s Desk and show up the crooks as you 
do, the producers would all be safer in 
trying to rai.se something for the con¬ 
st! mer.s. j. E. s. 
Georgia. 
Country people should beware of the 
canvassers representing the.se general sub¬ 
scription agents. This R. E. lOdison Sub¬ 
scription Agency has apparently gone out 
of business, if it ever existed. This trans¬ 
action was a palpable, deliberate swindle, 
because the name of no particular publi¬ 
cation was mentioned in the receipt—it 
only calls for “An Illustrated .Tournal.” 
The subscription agent representing that 
he is trying to work his way through 
college is another to be suspicious of un¬ 
less he can show credentials from some 
legitimate publication. 
What is the standing and responsibility 
of Fred W. AVolf, Room 1,217. 200 h’ift'h 
Av., New York City, and the Ice Making 
Refrigerator Co., Chicago, 111.? I enclose 
some of his printe<l m.itter to give you 
an idea of who and wlnit he is. I want 
to know if this “refrigerator” is as rep¬ 
resented? M. c. M. 
Florida. 
Mr. Fred W. Wolf is soliciting sub¬ 
scriptions to the stock of the Ice Making 
Refrigerator Co. at $10 per share. Our 
reports show thiit Mr. Wolf has some 
patents on refrigerator macliinery and 
has quite a substantial bank biilance. 
These facts do not, in our judgment, offer 
any substantial basis on which to consider 
the purchase of stock in Mr. Wolf’s con¬ 
cern. The failure of Mr. Mlolf to furnish 
better information to those whom he 
asks to buy his stock is a pretty good 
reason why it should bo iiassed by. 
I wish to state that today I received a 
check from IMr. Tingle, covering my for¬ 
mer remittance for plants. No comment 
whatever was enclosed, simply the check. 
I had followed out the same plan men¬ 
tioned by you, viz.: advised the Rost Of¬ 
fice Department. It looks as though some 
one took notice. l. t. g. 
New .Tersey. 
Mr. Tingle refunded my money this 
morning, ISth. I wish to thank you for 
your i)art in the matter. I will write 
further later, as I am veiy bu.sy now. 
New .Tersey. a. t. c. 
These acknowledgments of refunds of 
money from Mr. L. G. Tingle, of 1‘itts- 
ville, Md.. give Mr. Tingle credit for the 
rather belated adjustment of these com¬ 
plaints. The adjustments were made sev¬ 
eral months after shipment was sent and 
after many unsuccessful efforts to get any 
response from Mr. Tingle, both by the 
subscribers and ourselves. We wish to 
give Mr. Tingle credit for the adjust¬ 
ments, but the reeoid iu the cases make 
it impossible for us to recommend him 
for the trade of our people iu the future. 
Rittsburg. .Inly 24.—I’erry A. Shanor 
of Philadelphiii. former member of the 
Allegheny (bounty bar and former State 
Grand Master of the Odd Fellows, was 
fined $590 this morning by .Tudge 
W. II. S. Thom.son iu the ITnited States 
District Court for conspiring to defi-aud 
stockholders of the National Hog Com¬ 
pany, which concern up to recently oper¬ 
ated a hog fiirm at Fiuleyville, Washing¬ 
ton County. 
Judge Ashton of Pittsburg, a former 
officer of the National Hog Company, 
was sentenced to 18 months iu the 
Federal prison at Atlanta, Ga, for using 
the mails to defraud. 
Shanor and Ashton were convicted 
sever,-il months ago, but filed a motion 
for a new trial, which was denied by 
Judge Thomson last week. 
The above item closes the National 
Hog Company swindle which was 
branded as such iu this column as soon 
as we heard of the scheme, which was 
promptly after the proposition was 
launched. Ashton and Shauor have had 
several imitators since they started the 
corner of the National Hog Company. 
The scheme was very alluring to those 
who were not familiar with hog breeding, 
its trials and difliculties. The promoters 
made the profits roll up on paper—like 
the proverbial snowball. 
The main thing we have to sell is milk ; 
we got for .Inly “B” milk, $1.17 per 100 
lbs. Potatoes, $1; milch cows, from $100 
to $150. Pork, di'essed, 22c per lb.; 
beans, 12e per lb.; eggs, 40c doz. The 
crops look good; lots of feed. Poor 
weather for haying, and help scarce. 
Herkimer Co., N. Y. j. f. it. 
Tractor Safety 
t'OR twelve years and more, shrewd and 
careful American farmers have kept us 
busy filling their orders for International, Mogul, 
and Titan Kerosene Tractors. In those twelve 
years our tractors have had to meet every possible combina¬ 
tion of field and climate conditions. The types and sizes wo 
sell today are tbe ones that have successfully met every test. 
Any one of them is a safe tractor to buy. 
One great advantage to farmers who buy our tractors is tha 
fact that we can also supply all the implements and machines 
that go with the tractor. We know farm needs. Buying 
from us, you get a complete, well balanced outfit for field or 
belt work. 
Another advantage is our extensive dealer and branch house 
organization. A telephone call to a nearby dealer brings you 
promptly a repair, replacement, or adjustment for any ma¬ 
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Look at it any way you will, you cannot make a safer trac¬ 
tor investment than to buy an International, Mogul or Titan 
kerosene tractor. See our dealer in your town, or write us for 
full information about a safe tractor for your farm. 
International Harvester Company of America 
(Incorporated) 
CHICAGO *.• USA 
ChnmpioD 
Deering 
McCormick 
Milwaukee 
Osborne 
mi^ 
OVERLOADED 
Friction means shorter life for 
horse, harness and axle. 
MICA 
AXLE GREASE 
Stops friction. Makes permanent 
bearing surface. 
Eureka Harness Oil keeps 
old leather good as new. Fills 
the pores of the leather, prevents 
cracking and breaking. 
Standard Oil Company of New York 
Principal Offices 
New York Albany 
Buffab Boaton 
A record for cheap pumping. A 
reliable water supply year after year at 
a cost alrnost unnoticeable. The Eclipse 
Wood Windmill’s superior construction 
and powerful fr.'ime guarantee loner life and 
satisfactory Service. _ Kclipso mills erected 
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When you buy a windmill, figure it on its 
service for years — pot on its first cost. Then 
you 11 decido on the Eclipse with its record for 
many years of cheap, reliable pumping. 
See an Eclipse at your dealer. 
Fairbanks, Morse & Co. 
Chicago, Illinois 
Manufacturers 
BOOKS on all subjects of farming by leading 
authorities are for sale by The Rural New- 
Yorker, 333 West Thirtieth Street, New York 
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I New York State Fair ~ 
I The Big War Fair of The East | 
I Elxhibits By Federal Government | 
I U. S. Soldiers in Realistic Warfare | 
I Farm Tractor Show—40 Acres For Demonstrations | 
Blooded Horses and Cattle—Grand Circuit I 
: Races, Two Horse Shows, Concerts by | 
Military Bands. | 
I You Owe It To YOUR COUNTRY and YOURSELF To Attend I 
I Syracuse, Sept. 9-14 Admission 50c I 
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