1286 
Tht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 30, 1919 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
All letters to Publisher’s Desk depart¬ 
ment must be signed with writer’s full 
name and address given. Many inquiries 
are answered by mail instead of printing 
inquiry and answer, hence unsigned let¬ 
ters receive no consideration. 
The following controversy is based 
upon an order, of which we give verbatim 
copy: 
Oberland Poultry Farm. Lakewood. N. 
J.: Herewith find $3. for which kindly 
send to me your best specimens of baby 
chicks, of the Oberland strain, and 
Oblige. HORACE COLLINS. 
Maywood. N. J. 
In filling this order the proprietor of 
the poultry farm selected seven chicks, 
one for good measure, from pedigree hens 
to fill the order. The purchaser expected 
to receive 12, as this poultry farm had 
advertised Barred Rock chicks at 25 cents 
each. This was very natural: but the 
advertisement did not include the chicks 
from pedigree stock. Thus far the trans¬ 
action amounts to a misunderstanding be¬ 
tween the two parties. The seller, after 
some correspondence, returned the $3. 
asking that the chicks be returned. This 
H. C’. refuses to do. but sent another re¬ 
mittance at 25 cents each for the chicks. 
Nothing in the circumstances justifies H. 
C. in this position—he is merely putting 
his own price on another man's property, 
and if the amount involved were suffi¬ 
cient to warrant it the Oberland Poultry 
Farm could by legal process recover his 
property. We have many times criticised 
poultrymen for taking advantage of 
buyers—in this transaction the case is 
reversed, and we are equally free to give 
the public the benefit of the details. 
Enclosed find some literature just 
received from Customers' Association, 
Windsor, Ontario, Canada, with branches 
in Chicago, etc. The prices quoted are 
so far below what we have been paying 
that the temptation to try it is great, 
but I have concluded to submit the mat¬ 
ter to you before I join. Sugar at $6.50 
per 100. while the wholesale market 
quotes $9. etc. rev. e. f. s. 
New York. 
The plan of the Customers’ Association 
combines the old membership scheme 
which has been worn threadbare, and the 
fake scheme employed by a number of 
Chicago concerns offering sugar at a price 
considerably below the marker in com¬ 
bination with other groceries. The loss 
on the sugar plus a profit is made up on 
the cheap groceries which you must take 
to get the sugar. All such deceptive 
methods invariably prove a delusion and 
and a snare. 
Please read enclosed, and publish for 
the benefit of possible would-be suckers. 
Your 520-per cent Millers and other get- 
rich-quick artiste are pikers and far too 
slow. Life is too short to get rich at 
their rate. They ought to come out here 
where the breezes blow and learn some 
things from our Western artists. Our 
friend John D. can’t be on to liis job. as 
he only accumulated about one billion 
during his life in the oil business. 
Arizona. C. E. 
The circular letter accompanying the 
above is from the Texas Oil Exchange. 
El Paso. Texas. Like all the oil pro¬ 
motions all investors are to become mil¬ 
lionaires over night. The old trick of 
an arbitrary advancing in price of the 
stock is resorted to in order to make the 
prospect believe that he is being offered 
an ’’exceptional opportunity." Such 
schemes do offer the investor an excep¬ 
tional opportunity to lose his money. The 
subject of oil promotion schemes is worn 
threadbare in these columns, and yet the 
promoters continue to reap a harvest. 
.T. D. Cattle of 134 Water Street. Bath. 
Me., bought two cases of eggs from us. 
amounting to $27.60. which we have been 
unable to collect. B. F. 
Maine. 
Add this name to the list of parties to 
be avoided. 
Can you collect my claim against the 
Fnited Food and Fur Association? I did 
not read your warning to the R. N.-Y. 
readers until after I had bought my stock 
of them. I bought $25 worth of Belgian 
hares from them. They were to send me 
good healthy, thoroughbred stock. 10 
months old, and the stuff they sent me 
was small, off colored (with white 
spots) and scrubby, too. They weighed, 
boxed for shipment, just 26 lbs. (one buck 
and 3 does). I entered my complaint and 
they told me to send them to another ad¬ 
dress, which I did. Now they offer to 
send me some more stock, but I don’t 
want any more of it. All I want is my 
$25. Will you please try to collect it for 
me ? ' 6. F. H. 
New York. 
We are unable to collect this claim. 
The United Food and Fur Association has 
no established financial responsibility. On 
the letterhead of the association is printed 
"We Guarantee Satisfaction,’’ but when 
we ask them to refund the subscriber’s 
money the association refuses to do it. 
The very name is a fake—there is no 
such ‘‘association’’ in fact, only some in¬ 
dividual doing business under this name, 
buying pet stock wherever he can get it 
and then selling it for purebred. There 
are a number of these pet stock jockeys 
fleecing the public at the present time, 
and our purpose in publishing the above 
letter is to warn our readers against this 
class of dealers generally, as well as the 
United Food and Fur Co. in particular. 
Could you give me any information 
about the “Midwest and Gulf Co.", an oil 
development company, as regards its rat¬ 
ing and reliability? Main office is at 
Scranton. Pa. c. d, h. 
New York. 
We cau find no record of Midwest and 
Gulf Co. of Scranton. We are naturally 
suspicions of promotions emanating from 
Scranton because of the skyrocket career 
of J. M. Foster in connection with va¬ 
rious investment propositions. We are 
advised that there is no market for the 
stock of this company in Scranton. 
The It. N.-Y. is an extra good farm 
paper. The Publisher’s Desk column is 
worth the price of the paper, and is of 
particular interest to people of other 
lines, as well as to farmers. This we 
always read first. Y'ou saved us $100 we 
were about to be swindled out of in your 
city a few years ago. and we have been 
your subscribers ever since. w. L. C. 
Virginia. 
There are two kinds of swindlers: 
First, those who just take the money or 
goods and let you whistle. They used 
to get away with it because their victims 
had no practical redress. The individual 
farmer had no practical means of reach¬ 
ing a swindler in another State, or eveu 
in a distant part of his own State. It is 
easy enough to reach such cases with 
publicity, and when the offender has prop¬ 
erty, or even trade, it is not hard to com¬ 
pel restitution in most cases. 
The other class of swindlers approach 
the intended victim as a friend or bene¬ 
factor. They appeal to his pride, or 
charity, or patriotism, or cupidity. Posing 
as friends or benefactors, they actually 
make accomplices of their victims. The 
deluded investor in a hopeless enterprise 
clings to the straw and hopes against 
hope that others may share his folly to 
an extent that will somehow help himself. 
Hence he resents any publicity, or in¬ 
fluence that will protect others from tin- 
losses he has himself incurred. He does 
not realize that the promoter of the 
scheme will pocket the contributions of 
the new victim as he did the old ones. 
These bad losers are not general. They 
are not more than a small minority of 
the gullible, but they are noisy enough 
to appear larger, and the more gullible 
they are, of course the greater their re¬ 
sentment at any attempt to stop rhe 
swindle. The great majority of people 
are honest themselves, and are willing 
to make sacrifices in order to correct 
abuses. But in any case it i- harder to 
circumvent this class of evil-doers than 
the open, defiant rogue. 
The task in either case is attended with 
discouragements and danger. The libel 
law is framed to favor the culprit, and 
it is only through sense of fairness of 
juries that a publisher iu many cases 
escapes hardship of laws intended to safe¬ 
guard personal right and liberty, but 
which iu many cases favor the swindler. 
No paper without a strong personal back¬ 
ing of its subscribers could pursue the 
policy of exposures. Few do it more than 
generally and occasionally in special flag¬ 
rant cases. Those who have attempted 
it as a regular feature either drop it or 
make it so feeble as to be ineffective. 
No other paper that we know has for 
long continued a policy that both invites 
and merits the hatred of all knaves. 
"Judge, would you advise a young man 
to go into political life if he saw an open¬ 
ing?’’ “Yes, if he was sure of not getting 
himself into a hole."—Baltimore Ameri¬ 
can. 
The City 
Conveniences That Hold 
Families Together 
T HE humblest city homes are well-lighted and have 
gas for cooking. You have earned the right to these 
conveniences. You certainly ought to have them for 
your family. 
Up-to-date homes like this one have the things that 
make life worth-while. The Colt Lighting and Cooking 
Plant stands in the corner of the cellar, cow-barn, or 
outhouse. Occupies no more room than a couple of 
apple barrels. Lights the house aud barns. Does the 
cooking, too. No other lighting plant does that. Nothing 
to get out of order. No skill or experience required 
to operate — it’s automatic, 
homes the 
In over 250,000- country 
Carbide Lighting i 
OUT 
TRADE 
and Cooking Plant 
MARK 
ia preferred to all other systems. Is by far the most efficient and 
economical. As far as light goes, none can compare with it. Write 
us for names and addresses of neighbors w ho have used them for 
years and eau tell you all about them. 
J. B. COLT COMPANY, 288 Fourth Ave., N. Y. City 
15 
KEEP LIVESTOCK HEALTHY 
BY USING 
Kreso Dip No. 1 
(STANDARDIZED) 
Easy to use; efficient; economical: kills 
parasites; prevents disease. 
Write for free booklets on the Care of 
Livestock and Poultry. 
ANIMAL INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT OF 
PARKE, DAVIS & CO. 
DETROIT, MICH. 
SILOS 
BUY NOW AND GET EARLY 
SHIPPING AND CASH DISCOUNTS 
AN EXTENSION ROOF 
that is really practical for fun 
Silo. Adjustable door fra in e 
with ladder combined. Many 
other features in Catalogue. 
AGENTS WANTED who Can Sell 
and can devote jonie time to the 
business. We guarantee satis¬ 
faction. Write 
GLOBE SILO CO. 
2-12 Willow St., SIONEY, N Y 
four •ize/'JK 
-3 to 30 
tons per hour N v ' 
capacity (3J4 
to 20 H. P. Gas 
Engine.) 
Skid or Wheal Mount- 
ing— Plain or Travel- 
Feed Table. 
SILO FILLERS 
The Machine of Qualify, Safety 
and Durability. Now is the 
time to order that Silo Filler 
and the Whirlwind, with its 
Overhead Self Feed, 
uniformly distributed 
Aa weight and extreme 
simplicity cannot 
be surpassed for 
ease of opera¬ 
tion, quality of 
work and 
length of 
service. 
WILDER-STRONG 
IMPLEMENT CO. 
Box 53 
Monroe, Michigan 
