402 
Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 21, 1020 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
Requests are beginning to come in for 
a detailed report of the work of Pub¬ 
lisher’s Desk for the year 1919. We are 
glad to see this interest, and take pleasure 
in compiling the record. This past year 
has been the heaviest we have had in the 
number of claims and the amount col¬ 
lected. To do this work, and answer the 
inquiries in regard to various houses, we 
estimate that close to 55,449 letters have 
been written. 
We received 3,049 claims for collection: 
1,417 express claims, amount¬ 
ing to. $25,40S.17 
1,632 miscellaneous claims, 
amounting to ... 22.138.22 
making the total sum.$47,546.39 
sent in for collection. 
We collected: 
2.506 claims aggregating.$44,684.29 
1,439 were express claims, 
amounting to . 22,584.17 
1.067 were miscellaneous 
claims, amounting to. 22,100.12 
The record for 10 years is as follows: 
1910— 400 claims collected.. $ 9,665.45 
1911— 539 
1912— 558 
1913— 743 
1914— 800 
1915— 921 
1916— 1,192 
1917— 1,630 
1918— 2,232 
1919— 2,506 
12.110.63 
10.926 51 
10.112.91 
10.665.50 
13.021.12 
18.131.54 
23.961.21 
37.425.54 
44,684.29 
This makes a total of 11,521 claims 
collected, amounting to $199,704.70. 
We have had so many inquiries from 
subscribers regarding Commonwealth 
Finance Corporation and other similar 
stock companies formed for the purpose 
of financing automobile and motor truck 
purchases that the following from the 
Financial World, in which we fully con¬ 
cur, will prove interesting and instruc¬ 
tive : 
“a garden of mushrooms” 
Additions to the number of concerns 
engaging in the business of making loans 
on motor cars are numerous, but so far as 
we can judge, outside of a few of these en¬ 
terprises they constitute largely those or¬ 
ganized for stock selling purposes. Quite 
a number are the children of the brains of 
salesmen who formerly were associated 
with the Sargent outfit. His success 
with the Commonwealth Finance Com¬ 
pany has inspired these men to go out for 
themselves. When we speak of the Com¬ 
monwealth’s success let us not be misun¬ 
derstood in meaning financially, so far as 
its stockholders are concerned. In this re¬ 
gard they have fared badly, for if they en¬ 
deavored to sell their securities they 
would have to take a big loss. Such loan¬ 
ing companies depend for their financial 
stability on the integrity and stability of 
the collateral accepted for loans. The rev¬ 
elations about the Commonwealth Finance 
Company speak only too plainly of the 
necessity of the investor learning details 
regarding such collateral. It was forced 
to make loans on ventures aside from the 
real object of its business, and how badly 
they turned out the stockholders have been 
informed by the former fiscal agent of the 
company. For all these companies to get 
good collateral for loans will prove ex¬ 
tremely difficult, since they are available 
in the usual credit facilities. When the 
time arrives that the financial stability of 
these concerns must be tested, we are 
afraid a great many of them will be found 
to have been raised like mushrooms and 
are as frail. 
Criterion Food Company, 701 Seventh 
Ave., New York City, is selling, through 
agents, a stock conditioner guaranteeing 
the product to prevent contagious dis¬ 
eases, and issues an “Indemnity Bond” 
with the provision that the product be 
fed continuously for three months in ac¬ 
cordance with directions. The Criterion 
Food Company has no responsibility that 
we are able to find, but the “Indemnity 
Bond” serves as a bait at any rate to de¬ 
lude purchasers into believing that they 
are purchasing insurance against con¬ 
tagious diseases—something that no vet¬ 
erinarian, however skilled he might be, 
would agree to accomplish. Farmers can¬ 
not be too cautious about signing orders 
or contracts with strangers who appear 
representing firms unknown to him. 
I am sending you a circular for the 
Schofield Auto Tractor. It sounds a 
little “get-rich-quick” to me. What is 
your opinion of it? R- K. P. 
Massachusetts. 
We know nothing of the Schofield Auto 
Tractor; but our knowledge of the pro¬ 
motions of Mark Harris, Buffalo, N. Y„ 
warrants us in advising our people not 
to part with their savings on any stock 
promoted by him. Mr. Harris may offer 
the public some sound investments, but 
the many questionable stocks promoted 
by him justify the word of caution. 
I enclose clipping from a Union County 
(Pa.) paper, and you will see that you 
were not wrong in your write-up of the 
National Ilog Raising corporation. You 
had an inquiry in regard to them, and this 
will be the end of the scheme in this 
place. It was about 90 days ago that you 
had them written up in The R. N.-Y. 
Glad to say they did not get any of my 
money. C. A. B. 
Pennsylvania. 
Accompanying the above letter is a no¬ 
tice of sheriff’s sale of the property of the 
National Hog Raising Corporation of 
Lewisburg, Pa. This is the logical end 
of these hog ranch and unit orchard 
schemes. Farmers are not likely to be 
fooled by the claims of big money to be 
made in x-aising hogs— they know it isn’t 
true. As a rule it is city men who see 
riches to be made in farm operations, and 
on the other hand farmei'S are easy vic¬ 
tims of the promoter of worthless oil 
stocks, automobile tire stock, etc. It is 
true that fortunes have been made in 
these lines of business, but the concerns 
that have made fortunes have never ped¬ 
dled their stock around thi-ough agents 
and irresponsible stock brokers. 
Can you tell me whether the Nabob 
Hatcheries & Poultry Co. of Gainbier. 
Ohio, is reliable? They claim they can 
send you either male or female day-old 
chicks. They guarantee an 85 per cent 
selection. MRS. F. 8. 
Pennsylvania. 
We did not find this hatchery reliable 
or worthy of confidence when we printed 
a little advertisement for the concern 
some years ago. The claim to determine 
the sex of day-old chicks only confirms 
our previous experience and impressions 
of this company. 
Enclosed clipping may be of interest 
to you, as you undoubtedly have the gen¬ 
tleman’s (?) name on your “Rogues’ Gal¬ 
lery” list. Bamboozler, not Bomberger, 
Would be a more fitting name for this 
ci’ook. This jail term may not px’oduce 
a change of heart, but we will at least 
know where he is for a few months. 
Pennsylvania. w. P. S. 
We have previously made mention of 
how this man Bomberger swindled Penn¬ 
sylvania farmers, for which he is serving 
a jail sentence. He made his escape from 
jail some time ago, but was quickly cap¬ 
tured, and his original sentence has been 
doubled. As W. P. S. suggests, jail sen¬ 
tences do not cure this class of fakers 
from pursuing easy money schemes. 
Is there such a thing as a smut-proof 
oat or a blight-proof potato? A man rep¬ 
resenting George K. Iligbie, Rochester. 
N. Y., has sold seed at a high price in 
this neighborhood, and buyers have writ- 
ten him they do not want the seed, but 
he is sending it just the same. Must we 
take it? H. D. F. 
Pennsylvania. 
We know of no smut-proof oats or 
blight-proof potato, but some varieties do 
resist these diseases better than others. 
Claims of this kind are the stock in trade 
of seed concerns doing business on the 
Higbie plan. 
Whei*e farmei’S have been induced to 
sign orders on the strength of false claims, 
the thing to do is for all fanners so de¬ 
ceived to join forces and put up a fight. 
This was done in Bucks Co., Pa., last 
season, under the leadership of the Farm 
Bureau Manager to resist the demands 
of Geo. Iv. Iligbie & Co. The seed firm 
didn’t dare bring suit against any of 
these farmers in Bucks County. We know 
of no better illusti’ation of the value of 
farm co-opei’ation. 
I have failed to get any returns for a 
shipment of four baskets of mushrooms, 
November 23, 1919; also on December 25, 
1919, six baskets mushrooms sent to 
John C. Blum & Co.. Pittsburgh, Pa. I 
have established delivery of both ship¬ 
ments to Blum & Co., but am not able to 
even get returns or reply from him. Your 
means of bringing such firms to account 
for their failure to make returns certainly 
can be highly commended. I would 
greatly appreciate anything you may do 
to bi’ing this firm to time. M. H. K. 
Pennsylvania. 
Complaints against John C. Blum & 
Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., are so numerous 
that we publish the above for the guidance 
of other shippers. This commission house 
does not seem to be strong financially. 
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