1282 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 4, 1924 
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 National Vigilance Committee of 
New York has issued a bulletin on the 
Rica Company scheme of 1658 Broadway, 
New York City, which has already been 
exposed in this department. The pro¬ 
moter is the same individual who was 
behind the American Music Publishing 
Company fraud which has been analyzed 
in Publisher’s Desk several times. An¬ 
other fake of the same sort is the New 
England Music Company, Hartford, 
Conn. Country people should beware of 
advertisements in local and mail order 
papers offering work at home of any 
kind. Particularly those offering pay for 
addressing envelopes, mailing circulars, 
etc., are the rankest kind of petty swin¬ 
dles. Those who may desire to know 
more of the details of those fake schemes 
can secure a copy of the bulletin by ad¬ 
dressing National Vigilance Committee, 
383 Madison Ave., New York City. The 
organization is doing valiant work in 
exposing such frauds and prosecuting the 
offenders. 
On August 10 I sent two coops of 
fowls to Paul E. Cullen & Co.. 1020 
Springwood Ave., Asbury Park, N. J., 
and I have written them twice asking 
them to send me pay for them, and my 
coops, as they agreed to do, but they do 
not answ’er. Can you help me get this? 
It amounts to about $28.18. E. H. c. 
New York. 
. Here is another contemptible fraudu¬ 
lent game exactly like the Orange Prod¬ 
uce Company of Orange, N. J., which is 
now under fire with the postal inspectors. 
The puzzle which we have been trying 
to solve for years is this, and maybe our 
readers can enlighten us on it. “Why do 
the farmers take such pride and joy in 
raising poultry and producing eggs, and 
then donate them to the pirates and 
swindlers of the poultry and egg markets, 
who exist by merely living by their wits, 
and their cleverness in staying just one 
jump ahead of the sheriff?” 
Will you look up the Mutual Publish¬ 
ing Co. of Kansas City, Mo.? Their rep¬ 
resentative is making a very liberal offer 
to sell Bufton’s Cyclopedia, four volumes, 
and agree to furnish for 10 years loose 
leaves and loose binders of all important 
happenings. It look to me like a big un¬ 
dertaking for them for $39.50. and I 
would like very much to know if they are 
reliable. E. H. F. 
New York. 
We do not know the Mutual Publish¬ 
ing Co.. Kansas City. No such concern 
is listed in Bradstreets. We never heard 
of Bufton’s Cyclopedia but the name is 
quite suggestive. We should not be sur¬ 
prised if the 10-year service and “loose 
leaf” service turned out to be “bluff.” At 
any x’ate we would advise country people 
to beware of signing orders for an un¬ 
known cyclopedia of an unknown publish¬ 
ing house. 
Will you tell me something as to the 
reliability of the U. S. School of Music, 
on Fifth Avenue, New York? I intend 
taking a piano course from them by mail, 
but thought it wise to ask your advice 
concerning them before entering. 
New York. J. w. s. 
We have many inquiries of this sort 
during the year. The authorities we 
have consulted on the music subject agree 
that instrumental or vocal music cannot be 
successfully taught by mail. The Ruraj. 
New-Yorker does not accept any corre¬ 
spondence school advertising, and has re¬ 
peatedly refused to consider the adver¬ 
tising of this so-called school of music. 
“You do not need to know anything 
about knitting by hand, as the Gearhart 
Knitter does this almost as soon as you 
take it from the box. In fact we guar¬ 
antee you will master the knitter quickly, 
or we shall offer to take it back and re¬ 
fund its price promptly to you.” 
We can interpret the above paragraph 
from the circular letter of Gearhart 
Knitting Machine Co., Clearfield. Pa., in 
no other way than as a guarantee to re¬ 
fund the price should the purchaser be 
unable to operate the knitter. Some ad¬ 
vertisers have a way of interpreting a 
“guarantee” one way before the sale is 
made and another way after the cus¬ 
tomer’s money is received. We reported 
one case two weeks ago where the cus¬ 
tomer received the machine last Febru¬ 
ary, and she hasn’t received the refund 
yet. Another subscriber received refund 
of part of the purchase price, and con¬ 
sidered herself lucky. Can any reader 
find anything in the above “guarantee” 
about refunding part of the purchase 
price? 
Complaints have come to the Better 
Business Commission that salesmen are 
active in several parts of the city in so¬ 
liciting subscriptions to magazines on the 
representations that they are securing 
scholarship to college for a certain num¬ 
ber of subscriptions. In several cases 
prospects have been told that the sales¬ 
man was referred and recommended to 
them by mutual friends, when later in¬ 
vestigation by the prospect showed such 
representations to be false. Description 
of one of these solicitors has been turned 
over to the police. 
BUFFAI.O BETTER BUSINESS COMMISSION. 
The above bulletin on fake subscrip¬ 
tion agents confirms what we have fre¬ 
quently said; that subscription agents 
claiming to be working their way through 
college are frauds. There may be ex¬ 
ceptions but the rule holds good. This 
class of subscription agents do not rep¬ 
resent publishers but are employed by 
subscription agencies. 
The enclosed Auto Knitter Hosiery 
Company’s advertisement. Buffalo, N. Y., 
is good looking, but the trouble is that I 
did not find it in The R. N.-Y. Permit 
me therefore to ask for your guidance. 
Is it safe to have dealings with this com¬ 
pany. and do you think that the story 
told is at all reliable? Or would you ad- 
wise to ignore the proposition? I shall 
greatly appreciate your advice and follow 
it. H. p. 
Florida. 
There is no need of explanation to 
readers of Publisher’s Desk, as to why 
knitting machine advertising does not 
appear in The R. N.-Y. The advertise¬ 
ment enclosed by the subscriber is a full 
page taken from October issue of Pic¬ 
torial Review. It tells in a very appeal¬ 
ing manner the story of Mrs. Frank 
Unger who it is claimed made $70 a 
month for a period of 37 or a total of 
$2,538.50 with the use of an auto knit¬ 
ter. We are not questioning the authen¬ 
ticity of the story but we have many re¬ 
ports from women who have purchased 
this and other knitting machines who 
are unable to operate them and the re¬ 
sult to them is that they have lost the 
$65 or $70 put into the machine. It is 
pertinent that some of the high-class 
woman’s magazines will no longer ac¬ 
cept knitting machine advertising sold 
under this work-at-home scheme. 
I am coming with a complaint against 
the Consolidated Grain Company, 1400 
Broadway. New York City. I sold them 
five cars of good Timothy hay at $24.50. 
less freight. I did not claim this to be 
No. 1 Timothy. I shipped one car June 
27, 1923. with draft attached for $217.09. 
They telegraphed demanding a $2 re¬ 
duction or $34.29, because the hay had 
been rejected on account of grade. The 
hay was all that I claimed for it. but as 
it had dropped in price in the market, I 
feel they took advantage, and I had no 
other way but to accept it. My bank 
wired an allowance of the reduction, and 
I was credited with $182.80. On Septem¬ 
ber 27. they sent me a statement, and did 
not give me credit for the $34.29, but 
charged me with $20.32 additional. I 
have written them a number of times and 
asked them to send me this $34.29, but 
I can get nothing out of them. e. b. 
Ohio. 
The Consolidated Grain Company 
failed to respond to our letters. We sent 
a registered letter to their address which 
they received, but immediately afterward, 
we were advised by the Post Office that 
they had moved to 253 Broadway. We 
followed the matter up with them there, 
but could not locate them as they seemed 
to have no definite hours for appearing 
at the address. Now the office at 253 
Broadway is closed, and they have 
moved, and left no address. For fear 
they will turn up at some other address, 
we are publishing this record so that our 
readers will not suffer a similar experi¬ 
ence when they have hay to dispose of. 
“So the jury brought in a verdict of 
‘murder while insane’?” “They couldn’t 
do otherwise; the murderer confessed to 
the crime and insisted that he was in his 
right mind when he did it.”—Buffalo Ex¬ 
press. 
SPEE 
Master of 
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' I 'IME-SAVING travel combines with 
sureness of performance to make the 
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rural owner. 
Keen understanding of the farmer’s haul¬ 
age needs shows in every phase of Speed 
Wagon design and manufacture. Mighty 
power, brute endurance, pneumatic tires, 
moderate chassis weight, driving simplicity, 
load capacity,— 
All are embodied so that stall-free opera¬ 
tion—anywhere, anytime and with any 
load—becomes a fact. 
Only the Speed Wagon has the Speed 
Wagon’s combination of economy-making 
features,—moderate price, remarkably low 
operating costs and long lasting qualities. 
However figured, the Speed Wagon saves 
more and earns more than any other 
commercial car built. 
Capacity, 500 to 2500 pounds. Twelve standard bodies 
— open and closed cabs. Chassis price $ 1185 at Lansing. 
More than 100,000 in operation. Designed and 
manufactured in the big Reo shops ,—not assembled. 
N^IjEO JVtOTOI\ CAIj COMPANY. 
Lansing, Michigan 
TAXIDERMIST 
ALL KINDS OF GAME AND DEER HEADS MOUNTED 
BY EXPERTS AT REASONABLE CHARGES 
Established <896. 
GEORGE H. LESSER 
Johnstown • New York 
When you write advertisers mention 
- The Rural New-Yorker and you’ll get 
a quick reply and a “square deal.” See 
guarantee editorial page. 
POSTS 
B.R.RA1L 
SECTION 
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For better protection, longer service and lowest 
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Arrow Tee-Steel Posts are built like a rail¬ 
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Chicago New York Boston Dallas Denver 
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