cue I 
1398 
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. 
We have warned our readers so often 
in prose about the wiles of the stock pro¬ 
moter and other forms of get-rich-quick 
enterprises that the subject has been worn 
threadbare. The following effusion of 
Walt Mason from the Financial World, 
will find an echo in the hearts of many of 
our readers who are besieged by the allur¬ 
ing literature of the easy-money artist: 
I am full of ire and dudgeon, for, al¬ 
though I’m sane and wise, I am taken for 
a gudgeon by the get-rich faking guys. 
Every day the mails are flooded with their 
bunk' addressed to me, tales of oil wells 
lately spudded, tales of gold mines good 
to see. I have preached against the fakers, 
I have warned the sons of toil that to 
plow their stony acres beats a deal in 
phony oil. I have cautioned friend and 
neighbor to avoid the faker’s scheme, for 
the wage of honest labor beats investing 
in a dream. One would think the fake 
promoter would have sized me up by now, 
saying, “Here’s a wise old voter, with a 
high and bulging brow; lie’s observed my 
every caper, scrutinized my every trick, 
so I’ll flood him not with paper, he won't 
buy my gilded brick.” But my mail box 
every morning holds five pounds of gaudy 
bills gold and purple ink adorning cir¬ 
culars that throb with thrills. Oh, the 
circulars are breezy, and large fortunes 
they assure; getting rich is so blamed 
easy ! Only chuckle-heads are poor. But 
I wonder why the fakers send their gilded 
bunk to me, offering their desert acres or 
a homesite in the sea. They must hope 
that their persistence will break down my 
will in time, and my patience they’ll out¬ 
distance, and they’ll get my bottom dime. 
Copyright, 1924, George Mathew Adams. 
I cannot be content without my old 
friend The R. N.-Y. I would skip a 
few meals to have the pleasure of its 
weekly call, which is more than I would 
say for any other paper I ever sub¬ 
scribed to, and they have been many. 
Rhode Island. MRS. D. K. 
This seem to be the strongest attach¬ 
ment for the paper so far reported. Many 
subscribers have written that they would 
pay from two to a hundred dollars or 
more a year rather than not have it. 
But when a subscriber is willing, if nec¬ 
essary, to give up her regular meals to 
have it, the sacrifice means more than 
money. These attachments are to us 
priceless tokens of friendship. 
I’ll consider it a great favor if you 
will give me some advice about the new 
two million dollar McFadden Publishing 
Corporation. Do you consider it a safe 
investment? B. u. 
New York. 
We are reluctant to express opinions 
on investments in publishing houses. We. 
have never done so except when it seemed 
that the welfare of our subscribers de¬ 
manded it. The periodical publishing 
business is like a profession. It depends 
on individuals. It often takes years of 
hard struggle to build it up. It may then 
be prosperous for a time but we have 
never known a strong successful pub¬ 
lishing house to sell its stock to its sub¬ 
scribers. The relation between publisher 
and subscriber is intimate and confiden¬ 
tial, and the conservative publisher is un¬ 
willing to capitalize the good will of 
his friends in inducing them to an in¬ 
vestment in which he himself is inter¬ 
ested. In any particular case it is im¬ 
possible to predict in advance what the 
result will be, but. it is proper to say 
that in the past record, insofar as it has 
come under our observation, subscribers 
who have yielded to the importunities of 
publishers to invest money in stocks and 
other securities of the publisher, have 
invariably suffered financially, and in 
most cases have lost all. 
Will you let me know whether you sire 
making any headway with my complaint 
against 'the* Associated Tire Stores Corp.? 
I sent you a statement from the company 
I bought my car from stating my wheels 
were not out of alignment as they 
thought. h. Y. 
Pennsylvania. 
Notwithstanding the testimony of the 
disinterested automobile dealer the As¬ 
sociated Tire Stores Corp. insists that 
the worn tire shows the wheel was out 
of alignment which, however, the tire 
concern failed to mention in its first 
letter to the customer when he asked 
for adjustment. “Wheel out of align¬ 
RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
November 1, 1924 
ment” is quite the stock excuse of auto¬ 
mobile tire concerns when asked to make 
good their guarantees. The tire only 
gave 2,000 miles service out of the 10,- 
000 guaranteed. We express no opinion 
as to the merits of this particular case, 
but state the facts as they appear in the 
record. 
Will you please give me information 
about the Nile Art Company of Ft. 
Wayne, Ind. ? The ad of this company 
was in the Home Folks magazine prom¬ 
ising to give pay for work (such as 
lamp shades and pillow tops) done at 
home. Their proposition seems square 
enough and if you could give me any in¬ 
formation concerning this company I 
would be very grateful? o. c. 
Pennsylvania. 
Yes, all the work-at-home schemes 
seem fair ,until you part with your 
money and then it is another story. We 
repeat that all of the work-at-home 
propositions asking for money in advance 
on any prextext are fakes and frauds. The 
mails are filled with these petty swindles 
at this season, preying upon the lauda¬ 
ble ambition of good women to earn 
money in their spare time. 
Your letter received with check en¬ 
closed for .$150 from the New r York Cen¬ 
tral Railroad. I was agreeably surprised 
to receive it, and I thank you for all the 
trouble I caused you. Will always speak 
a good word for The R. N.-Y. If I can 
be of any service to you please call on 
me. c. B. c. 
New York. 
A carload of apples was damaged in 
transit, which caused deterioration, so 
that when put in storage, they did not 
keep as they should have done. After 
considerable work, w r e were able to get 
a compromise adjustment. The w r eak 
point in the claim was that official in¬ 
spectors had not checked up on the ship¬ 
ment. Much depends upon this official 
inspection, and we would suggest that 
shippers make it a point to have the 
consignee ask for the inspection when 
it is needed, whether it is a crate of 
eggs, or a carload of apples, and have 
the report signed by a transportation 
official. This wall help in getting some¬ 
thing nearer the value of a claim. 
I would like to know if the course 
given on show-card waiting by the West- 
Angus Show Card Service, Ltd., Col- 
borne Bldg., Toronto, Can., is as it is 
represented by them and if they are a 
reliable firm? mrs. h. t. m. 
Pennsylvania. 
These “show-card” propositions have 
been exposed in The R. N.-Y. a number 
of times. The Post Office Department has 
prosecuted several of them in this coun¬ 
try but the Canadian enterprises seem to 
flourish. It is a pretty easy-money 
scheme. Avoid annoyance and loss of 
money by avoiding all such schemes. 
The check for $30.40 in settlement of 
the Robert Silon account promptly re¬ 
ceived, for which I thank you very much. 
I feel that you probably did the right 
thing by settling it up without law, for 
lawing is very expensive, even if one wins 
■his case, and besides, we never know 
when or where it will end. So far I 
never sued anyone, and would rather lose 
some than to go at law, yet there ought 
to be some way te stop the city people 
from doing business where they misrepre¬ 
sent things and get farmers to send th m 
eggs, butter, etc., for a time, then thoy 
stop paying and in a short time they are 
not to be found anywhere. The only safe 
way to avoid such people is not to ship 
them at all, 'but of course their attractive 
prices are quite a temptation to the farm¬ 
ers who are having hard times to make 
ends meet. I feel that you are doing 
your very best to help the farmer over¬ 
come such difficulties, but many of us do 
not heed your warnings as we should; 
yet I feel you have helped me many a 
time by the articles you publish in the 
Publisher’s Desk column. 
I often hear farmers speak about the 
Publisher’s Desk, and they feel as I do, 
that those columns alone are worth much 
more than the price of the paper. I also 
appreciate the poultry articles, and shall 
always want your paper to keep coming. 
I wish you the best of success, and thank 
you again for the service rendered. 
New York. w, H. D. 
This is such a gracious appreciation of 
our work that we are publishing it. The 
tendency is great to realize a little more 
on farm products, and the city people will 
be the losers in the end if they continue to 
ignore just accounts. In this case a com¬ 
promise was made in order to reach a set¬ 
tlement, but the record will convince read¬ 
ers that it will be wise to -get good refer¬ 
ences or refuse to deal with unknown par¬ 
ties. 
A Proved 
Profit 'Maker 
SPEE 
T HE Speed Wagon earns more and serves 
better than any other commercial car in 
rural operation. 
It will haul loads of from 500 to 2500 pounds 
quicker and cheaper, in all seasons and 
over all roads. 
It has heft and ruggedness to keep chassis 
parts young after hundreds of thousands 
of miles’ service. 
It has traction-ability for the soft roads; 
brute power for the bad grades. 
And many safety features that permit the 
rapid transit of fruit, grain, dairy produce, 
live stock or other perishable loads. 
Twelve standard bodies—open and closed 
cabs. Capacity 500 to 2500 pounds. 
Chassis, $1185 at Lansing. More than 
100,000 in operation. Designed and 
manufactured in the big Reo shops,—not 
assembled. 
HEO .MOTOH, CAn COMPANY, Lansing, Michigan 
Dynamite. 
HERCULES POWDER CO, 
904 Market Street 
Wilmington Delaware 
HERCULES 
DYNAMITE 
