1446 
Zht RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
November 15, 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. 
A friend of mine (a school teacher) 
was persuaded to take a set of books 
amounting to $49, from an agent repre¬ 
senting the “'Standard Education So¬ 
ciety” of Chicago. She later changed her 
mind and countermanded the order. The 
books were sent regardless. She imme¬ 
diately returned them, and received a let¬ 
ter from the firm, acknowledging the re¬ 
turn of the books, but they demanded the 
money. .Now they claim they will start a 
lawsuit if money is not sent in 10 days. 
What is the standing of said firm? 
New York. H. A. M. 
Subscription book concerns do not 
willingly accept cancellation of orders. 
If the signature to the order was secured 
in a fair and legitimate way, and the 
party signing is responsible, the transac¬ 
tion can be enforced. The above condi¬ 
tions rarely exist. Subscription books 
are too often sold through one form of 
misrepresentation or another. The find¬ 
ings of the Federal Trade Commission 
when investigating this Standard Educa¬ 
tion Society are of general interest, as 
well as making clear the deceptions prac¬ 
ticed by this concern. The society, 
through its agents, represents that a set of 
books, “The Standard Reference Works,” 
will be presented free of charge to those 
who subscribe for and p'urchase the 
“Standard Loose-leaf Extension Service” 
at $49. The agents represent that the 
price of the “Standard Reference Works” 
is $85, or some other large amount, while 
the Federal Trade Commission points out 
that $49 is the usual price of both the 
extension service and the pretended gift 
of the “Reference Works.” The findings 
of the commission in this case have a 
wide bearing on all advertising offering 
merchandise at a stated price with 
some other article “free.” The “special 
price for a short time” pretense is the 
chief bait of the correspondence course 
venders. The Federal Trade Commission 
also ordered the Standard Education So¬ 
ciety to “cease and desist” in following 
deceptive practices: 
Describing books as bound in “levant” 
or other leather, when the binding was, in 
fact, an imitation of leather. 
Honorary membership in the society, 
which membership proved to be entirely 
fictitious. 
That the “Standard Reference Works” 
has been “officially adopted in 24 States,” 
which claim had no foundation in fact. 
In view of these findings, it would be 
difficult for this concern to establish its 
good faith in the transaction above re¬ 
ferred to. It has been our experience 
that book agency houses rely upon 
threats more than court action to enforce 
their demands. At any rate, if the sig¬ 
nature to the order was secured by the 
deceptive practices cited by the Federal 
Trade Commission the contract cannot be 
enforced by legal procedure. 
About October 1 we sent an order for 
one-half barrel of roof paint to the Frank¬ 
lin Paint Company of Cleveland, O. Paint 
was to be sent on trial, and we used order 
blank similar to one inclosed. Today we 
receive a bill for 40 gallons of paint. We 
do not need 40 gallons of roof paint and 
have no use for such amount. We sup¬ 
posed we were ordering from 15 to 20 
gallons of paint when we ordered one-lialf 
barrel. We sent no money with order. 
Must we pay the inclosed bill of $31.20, 
or can we refuse to accept the paint when 
it arrives. I see the Franklin Paint Com¬ 
pany advertises in almost if not every 
farm paper in the country except The R. 
N.-Y. Is there a reason why? We shall 
be very grateful to you for advice in this 
matter, and inclose stamped envelope for 
reply. B. b. 
New York. 
Yes, one of the reasons Franklin Paint 
Company cannot advertise in The R. 
N.-Y. is just the deception which this sub¬ 
scriber complains about. The fact that 
the order blank does not specify the num¬ 
ber of gallons to a half barrel might be 
considered a deliberate deception on the 
part of the company and an attempt to 
force a greater amount of paint on the 
customer than he needs. We doubt, under 
the circumstances, that the Franklin 
Paint Company can enforce payment un¬ 
der the order by legal process. The R. 
N.-Y. would like the privilege of defend¬ 
ing such a case on behalf of this or other 
farmers. 
Could you give me any information 
concerning Harry P. Bassett, Waterville, 
Me.? Some time ago my husband bought 
several bottles of Bassett’s Stainless Sew¬ 
ing Machine Oil from him. He agreed to 
send us 200 lead pencils and put a two- 
weeks’ advertisement of our store in our 
daily paper, and guaranteed that if every¬ 
thing was not perfectly satisfactory he 
would refund our money. We have not 
been able to sell any of the oil. The ad¬ 
vertisement never appeared in our paper, 
and we have never seen the pencils. Both 
my husband and I have written him. but 
receive no reply. If this is the way he 
does business I think he should be ex¬ 
posed. M. H. F. 
Maine. 
When you receive a speciou# offer such 
as this, either from a traveling salesman 
or through the mails, pass it up and put 
the correspondence in the fire. On the 
face of it the offer is too much for the 
money, and is made merely for the pur¬ 
pose of consummating the sale of ma¬ 
terial you would not otherwise want. In 
this case the subscriber states that the 
machine oil froze during the Winter. If 
a similar proposition comes along, pass 
it by. 
As we are constant readers of your 
paper and the Publisher’s Desk, we in¬ 
close a circular letter of Wrigley Pharma¬ 
ceutical Company, Philadelphia, and ask 
for your opinion. If this concern is the 
same as Wrigley Gum Company we are 
tempted to invest. We inclose stamped 
addressed envelope, and trust we have 
your reply at earliest convenience. Thank 
you for your wonderful paper, from which 
I get more than a dollar’s worth, without 
this extra assistance. J. w. w. 
New York. 
There is no connection between this 
concern and the manufacturer of Wrig- 
ley’s chewing gum. Wrigley Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Company is incorporated under the 
laws of Delaware for $1,000,000, par 
value of stock $1. The chief product 
manufactured by the concern is Spear¬ 
mint Tooth Paste. The company does 
not publish a financial statement, we find 
no regular market for the stock, and no 
dividends have been paid up to this time. 
The manner in which the stock is being 
sold by the company does not inspire con¬ 
fidence. We can find no basis on which 
even to consider parting with money for 
this stock. 
I have a note for $170.97. with interest 
from May 12. against M. Shindler, Ilur- 
leyville. Sullivan Co., N. Y., and I am 
writing to see if you will take the same 
for collection. Mr. Shindler promised to 
pay same between June 15 and July 1. I 
have written him twice, but he does not 
answer my letters. J. c. H. 
New York. 
M. Shindler made many promises to 
pay this account. He failed to keep any 
of them. We finally gave it to our at¬ 
torney, who advises us his affairs were 
very much involved, and his property 
heavily encumbered. Later he formed a 
corporation, and while judgment is held 
for the amount due, it is impossible to 
collect it from the corporation, and Mr. 
Shindler personally refuses to pay. There 
are other similar obligations, and the in¬ 
ference is that the corporation was prob¬ 
ably formed to avoid payment. We give 
the history for the benefit of other read¬ 
ers. 
On Dec. 21, 1922, I shipped 120 lbs. of 
honey to H. Knox Gilliland. 13 School 
St., Salamanca. N. Y. I intended to send 
this honey C. O. D., but the person who 
took it to the express office did not send it 
this way, so I instructed Mr. Gilliland 
to remit direct. Upon receipt of the honey 
Mr. Gilliland wrote that it was not good 
quality and that he could only give me 
6 cents per lb. for it, instead of 10 cents, 
for which it was sold. I wrote Mr. Gil¬ 
liland that the honey which I had 
sold locally was entirely satisfactory, 
but as I did not want to bother, and the 
expense of having it returned, he could re¬ 
mit me $7.20 and we would call the matter 
closed. h. b. H. 
New York. 
Mr. Gilliland moved from Salamanca 
to Jamestown, N. Y., but fails to respond 
to any requests from us or our attorney, 
and we simply give the record as a word 
of warning to our other readers. 
Angus : “I hear yer freend Donald has 
marrit a third wife.” Sandy : “Ay, Don¬ 
ald’s an expensive freend; twa wreaths 
and three presents in 14 years.”—Credit 
Lost. 
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