646 
The  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
April  21,  19-U 
PUBLISHER’S  DESK 
Inclosed  find  clipping  from  a  Philadel¬ 
phia  newspaper.  It  seems  to  me  that  is 
offering  too  much  for  nothing.  What  do 
you  think  of  it?  I  refer  to  the  insurance 
policy.  There  is  a  farm  paper  which  also 
advertises  the  same,  but  I  never  saw  such 
an  advertisement  in  that  honorable  farm 
paper,  The  Rural  New-Yorker.  May 
it  live  long  and  prosper.  E.  L.  L. 
New  Jersey. 
The  enclosure  is  the  announcement  of 
a  Philadelphia  daily  paper  offering  a 
$1,000  insurance  policy  for  75  cents  a 
year.  And  in  our  estimation  such  an  in¬ 
surance  policy  isn’t  even  worth  that  small 
amount.  Such  schemes  to  lead  the  pub¬ 
lic  to  believe  they  are  getting  something 
for  nothing  are  never  employed  by  The 
Rural  New-Yorker  to  secure  readers. 
We  try  to  make  the  paper  so  essential 
and  useful  to  farmers  that  they  are  will¬ 
ing  to  pay  the  subscription  price  for  the 
paper  itself. 
A  number  of  our  subscribers  have  sent 
us  letters  from  a  supposed  collection 
agency,  demanding  settlement  for  stock 
tonic  shipped  by  the  Wilbur  Stock  Food 
Company,  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  without  or¬ 
der.  This  concern  also  does  business  under 
the  name  E.  B.  Marshall  Company.  The 
methods  of  this  outfit  have  been  exposed 
in  The  R.  N.-Yr.  for  many  years  past. 
We  advise  readers  to  pay  no  attention  to 
such  demands,  and  not  even  send  the 
goods  back.  If  Wilbur  Stock  Food  Com¬ 
pany  wants  the  tonic  returned  it  is  the 
privilege  of  the  company  to  come  and  get 
it.  Those  receiving  the  tonic  without 
'having  ordered  it  are  under  no  obligation 
to  return  the  goods.  Collection  agency 
letters  are  supposed  to  frighten  farmers 
into  making  settlement  whether  the 
amount  is  due  or  otherwise — and  too  of¬ 
ten  do.  Such  notorious  concerns  are 
too  wise  to  go  into  court  to  collect  claims 
under  such  fake  selling  schemes. 
I  am  enclosing  a  clipping  from  a  city 
daily  paper,  Lynn  Item ,  dated  March  30. 
I  presume  it  is  all  right,  but  why  is  it 
necessary  for  the  Oklahoma  Engineering 
Company  to  do  this  work  for  the  United 
States  Government?  Are  they  actually 
•working  for  the  Government?  I  suppose 
the  company  must  be,  as  payments  are 
made  direct  “patent.”  What  is  it — a 
deed  issued  by  the  United  States  Gov¬ 
ernment?  If  land  is  apt  to  be  valuable 
for  farm  land  only,  would  suppose  it 
would  be  bought  up  as  soon  as  on  mar¬ 
ket,  no  need  of  advertising,  let  alone  send¬ 
ing  a  car  around  the  country  as  far  east 
ns  Boston.  Would  this  be  a  real  invest¬ 
ment,  and  the  papers  hold  the  land? 
Still,  how  could  one  advertise  in  this  way 
in  a  regular  daily  paper  of  known  integ¬ 
rity  if  not  as  represented?  W.  C.  H. 
Massachusetts. 
This  seems  to  be  a  revival  of  the  old 
McAlester  Real  Estate  Exchange  scheme 
of  Oklahoma,  in  connection  with  which 
16  individuals  were  convicted  of  “con¬ 
spiracy  to  defraud”  some  four  years  ago. 
The  Government,  of  course,  has  nothing 
to  do  with  this  scheme  and  the  advertis¬ 
ing  car.  The  McAlester  plan  was  to  in¬ 
duce  the  gullible  to  enter  into  a  contract 
authorizing  the  company  to  select  and 
purchase  the  Indian  lands  and  for  which 
the  promoters  were  paid  a  big  fee.  Any¬ 
one  wanting  to  secure  these  lands,  which 
are  no  bargain,  anyhow,  could  secure 
them  direct  from  the  Government  with¬ 
out  paying  these  pirates  a  fee.  The  ad¬ 
vertisement  enclosed  does  not  make  the 
Oklahoma  Engineering  Company  plan 
clear,  but  we  assume  it  is  following  the 
old  McAlester  scheme,  perhaps  avoiding 
the  legal  meshes  which  landed  the  Mc¬ 
Alester  gang  in  the  penitentiary. 
Can  you  give  me  any  information  about 
the  Eastern  Art  Company.  20  Custom 
House  Street,  Providence,  R.  I.?  They 
advertise  that  they  want  to  start  a  school 
of  painting  in  Danbury,  and  in  order  to 
arouse  interest  in  the  work  are  giving 
away  a  certain  number  of  paintings.  The 
way  they  do  it  is  this :  They  have  20 
small  envelopes,  and  out  of  that  20  in  my 
district  three  people  would  be  fortunate 
enough  to  draw  coupons  which  entitled 
them  to  a  portrait  painting.  One  of  my 
friends  was  lucky  (or  unlucky)  enough 
to  draw  one  of  the  coupons.  The  agent 
then  shuffled  through  the  pack  and 
showed  her  that  there  were  only  two 
more  coupons  in  envelopes  by  holding 
them  up  to  the  light.  The  only  thing 
they  require  is  for  you  to  pay  for  the  oil 
paints  for  painting  the  picture.  They 
take  your  picture  to  their  studio  and 
make  a  pencil  sketch  of  it.  Then  the 
artist  who  is  painting  it  returns  with  the 
pencil  sketch  to  get  the  details  of  color 
of  the  eyes.  hair.  etc.  at  which  time  you 
pay  him  the  $2.08  for  paints.  The  fin¬ 
ished  painting  is  returned  to  you  then  in 
a  couple  of  weeks. 
What  I  want  to  find  out  is  whether 
they  are  an  all  right  concern  or  is  it  just 
another  flimflam  business?  The  slip  my 
friend  has  says :  “This  order  positively 
cannot  be  countermanded.”  She  also 
signed  her  name  and  address.  If  she 
doesn’t  want  the  painting,  can  they  make 
her  pay  for  it?  It  seems  funny  to  me 
that  they  want  the  money  before  the 
painting  is  entirely  done.  Couldn’t  she 
refuse  to  pay  it  until  she  gets  the  fin¬ 
ished  painting?  mrs.  e.  e.  s. 
This  is  the  old  Chicago  Portrait  Com¬ 
pany  fake  “lucky  envelope”  scheme,  in 
connection  with  which  the  Federal  Trade 
Commission  brought  charges  against  the 
Chicago  company  some  two  years  ago. 
Nothwithstanding  the  demonstration  by 
the  agent  that  only  three  out  of  20  were 
“lucky  envelopes,”  we  never  heard  of 
anyone  drawing  an  envelope  who  did  not 
get  one  of  the  “lucky”  ones.  The  agent 
attends  to  that.  The  claim  of  “starting 
a  school”  and  the  “$2.98  merely  to  pay 
for  the  material”  is  all  a  rank  deception 
and  fraud.  The  amount  is  more  than  the 
picture  if  delivered  will  'be  worth,  and  in 
all  probability  there  is  another  scheme  to 
follow ;  to  sell  the  victim  a  cheap  frame 
to  go  with  the  picture  at  an  exorbitant 
price.  Anyone  having  been  induced  to 
sign  an  order  by  such  deceptive  methods 
as  are  outlined  in  the  above  letter  has  no 
legal  or  moral  responsibility  in  it,  and 
we  advise  the  signer  absolutely  to  repu¬ 
diate  it.  No  one  need  fear  that  any  con¬ 
cern  employing  the  “lucky  envelope” 
scheme  will  go  into  court  to  enforce  the 
order.  The  trouble  of  houses  employing 
such  methods  is  to  keep  out  of  court. 
I  want  to  thank  you  for  the  informa¬ 
tion  you  gave  me  concerning  the  Stand¬ 
ard  Food  and  Fur  Association,  Inc.,  409 
Broadway,  New  York.  I  wrote  to  the 
different  magazines  and  received  a  reply 
from  each  one  offering  to  help  me  all  they 
could.  This  morning  I  received  a  letter 
from  the  'Standard  Food  and  Fur  Com¬ 
pany,  Inc.  They  claim  they  sent  a  check, 
but  strange  we  didn’t  receive  it,  and  al¬ 
ways  received  all  other  letters.  I  an¬ 
swered  their  letter  immediately,  telling 
them  we  didn’t  receive  the  check.  Will 
let  you  know  later  how  this  affair  turned 
out.  After  this  I’ll  be  very  careful  as  to 
what  advertisements  to  believe.  My 
father  always  said  if  it’s  a  fake  you  won’t 
find  it  in  The  Rural  New-Yorker,  and 
I  guess  dad  was  right.  l.  l.  s. 
“Dad  was  right.”  The  greater  exper¬ 
ience  of  the  father  usually  gives  the 
father  better  judgment  than  the  son — and 
wise  is  the  son  who  appreciates  ’this  fact. 
The  Standard  Food  and  Fur  Association 
sends  out  more  checks  (according  to  their 
claims)  that  are  never  received  than  any 
other  concern  on  record  ! 
I  am  enclosing  herewith  all  the  origi¬ 
nal  papers  in  regard  to  a  sale  made  last 
April  to  a  man  by  the  name  of  G.  W. 
Griffiths,  110  West  34th  Street,  New 
York.  As  you  will  see  by  reading  them 
the  order  was  placed  April  7,  and  in  his 
letter  he  stated  “The  money  is  ready  for 
you.”  I  shipped  the  ducklings  on  the 
10th,  but  have  been  unable  to  make  col¬ 
lection,  although  I  have  had  my  cousin 
call  on  him  several  times,  and  when  he 
catches  Mr.  Griffiths  in  he  promises  to 
send  the  money,  but  he  never  has  done 
so.  He  is  the  fiscal  agent  for  the  Wash¬ 
ington  Consolidated  Mines  Co.  r.  e.  r. 
We  have  called  on  Mr.  Griffiths  twice 
and  written  him  several  times  with  re¬ 
gard  to  this  claim  for  the  ducklings,  or¬ 
dered  a  year  ago,  valued  at  $50.  When 
we  first  called  on  Mr.  Griffiths  he  al¬ 
leged  that  the  reason  he  had  not  made 
settlement  was  that  the  ducklings  were 
received  in  bad  condition  and  that  most 
of  them  died.  Mr.  Griffiths,  however, 
never  made  any  such  claim  as  this  until 
nearly  a  year  after  the  ducklings  were 
received,  although  repeated  demands  had 
been  made  on  him  for  settlement.  This 
record  of  the  case  may  be  timely  in  the 
interest  of  duck  breeders  if  Mr.  Griffiths 
should  seek  to  buy  more  ducklings  dur¬ 
ing  the  present  Spring. 
Belmont  Kennels,  Smyrna,  Ga.  (for¬ 
merly  Dixie  Kennels,  Kennesaw,  Ga.), 
sent  one  of  our  subscribers  a  check  for 
$25  last  November  for  two  Airedale  pups. 
The  subscriber  made  shipment  of  the 
pups  to  the  customers  as  directed,  but 
the  check  went  to  protest.  We  have  in¬ 
duced  Belmont  Kennels  to  make  good 
half  the  amount,  but  there  is  still  due 
the  subscriber  $12.50,  plus  the  protest 
fees  of  $1.50.  Those  doing  business  with 
this  dog  dealer  will  be  wise  to  learn 
whether  checks  are  good  before  shipping 
the  animals  ordered. 
Simplicity 
The  De  Laval  Separator  is  so  simple,  all 
of  its  parts  are  made  with  such  care,  accuracy 
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capable  of  handling  a  wrench  can  completely 
assemble  or  disassemble  it,  quickly  and  easily? 
with  the  one  simple  tool  shown  above. 
The  De  Laval  Separator  Co. 
NEW  YORK  CHICAGO  SAN  FRANCISCO 
165  Broadway  29  E-  Madison  St.  61  Beale  St. 
De  Laval  Separators 
are  sold  on  such  liberal 
terms  that  they  will  pay 
for  themselves  within  a 
year.  See  your  De  Laval 
Agent  or  write  us  for 
full  information. 
There  are  over 
2,500,000  De  Laval  Sep¬ 
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over — about  as  many  as 
all  other  makes  put  to¬ 
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Sooner  or  later  you  will  use  a 
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72-Page  Farm  Catalogue 
DESCRIBES 
162  ACRES,  $7800— Page  37.  Aee  of  owner 
forces  sale  this  fine  stock  farm  ;  fine  buildings, 
100-T.  silo;  woodlot;  stream  pasture. 
COUNTRY  STORE— Page  43.  Complete  store ; 
43  acres  land,  7  cows,  2  horses,  150  chickens, 
machinery,  crops,  all  store  stock  :  Post  Office 
pays  $300  per  year ;  everything  goes  for  $9000. 
THIS  CATALOGUE 
describes  many  other  fine  farm  bargains-  Write 
at  once  for  free  copy. 
REESE  &  L1NDERMAN,  41 1  -R  Bulletin  Bldg.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
