1462 
Ihe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
November  24,  1923 
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. 
Enclosed  please  find  a  letter  from  Geo. 
S.  Cullen,  Elkview,  Pa.,  who  advertised 
baby  chicks.  I  bought  1,500  Single  Comb 
White  Leghorn  chicks,  paying  .$175  for 
same  to  be  delivered  April  15,  1923.  I 
received  1,300,  leaving  a  balance  of  200 
chicks  for  which  he  promised  “to  send 
check  in  the  near  future,”  as  stated  in 
inclosed  letter  which  bears  the  postmark 
of  June  9.  I  have  reminded  him  several 
times  about  the  matter,  but  he  now  fails 
to  answer  my  letters.  I  would  appre¬ 
ciate  if  you  would  take  it  up  with  him. 
As  stated  in  Geo.  S.  Cullen’s  letter  the 
price  paid  for  the  chicks  was  11  2-3 
cents,  200  S.  C.  W.  L.  chicks  at  11  2-3 
cents,  $23.33.  J.  e.  j. 
New  York. 
We  have  endeavored  for  several  months 
to  induce  Mr.  Cullen  to  make  adjust¬ 
ment  with  this  customer  without  result. 
It  is  doubtful  if  the  amount  can  be  col¬ 
lected  by  legal  process.  At  any  rate 
the  record  would  indicate  that  Geo.  S. 
Cullen,  Elkview,  Pa.,  is  a  desirable  poul- 
tryman  to  avoid. 
In  one  of  the  late  issues  of  The  It. 
N.-Y.  you  ask  for  experiences  with  show 
card  correspondence  schools.  Two  years 
ago  a  friend  gave  me  the  CO-LO  Show 
Card  Course,  Wilson  Methods  Limited, 
Toronto,  Canada.  They  promised  work 
at  home.  Twenty-two  out  of  the  23  les¬ 
sons  were  on  the  forming  of  letters,  one 
lesson  only  on  show  cards,  and  I  really 
believe  a  book  or  two  worth  less  than 
five  dollars  would  give  me  as  much  help 
as  this  $35  course.  Needless  to  say  no 
work  was  sent  me,  though  the  lessons  had 
been  returned  marked  “fine,”  “very  good,” 
etc.,  but  when  I  sent  the  last  test  in  they 
wrote  that  my  work  did  not  come  up  to 
their  standard,  and  asked  me  to  practice 
three  more  months  and  send  in  two  cards 
in  colors.  No  lesson  in  color  work  had 
been  given.  An  easy  way  of  not  fulfilling 
their  contract.  I  dropped  the  work  at 
that  point.  It  was  not  a  big  disappoint¬ 
ment,  as  you  had  told  me  you  feared  the 
work  would  not  materialize,  and  I  had 
not  counted  on  it.  I  should  be  interested 
in  hearing  how  others  have  fared.  The 
Publisher’s  Desk  is  a  great  help  to  us  all. 
North  Carolina.  F.  E.  G. 
The  experience  of  this  correspondent  is 
identical  with  other  records  that  have 
been  sent  us,  and  the  conclusions  reached 
seem  to  agree  that  the  main  object  is  to 
sell  the  lessons  and  not  enough  instruc¬ 
tion  is  given  to  enable  the  student  to 
earn  a  living.  We  class  them  as  schemes 
to  get  money  without  giving  adequate 
return. 
On  July  27  I  sent  a  money  order  of  $2 
to  Dorsey  Farms,  Schroon  Lake,  N.  Y., 
for  which  they  were  to  send  balsam  to 
certain  addresses  I  had  (given.  The 
money  order  has  been  cashed,  but  order 
has  not  been  filled.  mrs.  j.  h. 
New  York. 
Dorsey  Farms  do  not  respond  to  our 
letters,  and  we  have  now  refunded  the 
money  to  the  subscriber  under  our 
“square  deal  guarantee”  of  advertisers. 
We  are  therefore  asking  our  readei’s  to 
send  no  more  orders  or  remittances  to 
Dorsey  Farms. 
Is  the  Peerless  Products  Mfg.  Co.  of 
80-S2  Pine  St.,  New  York  City,  reliable 
or  not?  About  a  month  ago  a  salesman 
of  theirs  called  to  see  me  about  taking 
the  agency  for  their  products,  but  was 
not  going  to  sell  me  anything  then,  as  it 
was  out  of  season  for  their  goods,  but 
as  they  were  doing  some  advertising  now, 
they  would  send  me  a  six-gallon  drum  of 
their  roofing  to  be  given  out  to  my  cus¬ 
tomers,  stating  that  by  next  Spring  when 
the  season  opened  I  could  probably  do  a 
nice  business  with  their  goods.  He  left 
a  contract  of  theirs  here  with  me  that 
I  did  not  sign,  and  made  out  an  order  in 
duplicate,  that  I  was  to  receive  one  drum 
of  Peerless  liquid,  not  over  six  gallons 
which  I  signed,  but  he  did  not  leave  a 
copy  of  it  with  me,  and  after  leaving 
here  and  having  my  signature  on  the  slip, 
he  changed  the  slip  to  one  drum  of 
Peerless  liquid,  not  over  60  gallons  at 
$1.50  per  gallon,  which  they  have  sent 
to  me.  The  barrel  of  their  roofing  is  at 
the  railroad  station  now,  which  I  have 
refused  on  the  grounds  that  it  is  a  forged 
order.  I  wrote  them  as  soon  as  I  found 
it  was  here  telling  them  that  I  would  not 
accept  it,  as  I  had  not  ordered  it,  and  re¬ 
ceived  a  rather  threatening  letter  from 
them  trying  to  scare  me  into  accepting  it 
and  paying  for  it,  or  they  would  see  that 
the  bill  was  collected  when  it  was  due. 
I  answered  their  letter  right  away  telling 
them  that  I  would  not  accept  or  pay  for 
it,  as  I  never  ordered  it,  and  that  it  was 
at  the  station  and  that  there  would  be 
storage  charges  after  it  had  been  there 
two  days.  The  freight  agent  said  that  it 
had  been  shipped  from  somewhere  in 
Maine,  as  it  had  been  refused  there,  and 
that  there  were  some  storage  charges 
against  it  already.  A.  w.  B. 
Connecticut. 
From  the  subscriber’s  statement  of  the 
case  he  has  been  tricked  into  signing  an 
order  for  a  barrel  of  roofing  paint  and 
a  contract  or  agreement  to  act  as  agent 
for  the  company  to  sell  the  goods.  The 
roofing  paint  trade  seems  to  be  well  sup¬ 
plied  with  “gyps.”  Some  of  the  meanest 
deceptions  are  practiced  to  secure  the 
signatures  of  farmers  in  this  trade  of  any 
line  of  business  we  are  familiar  with.  We 
have  frequently  referred  to  the  practice 
of  securing  signature  to  an  order  for  a 
half  barrel  of  paint  and  then  making 
shipment  of  39  or  40  gallons.  This  firm 
shipped  60  gallons  instead  of  the  six- 
gallon  drum  as  proposed.  But  it  must 
not  be  inferred  that  all  houses  in  this 
trade  resort  to  such  tricks.  We  have 
advised  the  above  subscriber  to  resist 
being  imposed  upon  in  this  way  if  it 
costs  him  the  price  of  several  barrels  of 
paint.  The  Peerless  Products  Mfg.  Co. 
threatens  to  sue  under  the  order  signed. 
That’s  the  usual  process  of  trying  to 
frighten  country  people. 
After  the  above  was  prepared  and  put 
in  type  the  Peerless  Products  Mfg.  Co. 
reconsidered  its  determination  to  force 
the  issue,  and  has  recalled  the  shipment. 
Will  you  please  let  me  know  by  return 
mail  if  the  Empire  Fertilizer  Corpora¬ 
tion,  Oneida,  N.  Y.  is  reliable,  as  they 
have  sent  agents  around  to  get  members. 
The  fee  is  $10,  good  for  all  times.  Their 
prices  are  $8  to  $10  a  ton  cheaper  than 
other  companies.  They  have  plants  at 
Oneida  and  Richland,  N.  Y.  They  have 
bank  references.  I  am  holding  up  a 
check  till  I  hear  from  you.  L.  C.  E. 
New  York. 
We  unhesitatingly  advise  farmers 
against  putting  money  into  these  mem¬ 
bership  fees  on  any  pretext.  Farmers 
Standard  Carbide  Co.,  and  United  Lime 
and  Fertilizer  Co.  sold  stock  to  farm¬ 
ers  on  the  same  pretext.  The  farmers 
in  question  are  sadder  but  wiser  men  as 
a  result.  Empire  Fertilizer  cannot  sell 
fertilizer  of  equal  value  at  a  lower  price 
than  the  good  houses  in  trade  and  re¬ 
main  in  business  very  long.  The  mem¬ 
bership  scheme  has  been  shown  up  as 
a  fake  and  a  fraud  in  dozens  of  cases 
where  it  has  been  employed  to  fool  the 
public.  Our  advice  to  L.  C.  E.  is  to  de¬ 
stroy  the  check. 
Inclosed  is  a  letter  from  New  York 
Farm  Sales  Co.,  Utica,  N.  Y.  This  all 
happened  before  you  started  raking  them 
over.  My  wife  wrote  them  and  a  man 
came  here  some  time  later,  In  fine  style, 
a  great  talker  and  agreed  to  anything.  I 
was  very  busy  at  the  time  and  in  order 
to  get  rid  of  him  let  her  sign  some  paper 
and  told  him  I  would  think  it  over.  He 
said  they  did  not  want  to  list  anybody’s 
farm  unless  all  was  perfectly  satisfac¬ 
tory.  I  knew  before  he  was  out  of  sight, 
and  took  time  to  think  it  over  that  they 
were  easy  money  schemers,  also  had  them 
looked  up  and  found  they  had  no  finan¬ 
cial  backing  or  no  account  in  any  bank. 
The  company  consisted  of  a  man  and 
woman  who  were  never  in  their  office. 
The  stuff  in  their  letter  is  not  true  as  I 
never  wrote  them  and  they  said  they 
could  not  or  would  not  do  anything  until 
they  got  some  money.  I  have  not  written 
them  or  been  the  cause  of  their  going  to 
any  expense  for  me.  What  I  would  like 
to  ' know  is  can  they  do  anything?  I 
know  it  was  a  foolish  thing  to  sign,  but 
being  busy  and  not  taking  it  serious,  let 
my  wife  sign.  Thanking  you  for  what¬ 
ever  advice  you  can  give  on  this  as  I 
don’t  care  to  lose  $60.  c.  A.  M. 
New  York. 
The  letter  of  the  New  York  State 
Farm  Sales  Co.  threaten  to  bring  suit 
against  this  farmer  for  the  amount  of 
the  advance  fee  as  provided  for  in  the 
listing  contract.  The  R.  N.-Y.  would 
like  to  get  the  New  York  State  Farm 
Sales  Co  in  court  in  a  case  of  this  kind. 
It  would  be  well  to  have  a  court  decision 
on  the  legitimacy  of  the  contract.  Of 
course  it  was  unwise  for  this  subscriber 
as  he  now  realizes  to  sign  any  form  of 
contract  or  listing  agreement  with  the 
agent  of  this  concern,  but  most  of  us  do 
foolish  things  occasionally  while  under 
the  influence  of  a  plausible  talker.  The 
only  thing  they  can  do  is  to  bring  a  suit 
to  enforce  the  alleged  contract,  and  test 
their  claim  before  a  jury.  This  they  are 
not  likely  to  do.  If  they  did,  in  our 
judgment,  tjjey  would  get  soundly 
whipped, 
Has  WIC0 
Magneto 
Moat  Perfect 
Ignition  Known. 
Fat.  hot  spark 
in  any  weather 
or  climate.  Starts 
at  40  below  zero. 
Not  affected  by 
water  or  oil. 
SA  WS  THEM  DOWN 
IN  A  HURRY— 
Earl  McBurney  felled 
fifty  18 -inch  trees  in 
less  than  five  hours . 
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Cheapest  to  operate — runs  all  day  at  a  cost  of  2c  an  hour.  Burns  all  fuels  and  the 
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^  This  attractive  234-page  book  has  some  of  the  ^ 
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Rural  New-Yorker,  335  W.30th  St.,  NewYork 
