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“ Heads I Win, Tails You Lose ” 
How the Standard Food and Fur Association, Inc., Buys Back Rabbits 
T HE National Vigilance Committee, which the As¬ 
sociated Advertising Clubs of the World maintains to 
detect fraudulent advertising, and its affiliated Better 
Business Bureaus have cooperated with the American 
Agriculturist in investigating this and other companies. 
Many of our readers are familiar with the business of 
this organization, which has been publishing advertisements 
similar to that appearing on 
page 344. > — 
When a subscriber writes 
for thfe books he gets further 
information in the form of 
a pamphlet entitled “Dollars 
in Hares/’ This pamphlet 
paints a glowing picture of 
the profits that can be made 
by raising rabbits and tells 
the reader that the Standard 
Food & Fur Association, Inc. 
believes itself to be “The 
world’s distributor of do¬ 
mestic hares.” The adver¬ 
tisement quoted above tells 
you that the company will 
“buy all you raise at $7 to 
$25 per pair.” The booklet 
tells you that it is possible 
“for a good doe to raise 42 
young (21 pairs) in a year” 
and then describes how at 
$18.50 a pair, the income 
of that number would be 
$488.50. This looks like 
pretty good profit from an_ 
investment of a few dollars ■ ■ 1 1 ■ ' ■ " ii T ~~ 
for the original pair which 
you would buy and, as the pamphlet itself frankly says: “this 
sounds too good to be true” and it points out that this can 
only be done by an experienced breeder. But the statement 
follows that “it is not at all difficult to raise four litters of 
six each in a year and that makes 24 youngsters or 12 pairs.” 
At $25 a pair the gross income from a good doe breeding 
at tnis rate would be $300, according ,to the pamphlet. 
Now, you naturally think that when the advertisement 
quoted above says “we buy all you raise at $7 to $25 per 
pair” that you will get this money. The company also agrees 
to pay the express charges. When you investigate the con¬ 
tract, however, you find that the company obligates itself 
to purchase back the rabbits “when six to eight months old, 
according to breed, purchased from us, and to be in good 
health, smooth-coated and in good condition.” 
In its pamphlet the company says “there are no trick 
clauses in our simple contract, no requirements which can¬ 
not easily be met. We live up to the contract in every re¬ 
spect.. We must, because we are an old-established concern, 
financially responsible, and can only remain in business by 
treating our customers fairly.” Now that sounds pretty 
fair, doesn’t it? Let’s see how this actually works out. Per- 
To the Readers of the American Agriculturist 
I N accordance with our long-established policy of protecting the 
farmers, we are going to give our readers some “facts” in re¬ 
gard to certain individuals and firms doing business with farmers. 
We feel it our duty to bring to the attention of our readers full 
details of all cases, in which we believe improper practices have 
been employed. In addition, we propose to go one step further 
and will turn over to the proper authorities, certain information 
which we have, so that these authorities may take such criminal 
or other action as they deem suitable. 
Our readers are already familiar with what we are doing in 
our Service Bureau, and this feature is merely the outgrowth of 
the efficient working of that Bureau. We invite our readers to 
write us fully in regard to any complaints which they have, or 
for any information they wish on these subjects. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, INC. 
By HENRY MOEGENTHAU, JR., President. 
Read this series of articles beginning this week 
haps you know from your own experience. Let us see if 
there are no trick clauses. Many of our readers complain 
that when they attempt to ship back rabbits to the company 
the company instructs the shipper to prepay the express 
charges and promises to refund, and we note that the ship¬ 
ping instructions furnished by the company say: “Kindly pre¬ 
pay the expressage and we will reimburse you upon presenta¬ 
tion of express receipt show- 
' ' ing amount paid out by you.” 
We have seen many com¬ 
plaints which show great dif¬ 
ficulty experienced in getting 
the company to repay these 
express charges and in vari¬ 
ous cases the company has 
refused to repay for one rea¬ 
son or another. We have also 
seen complaints in various 
cases where the company re¬ 
fused to buy back the rabbits 
and it, apparently, uses two 
stock alibi's: the rabbits are 
under weight, or have be¬ 
come dirty en route. In one 
case, it says that the rabbits 
are not of the stock sold, al¬ 
though the purchaser says 
that they were bred from the 
rabbits which he bought 
from the company. The com¬ 
pany advertises full-blooded 
stock for sale, which should, 
of course, breed full blooded, 
if the description means any- 
- " — —« thing. 
It will be interesting to ex¬ 
amine a few of the stories from persons who have actually 
bought from this company. 
A gentleman from Arkansas writes that he paid the 
company $22 for a pair of rabbits after he had seen their 
advertisement and after the company had written “con¬ 
tinually even urging me to borrow money to get them with.” 
He points out that the company was very prompt in writing 
to him before he paid his money. Read the balance of his 
story as he himself writes it. 
On December 23, I wrote to them that I had four pairs 
of rabbits to ship, all of the same litter and to please send 
me shipping instructions. I waited almost two weeks and 
got no reply—so I wrote again and after waiting two weeks 
longer without result, I thought it strange—they had always 
been so prompt in answering me. I was determined to get 
an answer so I sent a registered lettter and got an immediate 
reply. 
“They told me to ship my rabbits and pay expressage, 
as they had no funds at shipping point to pay for express, 
and as I had the contract, I supposed, of course, that they 
would refund the money. 
(Continued on page 344) 
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