Financial “Journal” Frauds
The multiplicity of these schemes led to the establishment of the “financial paper,” designed, according to the publisher’s statement, to guard investors against get-rich-quick frauds. To the police these papers are known as “special form papers.” The editor comprises the staff. The contents consist of financial matter usually stolen from reputable journals, a formidable array of financial advertising, and, most important, “reports” on investment concerns. For a consideration the “special form” paper tells its readers that the “Cotton Mutual Investment Company” is sound and reliable. The manager of the “Cotton Mutual” buys as many copies of the paper as he wants, as it has no regular time of publication, and can be run off in any quantity at any time with the article boosting the “Cotton Mutual.” The get-rich-quick manager then sees to it that the paper finds its way into the hands of his “sucker list,” or list of names of persons whom he hopes to be able to induce to “invest.”
Therefore, when reading want ads. in the newspapers, consider carefully the nature of the promises made. If they are too rosy, too high-flown, have nothing to do with that ad. or the man who inserted it. You may depend upon it that it is a fake. There are no great armies of persons walking about this country seeking to give away something for nothing.