SWINDLING AMERICANS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 214, 7 September 1923, Page 9

SWINDLING AMERICANS.

"BUCKET SHOP" OPERATIONS. BILLION DOUAB TRATTD. (From o ur Special Correspondent.) SAX FRANCISCO, July 31. Barnum's famous remark that euckere were born more frequently than the daily mortality in the United States is being proved almost every hour in America by the gigantic gums of money extracted from innocent victims throush the agency of swindling concerns which Have recently been appearing on the market with come spurious stock selling venture for which the public invar* amy falls, and discovers later that it hag been once more bilked by the clever criminal under bucket-ahop methods. H is etated that a billion dollar swindle, ring has been operating in the financial district of New York for the past three years. The activities of tin) ring are being unearthed day by day, and as the amazing tale unfolds itself the State authorities are Tieing spurred to still greater efforts to wipe this blot from the escutcheon of the country's financial centre. It has been estimated that the bucket shop failures of the last few years have involved 100,000,000d01s in losses to the innocent traders in Wall Street "securities," instead of half that amount previously announced. For the second time within one week the State authorities applied the newMartin law against stock promotion I enterprises. This law provides for injunctions to halt the sale of stocks believed to be fraudulent. It is the latest development in dealing with "blue sky" promoters. It has just been applied against the Motion Picture Producing Company of America, Incorporated, and the National Exchange, Incorporated, as well as against Johnson and Hopkins and Walter L. Johnson, president of the three concerns. It was charged that "50,000 dollar* worth of stock had been sold ill the various companies without the production of a single picture, and, instead of being able to operate, the motion picture concern is 25.000 dollars in debt. The State claimed in its petition that Johnson pocketed 475,000 dollars of the 750.000 dollars paid in to the concern and that the remaining 275,000 dollars went for salaries, office rent, furniture and commissions to selling agents. SURFACE ONLY "SCRATCHED." The total amount of money lost in these stock promotion concerns which never get beyond the organising point cannot be estimated. That it has reached into the hundreds of millions there is no doubt. The surface is declared only to have been scratched as yet. The State authorities have many concerns on the "suspected" list, and as rapidly as the necessary evidence can be obtained the}", too, will be stopped from the further sale of worthless stock. The authorities are sorry that they cannot reach all the suspected houses at once, and use the Martin law for the protection of those who are continuing to fall victims ot the wiles of the sleek stock salesman, but it is necessary to proceed with caution lest some legitimate concern might be damaged. The various exchanges in New York are co-operating with the authorities to the fullest extent, and the Consolidated Exchange is particularly active. It has been making a sweeping investigation, and in addition to expelling a member of the firm and throwing it into bankruptcy it has stopped ticker service to suspected brokerage offices. Women have been largely the victims of the spurious stock selling corporations in which the entire capital invested has been wiped out by the expenses of promotion and the "commissions" taken jbv the organisers. Many women also I have been caught in the bucket-shop crashes, but the supposedly stronger and wiser sex has fallen just as hard or jeven harder in many instances. / INDUSTRY SUFFERS. \ phase of the wholesale swindling which has been giving the financial district as much concern as the attack upon the integrity of the legitimate brokerage is the tremendous loss to industry in America in the last three years by the bucket-shop failures. Ine money handed to these brokerage houses was in many cases intended for permanent investment in legitimate and high-class bonds and stocks. Obviously it never went into these securities, but was gobbled up by the members of the firm, and used, either in their own speculations or to maintain the luxurious motor cars, the multiple living establishments and the chorus girl sweethearts of the fleecing and sometimes fleeing gamblers. It is stated that legitimate stock market and bond values might have been increased manifold with the inflow of the money squandered by an all too trusting public in the bucket houses where they had no chance from the moment tliey stepped within the door. The financial" loss to the country through the diversion of this money is another element in the situation which cannot even be approximated, but old brokerage houses now are suffering tremendously. One leading financial expert says New York is struggling hard to clean its Augean stables, but day by day in everyway the task grows greater and greater. Out in the West many fake oil cornpanics have sprung into existence, and, as so many fortunes have been made by speculators in the oil industry, thousands of gullible persons have invested in spurious companies who have no hope of " striking " oil. and many never possessed the holdings they professed to Still the game goes merrily on, andnew suckers arrive daily, anxious to get something for nothing. These are the people who are everlastingly welcomed by the stock company promoters who quickly fleece them of their life savings. MO RHEUMATISM THIS WINTER IF YOU WILL DO THIS. You can feel like summer all through the winter if you will take the precaution which will ward off all attacks of Rheumatism, Lumbago, or Gout. These painful maladies arise from the presence of excess of uric acid in the system. If J' ou can neutralise this acid all symptoms of rheumatism will rapidly disappear. RHEUMO is a pleasant medicine, which does this vital work quickly and effectively. It neutralises, dissolves, and expete the acid. Hundreds of' sufferers from acute rheumatism testify to its remarkable qualities Rheumo is sold by all chemists, 4/0 per large size bottle, containing one week's thorough treatment. 172 Toothache? Barraclough's Magic Ncn'inc will give instant relief. 1/6. Remove corns with Progandra. 1/6.