COLLAPSE OF CHAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 170, 20 July 1935, Page 14

COLLAPSE OF CHAIN.

NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE.

GET-RICH-QUICK PLAIT.

(Special.—By Air Mail.) LONDON, June 29. The craziest get-ricli-quick scheme that ever captivated a nation—the "prosperity" chain letter movement that [ swept the continent of America —has not succeeded with the British public. Hundreds have received invitations in the last few weeks to take part in the simple and alluring easy-money proposition of transatlantic origin, which offers the prospect of a 1.5,025 to 1 return on a modest investment. The Sixpenny Prosperity League, which proclaims itself "the latest and greatest league in the world," and the Prosperity Club, "the latest, jolliest and most unique club in the world," are among the many cbain letter fellowships which have been launched here by imitators of the American pioneers of the new prosperity.

Circulars, headed by a list of six names and addresses, inform the novitiate how "lie may hope to obtain a return of nearly £400 for the investment of sixpence. All he has to do is to send a postal order for sixpence to the person whose name is at top of the list. Then he must omit tliat name from the list, add his own at the bottom, make five copies of the circular, and send the sheets to five of his friends "who are willing to continue the chain of prosperity." The delightful sequel is summarised in this paragraph in the -circular of the Sixpenny Prosperity League: "By the time your name is at the top of the list it will have appeared ill so many lists that through multiplication you will have received 15,625 replies, each with a prosperity sixpence—a total amounting to £390* 12/6. The originator of the scheme is assured of this handsome return if 19,530 persons (the 15,625 who send him sixpences plus those in the intermediate stages) can be found who arc willing to continue his chain of prosperity.

But how many more participants must be found if the 15,625 who contributed to the originator's prosperity are themselves to reap their reward? The circular does not go into the mathematics of the question, but the answer is 305.150,350 —nearly seven times the entire population of the British Isles, which is about 45,000,000. The 305 million would in turn have to find about six million million people to continue the chain of prosperity —and unfortunately the population of the world is only two thousand millions.