THE " ENDLESS CHAIN " NUISANCE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 67, 20 March 1907, Page 6

THE " ENDLESS CHAIN " NUISANCE.

Apparently the public has not yet realised what a noxious invention the "chain lettor" is, though again and again warnings have been issued both by the press and the Postal Department on the subjoct. The outstanding case of a too-successful "chain." of which the history was given two or three years ngo, was that of a young woman in a small Australian town, who made a "chnin" appeal for used postage-stamps in aid of some work of charity, which unfortunately "caught-on" in the United States. After a while, the result was overwhelming. Her Idtters were soon dolivorod by the sackful, her private correspondence was almost hopelessly lost in tho mass, tho local postal staff had to bo reinforced, and the envelopes, unopened, could only be disposed of as wasto paper to dealers. She vainly tried to chock the influx, and was perplexed beyond measures at the unlook-ed-for result. It was proved that tho monoy wasted in postal foes far exceedod oven tho face value of tho stamps received. It has been shown that if evorybody responded to such a request, vory soon "the world itself could not contain" tho correspondence. "Every schoolboy" knows something of the marvels of geometrical progression, and most students have verified the celebrated "horse-shoe" problem, in which tho number 2 is carried to its thirty-second power. In tho latest appeal to the public each recipient is asked to make, not two, but nine, copies, and send them to as many friends. It is, thorefore, with tho powers of 9 that we havo theoretically to deal, and with what result? The ftrat circulator sends out nyie copies, at a cost of ninepenco for postage, and at tho least another penny for paper. Tho socond link in the chain is 81 letters, postago 6s 9d. Tho third is 729, by which titno tho recipients would probably find them coming in in twos and threes; the fifth round would cover Greater Wellington, every man, woman, and child, with plenty to spare; tho soventh would suffice for the colony four times over; the ninth would, approximately,' provide ono for every inhabitant of the British Empiro, provided no link was broken; and the tenth, for which the postage and stationery would amount in round figures to over sixteen millions sterling, would suffice for double, the population of the nlansM

It must be quite a year since this last and most objectionable of all the "chain"' schemes was started — copies at that time reached members of our own staff — and it is still carried on, tor we are ia receipt of a copy received by a member of tho Wellington Young Men's Christian Association, dated Bth March, 1907. It runs as follows : — "Endless Chain Prayer. — '0 Lord Jesus, wo implore thee, our Eternal God. havo mercy upon all mankiud. Keep us from all sin by thy precious blood and take us to be -with thee eternally. Amen.' This prayer was sent by Bishop Lawrence, recommending it to be written and sent to nine persons. Ono person who paid no heed to it met with an accident. He who will write the prayer for nine days, commencing thft day it is received, and send one each day to nine persons, will on or after tho ninth day. experience great joy. At the Holy Feast at Jerusalem it was said that he ashall bo delivered from every calamity. — Yours sincerely, A Friend. Do not break this chain." It is needless to comment on tho audacity and presumption of this document, which, it will be observed, undertakes not only to be the means of a special blessing to those who fulfil its instructions, but explicitly threatens with disaster those who disobey. But it is, not only presumptuous, it is a wicked fraud. From a copy of the Brooklyn Eagle of 3rd December last now before us, we find that Bishop Lawrence, of Massachusetts, to whom it is attributed, had nothing to do with it, and has been busy ever since disclaiming nnd repudiating it. Ho has received and still receives voluminous correspondence on the subject, and has been driven to tho expedient of having a larpre number of post-cards printed, which ho sends to enquirers. "The Bishop," says the post-card circular, "has had nothing to do with ths endless chain prayer attributed to him. He thinks it must be the work of an irresponsible person, and hopes those v receiving them will destroy them. Denials to this effect have appeared in the daily and church papers, and tho Associated Press has twice printed denials." The text of the prayer seems to have undergone changes — inevitable in the course of innumerable transcriptions'. In the Brooklyn Eagle version it wjis "a horrible accident" that befel the person who I paid no attention, and for "take" "tutor" is substituted, a manifest blunder. In the Unitsd States it has been circulated chiefly in the Episcopal Churches, and has actually "got on tho nerves" of the susceptible and credulous. "Since the prayer reached Brooklyn," says our authority, "it has caused actual suffering to nervous and superstitious people. One nervous girl, a Catholic, was laid up in bed after she received the prayer. Her people refused to allow her to 'keep the cliain going, and she verily believed that something terrible would happen to her." The fraud may be the freak of an irreverent practical joker, or, as the Bishop charitably suggests, of an "ir. responsible" — a' sufferer from some form of mania. This should be a lesson to those inclined to circulate "chain letters." It is a positive duty, in every case, to destroy them when received.