CREDUEITY IN THE MODERN WORLD

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 50, 27 August 1938, Page 27

CREDUEITY IN THE MODERN WORLD

In spite of all our vaunted progress,

it is evidently as easy today to exploit credulity as it was in the Middle Ages, and much more profitable, because, as there are more people there are more fools, states the Paris correspondent of the London "Observer." Recent police proceedings in France have revealed the quite amazing success of at least two of the fakirs and soothsayers whose advertisements are allowed to appear in the public Press. In one case it transpired that the prophet had received more than 250,000 letters in two months, and employed two dozen secretaries in sending off one or other of the 40 standard horoscopes which were issued to those who sent the necessary postal orders, or in packing the talismans against sorcery or the radio-active combs against approaching baldness, which were desired by other customers. In another case, the concierge skimmed the morning mail of an astrologer before letting him have it, ■ and managed to pocket more than half of his takings for a month before he noticed that he was not doing so well.

A refugee Russian set himself up in [the business, and called himself Sir I Eric Thomas—the choice of the name and the title to inspire confidence may be taken as a delicate compliment to England and to the British aristocracy. He operated by interviews as well as by correspondence, and it was revealed that he used to put on a long false beard and white wig, and, dressed in flowing robes, would receive his customers, upon whom, he would suddenly turn a searchlight, while he himself remained in discreet shadow. This sort of thing, and the fact that every third booth at any fair is that of a fortune teller, has become such a scandal in France that there is a [serious movement to demand more severe police measures. However, when the fakirs are caught and convicted, they will no doubt direct their talents to defrauding the prison chaplain; for a convict at the well-known prison of the Sante so worked upon the feelings of the kind-hearted priest who visited him that on his release he succeeded in borrowing a considerable sum of money, which he repaid with a perfectly genuine, but stolen, cheque.