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 j^ George Thomas Walking 
 20 Fenno Street, Roxburj 
 Jt Boston, Massachusetts 
 
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 364.163 
 W335F 
 
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DUKE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 FRIENDS OF 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 .L.Q.uls.e....Hall 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS' 
 
By CARL. H. BROCKHAGEN 
 
 Advertising Counsel for the San Francisco 
 Bulletin and President of the Advertising 
 Club of San Francisco 
 
 nPHERE has been more fraud perpetrated 
 through the classified pages of the Ameri- 
 can press than through all other classes of 
 advertising combined. . . . Through fake 
 Want Ads the gullible and unwary, the 
 weak and the sick, the country yokel and 
 innocent maid are often led to dens of 
 iniquity, and financial, moral or physical 
 disaster follows fast in the wake of the 
 rotten medical, personal, massage, clair- 
 voyant, matrimonial, mining or thieving 
 business opportunity advertising. 
 
 [In The Fourth Estate, May 27, 1916] 
 
[ Easy Money ] 
 
 "Fishing for Suckers" 
 
 Advertising Schemes That Get 
 
 Money from the Innocent, 
 
 Gullible and Unwary 
 
 <•<? 
 
 Bait" 
 
 Photos of the Nude 
 "The Kind Men Want, but Seldom Get" 
 
 Rich, Rare and Racy Books 
 "The Warmest Stuff Ever Put in Print** 
 
 The Mail Order Mint 
 "Making Money in the Mail Order Mint 
 Is Easy When You Know How" 
 
 (,(, Ct 99 
 
 Boston 
 
 George Thomas Watkins 
 
 1916 
 
Copyright, 1916, by 
 George Thomas Watkins 
 

 5^443 
 
 tiontents X \ 
 
 PREFACE Page 9 
 
 "Fishing for suckers" — "'The schemes hack of 
 the ads" — "The little pea uniler the little shell" 
 
 A VIEW OF THE SUBJECT Page 11 
 
 Do grapes grow on thorns and figs come from 
 thistles? — The magic influence of printers' ink — 
 Curiosity — Taking things for granted — ""Books of 
 knowledge" — "Horoscopes" — "Win at cards and 
 dice" — "Gamblers' hands" — "Lucky stones" — 
 "Skeleton keys" — "The great secret" — "Magic 
 needles" — "Lovers' sachet" — "The love pulmotor" 
 
 PHOTOS OF THE NUDE Page 23 
 
 Beauty in woman — "Bashful Venus undraped" — 
 "Real stunners" — "Astonishing poses" — The "eye- 
 opener poses" — "Exquisite delights" — "Images 
 galantes" — "Shapely girls" — The "nude in art" — 
 Photos of women, "the kind men want, but seldom 
 get" — Girls in "rich, warm poses" — "Men's favorite 
 poses" — "Female loveliness at bath" — "Not a 
 stitch on them" — "Spicy, peppery, front views" 
 "Bathing girls" — "Red hot!" — "Girls in swim- 
 ming" — "Naughty!" — "Bedroom Scenes" — Et cet. 
 
 RICH, RARE AND RACY BOOKS Page 31 
 
 "Red hot, classy, full-of-ginger" — "Unvarnished 
 language" — "Naked truth" — "Every sport should 
 read it" — "Sent securely sealed" — "Greatest vice 
 resort on earth" — "Fascinating descriptions" — 
 "From the ballroom to hell" — "Her naked self" 
 
 MAKING MONEY IN THE MAIL ORDER MINT Page 37 
 "Dimes and quarters in every mail" — "SlOO to S500 
 a month, experience unnecessary, no capital re- 
 quired"— S 10,000 a year in small mail order busi- 
 ness" — "Without risk" — "Honest" — "Legitimate" — 
 "Marvelous masterpieces of money-making mail 
 order schemes"— "S650,000 in 18 months"— "No 
 excuse for poverty" — "A fortune for SI" — "S50 
 profit guaranteed on SI capital" — "Fill your 
 pockets with gold, silver and greenbacks" — "$250 
 a month with two days' work" — "S500 for SlOO" 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY Page 47 
 
Preface 
 
 There is an almost universal desire in all of us to 
 have ''lots of money." The desire to get it easily and 
 quickly has afforded the get-rich-quick promoter his 
 chance to "fish for suckers." Indeed, this branch of 
 the piscatorial art has so large a following of these 
 "anglers" that the government is compelled to employ 
 considerable "machinery" in order to keep these 
 covetous "fishermen" from making "suckers" where 
 none were before. The classified advertising columns 
 of newspapers and magazines have been the medium 
 through which much of the glittering "bait" has been 
 cast to catch the unwary and innocent "fish." 
 
 But the "love of money" is only one among many 
 forms in which the "average human" shows his like- 
 ness in gullibility to his finny brother. Another lure 
 which attracts the attention of many is ^^ photos (of 
 women) — the kind men want, but seldom getJ* In 
 the same class is the "ric/i, rare and racy hookT 
 
 The following pages contain the amusing experi- 
 ences of one who has been curious to know some 
 of the "schemes back of the ads" — curious to 
 see the "kind of photos men want, but seldom get"; 
 to read some of the books, so-called, that are "rich, 
 rare and racy"; to learn the "naked" truth about 
 what happened to Estelle; to learn what was the 
 "warmest stuff ever put in print" by reading "Fast 
 Life in Chicago," with the story of "how Olga got 
 broke in" and "Kittie's thrilling experiences with a 
 rounder"; to learn the "moral" from the startling 
 truths revealed in "From the Ballroom to Hell"; why 
 only men should read "Cousin Maud," "A Woman's 
 Blighted Life," "The Pace That Kills" and heed the 
 warning in "A Bad Woman's Influence," and — others! 
 how any intelligent person, without experience, in 
 
10 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 spare time, may earn $15 to $25 a week corresponding 
 for newspapers and magazines; how to "go on the 
 stage"; how to learn a trade in a few hours that will 
 net $5 and more a day; how to learn to paint pic- 
 tures in one lesson with oil paints; how to "make 
 $2000 easy money quick" for two one-cent stamps; 
 how to write "song poems" for publication; how to 
 get a life job with Uncle Sam, with sure work, big 
 pay, easy hours, long vacations and steady advance- 
 ment; how to make money in grain; how to win at 
 cards and dice; how to be a movie actor and draw a 
 large salary, have pleasant work and travel; how S15 
 invested in some "great oil field" may make S1500; 
 how $10 a day may be made tacking signs; how to 
 obtain a $35 watch for 55 cents; how to get 25 cents 
 apiece for names and addresses; how to be a detec- 
 tive at $300 a month and travel all over the world; 
 how to be a prospector (with a $50 "dip" needle) ; 
 how to make a steady income knitting at home; how 
 to get a big mail every day of samples, circulars and 
 advertising matter; how to make $100 a month mail- 
 ing postcards, without capital or hard work; how to 
 get a wife with $50,000 in the bank; how to raise 
 ginseng, mushrooms and Belgian hares in the back 
 yard, and last, but not least, how a "fortune can be 
 made in the mail order business," without capital and 
 at home during spare moments in the evening! 
 
 In plain view a little pea is rolled under one of 
 three little shells. He who is vain of his eyesight, 
 but ignorant of the game, is sure he knows under 
 which little shell the little pea is rolled. It looks 
 like "easy money." If he who reads this book be 
 not as vain of his reasoning powers as one who is 
 vain of his eyesight, this contribution to the literature 
 of advertising will not be without interest, and — 
 amusement. 
 
 G. T. W. 
 
A View of the Subject 
 
 IS it safe to say no one believes grapes can grow on 
 thorns or figs come from thistles? Then why have 
 millions of men and women for centuries kept right 
 on getting "stung" for their surprising credulity in 
 other matters just as impossible? 
 
 In the olden time the honest manufacturer of 
 bricks was careful to place the right amount of 
 "straw" in his clay, thereby giving strength to his 
 product, and, likewise, assuring himself of "repeat 
 orders." His wicked contemporary made bricks 
 without "straw," selling them, no doubt, at the same 
 price as the honest manufacturer, and, in all likeli« 
 hood ( he was mean enough ! ) , advising his credulous 
 customer to go ahead and build his bungalow on the 
 sand where the waters washed around the founda- 
 tions twice in twenty-four hours. 
 
 Now he who reads this book should see that "one 
 can not gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles," 
 no matter how alluring the promise of profits rnay 
 be — the promise of sure cures, something for nothing, 
 easy money, a fortune in the mail order business, 
 get-rich-quick, certain kinds of photos and books, and 
 other bait at which "suckers" usually bite. 
 
 It is often boasted that the American people are a 
 nation of newspaper readers, and as such possess in 
 a high degree a sense of the importance of education 
 and knowledge of affairs of the world, yet it is a sad 
 commentary on their common sense that millions of 
 dollars, so government reports say, are filched from 
 the pockets of thousands of persons every year by 
 unscrupulous advertisers. 
 
 Surely it "pays to advertise," and surely the object 
 
12 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 of advertising is to make money, but when adver- 
 tising appeal is a promise of "something for nothing" 
 or that which the laws of the nation forbid surely it 
 is time the buyer should beware. 
 
 If fraudulent schemes can succeed in reaping a rich 
 harvest of golden dollars each year through the me- 
 dium of advertising and the mails, heralding all sorts 
 of wild cat mining, oil land, stock and investment 
 snares, so-called "mail order" businesses, home work 
 fakes, magic powders or perfumes for winning a per- 
 son's love, divining rods for locating buried treasure 
 and "lost" mines, "mental science," anti-fat and anti- 
 lean prescriptions, lucky stones and rabbits' feet, not 
 to mention too seriously "gold bricks" and "green 
 goods," it gives ample proof of the "pulling power" 
 of that immeasurable factor in civilization since the 
 invention of movable types, the magic influence of a 
 well directed and liberal use of Printers' Ink! 
 
 But what else does it prove? 
 
 It proves there must be an astounding lack of 
 common sense, a surprising degree of credulity and 
 a vast amount of gullibility on the part of a large 
 proportion of our population on matters of money, 
 health, medicine and religion. But the greatest of 
 these weaknesses is gullibility; in other words, the 
 expectation that something can be had for nothing — 
 and that they are going to get it! 
 
 The value and importance of practical and efficient 
 advertising to the life of a newspaper or maga- 
 zine, and to the advertiser as well, need no 
 brief in their behalf — this is a fact plain enough 
 to all who are really alive and in possession of 
 that amount of education and knowledge of affairs 
 of the world set down in a previous paragraph; but, 
 as George French says in his "Advertising : The Social 
 and Economic Problem," "Advertising has bred up a 
 variety of methods of getting money without fairly 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 13 
 
 earning it, and tliose methods will be held tenaciously 
 by the unscrupulous and greedy." 
 
 Possibly there are few who have not heard of the 
 "machine that made money," and the sickening de- 
 nouement that followed when the purchaser tried to 
 "work" the thing himself; of the cure for horse 
 slobbering by teaching that animal to spit; of the 
 "authorized" steel engraving of President Garfield 
 for SI which turned out to be a 5-cent postage stamp; 
 of the sure death to potato bugs by placing the insect 
 on a block of wood and smashing it with another; of 
 the "infallible instructions" on how to raise beets by 
 "planting your feet firmly on the ground, take tight 
 hold of the tops, and pull"; of the "absolutely sure" 
 way to "double your money" by "converting the same 
 into bills and fold them"; of the "sure system of 
 winning at the races" which, for $5, brought just 
 two words, "Sell tips"; of the "only absolutely sure 
 cure for drunkards that has ever been discovered," 
 in which it was said, "Sign the pledge and keep it"; 
 of "Three yards of fine silk for 25c," which was only 
 9 feet of silk thread; of "How to make an impression 
 that has never failed," addressed to young women, 
 who for their SI received the advice, "Sit down in a 
 pan of dough"; of the "minister" who "chanced" 
 upon some seeds of Jonah's gourd, of Bible fame, 
 while on a visit to the Holy Land, and, desiring to 
 distribute them among Bible students, on receipt of 
 SI per seed, sent "de-natured" pumpkin seeds; of the 
 "book for gamblers," which was a Bible; of the 
 directions and materials for "drawing" a tooth with- 
 out pain, which, for 50 cents, brought a piece of paper 
 and a pencil; of "home work" schemers who adver- 
 tise that S15 to S25 a week may be made at home, but 
 first, please, send them from $1 to S50 for "machines" 
 or "outfits"; of the inducement to copy letters at 
 home at S20 per thousand, which work was speedily 
 dropped after remitting $1 for an "outfit" consisting 
 
14 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 of a pen and penliolder; of the old, old style of "get- 
 rich-quick" advertiser who could tell everybody "how 
 to live without work" by advising "Fish for suckers, 
 as we do," or like another who said, "Work like hell 
 and never spend a cent" — and many, many others — 
 all insincere, deceptive and fraudulent, and each in 
 its own way designed to excite the curiosity and 
 credulity of the gullible. 
 
 It is sometimes hard to decide which is the greater — the 
 impudence of the quack or the credulity of his victims. The 
 comparative ease with which the medical faker is able, bj the 
 most preposterous claims, to separate the trusting from their 
 money indicates the enormous potentialities in advertising. 
 It might be supposed that an individual who set out to sell, 
 as a panacea for all the ills of the flesh, a piece of brass pipe 
 with one or two wires attached to it, would, commercially 
 speaking, have a hard and rocky road before him. But such 
 a supposition would be incorrect. Not only would the enter- 
 prising faker find customers for his gas pipe but there would 
 be such a demand for this most inane of "therapeutic" devices 
 that two or three imitators would immediately enter the 
 market. — Nostrums and Quackery, 1912, p. 295. 
 
 Curiosity is recognized as the "mail order man's 
 chance." Many persons answer "blind" advertise- 
 ments with no thought of sending any money — merely 
 wishing to find out what the ad is all about. The 
 American people have a great big streak of this 
 characteristic in their makeup — one mail order man 
 saying, "they are worse than crows, who, when they 
 see anything curious that they do not understand, will 
 keep nosing around closer and closer till they find out 
 what it is." Recognizing that curiosity prompts a 
 large percentage of inquiries, the advertiser "follows 
 up" his "curiosity seeker" with letters and circulars 
 that are calculated to excite further the agreeable 
 expectation of getting "something for nothing." 
 
 "The habit of taking things for granted," says 
 H. Addington Bruce, in a newspaper article, "The 
 Cost of Credulity," "of accepting the statements of 
 others without stopping to consider the grounds on 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 15 
 
 which they are based, is one of the coininonest fail- 
 ings of mankind. It is also one of the costliest. Its 
 cost is measured not merely in dollars and cents, but 
 in human life." 
 
 Relyino; on the widespread tendency to credulity, 
 the swindler boldly proclaims his "sure cures" and 
 "get-rich-cjuick" schemes, and confidently awaits the 
 response the mails will bring him. His confidence is 
 seldom misplaced, if the truth has been told by 
 Collier's, the World's Work, the Outlook, the Journal 
 of the American Medical Association and many other 
 publications which have sought to expose traps and 
 pitfalls laid by quacks and fakers. 
 
 The wonderful growth of the motion picture 
 business has stimulated the desire of many men 
 and women to become scenario writers (or movie 
 actors or actresses). It has also stimulated the desire 
 of certain mail order persons to profit by this wide- 
 spread ambition. The lure is held out that a fortune 
 may be made in spare time, that experience or liter- 
 ary ability is unnecessary, that the demand for 
 photoplays is far in excess of the supply. The most 
 misleading part of the advertising of those who claim 
 to show the way to this "easy money" is that "any one 
 can do it." But the scenario editors of the leading 
 moving picture producing companies seem to be 
 unanimous in the opinion that "every one can not 
 do it," that inspiration, the habit of oliservation, the 
 plot-gerrn, the idea, can not be taught through the 
 medium of the United States mail. Nearly all the 
 ads of these so-called "moving picture companies" 
 state that photoplays are "wanted," that S25 to SlOO 
 is paid for them, seemingly by the advertiser, but an 
 answer to the ad usually brings the information that 
 a book on "how to write photoplays" is for sale by 
 them. 
 
 In regard to "writing for newspapers and maga- 
 
16 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 zines" the above statement may well apply — any 
 one and every one can not do it, no matter how 
 assviring may be the promise of the generous sellers 
 of "instructions" on "how to do it." To get a "steady 
 income*' of "$15 to $35 a week corresponding for 
 newspapers" needs a bigger start than can be found 
 in any $1 or $2 "book of instructions" that has come 
 this way. 
 
 The "wise men of the east" certainly had nothing 
 on the "wise men" of the west — when it comes to 
 "getting the stuff." Did they ever know how to make 
 $50 a month, using only ten minutes a day? or how 
 $3000 yearly might be got out of a back yard? There 
 was grain in those days, but is it recorded that any 
 one of them knew of the "opportunity" for "taking" 
 $500 from an investment of $10 in "puts" or calls"? 
 There was "oil" in those days, but where is it written 
 that the "Jerusalem Co-Operative Oil Company" held 
 out the lure of 10,000 percent interest on the shekels 
 invested? It's a long way, and a long time, from 
 Jerusalem (B.C.) to the UnitedStates in 1916,but we're 
 here! — with "books of knowledge," "horoscopes," 
 "gamblers' hands," "goldometers," "lucky stones," 
 "marked cards" and "loaded dice" now happily 
 within the reach of all! And, lest we forget, "skele- 
 ton keys," for 25 cents, that will unlock all common 
 door locks! 
 
 LOOK! Skeleton keys; just the thing you need; unlocks 
 all common door locks. Set, 25c. 
 
 A fine chance here for the amateur burglar to get 
 some tools of the trade for only 25c. 
 
 MY VISIT to the spirit world. Paradise described; mar- 
 velous, up-lifting, inspiring; what loved ones are doing. 
 Pamphlet, 25c. 
 
 A very small price for so much "marvelous, up- 
 lifting, inspiring" information, indeed. 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS' 17 
 
 A LETTER written by Jesus Christ found just after 
 death; a copy will be sent for SI paper; no stamps. 
 
 Ill plain la!i«jjiiage, this does not read on the level, 
 else why so insistent on "81 paper; no stamps"? 
 THE GREAT SECRET— How you can make >our lover 
 or sweetheart love you; they just must love you; they 
 can't help themselves. This secret is based on scientific 
 principles and can not fail. Send 25c in silver. 
 
 The "seientilie principle" is thus divulged for the 
 two bits: 
 
 Your letter of recent date at hand, and in reply will say 
 that to win the woman you love you must constantly think 
 with your whole soul's intensity that you want her to love you; 
 in addition to that you must not drink. Keep clean and neat 
 in your dress. Be polite and attentive to her. Be generous, 
 for women hate stinginess in men, but dearly love generosity. 
 Be brave, for women hate cowards and love bravery. Be firm; 
 women hate triflers. Walk with your head and shoulders well 
 thrown back; be dignified; be courteous and every inch a 
 gentleman. Flattery goes a long ways to win a woman, but 
 don't overdo it. Don't be bashful, as women hate bashfulness 
 in men, but love bold men. Yours for suckers. Prof. X. 
 
 Another "professor," who had "wonderful powers" 
 when his hand was crossed with gold, sent to remitters 
 of S37.50 a "gambler's hand," to wit: 
 
 I take pleasure in sending you my gambling hand and all 
 that goes with it. When you get it sew it up in a piece of soft 
 leather and carry it in your pocket with your money. Let no 
 one handle it, and keep it as dry as you can. I will send you 
 nine candles to use one at a time — Monday, Wednesday and 
 Friday nights. Light one and set it down on a brick. Do not 
 touch it for one hour; then throw ashes on the floor and press 
 your feet on them. 
 
 WIN AT CARDS and dice; absolutely impossible to lose 
 if you follow instructions. Protect yourself. Circular 
 10c. Men only. 
 
 The "instructions" are contained in a book pur- 
 porting to "expose" all the secret systems, methods, 
 tricks and devices for cheating with dice, dice tops, 
 cards, hold-outs, reflectors, magnets, etc., at craps, 
 poker, faro, roulette, chuck-luck, billiards and pool. 
 
18 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 and other games; schemes for beating slot machines; 
 race track systems, and many other gambling secrets. 
 The book is said to be sold only for "your protection 
 against gambling and gambling devices," and not for 
 unlawful purposes ! 
 
 THE CHANCE of a lifetime; if you have a hundred 
 dollars or so to invest, let me tell you how to become 
 independent for life. 
 
 A FORTUNE— Buy Indian Lucky Stone, guaranteed to 
 bring health, happiness, business success or return and 
 get your money back within 15 days. Price SI. 
 Sooner or later, one who answers many ads relating 
 to "lucky stones," "divining rods," "magic needles" 
 and so-called "miracle-working" articles from the 
 Holy Land, wherein " guarantees " are given of 
 "health, happiness and business success," is going 
 to get his hopeful letters of inquiry returned to 
 him by order of the Postmaster General, who also 
 directs that the word "FRAUDULENT" (in red ink) 
 be stamped on the face of the envelope. 
 
 FACTS WORTH KNOWING— One dollar will bring you 
 
 the Hindoo Lucky Stone; wonderful; every one wants it. 
 
 LUCKY EGYPTIAN METAL, with your name cut on. 
 
 Guaranteed. 
 
 Puzzle: What's "guaranteed"? 
 
 LOADED DICE, 82 per pair. Marked cards, SI per deck. 
 
 Marked cards and loaded dice ! What for ? 
 
 UNDERGROUND TREASURES— How and where to find 
 
 them guaranteed. Particulars for stamp. 
 
 The ad says, "How and where to find them guaran- 
 teed,'" but the circular describing a "miner's compass 
 dip needle" says "This (the needle) is a substantial 
 and reliable instrument designed for locating Iron. 
 And owing to the well-known fact that the buried 
 money and valuables which have been recovered have 
 generally been found in a heavy Iron pot or kettle of 
 some kind, this Dip Needle will evidently prove 
 valuable to persons looking for such treasures. Un- 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 19 
 
 derstand, we are not contending that money or 
 jewelry will attract it, but are reasoning that few 
 people would bury valuables in cloth, paper, wood, 
 tin or other perishable containers, but would use a 
 heavy Iron vessel to protect it. And in which case 
 only the instrument we are offering here would rea- 
 sonably assist in locating it." The price of the 
 "needle" is $20. 
 
 MAGIC NEEDLES — Goldonieters, etc., for treasure 
 seekers. Millions of wealth under your feet. Prospect 
 for mines and lost treasure. 
 
 RODS and miners' dip needles sold. Fortunes made 
 prospecting. We furnish instruments (free). Simply 
 give us one-fourth of all finds you make. We have 
 everything for the prospector. Circulars, 10c. 
 
 A letter asking for circular was returned by order 
 of the Postmaster General. 
 
 For those in love — or about to be — there are offered 
 in many ads "Lovers' Perfume," "Lovers' Powder" 
 and "Lovers' Sachet," to "win sweethearts" and "make 
 them go wild over you." Thus: 
 
 LOVERS' SACHET — Win sweethearts, either sex; used 
 personally or in correspondence; never fails; without 
 delay; double strength; makes them go wild over you! 
 Powder and directions for use, 25c. 
 
 This class of comedy is tough on the vest buttons. 
 
 Samuel Hopkins Adams, in the New York Tribune, 
 July 16, 1916, under the head, "Mail Order Tricksters 
 Hooked by Government," says, instead of landing a 
 well known species of "fish," which Barnum credited 
 with a remarkably high birth rate, some wily anglers 
 got landed themselves. The story of the "love pul- 
 motor" is here given: 
 
 Artificial respiration is a great thing, but what would you 
 think of a Love Pulmotor? No such thing? All right, read 
 this advertisement. It goes even further— it promises not 
 merely to revive but to create love — undying love: 
 
 AN EMBROIDERED SILK HANDKERCHIEF full of 
 new, sensational, suggestive and Oriental perfume; mag- 
 
20 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 netic, ideal and mysterious. The same is diffused sweetly 
 and stimulates and reciprocates the affections and makes 
 love irresistible. If you offer the odor of this exquisite 
 perfumed handkerchief to a youn^ lady of your acquaint- 
 ance she will become attracted with deep affections toward 
 you; if accepted as a present, a mysterious force will 
 compel her to love you unconsciously, keeping always the 
 affection because of the sensational perfume. It can be 
 sent, together with full instructions, for the sum of 81.25. 
 
 This advertisement sold handkerchiefs, but not satisfaction. 
 It lacked one feature of good merchandising. It carried no 
 guarantee. Perhaps there was a reason. The handkerchief 
 is as poor in quality as its advertised description is rich in 
 adjectives. It is about as potent to make love irresistible as 
 would be a confidential eulogy to your best girl of her dearest 
 enemy. Can you imagine a lovelorn swain waving that love 
 inspiring bit of silk in mysterious, magnetic circles about the 
 head of his heart's desire and watchfully waiting for its 
 Oriental power to develop a dollar and a quarter's worth of 
 limitless affection? If you can imagine that you would have 
 bought the mystic handkerchief. The postoffice inspector who 
 investigated this advertiser had no imagination. He was 
 better acquainted with cupidity than he was with Cupid. He 
 reported, presumably after an unsuccessful test, that "the 
 handkerchief possessed no virtue whatever for the purpose for 
 which it was purchased. " 
 
 ARE YOU ON? We'll show you how to get the money 
 without being ashamed to take it. 
 
 DON'T START A MAIL ORDER BUSINESS— Be a pro- 
 moter and start others. Make $25 to S50 weekly. Send a 
 dime for sample and plan. 
 
 That's the stuff! Be a promoter and start others. 
 But perhaps you would prefer to originate your own 
 plan of starting others — there certainly would be 
 "more in it for you." 
 
 COULD YOU USE MORE MONEY?— Send 25c for plan 
 of mail order business that brings dimes and quarters in 
 nearly every mail. 
 
 LEARN ABOUT THE MAIL ORDER BUSINESS— We 
 
 positively guarantee success. Write today. Your golden 
 opportunity. Send 25c for complete plan. 
 WHY LOOK FOR A POSITION?— Capitalize your 
 talents. You can make SlOO to $200 a month. 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 21 
 
 I HAVE ONE OF THE MOST SIMPLE and easy propo- 
 sitions for making big money in the mail order business, 
 all or spare time. Absolutely no capital required. Let 
 me show you how. Complete instructions for silver dime. 
 
 This species of advertising has reached its flood 
 and, seemingly, its ebh set in, for many newspapers 
 and magazines are now exchiding advertisements 
 offering to start any one in the mail order business, 
 to furnish or to sell mail order plans, mail order 
 secrets, or a course of instructions in the mail order 
 business; circular distributing schemes; securing 
 names and addresses or mailing lists for mail order 
 houses; detective schemes, offering to teach by mail 
 any one and every one how to become a detective; 
 publishers of song poems, charging a fee for setting 
 to music, printing and creating a demand for songs; 
 home work schemes of all kinds — writing at home, 
 knitting, sewing at home, and all other home work 
 schemes. 
 
 Note.— The italics used in the ads reprinted in this book are 
 by the author — the emphasis apparent. 
 
I 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 "MINIATURES," 
 
 one advertiser says, "Don't show 
 
 much," but adds that in the 
 
 originals you will get a 
 
 "SURPRISE." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S'il faut que quelque chose tombe, 
 Mieux vaut la chemise que les seins! 
 
 
 
 ii A S men we know that it is natural for men tc 
 love this kind of art — of beautiful girls in nudt 
 and semi-nude. Where is the man who doesn't?" 
 
 ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Any man who gazes upon a nude form tvith lus 
 is a degenerate and needs to be pitied. Only coward, 
 blush at the sight of the nude form.— MWe. Porter. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 5 
 
Photos of the Nude 
 
 "Kind men ivant, but seldom get" 
 
 BEAUTY in woman holds a unique and romantic 
 place in the world's history. From the golden 
 locks of that Helen who "launched a thousand ships 
 and burnt the topless towers of Ilium," or the "raven 
 tresses of the Nile" for which Marc Antony flipped 
 away a kinirdom, to the radiant faces on the latest 
 magazine covers of today feminine loveliness has been 
 the inspiration of many masterpieces of every art. 
 Its present-day commercial value in advertising, not 
 only as an attention-getter but to show the beauty or 
 utility of the thing advertised, is well known. Indeed, 
 it can truly be said that woman's keenness for the 
 exploitation of her charms is one of the oldest and 
 still one of the most persistent forms of advertising- - 
 and hard to beat! The popular picture postcard of 
 recent years has been one of the greatest disseminators 
 of female loveliness. Its range of subjects has em- 
 braced all forms of art and many forms of impudence. 
 Pretty women have ever attracted men — the saint and 
 the sinner. And pictures of pretty women, whether 
 clothed in the apotheosis of femininity or revealed in 
 the flesh of youth (particularly the latter), are often 
 sought by some men. Now let us look into some kinds 
 of advertising that contain the startling assertion (or 
 is it the gift of inspiration?) that there are pictures of 
 women which men want, but seldom get! 
 
 Photos, "the kind men want, but seldom get," as 
 many advertisements read, touch the imagination as 
 
24 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 quickly as any appeal made to the young man. The 
 erotic element in youth prompts boys (and many of 
 their elders as well ) to answer this class of advertise- 
 ments in the hope of getting photographs of pretty 
 young women in "rich, warm poses," just "before 
 bath," "rare as you wish," "men's favorite poses," 
 "real stunners," "bashful Venus undraped," "hoochee- 
 coochee girls," "female loveliness at bath," "daring," 
 "stunning," "fascinating," "bewitching," "nature 
 poses," "red hot photos," "snapped in her den," 
 "little Miss Mabel alone," "spicy," "peppery," 
 "front views," and so on in a profusion of suggestive 
 phrases. 
 
 The seductive appeal is everywhere apparent in the 
 "copy" of this branch of the "fine art of advertising," 
 its "persuasiveness" seldom being equaled as a 
 "puller" of dimes and dollars from the youth whose 
 mind is seduced by the insinuation that "our photos 
 are the kind men want, but seldom get." 
 
 The kind men want, but seldom get! 
 
 Although the implication contained in the above 
 seven words surpasses anything to be found in 
 Edouard Fuchs' "Element Erotique dans la Carica- 
 ture" or John Grand-Carteret's "Images Galantes" or 
 "Decollete et Retrousse," books possessing great his- 
 torical and artistic interest, one is constrained to be- 
 lieve that the "visions" aroused in some minds by 
 this "attention-getter" might even equal the realistic 
 illustration by Giulio Romano for Aretino's "Sonnetti 
 Lussuriosi." 
 
 Perhaps the reader would like to be left to his own 
 reflections — for a while! 
 
 The erotic element in human nature is an essential 
 force — it is a fundamental principle. It is not an 
 evil thing in itself — it is only debasing when serving 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 25 
 
 ijriiohle ends. ''There is iiothint; essentially impure 
 about the sex feeling," says Dr. Frank Crane, writing 
 on "Sex." ''On the contrary, the most beautiful, the 
 most refining, the most conserving and wholesome 
 elements of a man's or woman's experience are due 
 directly and indirectly to this natural instinct. . . . 
 When shall we get over the long error of medievalism 
 that 'all desire of the flesh hath in it something of 
 evil'?" 
 
 The intent of the phrase, "kind men want, but 
 seldom get," is obvious. But seldom, indeed, are 
 the "photos" that come from the "studios" of those 
 who offer tliem anything more than harmless pictures 
 of sometimes comely models whose poses are far from 
 suggestive of "spice," "pepper," or other "warmths." 
 yet giving the beholder an inkling of their endearing 
 voung charms — sometimes! Honi soil qui mal y 
 pcnsv! 
 
 One of the earliest of the photo ads a "certain 
 party" recalls (at a time when he believed he could 
 admire the "nude in art" at its true value) was the 
 following: 
 
 THREE genuine photos from life! "Out of sight!" 
 Cabinet size. Sent sealed, SI. 
 
 O! the disillusion! The three "genuine photos 
 from life" received gave good evidence that some 
 poor, old family photograph album had suffered 
 theft! 
 
 Though expectations were thus rudely crushed by 
 one to whom had been given confidence, and a one- 
 dollar bill, it was not long before another advertiser 
 beckoned to the novice to buy a set of "photos from 
 the nude" — not from life merely, this time. There 
 could be no mistake — the ad said so — "photos from 
 the nude.'' The appeal was thus: 
 
26 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 PHOTOS of the nude! Set of 10 photos, sharp and clear, 
 brilliant in execution, daring in pose, absolutely unique; 
 a veritable panorama of exquisite delights! Prospectus 
 and sample on request to gentlemen only. 
 
 Here, surely, was a sample, at least, of what was in 
 Btore. tn due time the sample and prospectus arrived. 
 It was an alluring and seductive promise of '''scenes 
 impitdiques des luhricites, des voluptes egrillardes ct 
 spirituclles, du nu ct des decolletes piqiiants, dans 
 tout Vinipudence de Vijupudicite," or words and mean- 
 ing to that effect, (with apologies to O. Uzanne), 
 which few "gentlemen" could resist (as afterward 
 proved ) . The "sample" photo, though provokingly 
 small, visually "backed up" the glowing promise of 
 the prospectus. To enjoy the possession of these 
 "exquisite delights" it required the remittance of So, a 
 paltry sum when compared with what one might 
 expect for his money. But Uncle Sam got wind of the 
 fact that nothing whatever was sent in return for the 
 S5 — it was a skin game, pure and simple — not exactly 
 "pure," but very simple in operation, as it was said 
 more than 10,000 "gentlemen" responded quickly to 
 the "appeal" of that prospectus! 
 
 But that was more than 25 years ago! Skin games 
 of today have their prototypes in those of yesterday. 
 In this world where everything must change with the 
 passing years it is only natural that the faker, in 
 whatever line he seeks to play his cunning hand, 
 should adopt new methods of deception in catching 
 the unwary and credulous — yet always playing upon 
 the gullibility of those he wishes to entrap. 
 
 The following are some types of the "photo" ads 
 of recent years. In many of them, it will be noted, 
 there is the insinuation that the "goods" are for "men 
 only" — and though you may have believed that "a 
 thing of beauty is a joy forever," and that the lines 
 of the Venus de Milo, typifying the perfect female 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 27 
 
 figure, are the essence of beauty, it would never do, 
 8eeniin<ily. for any one but man to jjaze, and then in 
 privacy, \vitli wondering eyes, upon so much "female 
 loveliness unadorned" as a "bashful Venus" in a 
 pose both "rich and warm" in artistic conception and 
 true to life in photographic detail! 
 Regalez-vous, messieurs! 
 
 IMAGES GALANTES 
 
 SIX PRETTY GIRLS IN SWIMMING— Nudes, semi- 
 nudes, skin-tijiht suits, all different, photofiraphed from 
 life; daring poses; every one a peach! 3 for 25c, 
 
 Not SO many years ago it was noised about by some 
 reformers that photos of the nude (in "spicy," 
 "daring," "stunning" and other "attractive" posings) 
 were the cause of the moral destruction of thousands 
 of young men. In recent days other reformers and 
 moralists declare that filmy waists with georgette 
 sleeves, expansive "V" necks, and the lovely revela- 
 tions of female legs smartly fitted in fine silk stockings 
 of novelty stripes and colors beneath diaphanously thin 
 skirts are corrupting and destroying our morals — even 
 more responsible than anything else for "waves of 
 immorality" and the "downfall of young men." The 
 debaele must now be almost complete, after all that's 
 been heard about the "one-piece," sans stockings, at 
 Palm Beach, Galveston and the California beaches^ 
 where, "they say," pink one-piece suited, full- 
 bosomed, knee-dimpled Venuses of the "perfect 36" 
 from the cities vie with other mermaids in their 
 unveiled charms of nature (sans tout!). 
 
 American "mermaids" are not going to listen to 
 any old prudish suggestions — neither are the photo 
 makers! Since there's no "standard" for anything 
 we wear except what frivolous fashion dictates, bath- 
 ing suits and bathing girls, plus stunning figures, will 
 ever be alluring — especially the one-piece suit a la 
 Kellermann. "A bare leg is no worse than a bare 
 
28 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 arm," says Mile. Porter, and she further asserts, with 
 reference to the nude, that "any man who gazes upon 
 a nude form with lust is a degenerate and needs to be 
 pitied. Only cowards blush at the sight of the nude 
 form." You see, beauty must be served ! 
 
 That good photos of pretty bathing girls are 
 "charmers" no one will deny, but the nub, the rub, or 
 the hub, or whatever you call it, is that one is often 
 "stung" when he seeks to invest in a collection of this 
 kind of "art." 
 
 With the great popularity of "swimming for women" 
 has come the bathing girl in all her glory — in "stun- 
 ning" suits and in newspaper pictures. From Old 
 Orchard to Palm Beach, Galveston and Corpus 
 Christi, and from San Diego to Seattle, she is the 
 observed of all observers. Once her greatest problem 
 was to be alluring and proper at the same time — but 
 that problem has now been solved by the "new free- 
 dom" for bathing girls, who, a la Mabel Normand, 
 decide that beauty's business, first, last and all the 
 time, is to be charming. Let the critics be proper ! 
 
 BEDROOM SCENES— Girls swimming and on bank nude; 
 retiring, in bed; nude bunch in the woods. 6 for SI. 
 
 Very misleading. Four photos are reproductions 
 of familiar paintings, the other two being from life — 
 mais sauf et sain. 
 
 "I'M READY," dainty, fascinating vision of female love- 
 liness; kind men want; can't describe here! 10c. 
 
 Distance lends enchantment! "Fm Ready" (post- 
 card) is a young woman in a bathing suit, of course, 
 but the "symmetrical scenery" is obscured by too 
 much suit. 
 
 BEAUTIFUL GIRLS in bewitching poses, "true to nature." 
 Sent sealed. Men only. 
 
 A "nifty" bunch of "beach and diving beauties" in 
 one-piece bathing suits. Also some "gems of art" in 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 29 
 
 which the photographer is said to have done his best 
 to show "rich, warm beauty of female loveliness." 
 
 RARE, fascinating female beauty poses; "thicks" in 
 negligee; six different, extraordinary photos, 25c. 
 
 Clever photographic reprints of imported postcards 
 of an unusually attractive young woman whose poses 
 glorify the unmentionable fascination of unadorned 
 parts. 
 
 GENUINE imported photos of beautiful and shapely 
 
 models in unconventional poses; finely finished. Gratify 
 
 that desire! Six, SI. Men only. 
 
 "Unconventional poses" may be either "on pur- 
 pose" — or not. (Yes? Thank you!) The phrase, 
 "Gratify that desire," is what got the above ad into 
 this book. However, the photos reveal, not '^scenes 
 impudiques des lubricites," but the endearing young 
 charms of female loveliness in decollete, retrousse, 
 dishabille and negligee. 
 
 REAL PHOTOS FROM LIVE BEAUTIES— Guaranteed 
 against disappointment. Sample and 10 miniatures, 25c. 
 
 The sample is a reproduction of an imported photo 
 and the miniatures, as the advertiser says, "don't show 
 much," but adds that in the originals you will find a 
 "surprise." 
 
 MYSTIFYING AND ASTONISHING POSES of girls and 
 boys before marriage! Best and latest out, 
 
 ! ! 1 
 
 POSTCARDS YOU LIKE— Front views! Strictly new, 
 rich and warm! State age. 
 
 How old are you? (Because, they're front views!) 
 
 RAVISHING! — We certainly have the fruit that beats 
 them all! "She's without togs — a beaut and a thriller!" 
 50c coin or stamps brings her. Men only, 
 THREE real eye-opener poses of girls; red hot, peppery 
 kind. "Little Miss Mabel" in two realistic nature poses. 
 
 Now, just what do you think would be a "real eye- 
 
30 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 opener pose" of a girl? — or one of the "red-hot, 
 peppery" kind? You lose! 
 
 HUNDRED WAYS OF KISSING GIRLS and other 
 things; something real good. B. Girls' Club. 
 
 "Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty; a 
 summer's day will seem an hour as short, being wasted 
 in such time-beguiling sport." 
 
 In George Moore's "Sister Teresa" we learn that 
 *'women can be as bad as men." If it is "bad" for 
 women to sell photos, "the kind men want," then the 
 following ads are those of "bad" women — at least 
 women's names were signed to them: 
 
 FIVE SPORTY CARDS of shapely girls in stunning poses 
 that show clearly their rich, warm beauty. Sent sealed. 
 FIVE POSTCARDS, 10c (silver). Kind men want, but 
 seldom get. Miss R. 
 
 "Going some when a MISS can advertise sporty 
 pictures. They may be harmless, but the intent is 
 there just the same, as only those interested in spicy 
 or sporty poses will answer." — Mail Order News. 
 
 PHOTOS— "Nude in Art," not a stitch on them! Exciting 
 poses. Sent securely sealed. Men only. 
 RED HOT! Four beautiful bathing girl pictures. Better 
 than "September Morn"! 
 
 MISS MERRY WIDOW before the bath, two poses. 
 
 ORIGINAL BATHING BEAUTIES— The kind you have 
 always wanted. (Very daring! Naughty!) 10 for 25c 
 silver (no stamps). 
 
 100 BATHING BEACH GIRLS, in assorted, bewitching 
 
 poses. 
 
 25 BEAUTIFUL POSES of California Bathing Girls, 10c. 
 
 "Gazing far down in the valley below he spies the 
 pretty maidens bathing in the stream!" — From the 
 song of "The Oom-yah Bird." 
 
 Once we regarded a couple of weeks in the moun- 
 tains or woods as an ideal vacation. But after this 
 it's the bathing beach for us. O! you bathing girls! 
 
Rich, Rare and Racy Books 
 
 "r/ie warmest stuff ever put in print" 
 
 MEN who buy books that are advertised as "rich, 
 rare and racy" do not do so because of ignor- 
 ance and inexperience. It is the expectation of getting 
 something "off color" that prompts them to part with 
 their money. 
 
 Like the makers of "photos of women, the kind men 
 want but seldom get," the publishers of "red hot, 
 classy, full-of-ginger" books in "unvarnished lan- 
 guage," that make "no attempt to dodge anything," 
 where the "real, genuine, undiluted naked truth" is 
 blurted out in every line, all the while "teaching a 
 deep moral lesson," also appeal to the erotic element 
 in men. As the evil will ever find in books the 
 wickedness they themselves bring, and the holiest of 
 printed books make the wicked think wickedly, so 
 the vilest of them can not make the lover of righteous- 
 ness do wrong. In other words, books will not make 
 fools of people who are fools by nature, or "ain't quite 
 right in the head," to quote the editor of the Bingville 
 Bugle. 
 
 As a contribution to a ''hihliotheca americana 
 curiosa' (or "the hundred worst books") the follow- 
 ing titles, taken from the advertising matter, with the 
 accornpanying "notes," made up from the "descrip- 
 tive literature," should make a good beginning. 
 
 Publishers of this particular line of "books" are 
 quick to seize upon a new field for their operations, 
 and, following the exposures in recent years of "white 
 slave" cases and the reports of numerous vice com- 
 missions, have resorted to these subjects as a fruitful 
 
32 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 supply of ''raw" material. Consequently, if you 
 "grab the opportunity before the books are out of 
 print" you should soon have a fine collection of — 
 junk ! 
 
 The postal authorities have ruled that no matter 
 how harmless a book or picture may be, if the adver- 
 tising of it is designed to cause a false impression the 
 advertiser is liable to charges of obtaining money 
 under false pretenses. (Of course the advertiser has 
 no control over the imagination of any one who reads 
 his advertisement.) 
 
 With the book advertisements shown farther along 
 it would be difficult to prove, perhaps, that the adver- 
 tisers were giving the wrong impression as to the 
 character of the "books" — certainly the impression 
 sought is apparent enough. 
 
 A "certain good man" some years ago is said to 
 have sold several thousand copies of a cheap edition 
 of the Bible at S2 a copy by using an ad something 
 like this: 
 
 EVERY SPORT ou^ht to read this book, the most fasci- 
 nating of all the ages; full of fascinating matter; 400 
 pages. Sent in plain sealed wrapper for $2. 
 
 It is hardly possible that any "sport" who answered 
 the ad expected to receive a Bible — rather, one may 
 reasonably presume, said "sport" believed he would 
 get the "naked" truth about something or somebody. 
 In this case the advertiser certainly gave the reader 
 a "false impression" of the character of the book he 
 had for sale. 
 
 THE WHITE SLAVE GIRLS OF CHICAGO— A rare 
 book. By "One of the Girls," who has been there and 
 knows how it is herself. 
 
 The "authoress" does not mince matters. There 
 are no ifs, ands or huts about it. In "plain English" 
 you may read and understand her story, from the 
 time she was "insulted by a handsome, well dressed, 
 but worthless, brute," and later "parts with her honor 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 33 
 
 rather than give up her child," ami hundreds of 
 other startlin*; incidents in the "everyday life of the 
 white slave girls," on, on to the end. 
 
 THE TRAGEDIES OF THE WHITE SLAVES, or the 
 Tragedies of Ten Girls. True stories exposing the 
 methods in trapping girls. Guaranteed to please you. 
 
 "Boys, if you want to read something real lively, 
 order this book sure and read how Minnie was lured 
 into a life of shame, how the girl from Iowa had a 
 big time, and what happens in the 'red light' district 
 of the big city every night in the year." 
 
 CHICAGO BY NIGHT. What to see and how to find it. 
 Made more realistic by 45 illustrations. 
 
 An "eye-opener" to every young man intending to 
 visit the Windy City, especially if he contemplates 
 "taking in the sights." Gives "reliable information" 
 concerning places of amusement and some "hilarious 
 resorts" not so public. Everything made plain in this 
 "great work." 
 
 IN THE ARMS OF LOVE. 
 
 A thrilling "romance" of a "young, talented and 
 very amorous young girV and her lover, a '^mismated 
 married man.^* 
 
 CRIMES OF THE WHITE SLAVERS. Real life in "red 
 light districts" of large cities. 
 
 You will not believe "such things" possible till you 
 read them in this book. '"''Fascinating descriptions" 
 of how girls are led astray and wives induced to be 
 untrue to their husbands. 
 
 FRAM DANCE HALL TO WHITE SLAVERY. The most 
 thrilling, sensational white slave story ever put in print. 
 
 "If you once start to read it you will not stop until 
 you have finished it, as it will thrill you through and 
 through from beginning to end"! Girls' own true 
 stories of how they started attending dance halls for 
 mere pleasure and companionship, and there met by 
 white slave dealers and lured into a life of shame. 
 
34 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 FIGHTING THE TRAFFIC IN YOUNG GIRLS. Illus- 
 trated by 32 pictures of "darkest Chicago." 
 
 The "startling, stirring confessions" of "Daisy" and 
 "Kitty." 
 
 THE FATE OF ESTELLE, the Typewriter Girl— Real 
 spicy. Sealed. 
 
 If you enjoy truth that will make your hair stand 
 on end, read this book. "It points a moral of which 
 every girl should beware"! 
 
 TWENTY CONFESSIONS OF TWENTY DIVORCED 
 WOMEN — A thriller from cover to cover. Under sealed 
 wrapping. 
 
 "Before you marry" you are advised to read these 
 "confessions." Why? 
 
 HELL AT MIDNIGHT IN SPRINGFIELD— What's do- 
 ing after dark in the red light district of the capital city 
 of Illinois. 
 
 The table of contents too "strong" to quote — here! 
 
 WHAT HAPPENED TO OLGA— The life story of 
 Florence, the prettiest girl at the White Front, the 
 Fountain of Youth, the greatest vice resort on earth. 
 
 If that is not enough, there are eight other warm 
 stories added. 
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG GIRL, who thrilled "so- 
 ciety" with her frank confessions; full of ginger. 
 
 "Seize this momentous opportunity and reap an 
 experience which no other volume can afford." Her 
 soul is burning with an absorbing passion, "madly 
 longing for her lover's embrace." Evidently a jinx 
 steps in somewhere, for all this "transcendent happi- 
 ness" is soon "staggering under the weight of a name- 
 less horror." 
 
 THE ART OF PLEASING MEN— A book for ladies. 
 
 The woman anxious to get married will here find 
 "some unfailing methods of catching a husband," and 
 "how to get another when he has been gathered to 
 his fathers." "Any woman who can not catch a hus- 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 35 
 
 band by the rules laid down in this book does not 
 deserve one." 
 
 SEPTEMBER MORN, FAMOUS NUDE CARD and book, 
 "Secrets of the Harem." lOc. Catalog, 2c. 
 
 The "secrets" of the harem seem very commonplace 
 affairs after reading this "book." The catalogue an- 
 nounces that photographs of "beautiful women in 
 suggestive and semi-nude poses, and girls in various 
 stages of undressing,'' etc., may be had, and also 
 assures you that the models employed for these photos 
 are the "most beautiful women in the world." A 
 "trial order" brought — disillusionment. 
 
 BOYS— BUILD A BETTER BABY. Sexation in its freer 
 love relationship is "Religion of the Future." Book free 
 in English or French. Sealed, with "Law of Bi-Sexual 
 Birth," only 10c. Both with books, "White Slavery" and 
 one on "Drugless Healing," with fancy colored plates, 
 postpaid, 25c. Japs are immune, so remember that pre- 
 vention of disease is perfection of health. Do I get your 
 goat? Address, Bessie X. 
 
 Now what do you think of that? 
 
 THE LOVERS' CASKET. 
 
 This is "some" casket! And all for 10c! It con- 
 tains "secrets for lovers," one of the secrets being 
 "how to win the true love of as many of the opposite 
 sex as the heart may desire," and this secret is said to 
 be worth S5 to any one; ten funny stories you may 
 learn to tell and create roars of laughter at evening 
 entertainments; you can be the wonder and envy of 
 all your friends when you have learned to perform 
 tricks with cards; twelve gay and festive love letters; 
 a book on love and courtship will help you smooth 
 the way to happiness; seventy-eight rib-tickling "new" 
 jokes and conundrums; twenty-one "rip-roaring, 
 bright and snappy monologues"; thirty-nine experi- 
 ments in magic; a "complete marriage guide" in 
 which many "mysterious things are truthfully and 
 
36 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 vividly explained"; seventy-one toasts that are "cork- 
 ers"; fourteen "vivid" pictures of a "young couple in 
 all sorts of antics before and after marriage" which 
 you shouldn't miss; forty-two flirtation cards; two 
 hundred and ten riddles and conundrums; the "Gipsy 
 Fortune Teller," and one hundred and twenty-nine 
 "Money Making Secrets" that will make you rich — 
 worth S500 to you! 
 
 NATURE'S WAY IN LOVE, COURTSHIP AND MAR- 
 RIAGE. Nothing like it has ever before been published. 
 
 "Were a price put upon this book proportionate to 
 its value few could afford to buy it," but that all men, 
 old and young, rich and poor, may own a copy, just 
 answer ten questions and if in the judgment of the 
 advertiser he thinks you need the book he will send 
 it. As the book explains to a "scientific certainty just 
 what will win a woman's love," and, having won it, 
 "hold it forever and against all comers," why hesitate 
 to answer any of the ten questions? (especially the 
 last four: Q. 7, Mention all your ailments. Q. 8, 
 What treatment have you had? Q. 9, At what ex- 
 pense? Q. 10, What result?). 
 
The Mail Order Mint 
 
 "Making money in the mail order mint is easy 
 when you know how" 
 
 HOMELESS wanderer and searcher after honest 
 employment! When your pockets are empty 
 turn to the Want Ads — the by-paths to easy weahh! 
 There you will find "green fields" and "running 
 brooks," the "land of milk and honey," "rich" gold 
 mines, "flowing" oil wells, "producing" orange groves, 
 100 to 10,000 percent interest on your "investment," 
 "1000 secrets on how to get rich," "$10 a day without 
 capital," "barrels of money," "slathers of greenbacks," 
 "showers of gold," "mountains of silver," "money 
 sticking out everywhere" (and easy to get), all this 
 bewildering array of "unheard-of opportunities" 
 entreating you to get your share — without capital, 
 without work, and without worry! 
 
 It is said that the sight of some foods makes the 
 mouth water. Equally efficacious, so far as results 
 are concerned, is the sight of an ad that makes the 
 mind's eye see visions of wealth and luxury through 
 the investment of "two bits" ( sometimes two "bones" ) 
 in a "golden key" that unlocks the "secret door" that 
 leads straight to the tremendous heaps of yellow gold 
 coins that lie in the high, vaulted treasure chambers 
 of the mysterious "mail order mint." 
 
 "Making money in the mail order mint is easy when 
 you know how" is the sweet burden of many a pro- 
 moter's song. Its dulcet refrain is heard from East- 
 port's rocky shore to San Diego's silvery tide. It carries 
 a message of "deliverance" from wage slavery under 
 tyrannical bosses for a thin pay envelope; it also 
 
38 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 carries the "warning" that old age is steadily creep- 
 ing on, that tomorrow we may lose our job, and then, 
 with only a heavy heart and enfeebled hands, we 
 shall see the wolf of want come right into the house 
 and gobble up every one of us! 
 
 But, hold! A "Moses" is at hand! 
 
 First let it be said that the "easy money" mail order 
 promoter is not a mere "deliverer" only. He is more 
 than that! His extraordinary knowledge of finance 
 and business, of human nature and its needs, of the 
 desire of every one to be independent, amply qualify 
 him to be the one and only one in this great nation 
 of down-trodden wage slavers who can free them from 
 the eternal grind and put cash-producing "plans" or 
 "courses" of "instructions" in their hands that will 
 start the dollars rolling in by the operation of any 
 one of his many marvelous masterpieces of money 
 making mail order schemes! 
 
 The Perfect Day must be near! 
 
 Keen visionists of the future may already see that 
 this nation is destined to become a humming hive ot 
 mail order dealers — if only the toiling masses of meal 
 ticket chasers once realize they have but their bone- 
 warping shackles to lose, will banish fear and take 
 advantage of the "tremendous and unlimited" possi- 
 bilities of money making offered by those who are 
 impatient to start them in business. 
 
 "In the wildest flights of all your dreaming," said 
 one of these super-benefactors of mankind, "you 
 never dared hope for the quick success that should 
 come to you if you will immediately send for my 
 great mail order course," the price of which was $100 
 at the start, but later reduced to $3 down, $97 to be 
 paid when the operator had cleared $2000 in the first 
 six months! Still later it was reduced to the "measly 
 sum of $1," which included free of charge the very 
 scheme with which the originator of this mail order 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 39 
 
 wizardry claimed to have made "$650,000 in eighteen 
 months" ! 
 
 Yet, strange as it may seem, these "benefactors" 
 have had their prototype in years gone by. Fifty and 
 sixty years ago there appeared in New York news- 
 papers the following among the Want Ads: 
 
 A FORTUNE FOR SI -No excuse for poverty. Direc- 
 tions will be sent to any one enclosing §1, postpaid, to 
 the subscriber, which will enable them, with the smallest 
 amount of capital to realize from S15 to S30 per week. 
 
 BECOME ABSOLUTELY INDEPENDENT— Send SI and 
 the astounding secret will be sent you. 
 
 $5000 A YEAR CLEAR— No investment required. This 
 is a marvelous plan, new and perfectly legitimate, pay- 
 ing the originator more than SlOO a week. Not a cent of 
 capital invested. Full details of operation mailed in 
 plain envelope on receipt of S5. 
 
 Of all the schemes for making money without work 
 the mail order business has been touted the most. 
 The fascination of taking "real money" from the 
 morning's mail is glowingly described to one who 
 sends a stamp or a "silver dime" for "particulars." 
 
 The fact that some ads have been run two to five 
 years, in a half-hundred mediums, must mean that 
 the proposition pays — pays, at least, the persistent 
 advertiser. But it does not mean, necessarily, that the 
 proposition is a good one. It will be noticed there is 
 a striking similarity in the "copy" of many of the ads 
 farther on — often identical. There is a suspicion 
 that some of the "mail orderites" are "chasing their 
 tails." 
 
 A "scheme" may be either legitimate or fraudulent, 
 according to the intent of the advertiser. Any way, 
 the "scheme's" first business is to get attention — to 
 excite curiosity. For instance: 
 
 LOOK! LOOK! LOOK! Money! Money! Money! 
 
 Key free. 
 
 The ad was answered; and, the "key" received, if 
 
40 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 such it is, read, in part: ''$500 genuine money for 
 $100; $1000 genuine money for $200,'" and so on. 
 But do not be surprised if you should receive S500 in 
 Villa specie for your 100 good U. S. dollars. 
 
 25 CENTS starts you in the mail order business selling 
 plans and instructions; over 500 percent profit; $2 worth 
 for 25 cents; start now. 
 
 This "start in business" consisted of 20 circulars. 
 
 SEND ME 25 CENTS and I will send you copy of an ad 
 pulling me 300 quarters a week; article to fill orders and 
 place to secure article for 10 cents prepaid to customer. 
 
 In plain English, I think, this means, "Work the 
 suckers the way we do." At least that's the way it 
 looks after an examination of the "business litera- 
 ture" received. 
 
 AN AD THAT BRINGS THE QUARTERS— I will send 
 you copy of an ad that has pulled as many as 1000 quar- 
 ters in one month; will also tell you where to place the 
 ad; full information and sample of article to sell, 25c. 
 
 And this the same. 
 
 MAKE S50 UP PER WEEK -I show you how; no can- 
 vassing; no mail order scheme. 
 
 For 25 cents you can get a copy of the "Roadman's 
 Guide," in which you may look for the "$50 up per 
 week." 
 
 WHY WASTE SPARE TIME?— Receive 30 to 50 letters 
 daily, dime in each; possibilities unlimited; will send 
 complete plans for stamp. 
 
 Sure enough, "complete plans" came by return 
 mail. But why tell everybody and anybody for two 
 cents how to make a metal polish? 
 
 $3000 A YEAR — No canvassing, no soliciting, not a mail 
 order business; no advertising, printing, mailing or 
 peddling — and no humbug! 500 to 700 percent profit! 
 Working for wages is a joke! My plan, 25c, tells how. 
 
 DIMES! — Dimes in every mail; money comes so easy it 
 will stagger you! Complete instructions 15c. 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 41 
 
 Instructions tell how to place an ad similar to the 
 above in classified columns. In answer to each in- 
 quiry send ''12 Gay and Festive Love Letters Reading 
 Two Ways" and the price per hundred of the letters, 
 and vour customer will see the possibilities of money 
 making in this way and will be anxious to "increase 
 his income" in the same way you are doing! 
 
 AN AD that brings 350 dimes per week; copy of ad, 
 sample of article and where to buy, all for 10c. 
 You guessed it — "12 Gay," etc. 
 
 SEND DIME and 2c stamp for my great money making 
 
 formula; you can positively make S30 daily. 
 
 Make a "poultry tonic" in two-pound packages and 
 sell 65 of them a day at 50 cents per package — that 
 will "positively make S30 daily." 
 
 LET ME show you how to start a business of your own 
 
 that will not cost you one cent. 
 
 Send S5 for a formula; with it will come 24 copies 
 of "24 Ways to Make Money" (formulas), which you 
 must sell to friends at 25c each, "making S6." With 
 the SI profit on the sale of the booklets to friends 
 you then "can start a business of your own" without 
 it costing you a cent! Fine! 
 
 START a business of your own; I will tell you how and 
 
 send complete instructions for 25c. 
 
 "The only way to make a success of any business is 
 to go to it in earnest," comes with the "instructions" 
 for making a silver polish. 
 
 HOME SEWERS WANTED— Send 25c for sample work 
 
 and instructions. 
 
 The sample is a canton flannel article which you 
 are to stitch together and return for "inspection." If 
 you wish further "instructions" please send the ad- 
 vertiser S5 for a "trial shipment" of five dozen of the 
 "articles." Your profits are to come out of sales you 
 make in your neighborhood. 
 
 It is this sort of "home work" ads that once 
 
42 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 prompted this Post Office report upon a "work at 
 home" scheme: "This money comes from the poor 
 and ignorant, as a rule, as they are the class attracted 
 and duped by the advertising and literature." 
 
 READ WISELY— Chance of a lifetime. For 25c in silver 
 I will put you next to something that will place you aboN-e 
 want as long as you live. 
 
 Here's a chance to pay off your debts — if you have 
 any — and then take life easy. 
 
 WE PAY 25 CENTS EACH for farmers' names and 
 addresses. Send 10 cents for contract. 
 
 Listen! The "desirability of this proposition" is 
 very apparent ('We pay 25 cents each"j, but the 
 "contract" dulls the edge of the desire for so much 
 "easy money" when it discloses the modus operandi 
 by which the 25 cents "compensation" is to be ac- 
 quired; that is, getting orders for printed stationery 
 at $1 per order and sending the company 75 cents, the 
 party of the second part keeping 25 cents. That's the 
 way to get "25 cents each for farmers' names," etc. 
 
 MEN AND WOMEN wanted to gather names of their 
 
 neighbors for us; 10 cents a name paid. Send 10 cents 
 
 for full particulars. 
 
 An answer to such an ad usually brings the infor- 
 mation that $1 must be sent for a "complete outfit" 
 for compiling the names. "Instructions" which come 
 with the "outfit" often require more "inside informa- 
 tion" concerning the persons whose names are desired 
 than the average individual can hope to get — and 
 quits the job. One concern is said to have received 
 nearly 200,000 letters, each containing a dollar, while 
 "working" this scheme — but the promoter later went 
 to jail for eighteen months. 
 
 S25 WEEKLY collecting names and addresses. Send 
 stamp for particulars. 
 
 This is a very easy way to get rid of a dollar. How- 
 ever, emptor gets "instructions" how to collect names 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 4^ 
 
 and sell them — but not how to sell them to the 
 advertiser. 
 
 SELL ME your spare knowledge; average person has 
 $3000 worth; turn it into cash. 
 
 Still have my "spare knowledge" (whatever it is), 
 because the three dimes sent for the method of dis- 
 posing of the same were returned — the "plan" was 
 out of print! 
 
 WORK FOR YOURSELF— Small ad pays me 150 quarters 
 per week; ad and sample of article to sell, 25c. 
 The two-bit piece returned! Advertiser had quit 
 the "business"! 
 
 START YOURSELF EARNING S5 DAILY— No scheme 
 or mail order plan, but a high grade business proposi- 
 tion. Can be operated anywhere on $2 capital. Complete 
 instructions for silver dime and 2c stamp. 
 A formula for a toilet preparation, which, it is said, 
 can be put up for $2. Then sell 28 bottles a day at 25 
 cents a bottle — and you have the $5 per. 
 
 I MAKE S5 A DAY with small mail order business; 
 ad and sample of article used and full particulars for 10c. 
 Suggests selling the very same thing the advertiser 
 does — a two-page sheet of instructions about compil- 
 ing and selling names and addresses. 
 
 DONT BE A SLAVE and work for others; earn $1000 to 
 §5000 a year in your spare time; full particulars on re- 
 ceipt of $1 cash. 
 
 830 WEEKLY ON 25 CENTS CAPITAL— No mail order 
 scheme or medical formula; thousands can work without 
 interference, any lime, anywhere; don't let this offer slip 
 by, but let a dime roll this way. 
 
 AN AD THAT PULLS THE DIMES— Also enough mate- 
 rial to fill 25 dime orders, only 20c. 
 
 Once in a while the "dime pulling business" fails 
 to work, as the following shows: "Dear Sir — I re- 
 ceived your 10c in stamps. As yours was the only 
 order I received there is no need to keep it." 
 
 LET ME show you how to start a profitable business, 
 without capital, complete for a silver dime. 
 
44 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 ASTONISHING, FASCINATING— Millions of dollars 
 made annually; SlOO weekly at home during; leisure 
 moments; absolutely no canvassing; no experience neces- 
 sary; I will start you in this extraordinary business and 
 furnish everything ; don't worry about capital. 
 
 The business must have been too astonishing, too 
 fascinating and too extraordinary. The Postmaster 
 General ordered letter returned. 
 
 GOOD FOR S250 PER MONTH -Once established, two 
 days a month carries it along. Plan sent free, with two 
 formulas, for 25c silver. 
 
 Advertiser says this business can be started with 
 less than SI capital. "Do you know of any other 
 business that will earn that much money for two 
 days' work a month?" Nope. 
 
 WOULDN'T YOU like to have people everywhere send- 
 ing you money by mail? You can receive 300 dimes 
 weekly by mail without risk. Complete information, 
 material, valuable sample, 10c. 
 
 After receiving the "dope" it looks like an invita- 
 tion to thrash the same air with them. 
 
 YOU CAN MAKE A FORTUNE with SI capital! If you 
 want to fill your pockets with gold, silver and greenbacks 
 write me for plans and schemes for getting money 
 quickly. Sent free! 
 
 As Poor Richard says, "The boldness of some men 
 and the credulitv of others is startling and won- 
 derful." 
 
 MEN WANTED to work in a company store; SlOO a 
 month and a pass worth S25 will be sent one desiring to 
 take the work. 
 
 As a "guarantee of good faith" please send SIO — 
 and then you will have a long, long wait for a job. 
 
 MAKING MONEY IN THE MAIL ORDER MINT is easy 
 when you know how; we'll gladly tell you all about it if 
 you are in earnest; SI all you need at first; experience 
 unnecessary. Send 10c for particulars. 
 
 "There is absolutely no limit in the mail order 
 business." The "mere dollar" you need "at first" is 
 
"FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 45 
 
 for a book which may mean the turning point for 
 you '"from faihirc to a glorious success in the mail 
 order business." That's all. 
 
 I HAVE A SPLENDID PLAN that should net you $5000 
 the first year; can be started without capital during spare 
 time, without interfering with your present occupation. 
 
 How many wouldn't drop their present occupation 
 for S5000 a year? Only one? Sit down — you're 
 rocking the boat. 
 
 DONT WORK FOR OTHERS ALL YOUR LIFE— Start a 
 mail order business of your own. You'll never get rich 
 working for others. Small ad that brings in 175 to 225 
 dimes weekly, and complete instructions for 10c. The 
 very best plan for those looking for the coin. 
 
 It won't be long before all that "mystery stuff" is 
 torn off the mask of the "wise insiders" in the mail 
 order mint, so many are bent on showing us how to 
 get the money. So start a business of your own on a 
 few dimes — and other dimes will come tumbling into 
 your lap on every round of the postman! 
 
 ADD $200 MONTHLY TO YOUR INCOME— You place 
 small ads in newspapers and magazines and pull hundreds 
 of dimes and quarters; no capital required; SI makes 
 $50 a week. 
 
 After investigation it doesn't seem so easy. "There 
 is so much output from the ignorant and the 'suckers' 
 that it seems allowable that there should be some 
 kind of a scramble for it. The blame is fundamentally 
 with the people who go about with their purses open 
 to the view of ambitious and thrifty collectors." — 
 George French, in his "Advertising: The Social and 
 Economic Problem." 
 
 MEN without trades, learn to clean wall paper, make $8 
 a day; all secrets and instructions, $2. 
 
 $550 CLEAR in 90 days or less; congenial work in your 
 own community; man or woman; no capital required; 
 spare time may be used. 
 
46 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 FRIENDSHIP or love easily won, or lost love regained; 
 secret, 10c. 
 
 YOU can make more money in a week with your brain 
 than in a month with your hands; ordinary ability 
 required; either sex; particulars on request. 
 
 WHY look for a position? Start your own profitable 
 business, without capital. 
 
 EITHER SEX — Address postal cards at home evenings; 
 S15 a week easily made; full instructions 10c. 
 
 There are a few easily definable classes, which may be set 
 down at once, under the heading "Swindles," and so dismissed; 
 promises to cure or relieve, by mail, any disease, malformation 
 or abnormal physical condition, whether the method be by 
 drugs, diet, mechanical appliances, medical treatment, baths, 
 or "health foods"; mining, industrial, commercial or real 
 estate propositions holding out the lure, whether guaranteed 
 or not, of high percentages on an investment; definite offers 
 of salaried or guaranteed employment on any basis requiring 
 the payment of money from employee to employer. — Samuel 
 Hopkins Adams, "The New World of Trade," Collier's, June 
 19, 1909. 
 
Bibliography 
 
 BOOKS 
 
 Marked Fraudulent, or the Faker and the Sucker. Ross D. 
 Breniser. (Philadelphia) 1907. 
 
 Principles of Practical Puhlicitv. Truman A. De Weese. Phila- 
 delphia, 1908. 
 
 Nostrums and Quackery. Chicago, 1912. 
 
 The Great American Fraud. Samuel Hopkins Adams. Fifth 
 and enlarged edition. Chicago, 1913. 
 
 Advertising: Selling, the Consumer. John Lee Mahin. (New 
 York-, 1914. 
 
 Building Your Business by Mail. William G. Clifford. Chi- 
 cago, 1914. 
 
 The Schemes Back of the Ads. Ross D. Breniser. 1914. 
 
 Business of Advertising. Earnest Elmo Calkins. New York, 1915. 
 
 Medical Mail Order Frauds. Chicago, 1915. 
 
 Advertising: The Social and Economic Problem. George 
 French. New York, 1915. 
 
 Advertising: Its Principles and Practice. Harry Tipper, Harry 
 L. Hollingsworth, George Barton Hotchkiss, Frank Alvah 
 Parsons. New York, 1915. 
 
 Productive Advertising. Herbert W. Hess. Philadelphia ( 1915). 
 
 Fraudulent and Deceptive Advertising. Samuel Hopkins Adams. 
 New York, 1916. 
 
 Psychology of Advertising. Walter Dill Scott. Boston, 1916. 
 
 MAGAZINE ARTICLES 
 
 Swindling and Newspaper Advertising. Atlantic Mo., Aug., 1904. 
 Postal Fraud Laws. The Outlook, Jan. 14, 1905. 
 Swindling Through the Postoffice, The Outlook, Jan. 14, 1905. 
 Frauds in the Mails. North American Review, April, 1907. 
 Mv Experiences in Wanting to Be Beautiful. Ladies' Home 
 
 journal, Jan., 1908. 
 How Some Folks Are Easily Swindled. Ladies' Home Journal, 
 
 Aug., 1908. 
 The New World of Trade. Samuel Hopkins Adams. Collier's, 
 
 May 22, June 19, July 24, 1909. 
 Business Opportunities. Forbes Lindsay. Harper's Weekly, 
 
 Aug. 13, 1910. 
 Hitchcock's War Upon Swindles. The Independent, Dec. 1, 1910. 
 The Government and the Get-Rich-Quick Industry. Harper's 
 
 Weeklv, Dec. 10, 1910. 
 The Get-Rich-Quick Game. World's Work, March, 1911. 
 Fooling the People. The Outlook, Feb. 3, 1912. 
 Millions Lost in Fake Enterprises. The Outlook, April 13, 1912. 
 Chasing Wildcats of Finance. Current Literature, Feb., 1912, 
 
48 "FISHING FOR SUCKERS" 
 
 My Adventures with Your Money. George Graham Rice. 
 
 Adventure, April, 1911. 
 Baffling Kinds of Ignorance. World's "Work, March, 1912. 
 Easy Money. Will MacMahon. Collier's, Aug. 16, 1913. 
 The "Easy" Rich. Isaac F. Marcosson. Collier's, April 11, 1914. 
 Scenario "School" Advertising. Photoplay Magazine, April, 1915. 
 Fools and Their Money. Postage, Jan. and Feb., 1916. 
 Mail Order Genius. Photoplay Magazine, June, 1916. 
 
 MAGAZINES 
 Canvassers' Magazine. South Whitley, Ind, 
 See "The Instability of Fallacious Advertising Methods" and 
 a department devoted to exposures of "mail order pirates." 
 Mail Order Business Builder. Lansing, Mich. 
 Mail Order News. Newburgh, N. Y. 
 
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