These latter
are used as bait by men who have nothing bona-fide to offer, and
who make their fattest profits out of their shallowest shafts.
THE "SUCKER LIST" IN WALL STREET
Methods vary among such fraudulent operators, but new victims
continually are found. The "sucker list" of one firm in Wall
Street numbers 110,000 names, selected as those of persons who
will bite more than once at a mining scheme, and whose records
show that they have so bitten. This operator proudly declares
that the only way a sucker can get his name off that list is to
die. In the reorganization of the firm of Douglas, Lacey & Co.,
of New York City, it was discovered that 20,000 persons had money
invested in stocks of the company.
The best bait in this particular operation was a "trust fund"
established for the benefit of stockholders. The proceeds of the
better-paying mines were to be applied to pay dividends for those
which were less successful. In this way, the various directors of
the many Douglas-Lacey Companies explained, it was impossible for
the investors to lose. But they did lose. The reorganization,
intended to save some of the better properties, wiped out more
than seventy per cent.
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