Over the years, The Medical World magazine provided numerous phonetically-spelled financial warnings to its readers about the dangers of wireless stocks, in its monthly "Business Talk to Doctors" editorial comments.
 
The Medical World, April, 1902, page 143:

FINANCIAL  INVESTMENTS  OF  MEDICAL  MEN.

BY  I.  W.  HEYSINGER,  M.A.,  M.D.

    No physician should ever invest money in companies establisht on secret processes or unsecured patents as a basis. There is a wireless telegraph company so based; the machinery is in a cigar box; the invention is in a man's brain, perhaps, and the proceeds are in his pocketbook. It is almost certain that the same principle was long ago used by Dolbear in one of his patents, and is still older. There is nothing new in wireless telegraphy anyhow. Professor Henry used it at distances of 100 or more feet more than fifty years ago. Edison long since telegraphed to moving trains of cars, back and forth, without wires. The secret of the present success is in the "coherer," which of itself has never been patented, and Marconi covers the field far too fully to permit a rival system to present opportunity for million dollar sales of patents. Such things are figments of the imagination. The field of invention here is narrow, not broad.
September, 1906, pages 337-338:
Keep  Your  Money  at  Home.

    I have often said emphatically that I am not a counselor concerning specific investments, and that it is decidedly annoying to me to be bothered for my opinion concerning this, that, or the other concern, which by the use of seductiv letters and circulars may be trying to rake in the hard earned dollars of doctors. Doctors seem to be particularly interested in a certain lumber company with headquarters in this city. Perhaps the inquiries come to me as a result of energetic circularizing of doctors by said company. Their proposition is an interesting and attractiv one. They say that the price of their stock will soon increase in price. If they have to work so hard to sell stock at the present price, do you think you could sell your stock (should you buy) at the advanced price, or any other price? If their stock were really worth more than the present price, do you think they would sell it to you for less than it is worth? If they are so prosperous, and prospects for the future so good, why don't they quit selling stock and keep the future "bonanza" for themselves?
    Did you ever see a man invest say $100 in a concern far away from home, perhaps in some other country where the laws are usually against the interests of the foreigner, and watch to see how many years it takes for the man to get his $100 back? Perhaps he will get flattering dividends for a while, and then he gets his friends into the "good thing" But haven't you noticed that before say $20 of the $100 have come back, and after the money of many friends have gone in, something happens and the bubble bursts'? Did you ever know the full $100 to come back? The Astors, the Vanderbilts, and other families that have retained wealth for several generations, don't put money into such things, and promoters of such things don't bother that kind of people. Think of the families in your community that have shown financial judgment and prudence for several generations, and ask if they have invested money in far-away concerns managed by entire strangers, tho perhaps bearing high-sounding names--some men allow their names to be used for a bunch of free stock. Inquiries are also made concerning wireless telegraph stock. Better let the men who understand that sort of thing put their money into it.
July, 1907, page 270:

    A year or so ago I received numerous inquiries about wireless. I uniformly advised that it be left alone. I have just read in June issue of Success Magazine a full exposure of the numerous fraudulent wireless companies, and how vast quantities of this stock was sold, all over the country, upon which not one dollar will ever be realized by the duped purchasers. How many doctors got caught? There is certainly need for a National incorporation law, with governmental supervision of all stock issued.
October, 1907, page 400:

    Just as a good mine may be a bad investment, as I have shown in the "Fools and Their Money" articles that have gone before, so may a great invention be a bad investment. Wireless telegraphy has been a bad investment. Many millions of dollars of wireless stock have been printed by promoters, and this stock has been sold to investors by flagrantly dishonest methods. Millions of dollars of wireless stock manufactured in the past eight years is today worth no more than the paper on which it is printed. Overcapitalization, mismanagement, and fraud have wasted millions of money.--Success
January, 1908, page 4:

    Wireless telefony is one of the latest developments of science. But, just as the quacks take up every new development of science for advertising purposes to attract and cheat patients, so the financial quacks and sharks will be offering wireless telefone stock, at bargain prices, with the most enticing inducements to investors that can be conceived. If you have money to throw away, you will probably have an opportunity, perhaps several of them, to put it in wireless telefone stock. If you do, you can be reasonably sure that you will never see your money again.
July, 1908, page 304:
    EDITOR MEDICAL WORLD:--I would like to get some advice in regard to the Wireless Telegraf Co. There has been a man around in this part of the country selling stock at $16.50 per share, and he has had pretty good luck, too. Is it a safe concern to buy stock in?
Yoncalla, Ore.           R. P. MORTENSEN, M.D.     
    [My advice is to let wireless alone. The agent in your part of the country had "pretty good luck," as you say. In three or five years from now you can size up the luck the investors of this stock have had. Please keep this in mind, and let us know when you are able to tell how the investment turns out.--ED.]
August, 1908, page 329:

    Dr. E. B. Johns, of Lexington, Ky., writes:
    DEAR DR. TAYLOR:--We had a man by the name of Kelley who sold the Wireless Telegrafy stock at $10 per share. One M.D. took his lawyer to examin credentials, etc., and Kelley presented his stock so well that both lawyer and physician took stock. Caught bankers and business men. Held wireless exhibition in the Y. M. C. A. Hall; and promist to connect us in 12 days with Marconi, the inventor. Only 5,000 shares could be distributed in the state. It has been more than 180 days, and nothing from the wireless.
   It will be many times 180 days before any of the investors get any of their money back. A cute dodge is to set a limit upon the amount of stock allotted to a state. That makes everybody want some of it; and in that way they can sell more of it, and at a better price, than if it is unlimited; and they can sell it easier. A demonstration in a hall is a very different thing from commercial use out in the open, producing commercial results. And if commercial success should be achieved, there are still many obstacles between the small investor and his money. If the small fish have something good, the big fish usually find some way to get it. I do not know of a single small investor in a new thing of that kind who ever got even his money back; do you? There are many small investors in the standard railroad stocks and other standard stocks, and they can sell at any time, and sometimes with a profit. But money put into the new things like wireless is usually lost. They are boomed up so as to make a "lamb" think that investment of a few hundred will certainly bring him a fortune. But don't be a lamb.
September, 1908, pages 381-382:

    Here is a clipping from a financial paper:
WIRELESS  BROKERS  ARRESTED.
    Louis Robinson, of the firm of Robinson & Robinson, No. 80 Wall Street, New York, was arrested by Central Office detectivs, charged with grand larceny. The firm was selling Marconi Wireless stock on the Pacific Coast, pretending it was representing the company, when such was not the case. The firm is charged with being the successors of Monroe & Monroe; Monroe is himself a fugitiv from justice.
    Agents are also selling United Wireless on the Pacific Coast for $16 a share, $6 more than its par value--a ridiculous price.
    Is it possible that doctors encourage this sort of thing by actually buying the stock? If not, why do so many concerns do it? Or is it because of the "hope that springs eternal in the human breast?" You see, the trick is this. It is an old one, and has often been exposed in these columns. They can make the capitalization whatever they please. So they make it large enuf to spare a portion of the stock to the doctors, which they get real money for. Then, after the doctors have provided the money, they prescribe the product, thus giving value to the little stock they own, and at the same time giving value to the much greater amount of stock retained by the promoters. It is a beautiful plan--for the promoters.
    Poor medical profession, I am moved to exclaim, as I go over the numerous devices, schemes, traps, intricate contracts, etc., that are put out to catch dollars from doctors. A doctor must be on the alert not to be caught; better make it a rule not to read them at all, but cast them aside as they come. Agents are not easily cast aside; they are so persistent; and they are the dangers that should be evaded, for they are so glib and insinuating that they will get your signature to something before you know it, and some day you will have to pay a pretty fee for that same signature. The contract of the National Rating League, of 512 W. 61st Street, Chicago, is before me, and I can see how a doctor could be induced to sign it, and then he would be liable for a fee of $25 if he failed to do a lot of things specified. Don't sign any of these complicated contracts. They don't look like contracts, but they are, just the same; so look sharp, and learn to say No. Usually the mere mention of the fact that you are a subscriber and regular reader of THE MEDICAL WORLD is sufficient to cause these slick gentlemen to unceremoniously slide out of your office.
1907 United Wireless Stock
United Wireless Telegraph Company stock, circa. 1907
December, 1908, pages 511-512:

    Mines are not the only things that foolish investors lose money in. An Oregon brother wrote me as follows:
    I have got myself into quite a little difficulty about Wireless Telegraphy here. In the first place by making the statement that it was not worth $17.50, the price that one preacher was selling it for. When I received THE WORLD for September I noticed that on page 382 you made the statement that it is a ridiculous price, as the par value is only ten. Now these same fellows are back here and are strictly on the war path, and claim that they are going to make me trouble. I have shown your article to a number of people and they are truly surprised. Now, I wish that you would write me or publish what the Wireless stock is selling for in the open market. I must call this preacher's stuff. They have sold over 10,000 shares in this small town, and they are back here to sell at least 10,000 more, but not at $17.50; they now are selling it for $20 per share.
    I got official quotations from New York and sent to him. The quotations were: "$2.75 bid; $3.75 askt." That is, in the public buying and selling that goes on every day in New York, $2.75 per share was bid for Wireless; and those holding same askt $3.75. And those poor victims in Oregon were paying from $17.50 to $20! Another Oregon brother asks about Wireless, saying that "nearly every business and professional man in this and other towns have invested in it." He says that he personally knows some persons who bought Bell Telefone stock when it was low and have come out nicely on it. That is one of the happy instances that is used to ruin people in other things. I suppose these Wireless people have used the Bell Telefone argument, as all fakirs do, to make people believe that their stock will be like the fortunate Bell Telefone stock. I am immediately suspicious when the Bell Telefone argument is brought into use; for that argument has been used to make more people poor than the stock itself made rich. Only one Bell Telefone to ten thousand or a hundred thousand that claim they will be as great money makers! You might as well consider every man a George Washington.
January, 1909, pages 8-9:

    In December WORLD, pages 511 and 512, there was something said about the price of Wireless. I just received from a Texas brother a circular letter and a lot of circulars sent him by "E. W. Dodge, Specialist in Marconi, Ruskin, Tenn." He offers to sell English Marconi Wireless (the parent Marconi company, he claims) at $8 per share. In one of the circulars is the following:
    The price is $8 per share.
    It is being sold by brokers thru agents at from $10 to $15 per share, and you can do a good business in this way if you wish.
    This leads us to wonder what Mr. Dodge, of Ruskin, Tenn., pays for the stock he sells. According to the figures we publisht on page 512, he is making a good profit, also. Selah!
March, 1909, page 98:

    Here is something concrete; and it means to you--to you--perhaps more than you at first think. How many of those wasted dollars should have gone into your pocket? Here comes Dr. J. S. Rankin, of Newberg, Oregon, saying that he cannot collect his bills because the Wireless agent is getting the money! So you see, you are "your brother's keeper." If you don't help to keep him posted and protected, he can't keep you paid up. Thus these things are "your business" in a double way. You must keep from being fleeced yourself and you must help to keep others from being fleeced. These Wireless fellows seem to be pretty slick. They are infesting many small towns, and they are after the small investors (the poor things!--they are ignorant about business and they don't know it, but the agents do--and "a fool and his money are soon parted"); and the slick agent uses the preacher in many places (shame!). A few weeks ago there was a collision in mid-ocean seriously wounding the steamer Republic. Her injuries were not considered very serious at first, but it afterward developt that she was vitally wounded, and several hundred people seemed to fate a certain doom. What was to be done? Fortunately, the ship carried wireless apparatus, and a signal for help was sent out into the darkness. Soon after, the encroaching water put out the fires and even the wireless apparatus was put out of commission; and the passengers and crew awaited their fate. But the magical signal had toucht those wonderful instruments elsewhere, and told the desperate situation of the Republic, and ships hurried from all directions to the rescue and saved the people before the ship went down. A wonderful victory for science; and it will become historic. But I fear that it is now being used industriously by the wireless agents to open the pockets of the credulous. Science is one thing, business is another. What do those ignorant investors know about the company that they invest in--the capitalization; the patents; etc.? Business men should do these things. A lot of fools will never see their money again.
April, 1909, pages 145-146:

Wireless.

    So persistent have become the inquiries concerning "Wireless," and so strong has become my conviction that the people in various sections, particularly the Pacific Northwest, are being misled into what will finally be heavy loss by people who are using this wonderful invention as a means for opening the purses of the credulous, that I resolved to see what could be learned about it in reliable financial circles. I askt a financial friend and he said he knew nothing about the stock. I askt him to make inquiries at the stock exchange, and he could learn nothing. I still presst the matter, and his broker offered to use his connections in New York to see what he could learn about it there. This letter finally came from the broker:
    Regarding the United Wireless Telegraf Co. about which you made inquiry, we have the following from New York:
    "The United Wireless Telegraf Co. has no standing at all. In fact, all of the Wireless Companies apparently have been exploited more as stock-selling than commercial enterprises. This opinion has nothing to do with the merits of the invention; simply from the methods of exploitation; we have never been willing to handle the securities of any of the Wireless Companies.
    Beside the United Wireless, the only others we know are the DeForest Wireless Telegraf, the Marconi Wireless Telegraf of America, the Marconi Wireless of Canada, and the English Marconi; also Pacific Wireless."
    So you see "Wireless" is not a "live wire" in financial circles. I understand that the DeForest company was included in the "United."
    I then wrote to the "United" office in New York for information, and received the following reply:
C. C. WILSON,W. A. DIBOLL,          
            President.            Treasurer.
S. S. BOGART,CLOYD MARSHALL,          
            Vice-President.            Secretary.
UNITED  WIRELESS  TELEGRAF  COMPANY,
42 BROADWAY, NEW YORK.
FEBRUARY 27, 1909.    
The Medical World, 1520 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.:
    GENTLEMEN:--We are sending you under separate cover a copy of the February Aerogram, which contains reports of this company and officers, etc.
    We have a station in Philadelphia which is doing a splendid business, and one of our directors is a physician in your city, as you will note.
    We do not list our stock on the exchange for the simple reason that we desire to keep a fixed value to it and as you well know, stock listed is subject to the vagaries of the market, and in our opinion tends to make it unstable.
    We are holding our preferred stock at $25 per share and the common at $20. We would be pleased to have you investigate this matter thoroly as to the commercial end, which will afford full opportunity to any representativ you may have in the city of New York.
              Yours very truly,W. A. DIBOLL,          
Treasurer.
    A company that is activly selling stock, and which does not list the stock, and keeps it off the stock exchange, may have reasons for doing so, but the reason above given does not appeal to me, particularly when they have agents out selling the stock at 150 percent above par (par, $10; selling price, $25).
    I received the Feb. Aerogram, and from it I clip (page 234) the following:
FINANCIAL STATEMENT,
UNITED  WIRELESS  TELEGRAF  COMPANY.
January 1, 1909.
ASSETS.
Patents and Patent Rights$5,005,100.00
United Wireless Telegraf Company Stock in Treasury (Par)5,310,410.00
Stock and Bonds, Other Companies (Book Value)14,128,610.00
Factory Material on Hand9,285.55
Factories and Equipments25,996.98
Land Stations and Real Estate215,442.50
Boat Stations287,500.00
Office Furniture and Fixtures3,975.38
Cash in Treasury and Treasury Agents109,400.70
Bills and Accounts Receivable       176,498.04
$25,272,219.15
LIABILITIES.
Capital Stock (Authorized Issue)$20,000,000.00
Bills and Accounts Payable (Current Monthly)15,556.37
Surplus    5,256,662.78
$25,272,219.15
    Add the first three items of "assets" and we have a total of $24,444,120 in a total capitalization of $25,272,219.15, made up of the "goods" mentioned in the first three items, which see above. Not very solid property in these three items, do you think? The patents are probably valuable--maybe as valuable as the amount given. The value of the treasury stock is based upon the patents and other property, so that item does not add anything to the property value held by the company. "Stock and bonds of other companies" is a heavy load, and it amounts to over half the total capitalization! If you are in the market to buy commercial paper, better do what I have always told you--buy a mortgage on some good property known to be worth about double the mortgage. That is safe financiering.
    Now let us look under the head of "Liabilities." What does the item, "Surplus" mean? It is usually supposed to mean cash or the equivalent of cash; but among the "Assets" we see that the cash is only $109,400.70; and the entire total of the property that might be considered tangible amounts to only $828,099.15--less than a million dollars--less than 1-25 of the capitalization! Then what can that "surplus" be?
    The above figures are official, being sent to me directly by the company, and publisht in a magazine evidently owned by the company. At the annual meeting no report of earnings was given, nor at any other time. The company does not pay dividends upon its stock, and never has. And yet they are endeavoring to sell it at 100 percent to 150 percent above par! Did you ever hear of the like? Consider the above facts, and see if you think this stock an attractiv investment.
    The Marconi company does not seem to be a factor in this country. Wireless telegrafy has doubtless come to stay; but let capitalists put their money into it. You and your patrons should invest safely.
May, 1909, page 188:
Wireless.

    I wonder if those Pacific Coast communities are still investing in Wireless. If so, the following clippings may be of interest to them:
$14,000,000  IN  A  BOX  ON  THE  SHELF.

The  United  Wireless  Valuable  Securities.

    The financial editor of a well-known magazine was askt ahout the United Wireless Stock by a reader, and he promptly wrote in answer that it was a fake. This came to the notice of the president of this concern, and he addrest a letter to the editor, in which he said that he felt very much injured, and thought that this injustice was done his company unintentionally, ending his communication with a request that before condemning the proposition again, he should fully investigate it.
    This the editor did. He called quite unexpectedly at he office of the president. Taking the last annual financial statement, he carefully went over each item, and finally reacht the one which mentions "Stocks, bonds, and other securities, book value, $14,000,000." "Have you those securities?" he asked. "Yes," said the president. "Do you mind showing me them?" "No, not at all," replied the president, and be took him into another room, a very small one, and pointing to a box on an upper shelf, said, "There they are."
    Those securities must be very valuable to be handled in such a careless manner. Fourteen million dollars in a box, with no protection against fire, up on a shelf!
    It is unnecessary to say that the editor of the magazine went away more firmly convinced than ever, that the whole proposition was a fraud.
    In Boston, brokers are advertising for $4 the stock which the company's agents are selling for $25 a share or one-sixth the price, and even less than one-half the stock's par value.
    One of these days the bottom will drop out of this affair. When this happens, those holding the stock will be fortunate if they can get even 40 cents a share for it.--Financial World, April 3d.
    
THE  UNITED  WIRELESS  HOLD-UP  GAME.

    In every conceivable way does the United Wireless concern block the efforts of stockholders to transfer their shares. This is done to prevent them from throwing their stock in the market. This would not do, as it would interfere with the efforts of the salesmen to get rid of the treasury stock at $25 a share.
    We have in our possession a letter from a Milwaukee subscriber who owns forty shares of the preferred stock which the company refuses to transfer, giving as a reason some legal objections. This stockholder was induced to exchange Marconi stock for the certificate he now owns, and can't get rid of it even by giving it away.
    This stock was transferred by the Greater New York Security Co., whose name is affixed to the certificate as the company's transfer agent. This concern was an off-shoot of Abraham White, and has gone out of existence, but why this should invalidate the certificate is not explained. In fact, it does not invalidate it. The real legal objection is, as already mentioned, that the Wireless outfit do not want this stock to come in competition with their own.
    How long will the great Empire State permit such high-handed and outright financial confidence games to disgrace and hold her up for public condemnation before the rest of the country?--Financial World, April 10th.
January, 1910, page 9:

    A South Dakota brother asks about United Wireless, and what I think of their preferred stock at $37.50 per share. I did not know they were asking such a high price for it. He has not been reading the Business Talks carefully, or he would not ask such a question. In order to test the real value of this stock, let him try to sell one or a few shares back to the company and see what he can get--see if he can sell it back to the company at all. Read up past Talks.
    Inquiries come concerning the wireless telefone. My advice is, don't invest in it.
May, 1910, page 191:

    Among other stocks advertised to be sold at the regular Wednesday auction at the auction place of Messrs. Barnes & Lofland, this city, on Wednesday, April 20th, were 200 shares of United Wireless. I was anxious to see how these shares would stand the test of competitiv bidding like other stocks. In the report of sales reported in the papers the next day the Wireless was not mentioned. I had inquiry made, and learned that these shares were sold at private sale at $14. It seems that there are two kinds of United Wireless stock, the stampt and the unstampt. This was the stampt kind, which seems to be much preferred; so much so that purchasers will not buy until they actually see that it is the stampt kind. The above will doubtless be interesting news to those who have been paying $30 for this stock, and perhaps the unstampt kind.
July, 1910, page 285:

    There have been many partizans for and against Wireless--United Wireless. For several years I have been advising doctors not to put their money into this nor any other speculativ security. In May a Nebraska brother wrote me that he had "signed a contract to take a bunch of shares at $40 a few days before I read your May issue in which it was intimated that it was n. g." I don't know whether he purchast and paid that ridiculous price for this worthless but much lauded stock or not; but many have. This stock has been "boosted" from $10 per share up to $40 and possibly higher; and a calculation in the Phila. Record this morning (June 16th) puts the real value at about four cents per share! This morning the "cat is out of the bag" pretty thoroly. The leading papers of Philadelphia give about a column each to the fraud, and I suppose that the New York papers for to-day are doing the same thing. This is the way the Phila. Ledger puts it:
WIRELESS  MEN  ARRESTED  UPON  FRAUD  CHARGES.
OFFICERS OF UNITED COMPANY ACCUSED BY POST-OFFICE INSPECTORS.
SAY  STOCK  WAS  JUGGLED.
THOSE "ON INSIDE" ALLEGED TO HAVE MADE MILLIONS AT STOCKHOLDERS' EXPENSE.
    NEW YORK, June 15.--United States post-office inspectors raided the handsome Broadway offices of the United Wireless Telegraf Company to-day and caused the arrest of Christopher C. Wilson, president of the com-
and so on, for a full column on the front page. We need not go into particulars here. Wireless telegrafy is a remarkable and useful invention; and it is a shame that its wonders have been used to cheat so many people out of their savings--mostly "small investors," as school teachers and other professional people. "Small investors" are notoriously bad investors; and it is usually found that schemes that are set to catch small investors have not sufficient merit to catch large investors. I have said this so many times that every reader must know it; yet small investors continue to bite at the bait cleverly set for them, and continue to lose their money. For example, this Wireless swindle has "cleaned out" whole towns--that is, has taken all the loose savings out of them--not from bankers nor capitalists, but from doctors, dentists, lawyers, preachers, teachers, small merchants, etc. And even where doctors did not invest, many of their patients did, with money that should have gone to the doctor. So you see, even if you are smart enuf to keep out of such things, you may suffer indirectly.
August, 1912, page 324:

    But are the schemers who want to annex your savings taking a vacation? Some of them, who have "landed their pile" are taking very expensiv and luxurious vacations at the expense of their victims. If these victims could see them automobiling in Europe, for example, they would have certain "feelings"--tho they would better have had thoughts beforehand than feelings now. I will illustrate how it pays to be a successful promoter by the following clipping from Collier's for July 11th, tho this successful promoter is not now automobiling in Europe--but he doubtless wishes he had that liberty, for he has made plenty of money to do so.
ONE  PROMOTER'S  BILL.
    Col. Christopher Columbus Wilson, former head of the United Wireless Company, was brought from a federal prison recently to testify as to what had become of a large sum of money taken in from the sale of the company's stock to the public at inflated prices. A schedule of his spendings from 1907 to 1912 was part of his testimony--an eloquent witness to the prodigal ways of the promoter with other people's money. The Colonel is an eye-filling figure--a composite Falstaff, Colonel Sellers and Bret Harte gambler--not as great a figure in the history of promotion as Hooley of London, but with a more breezy personality. No one familiar with the United Wireless manipulation believes that Wilson was responsible for more than a small share of its success, but he was always pusht to the front. His great body, his thick mane falling from a magnificent head, and his confidence-breeding manner were valuable assets to the shrewder, less spectacular agents who actually sold the stock. And to encourage him in the part he was to play, the wireless company cheerfully met the cost of his services. In the four years covered by the schedule he filed, Col. Christopher Columbus Wilson spent $1,085,200.
Wireless Stocks.

    I was frequently berated in letters several years ago when I advised doctors to let Wireless severely alone: the advocates of United Wireless were specially severe upon me, claiming that it was certainly all right, and that I was injuring one of the greatest boons to humanity and one of the best opportunities to investors. I remember particularly letters from Oregon, California and Tennessee. Many communities in all parts of the country were "cleaned out" of their savings by the United Wireless fraud. If doctors in those communities did not invest, their patrons did, and thus they were indirectly robbed of many dollars that should have come to them, and would have come to them had it not been for this robbery. Thus is illustrated the importance of doctors protecting their neighbors and patrons, as well as themselves, from fraudulent so-called "investments." Tell them to freely consult the local banker about these things--and set the example in so doing yourself. The community, including the doctor, should consult the local banker concerning financial matters, just as the community, including the banker, should consult the local doctor in health matters.
    There is no doubt as to wireless telegrafy being a boon to humanity. Many boons have been made an instrument for fraud. The schemers are always ready to get on the "boon wagon."
October, 1912, pages 423-424:

    Here is a doctor who can "talk" as well as I can. Suppose we give him the floor for awhile:
LINNTON, ORE., August 11, 1912.    

    EDITOR MEDICAL WORLD:--"Business Talks to Doctors" has already been of inestimable benefit to the profession. But you cannot hope to warn all doctors, and besides, some do not want to be warned. They simply can't help contributing to the get-rich-quick schemes, any more than that poor fellow can help turning into a saloon as he passes along the street.
    They know better at the time, but we as a nation, are born gamblers. We have to "take a chance;" and when one of these schemes is put up, if the feeling comes over us to buy, no persuading or pleading of friends will stop us, in many cases. We simply must have the sensation, common to the gambler, of a vague possibility of great gain, without effort on our part, of getting something for nothing, for there would be little wild-cat stock sold did the promoters not assure the buyers that their stock would earn them much more than legitimate investments.
    To illustrate: I am cashier of a bank, and also practise medicin to some considerable extent. Lately a good patron came to the bank and smilingly said he was "going to gamble a little," and for me to make out a check for $150. I said, "What are you going to buy now, Louie?" and he laught again and said, "Oh, a friend of mine (save the mark) told him about stock in the Pacific Coast Wireless News Co.," I think it was, and that "there were only 500 shares left, and the friend was going to take half, and wanted him to take the other half," and it "lookt pretty good," and "what do I think of it?" "Well," I said, as I counted out the money, "Louie, I am something of a sport myself, and I don't mind taking a chance occasionally; I tell you what I'll do; you buy the stock, then give me half the amount you pay for it, and I will give you double the dividends you get from the stock."
    "What's that you say?" said Louie. I repeated my offer, and to make it plain I stept to the typewriter and briefly wrote out the offer, leaving blank lines for signing, and signed it and handed it to him. He said, "You must know something about the company," and "Isn't it any good?" I replied I knew nothing whatever of the company, but that I was good for any offer I made and signed, which he knew was so. He said, "Well, maybe I brings this money back," and laughing and a little confused, he left the bank, my offer in his pocket.
    Has he brought the money back? Not on your --------. He simply had to buy that stock--only 500 shares left, and he could have half of that--think of it. A man pass up a snap like that? Not much. Did he take me up at my offer, which was four times as good as buying the stock--requiring half the amount of money, with double the dividends? Not on your reputation!
    I did not offer him stock in a big-sounding concern, which would issue him a highly-ornamented piece of paper, duly signed and attested, carrying with it all the delicious, mystifying anticipation of great returns on a small investment. That was the trouble.
    I have made this offer before to people parting with their "long green" for lithografs, but never have had a taker. But from the law of averages, I am sure my offer is very conservativ business, and I feel confident that if I could get takers in sufficient numbers I could amass great wealth, for the reason that probably not more than one in 200 of these concerns ever pay dividends.
    What is wrong with this that I cannot get takers? I am considered amply able financially to do my part. Here is a problem in psychology or metaphysics. Can anyone analyze it?
    Was it not our Uncle P. T. who said, "The public paid him for humbugging the people, and be d------ if he wasn't going to do it"?
    I feel sure that when we sift it all out, and give each element its due importance, we will be forced to acknowledge that it is the gambler within us, love of chance, get-rich-quick, get-something-easy-or-for-nothing that is at the bottom of the whole matter.
S.  M.  MANN,  M.D.     
December, 1912, page 515:

North American Wireless.

    A California brother asks about N. A. Wireless. I wrote to the World's Work financial department for information. They reply that they have not been able to get complete information, but the report clearly indicates that the conditions are not encouraging.