CONTENTS. Statements of- Mr. H. N. Pringle, assistant superintendent of International Reform Bu- Page. 9, 35 Rev. Joseph Thomas Kelly, pastor Fourth Presbyterian Church, Wash- 14 EXCLUDING GAMBLING INFORMATION FROM THE MAILS. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1921. UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10.30 o'clock a. m., in the committee room, Capitol, Senator Thomas Sterling, presiding. Present: Senator Sterling (chairman). Senator STERLING. While other members of the subcommittee are not present, one of them, I understand, being in attendance at a meeting of another subcommittee, I think perhaps we had better proceed with the testimony, it being understood, of course, that the testimony or statements made here will be taken down and printed. This hearing is on the bill H. R. 6508, "An act to amend sections 213 and 215, act of March 4, 1909 (criminal code), relating to offenses against the Postal Service, and sections 3929 and 4041, Revised Statutes, relating to the exclusion of fraudulent devices and lottery paraphernalia from the mails, and for other purposes. I will ask to have printed in the record at this point sections 213 and 215 of the act of March 4, 1909 (Criminal Code), and sections 3929 and 4041 of the Revised Statutes as they appear at the present time. (The sections of the laws referred to are as follows:) [Sec. 213, Criminal Code.] SEC. 213. No letter, package, postal card, or circular concerning any lottery, gift enterprise, or similar scheme offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance; and no lottery ticket or part thereof, or paper, certificate, or instrument purporting to be or to represent a ticket, chance, share, or interest in or dependent upon the event of a lottery, gift enterprise, or similar scheme offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance; and no check, draft, bill, money, postal note, or money order, for the purchase of any ticket or part thereof, or of any share or chance in any such lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme; and no newspaper, circular, pamphlet, or publication of any kind containing any advertisement of any lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme of any kind offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance, or containing any list of the prizes drawn or awarded by means of any such lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme, whether said list contains any part or all of such prizes, shall be deposited in or carried by the mails of the United States, or be delivered by any postmaster or letter carrier. Whoever shall knowingly deposit or cause to be deposited, or shall knowingly send or cause to be sent anything to be conveyed or delivered by mail in violation of the provisions of this section, or shall knowingly deliver or cause to be delivered by mail anything herein forbidden to be carried by mail, shall be fined no more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned no more than two years, or both; and for any subsequent offense shall be imprisoned not more than five years. Any person violating any provision of this section may be tried and punished either in the district in which the unlawful matter or publication was mailed, or to which it was carried by mail for delivery according to the direction thereon, or in which it was caused to be delivered by mail to the person to whom it was addressed. [Sec. 215, Criminal Code.] SEC. 215. Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, or to sell, dispose of, loan, exchange, alter, give away, distribute, supply, or furnish or procure for unlawful use any counterfeit or spurious coin, bank note, paper money, or any obligation or security of the United States, or of any State, Territory, municipality, company, corporation. or person, or anything represented to be or intimated or held out to be such counterfeit or spurious 5 99 66 99 66 99 66 article, or any scheme or artifice to obtain money by or through correspondence, by what is commonly called the "sawdust swindle," or "counterfeit-money fraud," or by dealing or pretending to deal in what is commonly called "green articles." "green coin, green goods," "bills,' 'paper goods," "spurious Treasury notes," "United States goods, 'green cigars," or any other names or terms intended to be understood as relating to such counterfeit or spurious articles, shall, for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice or attempting so to do, place, or cause to be placed, any letter, postal card, package, writing, circular, pamphlet, or advertisement, whether addressed to any person residing within or outside the United States, in any post office, or station thereof, or street or other letter box of the United States, or authorized depository for mail matter, to be sent or delivered by the post office establishment of the United States, or shall take or receive any such therefrom, whether mailed within or without the United States, or shall knowingly cause to be delivered by mail according to the direction thereon, or at the place at which it is directed to be delivered by the person to whom it is addressed, any such letter, postal card, package, writing, circular, pamphlet, or advertisement, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.. [Sec. 3929, Rev. Stats.] SEC. 3929. The Postmaster General may, upon evidence satisfactory to him that any person or company is engaged in conducting any lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme for the distribution of money, or of any real or personal property by lot, chance, or drawing of any kind, or that any person or company is conducting any other scheme or device for obtaining money or property of any kind through the mails by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, instruct postmasters at any post office at which registered letters arrive directed to any such person or company, or to the agent or representative of any such person or company, whether such agent or representative is acting as an individual or as a firm, bank, corporation, or association of any kind, to return all such registered letters to the postmaster at the office at which they were originally mailed, with the word "Fraudulent'' plainly written or stamped upon the outside thereof; and all such letters so returned to such postmasters shall be by them returned to the writers thereof, under such regulations as the Postmaster General may prescribe. But nothing contained in this section shall be so construed as to authorize any postmaster or other person to open any letter not addressed to himself. The public advertisement by such person or company so conducting such lottery, gift enterprise, scheme, or device, that remittances for the same may be made by registered letters to any other person, firm, bank, corporation, or association named therein shall be held to be prima facie evidence of the existence of said agency by all the parties named therein: but the Postmaster General shall not be precluded from ascertaining the existence of such agency in any other legal way satisfactory to himself. [Sec. 4041, Rev. Stats.] SEC. 4041. The Postmaster General may, upon evidence satisfactory to him that any person or company is engaged in conducting any lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme for the distribution of money, or of any real or personal property by lot, chance, or drawing of any kind, or that any person or company is conducting any other scheme for obtaining money or property of any kind through the mails by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, forbid the payment by any postmaster to said person or company of any postal money orders drawn to his or its order, or in his or its favor, or to the agent of any such person or company, whether such agent is acting as an individual or as a firm, bank, corporation, or association of any kind, and may provide by regulation for the return to the remitters of the sums named in such money orders. But this shall not authorize any person to open any letter not addressed to himself. The public advertisement by such person or company so conducting any such lottery, gift enterprise, scheme, or device, that remittances for the same may be made by means of postal money orders to any other person, firm, bank, corporation, or association named therein shall be held to be prima facie evidence of the existence of said agency by all the parties named therein; but the Postmaster General shall not be precluded from ascertaining the existence of such agency in any other legal way. Senator STERLING. I will ask to have printed here also the House bill, 6508. (The bill referred to is here printed, as follows:) [H. R. 6508, Sixty-seventh Congress, first session.] ANIACT To amend sections 213 and 215, act of March 4, 1909 (Criminal Code), relating to offenses against the Postal Service, and sections 3929 and 4041, Revised Statutes, relating to the exclusion of fraudulent devices and lottery paraphernalia from the mails, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 213, act of March 4, 1909 (Criminal Code), is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 213. No letter, package, postal card, or circular concerning any lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme of any kind offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance, or concerning any article, device, or thing designed or intended for the conduct of such lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme; and no lottery ticket or part thereof, or paper, certificate, or instrument purporting to be or to represent a ticket, chance, share, or interest in or dependent upon the event of a lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme of any kind offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance; and no article, device, or thing designed or intended for the conduct of such lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme, or matter relating thereto; and no check, draft, bill, money, postal note, or money order, for the purchase of any ticket or part thereof, or of any share or chance in any such lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme; and no newspaper, circular, pamphlet, or publication of any kind containing any advertisement of any lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme of any kind offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance, or containing any list of the prizes drawn or awarded by means of any such lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme, whether said list contains any part or all of such prizes, or containing any advertisement of any article, device, or thing designed or intended for the conduct of such lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme, shall be deposited in or carried by the mails of the United States or be delivered by any postmaster or letter carrier. Whoever shall knowingly deposit or cause to be deposited, or shall knowingly send or cause to be sent, anything to be conveyed or delivered by mail in violation of the provisions of this section, or shall knowingly deliver or cause to be delivered by mail anything herein forbidden to be carried by mail, shall be fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than two years, or both; and for any subsequent offense shall be imprisoned not more than five years. Any person violating any provision of this section may be tried and punished either in the district in which the unlawful matter or publication was mailed, or to which it was carried by mail for delivery according to the direction thereon, or in which it was caused to be delivered by mail to the person to whom it was addressed." SEC. 2. That section 215, act of March 4, 1909 (Criminal Code), is hereby amended to read as follows: SEC. 215. Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, or to sell, dispose of, loan, exchange, alter, give away, distribute, supply, or furnish or procure for unlawful use any counterfeit or spurious coin, bank note, paper money, or any obligation or security of the United States, or of any State, Territory, municipality, company, corporation, or person, or anything represented to be or intimated or held out to be such counterfeit or spurious article, or to sell, dispose of, loan, distribute, supply or furnish or procure for unlawful use any unfair, dishonest, or cheating gambling article, device, or thing, or any scheme or artifice to obtain money by or through correspondence, by what is commonly called the 'sawdust swindle,' or 'counterfeit-money fraud,' or by dealing or pretending to deal in what is commonly called 'green articles,' 'green coin,' 'green goods,' 'bills,' 'paper goods,' 'spurious Treasury notes,' 'United States goods,' 'green cigars,' or any other names or terms intended to be understood as relating to such counterfeit or spurious articles, shall, for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, or attempting so to do, place, or cause to be placed, any letter, postal card, package, writing, circular, pamphlet, or advertisement, whether addressed to any person residing within or outside the United States, in any post office, or station thereof, or street or other letter box of the United States, or authorized depository for mail matter, to be sent or delivered by the post office establishment of the United States, or shall take or receive any such therefrom, whether mailed within or without the United States, or shall knowingly cause to be delivered by mail according to the direction thereon, or at the place at which it is directed to be delivered by the person to whom it is addressed, any such letter, postal card, package, writing, circular, pamphlet, or advertisement, shall be fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. "All matter, the deposit of which in the mails is by this section made punishable, is hereby declared nonmailable." |