Not
enough, however, to enable the public to distinguish between the
spurious and the genuine, and even the members themselves have
sometimes been deceived by unscrupulous agents representing their
wares as the regular productions of the valid society. The audacious
promoters of this so-called Society had the boldness not only to
pilfer the name of the legitimate society, but also the name of its
president, which was ostentatiously printed upon their letter heads,
together with the name of Dr. Richard Garnett. Both of these gentlemen
have recently published their denunciations through the columns of the
press, and protested vigorously against this unauthorized use of their
names.

The _modus operandi_ of this pestiferous concern is to send numbered
"complimentary certificates" throughout the country to persons whose
names are obtainable from directories, and when acknowledgment cards
are received from those who deign to accept the exalted compliment,
they are forthwith called upon, usually by some "officer" of the
Society,--sometimes the "President," but usually the "Treasurer,"
"Secretary," or "Registrar."

Some time ago I was honored by a call from one of these circumventive
"Treasurers," but happened to be conveniently busy at the time, and so
made an appointment with him to meet me at my office the next day.
Meanwhile, I prepared to have his statements reduced to writing by a
stenographer, anticipating that it might be necessary to refresh my
memory upon certain passages that I might fail to remember verbatim.
The following is the substance of the "canvass" as taken by the
stenographer in an adjoining room, the door of which was wide open:--

"I am the Treasurer of the ---- Society, with headquarters in
London. By a special grant from the English Government, we have
recently been permitted to extend our membership into this country,
and three hundred life members are to be admitted under this
enlargement of our constitutional privileges. It may interest you,
first, to know something of the origin of this Society. It was
organized in London about three hundred years ago by the Duke of
Roxburghe [who was not born until more than a hundred years later],
and was originally composed of about thirty members of the royal
family. The original charter limited the membership to fifty members,
and in less than a month the limit was reached. Through the powerful
influence of the royal family the Society had easy access to