Even in the most flagrant cases and where every advantage was taken
of the ignorance, inexperience or trustfulness of the person deluded
it has been difficult to bring the offense under the state statutes.
It requires more than ordinary misrepresentation and lying to make
out a criminal case, and under the rules of evidence which prevail
it is almost impossible to overtake a cheat who has not put his
misrepresentation into writing or made them in the presence of third
parties.
Where the swindlers have used the mails, however, it is not such
a difficult matter to convict. The United States is scrupulously
jealous of its postal service, and under its statutes every fellow who
undertakes to utilize it for improper purposes can be brought to book.
He can not hide behind some one in another state, for the federal
jurisdiction is general and the other man can be brought in. Nor can
he plead that the business was legally licensed in another state, or
that its incorporation was regular. If it was a cheat and the mails
were used in furtherance of its design, no corporate cloak thrown
around it by any of the commonwealths can save the promoters.