This table is from A.N. Plummer's "The Great American Swindle, Inc." (1932), in which he details his career as a publicist for companies selling their shares to the public in the two decades before the great depression. The table lists the stock to be hyped, the responsible person at the company, as well as the amount Plummer was paid to plant stories (and pay off journalists), the number of stories planted, and data regarding how far those lies were spread.
The spacing on the blog is terrible, so I'm just taking up some space here.
Here are some questions we could ask about this data:
1. How does Plummer's practice of paying reporters to transcribe his press releases into articles resemble today's widespread practice of automatically drafting articles from company press releases? How does it differ?
2. What are some open-source documents that we have access to today that would allow us to fact-check these articles and press releases?
3. In column 3 (Principal), we see some of the same names over and over. These are allegedly the names of the company's CEO/President, etc. What is problematic about someone being a director or officer of so many publicly-traded companies? Could someone do the same today? Do you see any legal issues regarding corporate formalities that may arise from this?
| The Paid Press | |||||||||
| KEY | STOCK | PRINCIPAL | DATE | AMOUNT SPENT $ | NUMBER CLIPPINGS | NUMBER OF NEWS-PAPERS | CIRCULATION OF PAPERS | NUMBER CITIES | POPULATION OF CITIES |
| 1 | Ertel Oil | Percy Bullard | May 22, 1919 | 10,000 | 230 | 36 | 5,463,253 | 11 | 15,472,900 |
| 2 | Martin Parry | Walter R. Herrick | June 2, 1919 | 2,500 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 3 | Cerbat Silver | C. T. Morgan | February 28, 1919 | 2,350 | 90 | 8 | 1,852,000 | 1 | 6,000,000 |
| 4 | *Savold Tire | L. P. Cartier-Morgan | May 1, 1919 | 100,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 5 | Saxon Motor | F. M. Dick-A.G. Boesel | March 14, 1920 | 2,000 | 238 | 75 | 7,518,476 | 28 | 20,867,000 |
| 6 | J. I. Case Plow | W.G. Souders | March 20, 1920 | 2,429 | 265 | 61 | 7,329,167 | 17 | 18,024,033 |
| 7 | Philips Petroleum | Bernon Prentice | May 20, 1920 | 2,000 | 1330 | 287 | 24,812,000 | 180 | 35,414,000 |
| 8 | Hardshell Mining | M.J. Meehan-Morgan | November 28, 1921 | 1,000 | 78 | 14 | 2,022,092 | 4 | 8,095,000 |
| 9 | Kirby Petroleum | M.J. Meehan-Kirby | December 19, 1921 | 10,000 | 1193 | 110 | 9,446,839 | 41 | 25,730,355 |
| 10 | Iron Products | Clark Thompson | February 14, 1923 | 4,000 | 895 | 111 | 9,589,557 | 71 | 26,060,612 |
| 11 | *Moon Motor | A.G. Boesel-F. Lage | February 23, 1923 | 10,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 12 | Tobacco Products | Clark Thompson | March 2, 1923 | 2,000 | 511 | 195 | 19,483,847 | 130 | 32,216,700 |
| 13 | Famous Players | Bernon Prentice | March 27, 1923 | 2,000 | 1218 | 295 | 21,873,000 | 225 | 36,764,000 |
| 14 | Simms Petroleum | G.F. Green | April 10, 1923 | 1,000 | 280 | 111 | 12,540,014 | 67 | 27,143,941 |
| 15 | Philips Petroleum | Bernon Prentice | April 20, 1923 | 2,000 | refer to No. 7 | … | … | … | … |
| 16 | North American | F. M. Dick-A.G. Boesel | April 20, 1923 | 8,490 | 445 | 125 | 12,383,511 | 75 | 28,322,193 |
| 17 | Foundation Co. | C. T. Morgan | April 27, 1923 | 2,000 | 558 | 180 | 14,105,128 | 119 | 31,109,323 |
| 18 | *Mother Lode | Clark Thompson | June 1, 1923 | 6,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 19 | Maxwell Motor | E.R. Tinker | March 10, 1923 | 6,000 | 1400 | 475 | 17,698,858 | 295 | 35,527,626 |
| 20 | Federation Bank | May 19, 1923 | 2,000 | 199 | 70 | 6,982,050 | 35 | 14,019,692 | |
| 21 | Hydrox | A.G. Boesel-J.M. Hoyt | May 31, 1923 | 2,000 | 366 | 75 | 7,836,647 | 34 | 19,849,000 |
| 22 | Continental Mines | Clark Thompson | June 12, 1923 | 1,300 | 164 | 47 | 5,949,000 | 22 | 21,077,000 |
| 23 | *Jones Bros. Tea | Duncan A. Holmes | July 20, 1923 | 1,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 24 | *Mercurbank | Maurice Newton | November 9, 1923 | 4,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 25 | U.S. Distributing | Harvey D. Gibson | December 19, 1923 | 4,350 | 613 | 235 | 21,126,745 | 130 | 48,092,081 |
| 26 | Philip Morris | Clark Thompson | January 30, 1924 | 1,400 | 67 | 40 | 5,291,878 | 22 | 19,615,807 |
| 27 | *Jordan Motor | A.G. Boesel | February 16, 1924 | 2,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 28 | Superior Oil | H.F. Hansel, Jr. | May 23, 1924 | 2,000 | 1206 | 260 | 22,571,890 | 175 | 37,416,295 |
| 29 | H.R. Mallison | Clark Thompson | May 28, 1924 | 1,300 | 191 | 75 | 9,344,378 | 41 | 21,570,292 |
| 30 | Savage Arms | A.G. Boesel | June 26, 1924 | 2,000 | 605 | 228 | 11,248,681 | 157 | 32,399,697 |
| 31 | Standard Plate Glass | H.F. Hansel | October 1, 1924 | 2,000 | 286 | 157 | 15,181,815 | 110 | 29,738,000 |
| 32 | Savage Arms | A.G. Boesel | November 10, 1924 | 1,000 | 500 | 250 | 10,099,725 | 150 | 33,931,354 |
| 33 | *Pennboard Steel | H.F. Hansel | 1,000 | … | … | … | … | … | |
| 34 | Barnsdall Corp. | O.L. Gubelman | January 17, 1925 | 2,000 | 775 | 163 | 15,857,605 | 115 | 28,586,000 |
| 35 | Pure Oil | O.L. Gubelman | January 26, 1925 | 5,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 36 | Armour & Co. | E.R. Tinker | February 14, 1925 | 5,000 | 736 | 170 | 17,656,218 | 98 | 30,863,816 |
| 37 | Warner Bros. | L.R. Tinker | February 21, 1925 | 2,400 | 55 | 30 | 4,853,318 | 15 | 15,835,000 |
| 38 | Gardner Motor | A.G. Boesel | February 17, 1925 | 2,000 | 324 | 141 | 11,627,401 | 95 | 28,744,784 |
| 39 | National Distillers | O.L. Gubelman | April 24, 1925 | 2,000 | 552 | 168 | 12,833,958 | 100 | 30,337,000 |
| 40 | Nizer Corp. | A.G. Boesel-J.M. Hoyt | June 30, 1925 | 2,000 | 700 | 160 | 16,894,740 | 98 | 30,125,000 |
| 41 | Certainized Products | O.L. Gubelman | July 3, 1925 | 2,000 | 186 | 83 | 7,956,593 | 62 | 19,825,000 |
| 42 | Norwalk Tire | H.F. Hansel | July 17, 1925 | 2,000 | 373 | 96 | 10,905,592 | 45 | 26,071,000 |
| 43 | American Metals | August 25, 1925 | 2,000 | 230 | 73 | 6,721,063 | 45 | 21,331,000 | |
| 44 | American Maracaibo | H.F. Hansel | August 29, 1925 | 2,000 | 137 | 42 | 4,982,561 | 30 | 12,861,111 |
| 45 | Rickenbacher Motor | A.G. Boesel | September 23, 1925 | 2,000 | 550 | 150 | 14,606,561 | 85 | 30,430,000 |
| 46 | *Forhan Co. | F. Lage | September 26, 1925 | 2,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 47 | Trans Luz | Clark Thompson | October 2, 1925 | 10,000 | 540 | 125 | 12,565,125 | 68 | 28,565,000 |
| 48 | Studebaker | October 6, 1925 | 2,000 | 473 | 140 | 12,222,302 | 107 | 29,177,000 | |
| 49 | Con. Laundries | F.A. Bonner | December 14, 1925 | 2,000 | 214 | 92 | 8,231,655 | 56 | 23,323,431 |
| 50 | *Public Service, N.J. | T.G. Cook | December 14, 1925 | 2,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 51 | *Leonard Oil | H.F. Hansel | January 4, 1926 | 8,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 52 | Davison Chemical | H.F. Hansel | April 25, 1926 | 2,000 | 550 | 135 | 13,826,120 | 88 | 27,580,000 |
| 53 | Southern Dairies | H.F. Hansel | April 27, 1926 | 8,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 54 | Forhan Co. | P.P. McDermott | May 28, 1926 | 1,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 55 | Frisco R.R. | L.R. Reed | June 21, 1926 | 1,000 | 186 | 46 | 5,476,846 | 33 | 15,847,000 |
| 56 | United Biscuit | H.F. Hansel | June 23, 1926 | 2,000 | 299 | 80 | 8,665,837 | 37 | 16,476,000 |
| 57 | Weston Electrical | July 26, 1926 | 2,000 | 74 | 50 | 5,223,718 | 32 | 19,866,500 | |
| 58 | American Con. Oilfields | H.F. Hansel | November 11, 1926 | 10,000 | 136 | 50 | 5,125,824 | 32 | 18,373,000 |
| 59 | *Pantepec Oil | L.R. Reed | November 12, 1926 | 2,500 | … | … | … | … | … |
| 60 | Sentry Safety Control | H.F. Hansel | April 6, 1929 | 2,000 | 236 | 70 | 6,854,192 | 35 | 14,736,000 |
| 61 | Indian Motorcycle | H.F. Hansel | January 10, 1930 | 5,000 | … | … | … | … | … |
| *the principals kept these scrapbooks [i.e. Plummer lacked the details aside from date, client, and amount paid] | |||||||||
