Chain Letter Swindles Columbia Undergrads

A chain letter, started by an undisclosed Harvard student, has swept through universities from Yale to Stanford, the Columbia Spectator indicated last week.

Hundreds of students at Columbia, looking for an easy $320 return on a $10 investment, spent several days buying and selling copies of the letter. Early purchasers made large profits in several hours, but many of the later buyers found that they had $10 lemons.

Although chain leters were banned from the mails during the Depression, the Spectator reports, no such case has ever been brought to court and no action is being taken against students.