Section 1341, U.S.C. of Title 18 reads as follows:
"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, obligation, security, or other article, or anything represented to be or intimated or held out to be such counterfeit or spurious article, for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice or attempting so to do, places in any post office or authorized depository for mail matter, any matter or thing whatever to be sent or delivered by the Post Office Department, or takes or receives therefrom, any such matter or thing, or knowingly causes 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 matter or thing, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. June 25, 1948, c. 645, 62 Stat. 763, amended May 24, 1949, c. 139, § 34, 63 Stat. 94."
The objections by defendant Gross are that Paragraph 1 of Count I does not allege a crime; that it is duplicitous; that it does not allege the necessary elements of the crime; and that it does not charge the required intent. Gross gives other objections to Count I, which in their composite form, are duplicative and similar to each other. A decision as to Count I will therefore encompass all of the objections.
In Count I the Grand Jury charged that the defendant Gross, together with others, devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud, and to obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises from various persons, some of which were named.
Count I continues and states as follows:
"* * * whom the said defendants would induce and would attempt to induce to send their money to said defendants, in payment of correspondence courses; that is to say, written and printed instructions and lessons, to be sent and delivered through the United States Mails, in training, qualifying and fitting said persons to pass Civil Service examinations, as given by the United States Government, and to educate, qualify and secure for said persons various positions of employment with the Government of the United States, well knowing at the time that the pretenses, representations and promises would be and were false when made, and which scheme and artifice to defraud, and to obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, so devised and intended to be devised by the said defendants was in substance as follows:
"2. It was part of the scheme and artifice to defraud, and to obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, that the business of selling the contracts for furnishing the said correspondence courses to said students and of inducing said students to subscribe, contract and pay for the same, would be and was carried on by and in the name of a company known as National Service which was owned, operated, and controlled by the defendant Raymond Lee Brunet.
"3. It was a further part of the defendants' scheme and artifice to defraud, and to obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, that the defendants would and did insert numerous advertisements in various newspapers published in various areas, which advertisements would induce the aforesaid students to believe that National Service was engaged in selecting and training men and women for employment in attractive positions with the United States Government, many of which required only eighth grade education and no experience and had high starting salaries, advancements, no lay-offs, and security.
"4. It was a further part of the defendants' scheme and artifice to defraud, and to obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, that the defendants would and did circulate through the mails various letters, circulars and other printed advertising matter, which printed matter so circulated through the mails would and did induce the student to believe that federal, state and local governments need more than one million replacements each year, that Civil Service workers are able to maintain a good standard of living, buying homes — cars and giving their children a good education, that National Service `field counselors' are able to determine a person's qualifications for specific positions listed by one personal interview, that Civil Service means security in that the firm cannot fail, there are no strikes or lay-offs, there are periodic pay raises, paid vacations, paid sick leave, and retirement for old age, that the only qualifications necessary for some twenty-six out of thirty jobs listed is an eighth grade education, and that there are many attractive positions open.
"5. It was a further part of the defendants' scheme and artifice to defraud, and to obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, that upon one of the said students agreeing to subscribe for one of the aforesaid correspondence courses he or she would be required to enter into a contract with National Service by which he would agree to pay for such course a certain amount of cash at the time of the execution of the contract and the balance of the purchase price thereon in monthly installments until paid in full, the total price of said course ranging from $175.00 to $197.50, said contract being designated as an "Enrollment Agreement"; it was represented by the terms of the aforesaid contract that National Service was a `private school' and that the enrollment and payment of tuition entitled the student to continuous training and coaching until a Civil Service appointment is obtained, but that this is not a guarantee of a job, and that if the student's enrollment application was not accepted all of his money would be refunded in full.
"6. It was a further part of the defendants' scheme and artifice to defraud, and to obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, that by means of the heretofore described advertisements placed in newspapers and the heretofore described printed matter sent through the mails and, further, by means and use of numerous false pretenses, representations and promises, as hereinafter more particularly described, which were communicated to said victims orally by the agents, representatives and salesmen of National Service, the said students were induced to believe that National Service was engaged in selecting men and women for employment with the United States Government and that by enrolling as a student and by completing the correspondence course offered by National Service the student would be assured and guaranteed of securing a specifically designated position with the Government within a short period of time or if he failed to do so would continue to receive training and coaching by National Service until such position were secured by him; that in truth and in fact as the said defendants at all of the times herein mentioned well knew and intended said National Service was not a `school' at all but was engaged solely in the business of selling contracts for the correspondence courses aforesaid to the general public and to any one who could be induced to subscribe and contract for the same, regardless of the preliminary education, qualifications or physical or mental fitness of the student to meet the requirements of the Civil Service examinations for selection and appointment to a position with the United States Government and which courses and training were not furnished by National Service at all, but by Western Coaching Bureau of San Francisco, California, the courses being furnished by said Western Coaching Bureau to the students enrolled by National Service upon payment of the total sum of $10.00 cash or $15.00 in installments by National Service to Western Coaching Bureau, and for which said National Service in turn charged the students various amounts ranging from $175.00 to $197.50; and all of which said false representations, pretenses and promises would be and were made to said victims for the purpose of inducing said students to subscribe and contract for said correspondence courses, and to pay and send their money in payment therefor to said defendants in manner and form as aforesaid.
"7. It was a further part of the defendants' scheme and artifice to defraud and to obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, that the defendants would make and cause to be made the following specific false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, all of which said defendants, and each of them, at all the times herein mentioned well knew and intended to be false and fraudulent:
"(1) That persons who took and subscribed for the so-called course of instructions and completed them would be certain to have a job in Civil Service.
"(2) That if the persons who completed the course of instruction thereafter failed a United States Civil Service examination, National Service would continue to train such persons
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