Another tip, this one about subroutines, they should return values not work on global variables, meaning

my $ftp = ftpsignin();;

sub ftpsignin {
    use Net::FTP;
    my $ftp = Net::FTP->new( "ftp.sec.gov", Debug => 0, Passive => 1 )
      or die "Cannot connect to some.host.name: $@";

    $ftp->login( "anonymous", '-anonymous@' )
      or next;         #die "Cannot login ", $ftp->message;
    $ftp->binary();    # set binary mode
    return $ftp; ### RETURN VALUE
} ## end sub ftpsignin
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Why? coping with scoping explains