The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-07-23
DEFALCATION AND ENTERTAINMENTS

minder that something is radically wrong |
in the manner in which the banks through
out the country are managed and the way
in which the funds committed to their
chirge are guarded. First, come reports
that this hank, and then that, has been en-
tered by burglars, the cashier or other Off
GERS gagged, bound, and forced to open
the vaults, and that large amounts of
money have been stolen therefrom. 1t
may be that with the boldness and daring
shown by these burglars, the skill used by
them, and all the. '.improved" instruments
employed by this class of thieves, burgla-
r;es cannot be prevented or cashiers and
other bank officers be made safe against
the mid hight visits of these masked marau-
ders, o. protected against suffering indigni-
ties at their hands. Perhaps no building
can be constructed so securely that an en-
trance therein cannot be forced no bank
SO guarded that burglars will give it wide
berth-unless system of guards shall be
adopted so expensive as to enoroach upon
the reasonable, legitimate earnings Of the
bank and render the business of banking
Improbable. However this may be, the
attempted robbery at Fairhaven sometime
ago, and the more recent one at Barre,
have demonstrated that, although banks
may be entered and cashiers bound and
gagged, a simple and cheap continuance
makes the funds absolutely secure, and yet
banks generally neglect this means of
safety.
But whether buildings or vaults can be
80 constructed, a system of inexpensive
guarding be devised, or particular locks SO
used as to render the funds entrusted to
banks secure is of but little importance
compared to the danger which assails these
funds from within. For every dollar taken
from banks by burglars, hundreds are
stolen by the individuals to whose care the
money is entrusted. We hear, almost dali
ly, of defalcations by cashiers, of embez-
elements by tellers and other officers, and
in each instance the story is the same, and
the lessen of the one case if followed would
have prevented the second. Human ma
ture is the same everywhere. Given the
opportunity and the incentive, and the de-
falcation follows. 1t ever has been so, it
ever will be 80. 1t is true that the incen-
tive does not always exist, but give the OPP
portunity and we look for the incentive,
and then comes the crime. Where, of re
cent years, has been the defalcation that
could have occurred if proper guards had
been thrown around the transaction OF
business? In every instance, we find that
of the business and has been suffered to
transact the same without an examination
OF the books or the counting of the funds
by others, or the general supervision of the
directors. The opportunity has been crlmi-
nally left in the way, and when the urgent
necessity for money has been felt the in
centive to embczzle was presented, the OPP
portnnity was made use of and the crime
followed.
This finds fresh illustration in the lat
est reported case of embezzlement and de-
falcation-that by NJ. NJ. Mock, cashier of
the Ashland, Pennsylvania, savings bank.
He disappeared-they always disappear.
and that Is the first intimation the direct
ors have that anything is wrong-Friday
night, but the fact was kept secret until
Monday morning, when they closed the
door of the bank and commenced an inves-
tigation. 1t is said that a Thorough in
g vestigation" is to be made, and already it
is discovered that twenty-five hundred dol
lars OF the money ''belonging to the bank"
has been take. What this phrase "belong-
" ing to the bank" means, we find in the
next sentences of the telegram wherein the
directors state that they cannot ascertain
how much he has stolen from the deposi-
tors without examining and comparing the
books. How much or how little this may
be they are unable to tell, but they are
fore I'd to the admission that ''the accounts
are found to be in fearful state of con-
I" banks affairs has been 80 reckless as to
''smount to crminalty." They report
that they will be compelled to advance
funds to place the bauk in solvent con-
dition, and declare their willingness to do
30 but who ever heard of one of these
defalcations unless 1t was accompanied by
a similar declaration of "willingness,' or
who ever heard of this Willingness" bear
ing any practical fruit or saving the depos-
itors from loss
The directors ought Willingly to adj
vance funds, and if they do not "willng-
ly," they should be compelled to, for with
out their criminal neglect the defalcation
could not have taken place. With prop
er supervision on the part of the directors