Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-03-24
WAYS OF DEFAULTERS.
POPULAR SYSTEMS REsoRTEp 70 BY
DISHONEST EMPLOYEES.
What Happens In the Happy Co-Lucky
Business Houses OF This Country
Merchants and bankers Who
Strain Human Nature.
Ichicaro Tribune lu,crview.l

Strain Human Nature.
lChicago Tribune Interview
A resident of Chicago. WHOSE long expert.
ence in the examination OF irregular &C.
counts gives his opinion some value, ex-
presses his conviction that there is hardly o
large establishment in the city in which dis
honest practices do not prevail There is a
remarkable difference, he says, between the
conservative business concerns o. England
and Scotland and the dashing. happy go
lucky houses OF America In the steady
business of Great Britain, where the son
succeeds the father and is trained in the
counting house from his early years, ell the
details of the Office are carefully eiabor~
ated, and no che can steal S cents without
being found out But here shrewd man
establishes an enormous business without
giving any part Of Lis attention to the rou-
tine Of the Office, and as his employees usually
receive a beggarly allowance it is scarcely
TO be wondered taat they add TO their salary
by tEeit
Much rs should deprecate any attempt
r. excuse the thief" said this man, Il feel
no cOmlniSerat:on whatsoever for the mer-
chant or the banker who looks for honesty
in clerk or cashier who is paid $50 q month
FOR handling $4,000 a year, without any
check or safeguard imposed upon him. An
employer who expects fidelity should reward
his servants according to the responsibility
Of place. The loose AMI inadequate systems
Of some firms are amazing. do not believe
there is large establishment in Chicago
where, il employed in position of trust. /
could not steal thousands of dollars every
year.
There are several different kinds Of defal.
cations which We often have to deal with.
First, there is the blunderer, who takes ai
vantage Of mistake to pocket the odd cash.
Suppose he has the pay roll to make out in n
house where fifty men are employed. That
duty is generally considered SO purely me-
chanical that some subordinate employe is
delegated TO draw up the payroll He cred
its each man with his proper salary, but by
mistake makes the footing $3.50 instead Of
500. The proprietor looks over the roll. OBJ
serves the CORRECTNESS of each item, takes
the footing for granted and draws his check
for $3.50. The young rian puts the weekly
stipend OF each person in au envelope, finds
a surplus OF SIS, aal, discovering his error,
pockets that amount Then he reflects what
a fool he has been 20 live on So a month
when by q careful blunder every week
lie might easily double his income The
suggestion of accident is turned into a sys-
tenn, and he becomes q regular defauiter.
The preservation OF the pay-rolls ought, of
,ourse. 10 be imperative, Lut a matter of
fact no quietly destroys the evidence of his
crime, which is never suspected until the
drain Il felt by the firm or his own style of
living hetrays him Even after lie knows
him elf to lie suspected he will not stop his
thieving. Having acquired certain habit
and associated him elf with certain COM
panions he will not re luce his expenses, but
sets himself TO invent some new mole OF
cheating. Fearing t. be.ray himself by in
correct footing, ne begins TO insert in the
payroll the names of dead men, or those
no longer employed in the house By thi,
ruse he succeeds in de.erring the day 81
Judgment
THE blunierer is hrr,er to detect than
the Systematic defaul:,r 4 bSokkeepsr
will sometimes enter all items correctly in
Liz cash-bcok. but when lie comes to post his
accounts will doctor the footings He will
enter a debit for general expenses, with
some hieroglyphic, intended TO particulariza
the item Of expenditure. Instead of the
correct foot.u; o. Sis Gi he VII write
S4lS a. get his you her. AMI poke. SlO0.
After month or So. when the item are for
gotten, he will turn back and prefix the
figure to some enc o. inen. maxim the
footing apparently corre-t. M one can ex-
plain his ahLr,viatai noe lu: him eli. and
80 he feels that lie has covered up the tracks
Of his dishone ty. II take, his chances o;
not being called to an wer for his accounts
during the N Dati past.
The expert VIII rsa Ii = d .t.ct the deceit
II is impossible for m1a, afier the lapss of
4 month, to change the & su-ci s. 80 to l5i5)
without enabling a prIctic. Il eys to reco.-
nize the inserted digit. Generally the in
truiing figure is driel with blotter, while
the rest cf the pag, has been allowed t. dry
10y evaporation. When the plan Of defaica-
ton IS once ma IL out TIE details can be fol-
lowed with ease. Il viii generally be found
that the false entries cc-ur at the same tins
in each week or Elonta, AMI We have only to
turn 10 that date 10 find the inevitable traces
Of guilt
An old trick is the uss Of carbon paper to
duplicate vouchers. A member Of the firm
writes his % X on the voucher presented
10 him, and tiIe boakkeeper, having carefully
inserted his carlon paper underneath, has
two vouchers for the same sale He has left
tie Gate blank, and afterwards fills it up
with any date he please. | had such a case
not very long ago ard ! detect>i the ruse
the moment | set nv eyes on one of tho
vouchers. That strategem is rather stale
nowadays. and has gone ont OF fashion.
MANY OF the defalcations are the result Of
conspiracy. Those who are employed TO act
As checks upon each otLer pool issues and di-
Vi the profit These CASES are hard 10 de-
tect, aS the accounts are often perfectly reg
u,ar But young men VINO enter into such
dishonest enterprises are apt TO be indiscreet,
AMI they usually display by their extrava-
gance the disproportion between their sal
aries and their expenses
The ignorance of many rich man regard
ing their own business is incredible. knew
Of one case where firm Dwell one of the
partners over &lO0, 900, of which he was as
good as ignorant \ great many firms are
vaguely aware that their employees are
cheating them, but willis business is pros
perous they say. Never mind, are max
ing enoughr Statesmen in dry-goods stores
constantly hand goods over the counter 10
their friends without any return whatSo-
ever. AM in many establishments hundreds
If thousands of dollars pass through the
hands Of men who are not even restrained
by a system Of checks. and who can put an
indefinite sum in their pockets without leav-
ing any record whatsoever IL l were a
young man receiving n salary of ass a
month ami handling very large amount
Of money, with no reputation to lose and a
very remote prospect Of detection, | doubt
il | could resist the temptation 81 freely Of
feTei Merchants AMI bankers who strain
human nature so far ought to be regarded
as participants IN the guilt Of their hire
inns
Races Retween Men and Horses
lNineteenth Century.l
As regards speed for a mile or two, OF
even several min fhara can h-A rir crr,,nsri.