The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-12-04

soon afterward retired from tn,
presidency OF the bank"
What became Of the boy?" asked
II OF the bankers.
lie Is now one Of the most trusted
clerks IN my banking house"
That IS a curious story" remark.
ed the elderly member of the party.
II heard a good one, however. in
which Russell Sage was concerned,
The incident happened only II few
months ago, and it was in q financial
institution in which Mr.. Sage is a Di.
rector. After the routine business OF
directors meeting had been dispos-
ca OF one morning, the Directors Mt
Mr. sage's request sent for the Presi-
dent OF the institution. Mr.. -,
questioned Russell, what is the
amount of the bond that our Cashier
gives us? The President replied that,
as is usual in most banks, the Cash.
ler's bond was purely nominal. The
amount was $4,000. 'Isee that two
or three bank Cashiers and Tellers in
TINS city lave run away lately, said
Mr.. Sage. Il think we had better in
crease the amount of our Cashiers
bond to $4,000. You please talk
with him about it and let us knew
what he says
1.-The Directors went away and the
President with much ditiidence APP
preached the Cashier on the subject.
The Cashier flushed up at once and
manifested some indignation. He re-
minded the President that he had
served the bank for sixteen years and
had handled more than 5000, 600, 600
during that time. Yes, yes, | know
said the President apologetically.
Nobody doubted your honesty for a
moment, but you know how queer
MIR Sage is, and it won't trouble you
any more to give ISIS ,OOObond than
to give a bond for $4,000
That is true answered the
Cashier calmly. Now let me illustrate
the matter from my standpoint.
Here is a package OF greenbacks tak-
ing a slender package out of a com
partment of the vault near which the
President and himself were standing.l
How much do you think there is in
this little package?'
81 do not know and can not
guess answered the President.
There are $500, 900 in good Unit
ed States currency. Now | will slip
this into my trousers pocket |suiting
the action to the word, and after
buttonmg my coat you would not no
ice any bullying ofmyp pockets. What,
therefore is to prevent my walking
out OF his bank some afternoon with
$ooo,ooo, or even 81 1000, 900? I
could be in Canada before you would
even suspect that | had stolen any
thing
But you are not thinking OF doing
such athing, are your asked the Presi-
dent with deep concern.
":No, l am no thief said the
Cashier with dignity, but a bond for
$l5.OOOcertainly would not stopmeif
| was dishonest
The President assured the Cashier
that he appreciated the significance OF
the illustration. The next day the
President described his interview to
MIR. Sage and some of the other Direct
ors. He suggested that the Directors
would gain nothing by requiring the
Cashier to increase the amount of his
bond.
"l don't know about that! Idon't
know about that!' said Russell Sage,
in his quick nervous way, as he stoop-
ed to pick up a pin off the carpet;
money is money nowadays. l think
you had better get a good bond for
$4,000 instead Of s. 5000. That lisa
difference of $40 900, and YOU know
that $4,000 is not to be sneezed at in
these days."
The three sociable bankers laughed
heartily at this story. They all knew
ar. Sage, and they could appreciate
the point of the narrative. After a
brief pause, the banker who had told
no story said: II can tell you q true
story OF a young brokers' clerk who,
from deliberate honesty, threw away
an opportunity to steal S1OO, 900,
when he knew that he would never be
detected. When George l. Senev was
specializing heavily in railroad securi-
ties, he had a large amount of bonds
h~ypothecated with a tirst-class Wall
firm. The bonds bore interest.
coupons, and under the terms
OF the hypothecation Mr.. Seney's
clerk was to have access TO them every
SIX months for the purpose of clipping
the coupons. The clerk was knownto
the brokers' firm. One day when he
dropped in to cut off some
The hypothecated securities were
handed to him, and he was left alone
II compartment of the Offices.
n flrm, OF course, retained in it's
possession a list Of all the hypothe-
Gated securities. which it was accus-
toned to compare with the securities
returned by the clerk. On this a
tlcular occasion the clerk found in
in Mr.. Seney's package other
good negotiable bonds of the value of
100000. They had evidently got
up with Mr.. Senev's securities
through one OF these Gnexplainable
mistakes that happen Very rarely in
brokers' Offices.
The clerk cut off the coupons that
had come after and restored the
package OF securities to a representa-
i've OF the firm. The extra 500, 900
bonds had been slipped into the
pocket. Mr.. Seney's securities
we're compared one by one with the
list and found to be all right.
els everything there?' asked the
Jerk.
"'Oh, yes said the broker, as he
prepared to put away the box.
Everything is as straight as a string.
"'lou are sure that there were no
other bonds in that box?'
''Perfectly,' answered the broker
With a confident air. we never get
Kings mixed here
"'Well, how about this 81 1000 of
ponds? asked the clerk. drawing the
'xtra securities from his pocket. The
recognized them instantly and
mentioned the name of the person to
whom they belonged. His astonish-