The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-05-19
FIDucIARY GRIMES.
Two Plans For Reduction I'm the Num-
Der of Embezzlements. .ss

Two Plans For Reduction in the Num-
Der of Entertainments. 80. gas
What can be done to stay the tide of
6duciary crimes. There is continuous:
round of disclosures of embezzle1nent
and forgery that makes the trusted emf
ploye anxious, for If men whose lives
are the most circumspect and who enjoy
the highest honors fall, is any mans
reputation safe. The multiplicity OF
such cases has sent shock into every
avenue of investment, and touched with
more or less influence the vast majority
of employers, so that it comes as very
serious question, Who can be trustedp
The high value of an honest man has
been history's delight, but has the spe-
cies become so rare as to be extinct, and
has the world gone beyond the methods
by which they can be secured? That
294 men occupy the convict's cell for the
theft of about $50, 900, 900 is not assur-
ance that the class have all been caught,
locked up or disclosed. Nor is it GER
tain that the disgrace thus branded will
check the flood of rascality. This
iniquity ought to be ended, and every
honest man is ready to join in the meas
ures that best suggest how to do it.
There are two plans worth discussing,
and that are not wholly novel in their
workings. They are, first, by means of
regular inspection by public account
ants, and second, by the cooperation Of
honest employees in disclosing the habits
and society of financial clerks and mana
gers. If'the State would enact law by
which an accountant could be licensed,
as in England, we might have the serv-
ices of competent man to overhaul the
affairs of a firm at any time. BY the
terms of his license, and the bonds he
filed, absolute integrity in examination
would be had, for if by accident he over
looked any item wherein subsequent de-
velopments show fraud had existed,
this accountants bonds would be held
responsible; and if he were found to
have disclosed to others the secrets of
the business he had Investigated, the
aggrieved principals would secure re-
dress through his bond. Of course such
continuance would lose the accountant
his license and his reputation. It is the
custom of house having several
branches in the various cities of the
Union, all doing a large business, to
send twice year a corps of book-keep-
ers from the home Office to investigate
the books of these branches, at the same
time taking the book-keepers from their
branch houses to the home Office to over
haul the records there. 1t has secured
absolute honesty in their business, sys-
tematized their methods, and been a
stimulus to their employees. All con-
Germs are not so situated, but no honest
manager or book-keeper will for mo-
ment object to the sharpest inspection,
and no employer should for a moment
hesitate to verify the balances that
monthly and semi-annually are handed
him. ...-fs re- ,sa rs.,t.. ~
The tell-tale, the espionage, are not
popular. Gossip and SANDER are
despicable, and no one thing so quickly
irritates as the report of suspicion: and
vet very few crimes come to the surface
out of the mercantile and public employ,
but scores of II told you sos' abound.
It is a delicate Office to perform,
acquainting house of the evil an en-
ploye is into, and yet there are few men
so associated in organizations and
orders but that seeing an erring brother
they cannot find wise counsel to whom
to make known the facts, and SO reach
the parties at interest. The bucket
shops have been prolific source for
Irregularities, and no prudent employer
has wish that his people shall pa
tronize them. Fast associates are the
allurements to hundreds of youths, and
populations their chief support. If
young men and the middle-aged ceased
to wink at the '.follies of the day." and
were as stern in their integrity for their
associates as they were for their own
characters, a vast deal of this dissipa-
ton would end, and compulsory hon
esty would save many an embezzler.
"Am my brothers keeper?' was an
swered in early times with decision
and an experience that ought to have its
influence to-day. The matter is worth
very serious attention, for these multi
plying defalcations are making it more
and more difficult for even honest men
to obtain positions of confidence, trust
and emolument.-Boston Budget.