Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-09-06
ABOUT pEFAlcAr,oNs.



exossteal Saggostions for Banker, MANN
fhcturors and Merehants.
1t Is the current opinion of many
that large PROPORTION OF the bank
stats Of this country are corrupt.
which they claim is evidenced by the
DOWNFALL OF so many bank officials.
This is great error. The fact il
that the profession harbors com.
paratively few black sheep. The
wonder is that. considering the great
temptation thrown in the way of bank
officials. and the seemingly Unsuitable
thirst for riches. the instances OF fraud
and defalcatiOn are so rare. Were the
watchfulness and discipline kept up to
their proper extent with all employees.
whether one year in the bank or
twenty years. it is safe to say fraud
would be even less common. But
thanks to human nature, the man who
works for another for ten or twenty
years will in our free country natural
~ be looked upon by him more like a
friend and partner than a clerk. and
supervision will gradually grow less,
and finally cease. 1t is only right to
trust 3 man. who has been for years a
faithful servant, as long as there is
nothing in his mode of living and in
his expenditures to invite suspicion.
Because one man goes astray. distrust
must not fall on the thousands of hon
est and upright men who helped to
make banking what it now is in the
United States-a profession by far SUI
perior in n'odus operandi and facilities
granted the public to any thing of its
kind in all other countries.
To avoid corruption, first remove
temptation by paying liberal salaries
to all your clerks. from the cashier
down. All of them have more or less
a chance to defraud you, and may be
tempted to do SO if they are expected
to keep up appearances on an made.
quate salary. The higher officials,
especially, often have occasion to
spend money in social intercourse for
the direct benefit of their bank. which
expenditures cut deeply into their
respective incomes. This is a point
which l wish to bring particularly
home to the directors of banks. A
thorough clerical system. where one
man acts as check upon the other, is
one OF the greatest safeguards. In
this regard let me make a few sugges-
tiOns: Let the manager of bank
count the cash in person at least once
q month, without warning to the cashier,
and compare it with the cashbOOk.
Likewise have him check his discounts
against the bills receivable account,
item by item, at frequent periods. If
he will think back of the time when
he was a clerk himself. and worked
hard, he won't g:Lmble at spending q
few evenings in thus occupying his
time. The balances should be struck
from both the general and Individual
ledgers every month by clerk other
than the regular bOok-keepers. indie
pendent of the daily balances. The in
coming bank statements should be ex-
amined by the same clerk. and larger
reported to the president,
who should call on the cashier for ex-
PLANTATION Statements to custO mers
and banks, and the writing up Of pass
books, should not be made out by the
book-keeper in charge of the re-
spective set of ledgers. but by a
clerk Independent of the former.
Compulsory yearly vacation, on full
pay, of course, is one of the best meth
DDS of preventing or detecting pecula-
tons and clerical Irregularities. Bar
ring collision of employees the fOrego-
ing checks will effectually counteract
default and negligence. Do not per-
nit over-drafts by your clerks. II
they want any money, let them follow
The rules, and give good note, as any
other applicant would have to do. 1t
will make them less liberal with their |
and be bar to looseness in |
heir accounts. 1t is bad plan to let |
IN employee draw ahead of his salary.
Il nothing more serious, it will mako |
him run behind for good, because
spending with many is easier than
making. and becoming accustomed to
ways, the arrears can rarely |
,ver be covered. Montbly