The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-03-06
! CIT NEWS
HOW VICES .MINGLE
Some Observations on the Causes Of
Defalcations and Easy Steps
Thereto. 81
Gambling the Star Attraction on the
Devils Bargain Counter, Says
the. Observer.

are usually Wlne-DlpDers, or beer
.bibbers. But whether men default
because they drink, or drink be
cause they gamble, or gamble because
they default, are Gordian knotssfor which
Charles Van Camper, secretary of the
Fred L. Gray company, this city, has no
suitable sword. why says he, "all
these vices are intermixed, and even wom-
an must not be forgotten when mention
wine and song. Yet if all the defalca-
tions were the result of extravagant
sacrifices at the shrine of, beauty our
company, which guarantees men in Y po-
sitions of trust, would have very few
losses to pay" 49,. ~ z@s<,s~,. -, i
"Defalcations are of two sorts--the
criminal, which are very few, and the
partly exeusable which are, numerous .
There's a good deal of sharp practice in
this country, but little downright adishon-
esty. It's seldom that man deliberately
| defrauds his employers. When he does
| he takes big sun--from $40, 900 upwards,
| as a rule. In such cases he has no excuse.
1.-The mamie was guaranteed by our
| cOmpany-Who recently took a package of
! SIS. 900 from the vault of the Iowa bank
| where he was employed, had no excuse.
He was an out-and-out thief. But the
vast majority of the defalcations are of
small sums, a few hundred dollars each,
and are not the outcome of any Intention
to defraud. d.. ~ ~ So * .& &
| Mine tenths of the losses: come from
gambling. Take the case Of: travelling
men. We pay many small losses caused
| by their mistakes. The drummer, - Of
course, has special temptations He is
! generally away from home. He often has
| leisure. He's obliged to be sociable,s
| good fellow, and he frequently has in his
possession money that belongs to his
| firm. : So :
How 1t Works.
"Well. suppose. he gets to drinking a
! little. That makes him more or less reck-
| less, and he will plunge in further than
for that occasion-the money that doesn't
belong to him.. intending, to return it. But
he gets in so deep that he never climbs
out until the shortage becomes known.
Or, say, he's usually sober but sometimes
| sits in at a friendly game in the smoker
or the hotel: Excited by the risk, he is
| easily. persuaded to take: a drink. Per
| haps he happens to borrow few dollars
| of the house to pay a debt caused by ill
ness in his family. He finds it hard to
pay up. Then he takes a Whirl at the
wheel or butts into a game just to make
enough to balance his account, If he
fails, he gets desperate, goes to drinking
and falls down harder than ever. No,
you can't tell what vice brings on an
other. They all come in neat prize pack
! ages at the devils bargain counter. r
But, as 1 said, the man that loses
|
faults is usually honest, and he doesn't
take large sums. The fellow that specu-
lates and uses the firms money is gen
orally too gentlemanly and heightened to
gamble Maybe he wouldn't drink either
or associate with any low persons. Still
he may be less honest than the booty
!: dicer, because it's the grain or stock
Spectator that usually gets away with
big sums from the house and that steals
with tranquil deliberation. Even he,
though, will often expect to make his
losses good.
Character Reading Difficult.
} Eyes, it's hard to guess a mans rea
character, his real motives. Most mer
? are honest, and most defalcations are no.
premeditated, SO the great. bulk of these
commercial losses are never made known
. Your friend B, prominent in the goo(
citizen movement, may have left his las
: position because indoor work was hurting
his health. His employer tells you how
. much they all miss him down at the of
{ fee. But possibly our company has re
: Gently paid that firm $500 to cover hi
: takinss. B. himself has afterward
/ made good the loss, and all hands hav
j. agreed that he had better change his job
: The public doesn't know. Right here il
: Minneapolis, as a specimen city shoul
say that not one-tenth: of all the de
falcations are ever published or eve1
y "lllSpCIcu Lie QUIET udy d Well KNOW
!, hotel clerk here, SIS salary and board, los
: 5000 at poker one Sunday night He ais
= lost his job. Less than ,one-tenth Of sue
|. cases ever get into court. Last year
r has been estimated the embez element
. throughout the United States amounte
- to at least $S,000,000. J
: Given if the defauter wasn't partl
e excusable,s no business man ever like
:. i to. have it known that an employee deceive
him, It's a. reflection on the emplover'
n own saga city and his business methods.
Il may cause 'uneaSiness,3 suspicion, anon
J, I his customers. And, besides, it's cheap De
to- keep the matter quiet and get bac
! half, Or even part of the sum lost tina
= it, is to publish the affair and get bac
: nothing. 50 -. ~ -
T. Does the extrava gance Of wives &c
r men into trouble? Well, that's: a favorit
II charge over tea tables. Most women be
n leve it of some other women. You sc
le it pointed out in society plays and in sc
J. ciety novels: But in all our extensiv
: I business I don't rem member "a single cas-
. here or elsewhere, in>~which our. compan
- has paid a loss brought about by an
- Wffe's extravaganza You see; few me
$. are weak enough to be plunged into e.
cessiveS debts by their wives.t If a fan
lg lily lives extravag antly, it's because tt
*, husband likes to make show Me-
you know, make very good snobs and the
can equal any woman in putting up tt
. gilded 'front.' ~ ...-' -. !. c.:I
u !