The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1904-10-21
ant detail to initiate correctly what

ant detail to initiate correctly what
they seek to reproduce.
The making of counterfeit which
will deceive the least wary is work
of great labor and one which calls for
high skill The average of the work
needs to be fully up to the standard
of the original which means that the
engraver must be nearly ii not quite
as skillful as the men employed in
the making of plates for good notes.
He does not have to originate any
thing. Every detail has been care
fully worked out for his guidance, and
all that devolves upon him is to imi-
tate what he is copying. That lie can
do this in most respects show. that he
Is equal to doing it in all respects.
Why is it, then, that no counterfeiter
has yet succeeded in making d bill
which in some important anu easily
recognized detail is not so different
from the one initiated that the expert
can detect it as soon as he submits
ii to crucial examination?
The answer is probably that men
willing to employ their skill in c1iml-
nal practices are temperament ally in
capable of thoroughness. II would
seem as if the financial hackers of
counterfeiting enterprises, in view of
risks involved. would be critical of
the work on the plates they are asked
to approve and pay for So far as the
records show, however, the uIdetect-
able counterfeit bill has never been
made. Probably it never will be. This
must be explained on the assumption
that counterfeiters. like other cr;mi-
nails, are clever only up to certain
point. They resent the requirement of
patient industry. With this they can
make honest and safe livings, and if
the conditions of earning the dishon-
est dollar are the same as those of
earning the honest dollar the former
loses it's attractions. The remarkable
skill Of the counterfeiter is shown in
his ability to do part of his work so
well that it is as good as that which
he initiates, and sometimes better. The
qualities which make him a criminal
appear in his willingness to be care
less with other parts, which stamp the
whole with the proof of fraud. Who
ever will take a counterfeit bill and
compare it with an original OF the is
sue initiated will have no difficulty in
discovering the occasional slip O: the
BURN. the occasional evidence of care
essness in drawing of willingness to
pass as good enough what is not
good enough. or recklessness anG in
difference which show that the tlev-
crest of counterfeiters is not good
mechanic.
The normal man can not under
stand carelessness ct this sort, espe-
cially in matters which render futile
the labor of months or years il the
engraving of counterfeit plates and
make detection as easy as it is newt
able. The conclusion would seem to be
irresistible that the counterfeiter ls not
sons for believing that criminals are
born, not made, and that TIL jse who
deliberately elect to follow crime for
gain do so in obedience to natural
instinct, the result of mental warp
which units them for the self-restraint
and patient industry of an honest ca
reer Criminals often show evidences
of astonishing cleverness, ami it
seems to the average man that their
talents. if employed in honest labor,
would make them conspicuousiy sue
cessful The error of this assumption
is that in any monotonous anu leput-
able employment the man thus gifted
could not, or would not. employ his
talent. which is not of the kind which
qualities for honorable success. The
police tell us that the habitual crimi
nal is never thorough.-New York
Times,