The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-06-19

a score of years. The majority
have been in business only O. decade.
Many are only one, two or three years
Old
Every year or SO a new one starts, %
md plenty of business awaiting it, ana
so TAR as can be learned the concerns
are more or less prosperous although
every. year each company IS obliged 70
pay heavy losses on It's fidelity prem
iums
All this has led some people to con
Clude that the world is growing less
honest every day, that the my -Woio-
1s-ds-E ood-aE- bond type la pecoul-
ing less frequent, and. worse yet, tl-aI
mans trust ia man is az a pretty To-"
ebb. AS a matter of fact, ln this city
al least, there is hardly a. business con
Germ of Importance which does NOT
bond an employees, from the ni8nest
grade % the lowest. who nave access
TO cash on its cOllateral-pOrters ana
drivers of store delivery wagons as
well as trea6uTeT5 and men an charge
of safe-deposit vaults.
Ia these DAYS the employers idea
seems 10 De not Co take amy chances on
a mans honesty He lets TIE bonding
companies and the Insurance ana guar
auty companies. which include the 1del~
its department do that's and these con-
Germs take the risk, sometimes TO their
loss. Ofteuer to their gain. The iudi-
vidual boudsmau, the man who goes
surety for his friend. seems TO have
gone out Of fashion, or at least to be
scarce and getting scarcer, WhlCE is
probably one reason why bonding COM
panies are prosperous
I'm spite of these facts. the heads OF
several of the largest bonding concerns
I'm New York take the view that as
rule a man IS inclined to honesty rather
than dishonesty. that AT any rate ne Is
no more inclined to be dishonest than
ne ever was
There are no statistics TO prove the
point" said am Official OF the City
Trust Safe Deposit & surety company
of Philadelphia at the New York head
quarters our losses i'm the fidelity
department are heavier in some years
tEan they are I'm others. not so much
because men are more dishonest, but
because there have been more chances
for speculation
When times are good, as we say,
our risks are greater for the reason
that the speculative spirit is stirred up
and many get into a hole trying TO
crafty DO. I have noticed that dishOn-
esty goes OF comes i'm waves which re-
cur about every six or seven years We
have just gone through one
"No it's not easy To- explain tire
cause If we knew that, OF vixen the
waves were coming, We might be able
To protect ourselves. but we don't.
4 firmly believe THAI the majority of
men I'm their business transactions are
honest or mean To be honest but
whether from inclination or fear Of
consequences / am not so sure.
The bonding business Is growing
fast and on the whole the proportion
of loss Is less now than III used 10 be-
mainly, though, because we don't take
such bis risks. often and often We re-
fuse TO furnish a man with "a bond even
after lie has filed out satisfactorily
his application paper and his employ
ers statement is equally convincing,
for the reason that through private in
VGsJigatiCus we set on foot a lot has
been learned about the man which
helps 10 bias our Judgment unfavor-
ably
What those uufavorable facts are
we keep strictly 10 ourselves. Even
when the man descends upon us i'm a
rage and demands 10 know why his
application Is turned down ] refuse to
enlghten him further than 10 say; Il
guess YOU know just as wen as / do
why you have been refused.
"By taking these precautions we
manage TO keep our losses within rea-
souable limits. AS q rule though, &c is
the. trustworthy man in amy business
who defaults The one who lis sus-
pected IS never put ln position Where
he can steal.
AT nearly all the banks u This city
the head employees are under heavy
bonds, but for a long time there was
one exception, the president of the
bank declaring when the matter was
brought 90 his attention; 'Oh. all these
men have been here for years and are
perfectly trust worthy IL was from
that very bank, however, that the
cashier stole something more than half
a lnlili0u dollars. his populations cover
ing several years"
The application paper referred to-
WouId undoubtedly be a staEgerer to
any man not blessed with an absolutely
apotless reputation. Besides contain
ms thirty-sIE questions which probe
his paaI and present 90 the very bot
tom. it must bee filled in with the names
of nNe reputable persons, not relatives,
Tor references.
There are blank spaces to be filled
with 81 personal description OF the ape
piicaut-the color of eyes, hair, mus
J@che- beard and amy marks OF birth
marks which may be ON his body. Evil
IDENTIFY the bonding companies are tax
ing no more chances than need be and
are In favor of the motto. Believe
every man rogue tiu YOU md him out
AN honest man.
At the Guarantee Company Of North
America the oldest and largest purely
guarantee company iu this country, TIE
superintendent of the investigating de-
partment Is of the opinion that i'm the
as large as Dc ever was. In this com
pany the proportion of losses has de-
creased somewhat bon the last ten years
ln lines OF business not SIN touch with
the speculative market, huL ON the
other hand. iH those which are iufu-
enced DT the speculative market the
losses have increased
AS most people know" he said. "the
Specializing and gambling fever has
been steadily Ou the increase I'm the
same length of time. particularly in the
last I'VE years.
''Wc md dishonesty more frequent i'm
the lower than I'm the higher walks of
HIe- The percentage OF losses. so far
as numbers go, is very high among
employees holding positions below the
Hnanclai Offices For instance. for the
Hast three years there have been about
l60 losses a year paid on defaults of
sos and under. "a IS against twenty losses
on ainounts OF over $500.
'oT course. the twenty represent by
far the greater alm OF money. but then
that is not the point AT issue In my
dishonesty are whisky and gambling.
especially race track gambling. ana
SO per cent or the blame, SO far as
the lower classes are concerned, / lay
TO whisky.
''Mauy times, however the fact that
a man is under a bond has a deterrent
effect on the drink habit. for occasion
ally iu the case of drivers who we have
learned are iu the habit OF drinking
more than is good for them, we insist
that they still sign the pledge and that
their priest shall so ou the bond. Ev-
cry one can't be asked to sign the