The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-07-12
BANKS AND FORGERY
CONSTANT VIGILANCE ON THE PART
OF PAYING TElLERS.
Rnpidity and skin with which They
Detect Spurious Checks-The Wny
the swIndIer Usually Gets rid OF
His RascnIIy Products.

Detect Spurious Cbecks-The Wny
the syindIer Usually Gets Rid of
His RascnIIy Products.
Probably there Is nothing which the
average banker breads more than the
forgery by skilled operators Of the
names of depositors and the conse-
ouent loss to the banks by payment or
money ON forged instruments. The
banker can guard against loss In loans
by requiring adequate collateral secur'
ity, the filing of statements as to the
| financial standing of borrowers ana
additional security In the shape OF one
or more Endorsements of reliable par
ties of strong financial resources. He
| can exercise extra vigilance IN the
opening of new accounts with his insti-
tuition by having new deposltors
vouched for by men of unquestioned
integrity and financial worth, but no
care or foresight on his part can pre-
vent skilled forgers from attempting at
least to defraud his institution by for
geries. What torpedo boat Is to the
fleet of warshlps the forger Is to the
banks and bankers. The public ut
large seem to think that a forgery Is
generally n very close imitation OF the
genuine signature. While this may be
true, and, in fact, this Is the kind of
forgery that the bankers dread, In
great many cases the forgery may be
utterly unlike the writing of the per
son whose name Is forged.
This kind of forgery Is practiced very
frequently, but Is dangerous only to
the small tradesman who cashes
checks for strangers upon some plausl-
bic pretext Frequently in such cases
the forger selects the name of "A promi-
nent man in the community and signs
his name to a check on any bank and
cashes It by making some small pur-
chase, paying for II with the forged
check and taking the balance of the
check in cash. But this Is very crude
work, and the career of the amateur
forger Is very short.
TO guard against the payment Of
forged checks the banks have adopted
all of the precautions and expedients
known. Necessarily their chief reli-
nnce Is on the skill and care Of the
tcllers, whose duty 1t is to pass upon
the checks and scrutlnize them before
payment Generally this duty de-
wolves upon the paying teller or on
one or more OF his assistants. To Il
natural aptitude for the memorlzing
of n handwriting must be added IL
vigilance which never flags and IL
painstaking care which never wearies.
1t will probably be surprise to peo-
pie outside Of the banking business to
learn that but a small percentage Of
the forged checks are presented at the
paying teller's window. The large pro-
portion of forged checks are cashed at
stores. hotels, railroad Offices or at
banks other than the bank on which
the forged check Is drawn. The reason
for this is that to present the forged
check at the bank on which it Is drawn
would be to run too great risk Of i'm
mediate detection and arrest An
Identification Is necessary to get a
large sum of money from bank and
the risk is too great to undertake for
n small sum.
All careful bankers refuse to pay
cash in large amounts to strangers,
even though the check may be made
payable to bearer. So that in order to
minimize the danger of apprehension
the willy forger cashes his checks any
where else than at the drawee bank
Hence the bulk of forged checks come
to the bank on which they are drawn
through the clearing house As has
been stated before, the teller who pass
es upon these checks possesses natu
raj talent for carrying in his memory
the impression of hundreds of sigma
lures. To this natural aptitude is
added an education Of years in the ex
animation and comparison of sigma
lures. His ability to distinguish
forgery becomes greater from constant
practice so that in course of time ht
becomes very expert. To him the sig
natures become pictures which are fix
ed in his memory. So that while Il
would seem to an onlooker that thu
teller was running over the checks too
rapidly to insure safety and that i
would be impossible for him to Dicl