The San Francisco call., 1906-10-28

~ IOGENEs started out on his i'm
mortal search about 24oo years
too soon. Had he but waited un-
I'll this year Of grace one thou
sand nine hundred and six and then
taken a little look around here in these
United States he would have needed no
lantern to find honest men a-plenty.
For. Notwithstanding all the dis
heartening hundreds OF columns Of
newspaper space required to tell about
the misdeeds Of public officials who
graft, bank presidents who embezzle
and humber folk who do plain and. fan
cy stealing. the world is growing more
honest. Such is the deliberate declara-
ton, based on knowledge born OF TWEEN
ty-two years experience in the DiOge-
nes business. Of II. D. Lyman, president
OF a large surety company. AS circum-
stantial evidence tending to substan-
tiste his assertion il may be said that
while Mr Lyman's bread and butter de-
pended on his success in finding honest
men he is able 70 live in something far
more pretentious than a tub. More
over he is no sour cynlc, as his origi-
nal prototype was but genial, whole
souIed man whose faith in human ma
ture is strengthened each day he lives
.'Of course, the world is growing
more honest. Otherwise surety COM
NAMES could not exist" said Mr.. Lyman,
ia speaking OF the exploits of Paul o.
Stensland, the Chicago bank president
who was recently brought back from
morocco and sent to prison for stealing
s1 SOC. 600 Of his banks money. and of
Hipple, the Philadelphia banker who
last September committed suicide, leav-
ing behind him a shortage Of s5,ooo.0oo.
Increase Merely Apparent.
..rhe fnveterate reader OF daily news
papers may nnd il hard to believe that
fhis country contains larger proper
lion OF honest men than ever before,
because accounts OF peculatiOns Of ev-
crv degree are continually faunted in
his face. He forgets that he only reads
o.o,if the few who are dishonest and
,,e,,er about the many who are faithful
70 their trusts. Also he overlooks the
irnportant fact that as the news ser
vice OF the country is developed the
more thoroughly are accounts OF crimes
gathered. The fact that we read about
more defalcations today than we oid
twenty years ago does not mean that
,I,e uercentage OF such. crimes per thou
sard Of population is increasing, but
orlv that news Of them Is more widely
disseminated. The fact is that the per
centace Of cefalcations and betrayals
~ triist per thousand OF population has
5eoreased in the last twenty years.
I an sorry I cannot quote precise
statistics to support this assertion. but
irsurancc against dishonesty can never
- the exact science that life insurance
f~ since every man must die. the life
s,,e,,raucc actuary can figure out pre-
-ieeIv the risk ne runs in insuring a
mar Of a given age. But ali men are
,,ct obliged to steal We only know in
general way from experience in deal
frr with many thousands Of men
h,,-ouuhout a term OF years that those
80 hold positions Of trust are grow
ing more honest
..rhis national gain in integrity ali
hangs on brain development. The more
srfeIiigcn. and cultivated we become
tfe more upright we grow. 1t stands TO
Lesson that education must necessarily
enlarge and correct the heart In 4
@-5bo OF savages from Africa there
r~ohablv would not be one who would
1of steal anythins that aroused his