Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-03-22
Same Old Story.

today with the intention Of replacing
it next week, one unluckly gambling
deal following another until restitu-
tion is impossible, followed by a big
steal of everything within reach, and
hasty flight between suns in an idi-
otic effort to avoid the consequences.
That is the story Of Franc H. Jones,
the absconding teller Of the Charlotte
National bank, and with a few vari-
ations it is the story Of almost every
other defaulter.
1t is true that the motive is not al
WAYS gambling. Sometimes 1t Is dis
solute women, sometimes it is greed,
sometimes an effort to keep appear
ances beyond an available legitimate
income; but always something abso-
lutely inexcusable. And the windup
Is not always the same. Generally 1t
is flight, but sometimes Ii is suicide,
and not infrequently sullen or brazen
facing of the consequences even
though it be kr rwn that they have at
their end term in the penitentiary.
But while so far as Jones is con-
cerned it is an old, old story, 1t is still
question as to who is to blame. We
don't want to be understood as excus-
ing Jones. He is thief all right. We
do not doubt for moment that when
he stole those first few hundred dol
lars, he fully expected to return them.
They all expect to do that. He figured
that he could easily put back his win
nings as the result of a deal he was
having with the Fort Mill and Rock
Hill bucket shops. He probably cal
culated also that If his deal should
fail, he would save up little and re-
place the steal from his own salary.
But when put to the pinch he found
the honest method too slow and he
decided to shorten up the agony with
another raid on the resources Of the
bank, so it went until concealment was
no longer possible. But after all, Is
Jones altogether to blame? Has the
public not also been more or less neg
lectful Of its duty?
Bank defalcations used to be more
common than they are now. Up to
twenty-five or twenty years agotthey
were so common that they were not
telegraphed to the newspapers except
when the amounts stolen were sensa-
tionally large. Then extradition trea-
ties were not general and there were
many countries in which criminals Of
this class could find immunity and Sc
curity. But now all that has been
changed. This country has extradi-
ton treaties with every civilized gov
ernment Of the world, and thieves
may be taken and brought back from
wherever they may be found.
1t is the big surety companies more
than the people at large who are re-
sponsible for this change, and sad to
relate it has been more matter of
dollars and cents than of good morals.
The surety companies learned long
ago that the best way to protect their
resources was to punish all defaulters,
and such punishment became a fixed
principle of their business. 1t was
largely because of their efforts that so
many extradition treaties were enact
ed, and as they make it a rule to spare
no expense in hunting down abscond-
ing defaulters, they have reduced the
business to such an exact science that
it is claimed that nowadays not so
many as one in a hundred Of such peo-
pie finally make their escape. There
is a good reason to believe even, that a
large per cent of those who are final
ly given credit for having made good
their escape are really suicides. And
as the number of escapes grow less,
the surety companies find that their
business grows safer.
They have demonstrated beyond a
doubt that sure punishment is the
best means of compelling honesty on
the part of dishonest people for whose
good conduct exigencies of their bus
mess require them to stand sponsor.
And in it all there a lesson for the
public. A public that in anywise ex-
cuses or condones embezzlemnt of any
kind becomes theoretically at least, a
party to that embezzlement. A public
that frowns down embezzlement and
so conducts itself that all would-be
embezzlers are given to understand
that they will surely be punished If
caught, may very safely congratulate
itself on having reduced the possibil-
ity of crime of this kind to a mini
mum.
We are not conscious of any feeling
against this man Jones. We are con-
scious of deep sympathy for his wife
and children; but as we see the whole
situation, we would not feel right with
ourselves if we did not hope that he
will be caught, convicted and pun
ished.