Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-27
STEALING FROM A RAILROAD
system of Checking which Makes 81
Impossible without Col
lusiOn.

Unless there is collision between dis
honest railway employees, a shortage such
as has just been discovered in the accounts
OF the Big Fou cannot exist. That Is
why railroad men believe that the real
story of how Charles L.. Warriner, deposed
treasurer of the Big Four. falsified his
accounts to the extent of 5000, 900 or more,
has not been told.
During the course of a year the en-
ployes of a railroad the size Of the Big
Four handle more cash than passes In and
out of the windows Of a large bank.
Irregularities caused by dishonest bank
clerks and officials are continually being
unearthed by state and government bank
examiners, but years elnpse without the
discovery of a single important shortage
in the account OF the railroads. From a
moral point of view, the employees OF a
railroad are no different from those of a
bank; there is, however, a difference in
the way a railroad and a bank safeguard
the handling of cash, n the difference
In favor of the railroad is due to a sys-
TEN which cannot be applied to banks.
Unlik a bank, the business officers Of
a railroad are widely scattered throughout
the country, making 1t possible for the
accounts Of every man who handles cash
~ w NAANNhCb olAd AtNAlfthtu Dg utDdII-
ments located at different points. That IL
the secret of why irregularity in the
accounts Of railway men is almost un-
known; 1t also explains why railway men
are waiting to hear the real story Of the
Big -Four shortage.
A railroad derives it's income from the
transportation of passengers and freight,
and the actual cash goes into the treasur-
er's office In small amounts from hundreds
OF stations along the line. A station agent
who takes in more than a 500 a day
must remit to the treasurer every night:
those who take in less than that amount
every second day until the last of the
month, when the cash Grawer must be
emptied. At the same time that cash is
forwarded to the treasurer's office, a du-
plicate memorandum is sent by the agent
to the auditors office. Not a single penny
is handled by the auditor or his staff OF
800 or 100 men. They simply check the slips
received from the station agents and see
that the total cash reported by the treas
uTer at the end OF each month tallies with
the agents slips. Unless there is COLLISION
between members OF the two departments.
the monthly accounts of the treasurer and
auditor win balance.
As for the dishonest station agent, he Is
in constant fear Of the four or five travel
ling auditors II an agent is In the habit
of renting, say, between 500 and $500
a day, and for one reason or another sends
only 500, then $3.50, then 800, then 500,
he knows hat It will not be long before
a travelling auditor will suddenly step off
the train, walk into the station, show his
credentials, ask how much cash is in transit
TO the treasurer's office, and then after
ordering him out Of the office, so that
he cannot slip borrowed money into the
Dash drawer, lock the door.
The first thing the travelling auditor does
is to use the company's wire to learn from
the treasurer's office whether or not the
cash reported by the agent as in transit
has arrived. Then. knowing how many
passenger tickets the agent has received.
he goes TO work TO check up the unsold
tickets on hand, the cas- in the drawer
and the slips previously obtained from the
freight department showing amounts due
on prepaid and c. o. ID. shipments. On
shipments the cash must either be
on hand or in transit; OF the stuff must
be out IN the freight house.
Thus a dishonest station agent cannot
cook" his reports more than a few DAYS
without the Irregularities being detected
by the auditors office, and the auditors
office and treasurer's office act as a cneok
against each other.
1t Is impossible for a railroad or a bank
or a mercantile house 10 prevent dishonest
employees from stealing when they work
together" the treasurer Of one road re-
marked this week In discussing the Big
-Four case. A You can do is TO organize
a system whereby one department viii
check another, and thereby. unless unusual
conditions exist, detect a shortage before II
runs into a large amount
our road Is about the size OF the Big
-Four and we never have more than 1880 O