The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-11-30
MUST Be MEN Of BRAINS
U. !. NAIL sIECTHS NEED KNOWLEDGE OF LAW. BOOKKEEPING;
DIPLOMACY AND DETECTIVE INSTINCT!
New York Worldly

y. =. M.AIL S1AECTHS NEED KNOy
DIPLOMACY AND j
New York Worldly
In room lo4 Of the general p%ostofics
sits a well-huilt. auiet-voiced and
hammered man. Uusually he 10 found
smoking a pipe. Glance in at his door
and he will be found engaged in look
ing over a set Of papers and affixing
MS signature to them; or, perhaps, he
Will be seen In conference with anoth.
er person just as unassuming as him
seh-onecf his assistants in one of
the mostimportant branches Of the
government service.
n man in room 104 is Chief In
spector w. Dixon Of the New York
state division of the p%ostof1ce depart
ment. While he md his thirty assis-
tants do not call themselves detec-
tives they probably do more sleuthing
work than is performed by any other
service. Added to this they have so
many other duties that it would be
hard to find thirty-one buster men in
the entire United States. For on them
falls completely the work Of making
the wheels of the postoff1ce in New
York state run smoothly.
Does a letter fail to reach its proper
destination? Report it to the inspec-
tor. Is a concern suspected Of hav.
ing made fraudulent use Of the mails?
Have the inspectors make an investi-
CATION. Is there systematic thieving
going on in some branch Of the de-
partment? The inspectors will find
out h guilty person. Added to this.
tho 1A~0W tvN nNt 49, a. N.4AN A--nS~>~-S
supervision owe the rural free deliv-
cry carriers and the railway postal
clerks: it has charge Of the appoint
ment Of all fourth-class postmasters;
1t must investigate all complaints Of
whatever sort that are reported: it
must look into cases of alleged inef-
iciency and make recommendations
for dismissals from the service: it has
to make an inspection Of all the post
Offices and see that the accounts. both
of the departmental funds and OF the
postal savings funds are straight: 1t
makes arrangements for the and Of
the postal savings funds. are of va
rious postofices: 1t determines the
help in hundreds Of ofices. and 1t Is
o nthe job all the time. day and night.
To handle such a variety Of affairs
requires men OF n 10 mean ability. AS
described by the chief inspector. a
man 10 be successful in the work
must have much OF the training Of a
skilled lawyer, tact. a~ggressiveness
and superior Judgment. must be an ex-
pert accountant. must have a thor
ough knowledge of all the branches
of the postal service in all Its ramiica-
tons and have detective instincts. He
must also have the personal courage
to go out and get his man when he
has finally got him spotted.
1t is the last work-the spotting-
that Is really the most important.
There is probably no institution that
offers 60 many possibilities of thefts
and fraud both inside and out as does
the postofice. A clerk stand at the
same table day after day sorting let
tiers. Inspectors say that If the pub
lie knew the large proportion OF these
letters that contain money. securities
or valuahles Of one form or another
they would be dumbfounded. Even In
the mail that is not registered many
bills are sent, instances having come
to the knowledge Of the inspectors
where as much as $500 has been Tor
waPded with no other protection than
that Of q thin envelope.
In the registry. department banks
are constantly forwarding securities
and sometimes cuvvency-witness the
recent shipping of 100000 by a Gu
han bank to Its New York co%rrespon-
dent, which was stolen before the
package ever got into the mail.
A man by constant practice can. II
Ia said, arrive at such a state OF per-
lection that he a tell what the ma
terial contents Of an envelope are
without opening It. To slip n let
ter from q thousand into his Pocket
lis easily done without detection at the
time. IA it il not surprising that
many employees of the postofice a X
advantage Of this opportunity. When
they do the complaints begin to come
in and then 1t is up to the inspector
Ask an inspector how they go to
work to md out who In the culprit
and he will tell you that he does 1t by
a process Of elimination. Take. FOL
instance. a man who was recently
caught In the Grand Central branch
robbing the registered malls bound
for New England. A study OF the adj
showed that all the mall that had
been stolen in this case had gone
through the New York Office. where
any one OF a dozen clerks might have
handled it.
Men who have besn working year,
in the department say that the mar
who Ia making a practice Of stealing
letters 500 develops a "l~ight-fingeret
touch with an accompanying man
nerism which points him out to tn.
trained eye
So an inspector was sent to watch
the men at work. He found three
against whom Suspicious conferred
One Of them was transferred to an
other branch. The thefts continued
a second asked for a leave OF absenr'
and while he was away another iette'
disappeared. Then the inspectors o,
the case were certain that they ha.
the right man. A decey letter wa
marked and traced to the man unde
suspicion and there it stopped. 'Whel
no ~.,aa o~eoosoA Hh> 1ottor u,os rOs,n,