New Britain herald., 1914-07-15
School of Honesty. (Washington Star.)

two mysterious losses of money were discovered recently, one of $4,000 in the bureau of engraving and printing and one of s1,25O in the treasury Every kind of theory was advanced, suspicious were whispered, all sorts of clues followed, all the employees in both these great departments of the government made anxious, and, al- together, the possible thefts were producing a tangle which threatened to take months to unravel, when sud- denly, and with no less mystery, the $4.O00 was returned
 Joseph E. Ralph, director of the
 Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
 when approached upon the subject of
 the shortage in his department, dis
 played at once as his main anxiety the
 outraged feelings of his employees. who are no doubt innocent, yet must con
 tinue to be kept under a certain sur veillance until the thief has been ap- Irehended.
 "I feel very proud" he said, "of the record of the bureau for the honesty Of it's employees, and I think I pay the great compliment to the 2,10O women and the 1900 men here when I say that during the past six years, in which time have served in my pres ent capacity, we have handled s1s,- 000,0O0,0OO in money and SCHOOL 000,000 in postage stamps, with the only shortage or theft, besides the $4,000 recently missed, being $40.
 Such a loss as we have just suf- fcred is demoralizing to the employees, because as a rule they are extremely onr ccio occurs they feel it very keenly. While it is true, perhaps, that all of them are not scrupulously honest in all other relations, even an indiscreet move is rare where the bureau is con- cerned Particularly are the young women in the examining division anxious on such an occasion as has now arisen, for they must handle every piece of money delivered to the treasury.
 No doubt the theft was prompted by an impulse of the moment; then the thief realized it would be i'm possible for him to pass the notes without fear of detection, as the secret service men had narrowed down to a very few the number of suspected persons. But we are not satisfied be- cause the money has been put back, ard We will not be until we get the culprit because we must make an example of him that will safeguard against another such occurrence.
 ''In 1907, when I was appointed di- rector of the Bureau of Engraving and printing, I inherited 8 case of theft-$11O worth of stamps that were being shipped to postmasters
 While the secret service men were working on this case my suspicious were constantly centered upon an em- ploye whose duty covered stapling the packages of money. While the detec- tives and. inspectors kept him under surveillance for two or three months they could collect no evidence. He seemed to live an exemplary life, par taking each evening in religious ser vices, and for a week prior to the day of his arrest he was engaged in talk ing collections for an evangelist, who was holding meetings over at Conven- tion hall.
 "So confident was I, however, that he was the guilty one that I finally charged him directly with the theft of the stamps. He confessed and re- ceived a prison sentence of one year. The sympathy of every one was aroused, however, because the man had been a soldier at Santiago, had fought there with Colonel Roosevelt and lost a leg, so the sentence was ccmmuted.
 ''He had been receiving salary of $85 a month from the bureau, he had been given a pension of $50 a month and there was positively no excuse for the theft.
 February 1, 1910, we had loss of a sheet of $10 gold notes, amounting to $40. We knew we were short of a sheet. and the chief of the division had deposited with me the proper amount, as the rules of the bureau that each division. must bal ance up accounts daily, and, in the event of a shortage, a pay check be issued by the chief.
 "On the day following the loss two $10 gold notes, bearing no seal, were in local banks. The other two never showed up and the govern ment was reimbursed by the employees of the examining division. Two of these employees, who were under sus- picion by the detectives investigating, left the service shortly afterward and It is the universal opinion that one or both were guilty.
 March 3, 1905, 1t was found at the close of the work of the day that an IF rcomplete sheet of banking currency, } m bunting to $50, was missing The next day cashier of one of the de- partment stores communicated to the secret service that $10 in the form of ] national bank note, bearing no seal ,r numbers had been rendered a clerk in payment for a purchase made l oy a young lady.
 '"The cashier visited the bureau and | IS the records here revealed the fact | hat seven girls were excused that af- | ernoon the seven were called together ! ,nd the cashier identified one of them | IS the young woman who had been in |