The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-10-22
Frederick Haskin's Letter
Corespondence Of ArruaA
Are You a Good Risk?
tspecial Correspondence

New York City. Oct. 21--If you
want TO make favorable impress
sion upon bonding company, be
fat, profane, married and have bad
penmanship. All of these charac-
teristics, usually looked upon as
handicaps by the general public.
are regarded as highly desirable by
the big New York bonding compan-
les which underwrite thousands of
embezzlement risks every year.
1t is estimated that the large
total of S1e0, coo, 600 is annually en-
bezzled in this country. The total
number of known embeZzlers whose
declarations are discovered is
around $4,000. These startling fig
ures explain why the bonding COM
panies have found it necessary to
make an elaborate study of char
acter. environment and psychology
in underwriting embezzlement
risks After many years of such
study and experience, they have
been able definitely to label some
human traits good risks and others
bad.
According to William B. Joyce,
president of the National Surety
company of this city, the man who
cusses a lot is good risk not be-
cause he is profane, but because
he is essentially human. His
mind" says Mr.. Joyce, has a safe
ty valve through which he pours
his excess emotions. He is far
safer than the quiet, suppressed in
dividual who STILES his natural i'm
pulses"
Mr. Joyce has been studying the
characteristics of embezzIers for
moro than 20 years. during which
time he has morulated the follow
ing guides for underwriters:
1T is always the trusted en-
ploye' who gets away with the most
money.
There is no age at which en-
bezzlement ceases.
Young and uniformed characters
are the chief offenders.
Margin speculations lead to
more embezZlement than cards or
dice; betting on the ponies ranks
a close Second
''Ex-convicts are the poorest
risks of all.
Since prohibition, many en-
bezzlements have been caused by
the high cost of bootleg liquor"
Fat people are considered better
risks than lean ones, because the
obese are on the whole more placid
and content with their lot, and less
inclined to morbid recklessness.
Married risks are preferred to sin
gle risks, as tame horses are pre-
ferred to wild ones. Cranks of eY-
cry kind, moreover, are readily &C
cepted by the surety companies for
the same reason that ProfRne men
are favored. In other words, peO-
pie who flaunt their idiosyncrasies
sufficiently TO be termed cranks at
least get the poison out of their
system.
Good Penmen Often Bad.
Perfect penmanship is regarded
with the deepest distrust by most
bonding companies. II. 7. Cole, in
spector of the American Surety
company here, who in the last 20
years has accumulated handwriting
specimens of hundreds of embez-
zlers, says he believes that superior
penmanship is an unfailing char
acteriStic of embezZlerS. He does
not deny that many an honest man
writes a tidy hand, but it is ex-
tremely rare to find defaulter who
writes poorly.
My opportunities for studying
such handwriting follow the open
ing of each new embezzlement
case" says Mr. Cole, for the first
procedure is to study the application
which the accused man filled out
with his pen before being employ
ed in a position of responsibility.
And I'm not speaking only Of book
keepers, bank telIers and other men
in positions requiring a good hand.
for We are called upon to bond Of
flee boys, salesgirls. railroad con-
ductors, restaurant cashiers, and
others required to handle money
without any tall feats of penmau-
ship.
In looking over our files of bust
ness criminals, comprising exam
pies from every kind of trade every
where, / come across few speci-
mems of poor handwriting
more than one to every fifteen that
are above the average of excellence.
In other words. about SO per cent
of the defauIters in our files have
been first class penmen. And l
have examined thousands of appli-
cations of men who afterward went
wrong"
Richard NJ. McKenna of the detec-
tive division of the New York po-
lice department. who has made a
special study of handwriting in
connection with criminal investiga-