The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-10-25
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, D. G.
ARE YOU A GOOD RISK?

I q u y 2
fame, married. and have bad penman-
ship. All of these characteristics,
usually looked upon as handicaps by
the general public. are regarded as
highly desirable by the big New York
bonding companies which underWrite
thousands of embezzlenent risks
every year.
1t is estimated that the large total
of S100,000,00O is annually embezzled
in this country. The total numl er of
known embezzlers whose defalcatiens
are discovered is around $4,000.
These startling figures explain why
the bonding companies have found it
necessary to make an elaborate study
of character, environment and psy-
chology in underwriting emb excitement
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, pres
ident of the National Surety company
of this city, the man who cusses a lot
is good risk, not because he is pro-
fame, but because he is essentially hu-
man. His mind" says Mr.. Joyce,
has safety valve thru 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 embezzlers for more
has formulated the following guides
for underwriters:
TT is always the trusted employee
who gets away with the most money.
There is no age at which embezzls-
ment ceases.
Young and uniformed characters
are the chief offenders.
Margin speculatiens leads to more
embezzlement than cards or dice; bet
ting on the ponies ranks a close sec
ond.
"Ex-convicts are the poorest risks
of all.
Since prohibition. many embezzle-
ments 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 reckIessness. Mar
ried risks are preferred to single risks,
as tame horses are preferred to wild
ones. Cranks of every kind, moreover,
are readily accepted by the surety
companies for the same reason that
profane men are favored. In other
words, people who flaunt their lido
syncracies sufficiently to be termed
| ezra nks'' at least get the poison out
of their system.
Good Penman Often Bad.
Perfect penmanship is regarded with
companies H. T. Cole, inspector of
the American Surety company here,
who in the last 20 years has accumu-
lated handwriting specimens of hun
dreds of embezzlers, says he believes
that superior penmanship is an un-
falling characteristic of embezzlers.
He does not deny that many an honest
man writes a tidy hand, but it is ex-
tremely rare to find a defaulter who
writes poorly.
My opportunities for studying
such handwriting follow the opening
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 employed in position of
responsibility And I'm not speaking
! only of bookkeepers, bank tellers and
other men in positions requiring
good hand, for we are called upon to
bond office boys, salesgirls, railroad
conductors, restaurant cashiers, and
others required to handle money with
| out any tall feats of penmanship.
In loking over our files of bust
ness criminals, comprising examples
from every kind of trade everywhere,
| 1 come across few specimens of poor
| handWriting-not more than one to
/ every fifteen that are above the aver
labout SO per cent of the defaulters in
| our files have been first class pen
| men. And I have examined thousands
! of applications of men who afterward
| went wrong"
| Richard NJ. McKenna of the detec-
| tive division of the New York police
department, who has made a special
| study of handwriting in connection
with criminal investigation, supports
Mr.. Coles interesting observation.
| From my study of the handwriting
of crooks" he says. Il believe that
1 n
a great deal to do with the cultivation
of a certain type of very fine penman-
ship. The normal man in forming his
handwriting has the ideal of writing
freely, 1egibly and speedily, but the
| man with the makings of a crook in
him has the ideal of showing off his
cleverness, winning admiration, and
| concealing his own true character with
a false appearance of highly orna-
mented perfection. That's the feeling
| and I believe I could distinguish 1t
eight times out of ten"
Environment and Crime.
The environment in which a risk is
located is also an important considera-
ton to the bonding companies. Movie
| cashiers rarely embezzle, but a good
deal of money has been lost on people
! There is something about musical
! comedy-probably its gay, carefree
atmosphere of wine, woman and song
that Seems to pave the way to easy
embezzlement.
/ 1t is also interesting to note that in
the new, rich sections of the south
west, particularly in Texas and Okla
homa, where fortunes are often made
(and lost) in a night, there is much
more embezzlement than in the north
eastern states, where money-making Is
a hard and slow business.
The files of the large bonding COM
panies contain many strange and
romantic stories of the rise and fall
of emhezzlers. Some day, perhaps,
the movies will realize the screen
possibilities of such material and buy
the movie rights to a bonding COM
pany's files, thereby turning poor
risks into good ones. What could be
more meviesque, for instance, than
this melodrama with a happy ending,
related by Mr.. Joyce of the National
Surety company