The New York herald., 1921-04-25
HONEST NAME NOW
MASK FOR CROOKS
Steal Life Records of Good
Persons to Get Jobs in Big
Corporations.

II is the dictum Of William Maxwell
vice president OF Thomas A, Edison,
Inc. that until employers of lnrge num-
bers OF men and women give the same
degree OF care and attention TO the
hiring OF employees that they give &c
other details OF their businesses there
will be an increase rather than o dimi-
mutton In the number of commercial
concerns which are robbed from the In
side.
Mr.. Maxwell made this opinion of his
the subject OF warning in an address
he delivered last week before the New
York Electrical Society. In a discussion
yesterday Of crooks and their methods
in connection with modern business he
declared all over again that - keep the
crook out Of modern counting rooms he
must be detected before he has set foot
inside.
IT have been pounding away on this
topic Mr.. Maxwell said. "endeavoring
to convince various Leads of organiza-
tions who are friends of mine that II
out of their office forces, and particu-
larly out OF their office secrets. they
must give at least as much attention 70
the selection OF new employees as they
give to the selection of other raw ma
terial that goes into what they make
and sell.
1T is a little difficult, for instance, to
imagine jeweller accepting diamond
on the say so of a salesman who walks
in from nowhere and announces that II
is a diamond and lot piece II glass
or can one think OF a. banker permitting
brand new customer to deposit
strangers check for several thousand
dollars and the next minute honoring in
gold the new customers check for that
amount?
Il can think Of jewellers and ! can
think OF bankers who would do neither
Of these things. but would fiji an Inn
portant position with almost the first
man who came along.
They do not seem to understand that
the crook OF to-day is as averse TO the
use of the blackjack and the dark Ian
tern as they are. That he greatly pre-
fers to open a safe with a pen rather
than with nitroglycerine. and that he Is
a patient soul and is willing TO walt to
win. There are men born Sc crooked
that they will give an amount OF in
genuity and thought to a crooked piece
Of work that they would not dream OF
giving to the most profitable enterprise
in existence IL that enterprise was hon
est and above board
These men are born with steady
frequency-at a ratio. merciful'y. which
keeps the number of them small in every
hundred thousand---and they lie awake
ni2hts thinking how to get ca 81 money,
and of course thinking OF banks and big
corporations first because banks and
corporations have so much OF It.
when ready to seek employment In
the concern he has selected to loot. one
Of these fellows is always beforehand
in the matter OF his references. He has
his sponsors planted. his whole record
contrived. and TO the investigator who
talks to him the day he applies for q
lob he makes himself the soul OF candor
and as likely as not mentions small
slip somewhere az having occurred in
his life.
THE investigation concerning him
goes ahead and finds all the facts as he
has stated, but probably II develops ar.
ter nc has stolen and gone. that the only
fact he misstated about himself was his
name. Giving the name OF an honest
man is one OF the simplest tricks OF tho
Der of cases IL has worked like a charm
Investigation into the identity and
antecedents OF new employees, then, !:
TO my mind the great necessity IL tht
crooks are to be stopped at the door.
The inyes tigation can't be too minute or
be carried too far II everything Is to be
learned about a man that ought 70 be
learned Some employers depend upon
correspondence only. in inauiring into
references given by prospective en-
ployees Yet few OF these men would
agree to wear a hat that somebody sold
them by mail.
in writing to some sponsor il Is we'll 70
ask him a few questions concerning
matters which the would be employee
has never mentioned. And still others
fail to think OF the value OF communicate
ing with some one they know. in some
city mentioned by the applicant, and
have him conduct little investigation
on his own account and interview per-
sonaily one or two persons who for
various reasons, which ought to appear
on the face OF the case. are likely to
know the man who wants job.
There are a score OF other trif1ine
respects in which the histories OF newly
met men may be checked up. AS
Gay tnFN Hre likely TO III ENsFg UT
ganization IL gle case. but they arc all
reducible TO the Test or tests which any
one OF us insists upon when he is about
to buy any material commodity which
he expects either TO sell again or to use
for a serious purpose. But banks and
other businesses omit their use to an
extent which begets losses running into
the high figures every year.
And 80 the crooks get into the banks.
and into counting rooms. and into money
vaults. and behind cashiers desks. and
into the rooms where payrolls are made
up. and on the vehicles which carry
payrolls from banks to factories. And
tho ones In these jobs rarely touch a
penny themselves. They are usually
the tip off men and the group or gang
or which they arc n part does the dirty
work A checking up afterward nearly
always discloses Il, just as scientific
checking up In advance would MS surely
have done. But doubtless the millennium
In this respect will never arrive till the
bonding companies grow utterly exact
ing and refuse to pay losses which
would not have occurred II their clients
had nacd human intelligence IN hIrinr