The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-01-26
CHECK ARTISTS
AMONG CHILDREN
Small Boys in City of
Pocatello Have
Passed Checks


i Business men and bankers as well
as parents seem to be doing things
that start children on the road to
criminality, and the following article
taken from the Pocatello Tribune
shows some features of these opera
lions as discovered in the Gate City:
Probate Judge William A. Hyde
this morning submitted the follow
ing story which is of especial inter
est to Pocatello business men:
1t is no doubt without your knowl-
edge and consent that a number of
you have unwittingly constituted
yourselves as the aids of young boys
in the city in the art of forgery.
That statement may seem to be a
cold one, but see if what l have said
is not true.
A boy so small that his head
scarcely comes to the bank window.
presents himself and asks for a
check book. What kind do you
want" asks the smiling teller, and
, being informed that it is the kind
with the stiff black covers, hands
one over. without word of question
as to the child's bank account, or as
| to what his name, or the name of
his father is. The boy plays with it
in school and other boys see it, and
they study over the mysteries of
banking and check writing. This
F, book being lost or taken by teacher
another one is obtained by a COM
panion OF the same size and age, and
their sthdies p are resumed. They
put their knowledge together and
discover how to write check Then
they try passing small one, get
a ten cent article and get ninety
cents back in change. Then the
vistas of a fortune open up before
these embryonic f1nanciers, and they
settle down to work. Seated at
table in the public library, they care
fully draw the checks, and first one
little boy and then another is given
a commission for passing them. The
proceeds are spent in shows, candy
and sports, little of it being re-
ported to the parents as money re-
ceived for work. .E
Some of the merchants refuse the
checks by kindly saying that they
have not the money to cash them,
but generally if an article, however
small is purchased, there is little
question except to ask for the adj
dress of the boy, which he has
learned to give falsely. Then the
police, the probation officer and the
Deceive agency are called in to work
their heads off to find the kid and
get back the two or three dollars
that are lost. 1t seems to me that
if professional crooks knew what
easy picking Pocatello is that some
time they would come here, and
leave nothing in some of the stores
except the fixtures. The worst fea-
ture, however, is that we are train
ing lot of boys in criminality.
| think that business men ought |
to remember that small boys are not |
often entrusted with checks by their
parents, and that, with few excep-
lions, they have no checking accounts |
of their own, and that ordinarily a
little boy could not be expected to be |
handling funds in that way. Know
ing these things, when boy presents
a check, call up his parents if they |
have a phone, or the bank if during
banking hours. If the boys shows
fear at this proposal, or you learn
that he is really passing bad check,
hold him until you learn his right
name and address, and then give
this office the information and we
will attend to the correction. Nine
times out of ten it is not criminal
you are dealing with, and in many
instances it is a child who does not
know that what he is doing is wrong.
Yesterday we had thirteen checks
aggregating about $40 written and
passed by four boys. A small por-
lion of the money we could recover,
but one boy is the son of widow
who is at present without means,
and the. other principal is the son
If a man out of work. They will
'efund this money as soon as they
IAN. In the meantime the industrial '
school is not the proper place for
hese boys. Four days were spent
n running down the forgeries and
With the fright the boys have re- {
eived they are probably cured. Let
he business men show ordinary +
business prudence, and we won't {
ave so much trouble in the future
The parents should remember, also, '
hat their children should be sternly \
not to use the family check
'ook. If the boys of the city know '
hat check in their hands without
roper explanation as to its origin, h
l of itself a suspicious circumstance,
hey will cease these practices.
1t may be the custom of banks to v
ass out checkbooks to any applicant, n
ut it would seem that there should
e a limit placed at the small, un- s
Identified boy. Il
The names of the boys in yester-
avs investigation are withheld from a
ne public, for the same reason that Il
e withhold the names of the mer-
hants and the bank that favored Il
lem. If we publish one set of II
ames we shall publish the other.
-.f.- l.
)AHO RECEIVERS LOSSES I