The L'Anse sentinel., 1924-01-11
Yearly Haul by 6n1bezziers-
Study of Different Types
of Thieves.

I New York.-Embezzler and f0rgers
take s2000o0,OoO every year our OF
American business The number OF
crooked bo0kkeepers. clerks. teilers and
treasurers- Pariahs OF the loyal army
OF white-collared men and women who
handle MONEYS Increasing every
day al! oar of proportion 20 the nat
gral Increase IN the volume OF bust
ness
Why this steady rise in the mum
ber OF defalcations? What Is the mo
tive back OF rheRl? Who are the guilty
ones--the oid % the young. the mar
rieG or the single?
Theoretically embezzlers Increase
IN times of unemployment or when eco
nonlic conditions are poor That the
DRY cannot explain the present situa-
ton. There is virtually no unemploy-
ment and business Is bcuming.
Then why is IL? Every day Bernard
]. McGinn. sitting behind his desk in
a surety company. is presented with
10 claims from companies and In
stitutIons, each one case of where
some employee has proved 10 be
crook. That is the average for one
week was 10 a day. Next week II
may be - and the next 81
Estrsvsganee the Motive.
Il wish" he said the other day. as
be glanced over clalIh OF an en-
ployer for a university student who
had gone wrong, Il wish could tell
you why the number OF cases Of this
sort keep on mounting.
The real reason for the increase In
peculations OF various sorts. as / have
determined from the records. IS ex-
travagance. Most Of the cases that
come before US are OF men who have
been living beyond their incomes and
who have refused TO cut down their
expenditures. They try short cuts to
wealth. They strain 10 keep up with
their accustomed manner OF living
II would hurt their pride il the neigh
bors thought them poor-and so they
begin 10 steal. The money goes for
lot of things-fine clothes, automo-
biles, bootleg liquor and even expen.
sive radio sets"
Marriage Doesn't Make Honesty.
There is little difference in dependa-
bility. according to Mr.. McGinn. be-
tween single man and a married
man. Home life, he believes. usually
exercises a sort OF deterrent TO crime !
but there are plenty of cases on record |
OF where men stole for their wives.
who sometimes are ignorant OF the
whole business until they find the hus-
band facing Jail. So any generality
on that score would be inaccurate.
And women. what OF them? They
are gradually invading all business
enterprises, and many an office has
more women than men In Il. Are they
proving more honest than men? Mr..
McGinn believes not.
Many Women Are EmbezxIerx
1t may be a discourteous thing to
say" he explained. but we get plenty
of women embezziers here. too. Thev
probably are just about the same as
men / have noticed. however, that
there are differences in their methods.
TOT example, put woman and man
side by side in retail establishment.
where they handle only small sums Of
money. The woman viii be more
likely than the man to keep cur n
dollar or two here and there. The man
would frown on such PRACTICE as
being beneath him-chfcken feed. Yer
he would be more likely 60 steal \
large sum.
Women in high positions. however.
seldom steal"
Women managers for telegraph Of
nces have an almost perfect record
There Is just one, % far as Mr.. Nc
Ginn knows. who systematicnIlv
robbed n telegraph company. she wns
little red-hssred girl who began .s
. clerk In . telegraph once IN Kan
sas- Later she became manager Of
mat once. Soon. Just before her &C.
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