carrying out their nefarious schemes than would serve to earn the sum
they finally secure, by honest labor. Every banker must, therefore, be
on his guard, and should acquaint himself with the most approved means
of detecting and avoiding the most common swindlers. This is just as
necessary as it is to lock his books and cash in his safe before going
home.

Next to the counterfeiter, the forger is the most dangerous criminal
in business life. Transactions involving the largest sums of money are
completed on the faith in the genuineness of a signature. Hence every
effort should be made to acquire the art of detecting an imitation at
a glance. This can be done only by considerable practice. It is
asserted that every signature has character about it which cannot be
perfectly copied, and which can always be detected by an experienced
eye. This is problematical, but certainly a skilful bank teller can
hardly be deceived by the forgery of a name of a well-known depositor.

A banker should accustom himself to scrutinize closely the signatures
of those with whom he deals. He should cut off their names from the
backs of checks and notes, and paste them in alphabetical order in an
autograph book devoted to that purpose, and compare any suspicious
signature with the genuine one.

In consequence of the numerous frauds committed by forged checks, some
of the European bankers have adopted the custom of sending with their
letter of advice a photograph of the person in whose favor the credit
has been issued, and to stop the payment when the person who presents
himself at the bank does not resemble the picture. If this practice
were to become universal, the object of preventing frauds could be
well attained.