This may or may not have been true. Skeptical persons could deny the assertion of the banker. But in order to prove this positively, we were employed by the insurance company that suffered a loss on the two banks that were robbed. Later, when one of the bank robbers had been arrested he was interviewed by the Superintendent of our Criminal Department, Mr. C. W. Tobie. The burglar asked Mr. Tobie if he was not from the Burns Agency. On replying that he was the burglar promptly said:

"What have you got to do with this, we did not bother your member?”

When Mr. Tobie explained that he had been employed by the insurance conpany to make an investigation the burglar said: "Why don't you put up a sign to that effect?"

I make this statement because of the many falsehoods that have been circulated by so-called detective agents, and I have also pointed out in my various addresses before State bankers' association conventions and gatherings that it was a waste of money and entirely unnecessary to employ other detective agencies when you are a member of the American Bankers' Association. Such banks not only waste their money but make it more difficult to get results, as we are hampered considerably by a lot of cheap detectives interfering with our investigations. We therefore hope that the bankers will realize that it is entirely unnecessary to employ other agencies when they are members of the American Bankers' Association.

The very fact that this agency has succeeded in the most difficult and greatest cases in the country, when other detective agencies employed on the same case had absolutely failed, ought to be sufficient guarantee. Take for instance the McNamara case. Every private detective as well as every police detective in the world was looking for the McNamaras. One agency drew a great deal of money on this case and yet absolutely failed to apprehend any of those wanted. I might also point to the various municipal investigations throughout the country, all of which have been made in the interest of civic decency, and have been successful.

I may refer to the successful investigation and conditions in San Francisco, the exposure of bribery in Atlantic City, the revelation of aldermanic corruption in Detroit and in the Illinois Central "graft" case. Now the authorities have seen fit to call in the William J. Burns National Detective Agency in exposing the ramifications of "graft" and bribery in connection with the investigation of the New York City police force, growing out of the murder of the gambler, Rosenthal. It must be reasonable to assume that with a record of such success in the most noted and intricate cases in the country that the members of the American Bankers' Association have been provided with the most effective protective system available.

The manner and methods of running down bank burglars, forgers and criminals of all kinds are conducted upon national and I might say business lines. Our experience teaches us where and how to follow up the evidence. Our network of agencies, our records of criminals and many sources of information, make the investigation such that an arrest and conviction is certain. The criminal may seek refuge in far off lands. He is eventually brought back to face the charge against him. We do not depend upon chance or "luck." In fact we have reduced detection work to a basis of business and matter-of-fact methods which block every avenue of escape. It is mostly the amateur who has the hardihood now to prey upon banks

which are under our protective system. Their apprehension is rendered comparatively easy as indicated by the records of captures and convictions each month.

Let me give some recent illustrations, taken at random, of the protective work accomplished:

One professional crook who was wanted in many cities in different parts of the United States was recently captured in Chicago. This criminal long ago stopped operating against bank members. His specialty is passing bogus checks and his rule is to have his check endorsed by some responsible individual or have it passed by some business concern.

Another criminal was arrested a few days ago in Kansas City, Mo., by the detective agents of the American Bankers' Association. He would insert an advertisement in the newspapers for a stenographer or bookkeeper. Upon engaging this bookkeeper or stenographer he would have her deposit a bogus draft in some bank. Before the bank had an opportunity to learn whether the draft was good or not he would draw against his account by check which would bear the endorsement of his stenographer. By this method he defrauded many women in different parts of the country as he always selected as his victims those who had a bank account.

In February, 1912, a Western bank member made a loan to a party taking a three months' note and a cattle mortgage on 80 head of cattle. Upon investigation it was found that the party did not own and never had owned the cattle described in the mortgage which he gave to secure his note. After obtaining money on the note he disappeared. When it was discovered by the bank that he did not own the cattle he had mortgaged the case was reported to the Protective Department of the American Bankers' Association and through its detective agents the criminal was finally traced to a Canadian town where he was apprehended and taken back to the State in which the crime was committed and he is now awaiting trial. It was also discovered that he had perpetrated frauds against several individuals in the same way.

During the spring of this year a certain check intended for the messenger of a brokerage house was secured by two young men. They attempted to cash the check at a bank in New York City. One of them was arrested at that time by the detective agents of the Association and sent to a reformatory. The other was later arrested by a representative of the detective agents and a member of the New York Police Department.

An unlimited amount of space could be used to describe cases that have been brought to a successful conclusion by the Protective Department of the American Bankers' Association through its detective agents during the last year. In the foregoing it has been shown how certain professional criminals have stopped operating against members of the American Bankers' Association. It has also been shown how the Protective Department, through its detective agents, the William J. Burns National Detective Agency, pursues relentlessly and never lets up until the criminal has been lodged behind the bars. Over two hundred criminals who have operated against members of the American Bankers' Association have been arrested. The majority of these were amateurs. Many professional and amateur criminals who have operated against non-members and individuals have also been arrested through the efforts of the detective agents of the Protective Department.

METHODS FOR SECURING FIDUCIARY BUSINESS

RICHARD REESE

Vice-President and Treasurer The Equitable Guarantee andTrust Company, Wilmington, Del.

T has been said that the fiduciary business of the trust companies of Wilmington compares so favorably with that of other cities-in fact surpasses many that the methods employed to secure this class of business must be unusually good. If this is a fact the reason probably is that the public has been so educated by the trust companies through advertising, correspondence and personal information on the subject that they have become thoroughly convinced that the most satisfactory way to have an estate settled, a trust executed or any business of a trust nature transacted is to place it in the hands of a well managed and firmly established trust company with a board of directors representative of the very best business interests of the community, conservative, whose members realize that they have charge of the property of those who have implicit confidence in their integrity and judgment and who would rather cut off their right hands than betray the confidence thus reposed in them. This is the situation in a nutshell but even this is not sufficient to produce the large volume of business these companies enjoy. The officers are always alive to the necessity of constantly increasing this branch of their business and through personal solicitation and conferences, in which the desirabilty of placing fiduciary affairs in charge of a corporate agent is urged, impress their prospective clients with the importance of giving these things their careful thought. The result in the majority of cases is that the subject is viewed in an entirely new light, the thought suggested becomes obvious, the advantage of the corporation over the individual is realized, and the would be creator of a trust is grateful at having had solved for him a problem that has caused him no little perturbation. It may be said that this sounds very well in theory but how is it to be obtained in practice. The answer is apparent-by having the right kind of men at the head of your company-men who by their methods and lives have demonstrated to the public their ability to handle successfully their own affairs and capable of being entrusted with the financial affairs of others; men who have the confidence of not only private citizens but who inspire the confidence of court officers and members of the Bar; men who are on good terms with the large merchants and manufacturers and whose circle of friends and acquaintances embraces men and women in all the walks of life. The successful trust company head must be well and favorably known, take a lively interest in all affairs of his community and be ever willing to lend his aid to all good projects-keeping in mind always the success of his company and improving every opportunity to offer its services in every legitimate way.

The man who places on a parity the solicitation of the office of executor of, and trustee under, a man's will with the solicitation of his services by an undertaker is wrong. Both are necessary, it is true, but the first involves the

careful administration of his affairs to the comfort of those dependent upon him in life, a duty that it is a gratification to have thoughtfully performed and while it suggests the time when he shall have "joined the innumerable caravan that moves to the pale realms of shade," it being purely business forethought, is entirely lacking in that delicacy of feeling that would be so glaring in the solicitation of the service that means his utter annihilation. In making his will and judiciously providing for the distribution of his estate, contrary to tradition the good that men do lives after them, and if there has been any evil in his life it should be interred with his bones, consequently no trust company official should hesitate to suggest to any one the making of a will nor should a sensible person take offense at such a suggestion.

A booklet showing the "Descent and Distribution of the Estate of deceased persons leaving no will," as provided under the laws of Delaware, published by The Equitable Guarantee & Trust Company, is an educational bit of advertising in this connection that has been sought after by many and has been productive of good results. Requests for information in a similar form made of trust companies in other States have been met with the assertion that no such booklet has ever been published. A court calendar distributed among the members of the Bar and published by the same company, giving the dates of convening of all United States and county courts in the State of Delaware, contains this notice:

"The rule of this company is in all cases to retain as its counsel, the lawyers who are instrumental in placing in its hands any business of a fiduciary nature, such as executorships, administration of estates, guardianship of minors, appointment as receivers, assignees and trustees, also as registrar and transfer agent, and as treasurer or financial agent of corporations and organizations."

Contrary to a popular impression the members of the Bar and the trust companies are not antagonistic. They work in harmony and every trust company board of directors in the city of Wilmington has among its members one or more lawyers and no trust company can successfully carry on its business without the aid and advice of a good counsellor.

There is one thing vitally necessary to the success of any trust company and that is the faithful and active co-operation of its directors and stockholders with its officers in securing new business. It is to be taken for granted that all directors, at least, will not only place their own affairs but use their influence in having their friends and acquaintances do likewise with the company they help to direct and if the stockholders would all do the same thing no trust company properly officered could have any excuse for not being successful.

TRUST COMPANY TO HANDLE FUNDS OF ANGLICAN DIOCESE

The Royal Trust Company of Ottawa, Ont., has been appointed to take charge of the funds and financial transactions incident to the management of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa. The business of the diocese has been in the hands of Rev. Cannon Hannington. It has been decided, however, that in view of the greater economy and efficiency with which the trust companies handle the funds and fiscal operations, to transfer the management entirely to the trust company.

CO-OPERATION BETWEEN LAWYER AND TRUST COMPANY

FRANK C. MCKINNEY, of the New York Bar

TH

HE old-fashioned lawyer and his quiet office are passing just as colonial days have passed; just as rapid transit has displaced the "coach-andfour," and just as the town meeting with its pure democracy has been supplanted by political conditions of which the pilgrim fathers never dreamed. Strange, indeed, would it be if this remarkable development which has characterized America did not leave its impress upon the time honored profession of law.

As one stands in the midst of modern corporation activity he can hardly realize that the corporation as a great business factor is a creation of recent years. The country is dominated to such an extent by these remarkable combinations that they seem to have been long an integral part of our history; and yet, the very factors which have brought about the rapid growth of corporations are the factors which have changed the status of the lawyer in his relation to modern life.

Except in some secluded town where the rush of modern business has passed by on the other side, and where the citizens still drive their weekly grist to the mill, the lawyer of the old school cannot be found. Although he may be a general practitioner, he is not a practitioner as the term was used in the former days. Then, he was called upon to search titles to real estate, to defend the wayward sons of the town, to advise in affairs spiritual, domestic, and business, and to serve as judge, advocate or arbitrator. In his place has come the specialist, the business man, alert and aggressive; has come, too frequently we fear, the lawyer who is willing to sell his birthright for a mess of pottage. This, too, is a natural consequence of the growth of cities and the complications of modern business which have accompanied that growth.

But some one asks, what does this have to do with trust companies and their relation to the lawyer? Simply this, that the modern trust company, along with the modern lawyer, is the product of economic changes which have followed in rapid succession. The corporation, be it banking or business, and the individual, be he a professional man or a business man, must meet the demands of a new age.

It has been asserted that the trust company is usurping the functions of the lawyer. If the lawyer is correct in his claim that by the performance of a particular service, such as the searching of titles or the drafting of deeds and wills, he thereby acquires a monopoly in that particular work there is truth in the charge; but the difficulty is that one's particular right to a special work is not determined by what he has been doing, but by the continued value of that service to the public. If, as a result of the complexity of modern life, a trust company or a title company renders more economic and efficient service than an individual, the public is entitled to the service of the cor