two cans of pork and beans and a baby's nursing-bottle. Occasionally a man's tall hat is found, and gold cigarette-cases are common. Most of these articles, being found in boxes or chairs of subscribers, are easily traced.

A glance down the page of the book that is kept by the custodian of these valuables would amaze one-almost nothing but gold, gold, gold, diamonds, diamonds, diamonds! Surely, a fortune could be realized if the attachés were dishonest. But, as a matter of fact, fully 95 per cent of these valuables are returned to their owners.

At the Grand Central Station, through which from 35,000 to 40,000 persons enter the city every day, two men are kept busy receiving, classifying, and delivering articles abandoned in the trains. Among articles left in the trains of this company last year were several pairs of crutches and a wooden leg. For sheer negligence, this puts the item of the abandoned false teeth in the Metropolitan into cold storage. To such an extent are umbrellas abandoned that the custodian made the remark that he could invariably tell by looking over his book of receipts whether a certain day was rainy or fair from the number of umbrellas brought in.

On the Jersey Central, which brings 20,000 passengers a day into New York, 5,000 articles were left in car seats last year. There were overcoats, dress suit cases, golf sticks, and several hats every day-which is very remarkable. Others left chickens, parrots, melons, muffs, mechanics' kits, and in many cases shoes that the wearers had discarded to ease their feet and had walked away without them which was even more negligent than leaving their hats. Most of these articles betrayed the sex of their owners-the size of rubbers showed it without a doubt, but eye-glasses and umbrellas were of neuter gender. The commuter was indicated by packages containing such things as bread, butter, eggs, lard, pickles, and cans of bug powder.

At the lost and found department of the elevated road and subway in New York an average of 40,000 abandoned articles are taken care of every year.

Recently the older chauffeurs of New York City organized under the name of The Gasoline Engineers' Protective Association, their purpose, according to a resolution adopted, being "to eliminate joy-riding and drunkenness and to put the profession on such

a plane that the chauffeur will not be discriminated against because of his calling."

What a commentary on the status of a vast army of skilled workmen-" discriminated against because of his calling."

Yet it is absolutely justified. There are probably seventy-five thousand of these men. in Greater New York, the majority of them of good character, yet all more or less under the ban of suspicion because of the acts of a by no means small minority.

The negligence of the machine owner and the public has developed the greatest definite field of criminal operations ever known in America. Nor in any field has specialization in crime developed the efficiency that it has in this. So tempting is it, in fact, that many who were crooks before they entered it have come in, and many have developed crookedness from the inside because of the opportunities found there.

There are four classes of automobile crooks the chauffeur who robs his employer right and left; the man who steals the machine; the sneak thief who pilfers the accessories from the car; and the taxi driver who cheats us in the matter of fares, steals whatever belongings we may leave behind, often robs drunken fares, and occasionally carries unprotected women to lonesome places and relieves them of all they've got.

And this is all directly due to negligence! The owner is negligent, either directly in leaving unguarded a machine, or in retaining in his employ, as he too often does, a chauffeur whom he knows to be dishonest or a drunkard or a dope fiend.

We wonder why an owner keeps a chauffeur whom he knows to be dishonest. It happens usually with the first machine; then he (the owner) becomes sophisticated. Usually he has made a lot of money in some up-State town. The neighbors have machines. They are all regarded as expensive toys, yet an indispensable mark of social standing. Our friend's wife must keep up with the neighbors. Very good. He gets a car. He has heard that other men have been grafted on, but this is a necessary evil, he concludes. So he submits to it. This is where his negligence comes in. He doesn't take the trouble to determine that he needn't submit to it. The chauffeur comes to him with good references and seems to fill every need. He keeps the machine in first-class shape, makes good mileage, and avoids collisions. Immediately. he arrives, the chauffeur locates the repair

people and the supply people and arranges with them for a "rake-off." When the bills come in, the owner grins and bears it. He is willing to be "done." It's a mark of his standing in the eyes of his chauffeur as a man and a sport. But after he has had one or two machines he learns to audit bills carefully and so changes drivers frequently, for these gentlemen will not stay with men who are "mean" about expenses.

So easy has this game become that if a chauffeur were a good sport he wouldn't take the graft!

The chauffeur himself by his criminal negligence becomes a promoter of crime in others. He does things with the machine that no old-fashioned coachman would have dreamed of doing with his employer's rig. Joy-riding was carried to such an outrageous extent that partial reforms were brought about. Many garage managers were warned not to let the cars go out without orders from the owners. This restricted the chauffeur's opportunities somewhat. Obviously he could not use the machine while his owner was making a call, for he didn't know at what moment he might return. But the definite hours of the theater and opera gave him a chance. From the rising to the falling of the curtain is "his" time. He picks up girls or meets some that he knows and whisks away up Jerome Avenue or somewhere else where numerous cafés and combination dance halls or cabarets obtain. He leaves the machine outside at the mercy of whoever happens by. These cars are strung along for blocks, unguarded for a couple of hours at least. And the sneak thief, knowing the negligence of the grafting chauffeur, proceeds himself to prey upon the thief "higher up.”

A pair of nippers and a screw-driver are all the tools he needs. He may clip off tires worth anywhere from $50 to $150, or unscrew and appropriate a $125 magneto or a $100 speedometer with perfect ease and safety, and carry them off to his own waiting car and then to the fences, where he disposes of them for fully sixty per cent of their face value.

There are about forty companies in New York who write insurance on automobiles, and they lose an average of eight machines a year each. The insurance policy covers theft of nachine, fire, transportation, and pilferage of tires, tools, and other accessories, in amounts of over $25, and where the theft has been done by others than those employed by the The moral risk is everything in insur

owner.

ing a machine. A company would insure an auto owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt or John Claflin right up to the face value, where they would insure it for only half its value for some restaurant-keeper, bartender, or other person of uncertain responsibility.

The majority of cars are stolen in the daytime in front of the big cafés in crowded districts. There is nothing easier for a man dressed as a chauffeur than to step into an unguarded machine and pull out. But it takes a mechanician familiar with the makes of all machines to do this with anything like the necessary assurance. On the other hand, accessories that are stolen are taken from the cars at night. The reasons for this are obvious any one clipping a chain from an extra tire or unscrewing a magneto would be instantly caught.

The man who steals the car drives to a regular "fence," where they at once proceed to change its appearance. The body, its most distinguishing feature, if a limousine, is exchanged for a touring, or vice versa, for the chassis will take any kind of a top. Then the factory number, stamped in the bed of the engine, is chiseled out and all other marks of identification removed.

So negligent are we that we do not take the trouble to inform ourselves as to the proper fares a taxi driver should charge, and even when we know he is robbing us we are too cowardly or too indifferent to protest, or we haven't the time or are too lazy to have him take us to the police station to settle the matter. Of course he knows this and banks on it. And yet we complain of crooks being in the business of driving taxis !

Most amazing negligence is commonly shown by the truckman who hauls bale goods. He pulls up at the curb with a $10,000 load of silks, and, picking up a package worth $50 or $100, goes up to some loft to make a delivery, leaving the balance of his valuable cargo to take care of itself. It is no coincidence that the thief is on the spot when the driver leaves his truck unprotected. This crook who specializes in silk and other bale goods was near the warerooms when the goods were loaded onto the truck and has followed them like a sleuth until the opportunity He is dressed like an ordinary truckHe watches the driver mount the stairs until he is out of sight, then he calmly comes out of the building, casts away his cigarette, mounts the truck in the most nonchalant manner in the world, and drives away

came. man.

either to the fence or to meet his pal who may be lurking in some by-street with an auto.

Understand, a very large majority of the great wholesale houses do not own their own horses and wagons, but contract their carrying business out to truckmen. Where such business is heavy enough, the truckman prints the merchant's name on a certain number of his vehicles, which is a good advertisement.

It used to be that these trucking contractors could insure not only their rigs against theft, but the goods they were handling as well. The insurance companies at

the same time would insure the merchant against loss and thus collect a double premium. To get even with the company whose rates were pretty high the truckman hired a cheap class of drivers, many of whom were themselves thieves or stood in with the "specialists." This practice resulted in so many losses of goods from trucks that the companies refused to insure contracting truckmen against the loss of goods carried by them, but continued to insure the merchant against the loss of such goods. When a loss was sustained, the insurance company paid the merchant and then fell back on the truckman, who was responsible for the goods as a common carrier. This action on the part of the insurance companies naturally made the contractor less negligent in the matter of men he engaged as drivers. But even so, the theft of rigs through the neglect of truckmen continued and grew to such an extent, and so many losses were sustained by the insurance companies, that they advanced the rates in a short time from 21⁄2 to 7 per cent, practically a prohibitive figure. One great trucking concern in New York has 700 rigs. It is fair to assume that an average value is $700. Of course single rigs may be much less, but double rigs with splendid horses are worth much more than twice $700. Obviously, then, it would cost this company 7 per cent on $490,000, or $34,300 a year, to insure its equipment. Small owners, however, such as grocers, laundrymen, and the like, having only one or two rigs, continue to insure, even at this high rate.

No doubt being covered by insurance promotes negligence and more. For instance, some years ago dealers in silks and linens and other valuable fabrics used to occupy ground floor spaces on Greene Street or Mercer Street-a regular colony of them. Now they have moved to the sky-scraping

They deliver three bales of silk to him. He takes it away, and that's the last they hear of it. The clerk has neglected to look out of the window to see whether an "Adams or an "American" wagon is at the curb. Probably from that height he couldn't tell anyway, and he certainly won't go all the way down stairs to investigate. Besides, they are insured!—that's why he won't take the trouble. The crook knows this, and banks on it.

But insurance doesn't always protect. A house that had lost goods to a fake expressman called up the insurance company and wanted to know what they were going to do about it. The secretary of the company investigated and then told the manager of the house that as they had not delivered the goods to a common carrier, as per agreement, the insurance company could do nothing for them. Of course they had no recourse against the express company, since these were not responsible for the crooks who masqueraded as their employees.

The other day a friend of mine negotiated for the renting of a furnished house.

Said the lady of the house, who knew my friend well," We leave everything as you see it-linen, silverware, and all."

66

But," protested my friend, who knew the silverware to be very valuable, "I don't care to take the responsibility of this silver. You can take it away.'

"Don't worry," said the lady.

My friend looked at her in astonishment, and she explained. "We used to worry about it. We used to take it upstairs every night and lock it up in the safe; but we don't any more. We just leave it right here. You see, we've had it insured against burglary!"

Another curious result of insurance is this: The companies have taken to offering a reward of $300 for the recovery of stolen automobiles insured by them, and there is no doubt that many machines are stolen for no other purpose than to obtain this.

Diamonds are the goal of the most ambitious crooks. These bring the greatest price, are the most portable, and can be disposed of at nearer to their real value than any other class of goods. It is constantly a