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WOULD TO GOD THAT THAD BEEN DISCOVERED WHEN MY THIEVINGS WERE SMALL -HENRY M. DEARING. "Now I'm Utterly Ruined," Wails Albion Bank Wrecker, Starting For Prison EXAMINERS WERE EASY Says Government Should Ap1 point Competent Men Who Can Detect Crookedness Henry M. Dearing, aged 73 years, former cashier of the National bank of Albion, before leaving Detroit, Wednesday morning, in company with his son, Palmer, for the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kas., to which they were sentenced for five years by Judge Angell, gave out a statement to The Times in which he analyzed the cause ef his downfall, the wreck of the bank and the loss of approximately $150,000 to depositors. 'Not overlooking his own responsibility in the affair, the elder Dearing held the lax system of the government in conducting examinations of the smaller banks to blame for the fact that the bank was completely ruined before detection came. The defalcations extended over period of nearly 11 years and examinations were supposed to have been made twice yearly, but the government examiners did not learn the true condition of affairs until the elder Dearing confessed everything. "Would to God, he cried, "that I had been discovered when my thievings were small. I would have suffered, know, but not as I have suffered, and could have made amends. Now I have lost everything, all my friends, all my money am utterly ruined, and, as though that were not enough burden, I have always before me the knowledge that I took my son down with me, my son, for whom I should have set a better example. The old man's slight frame trembled, he leaned against the bars of his cell for support, a mist came before his pale, blue eyes. His thin, white hair and furrowed forehead added to the picture of age and despair. Points to a Lesson. "There is one lesson I would like to draw for the world in my failure, he continued, and the reporter expect ed to hear the old, threadbare moral, "Don't begin. But the lesson was more practical. Dearing went on "The first necessary step for stopping such a theft as the one which am guilty is the elimination of political considerations in the appointment of our national bank examiners. Men should be appointed who have long practical experience in bank affairs, men who understand the running of banks and who can be depended on at all time to take pains and make conscientious examinations. "Take my case as an example. I had no trouble, whatever, in covering up my shortages as cashier of the Albion National bank. It was a simple matter and could have been exposed in a simple way If the examiners had gone about it right. I don't think it would be good policy to give the details of just how I covered up the shortages for so long a period; It is best that such things should not be commonly known. Neither do I wish to criticize my superiors in the bank, but I will say that if the smaller banks of our country had such thorough-going business men for directors as have the larger banks in Detroit failures like that of the Albion bank would seldom occur. "I consider the present national bank examiner, H. E. Johnson, thoroughly efficient. He made one examination of the bank prior to the examination made in January, when confessed to having stolen the bank's money. But when he made the for mer examination he was comparative ly new at the business. As for the assistant examiners it was a very easy matter to throw them off the track. They would take too much for granted. Should Pass on Notes. "Another point I want to make is that the examiners should meet with the directors and pass on all notes. The national bank examining department should take more interest in the personnel of the boards of directors and the latter should not be mere figureheads. It is that condition to day which is causing so many bank smashes in this country. If the system were changed the shortages would be detected as soon as they began and the banks could not get hopelessly involved. The government has a moral duty to perform in this mat ter in safeguarding the public, if not in keeping a banker who starts to go wrong from ruin. "Have you ever had a secret in your heart that you felt you could not give up and yet it tortured you so that you almost prayed that it might be revealed? That is the way I felt for years, until it got to a point where I was glad when the examiner got suspicious and closed the bank. I might have held off. I might, even, have attempted to allay his suspicion, possibly, thrown him entirely off the scent, but it had come to such a pass shat I felt a sense of relief when caught. I even told the examiner his suspicions were well-founded and con fessed everything. Study for Psychologists. Dearing's case is study for psy chologists. Going back to its Incep tion the story concerns an ambitious promoter, how he got the Dearings in terested in a gasoline engine enter prise and how, to use the language of the son, "we built too much on our hopes.' The elder Dearing went to Albion in 1855, and conducted a store there for about 17 years. He wanted to go to war in 1861 but he was physically unfit. He joined the National bank staff in 1877. His first wife died in 1888, and he now has a wife about 40 years of age, who is left to shift for Irerself with their youngest son, aged four years. His wife had about $90 on deposit in the bank and she will receive her proportion of what is left the receiver having estimated tha the depositors will receive about 5 cents on the dollar. which means that
