er does punishment
seem to deter others from following the same path although the danger
of detection, disgrace and prison is perfectly clear.

Sometimes, of course, men of education and apparent lack of physical
defect commit property crimes. Bankers often take money on deposit after
the bank is insolvent. Not infrequently they forge notes to cover losses
and in various ways manipulate funds to prevent the discovery of
insolvency. As a rule the condition of the bank is brought about by the
use of funds for speculation, with the intention of repaying from what
seems to be a safe venture. Sometimes it comes through bad loans and
unforeseen conditions. Business men and bankers frequently shock their
friends and the community by suicide, on disclosures showing they have
embezzled money to use on some financial venture that came to a
disastrous end.

These cases are not difficult to understand. The love of money is the
controlling emotion of the age. Just as religion, war, learning,
invention and discovery have been the moving passions of former ages, so
now the accumulation of large fortunes is the main object that moves
man. It does not follow that this phase will not pass away and give
place to something more worth while, but while it lasts it will claim
its victims, just as other strong emotions in turn have done. The fear
of poverty, especially by those who have known something of the value of
money, the desire for the power that money brings, the envy of others,
the opportunities that seem easy, all these feelings are too strong for
many fairly good "machines," and bring disaster when plans go wrong.

Only a small portion of those who have speculated with trust funds are
ever prosecuted. Generally the speculation is successful or at least
covered up. Many men prefer to take a chance of disgrace or punishment
or death rather than remain poor. These are not necessarily dishonest or
bad. They may be more venturesome, or more unfortunate; at any rate, it
is obvious that the passion for money, the chance to get it, the dread
of poverty, the love of wealth and power were too strong for their
equipment, otherwise the pressure would have been resisted. The same
pressure on some other man would not have brought disaster.

The restrictions placed around the accumulation of property are
multiplying faster than any other portions of the criminal code. It
takes a long time for new customs or habits or restraints to become a
pa