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.

It is probably a fair statement to make that any draft issued can be
raised, but it is unquestionably true that some can be much more
easily altered than others, and as in the last ten years additional
safeguards have been thrown around the bills of exchange of banks, so
the forger has become more and more expert and proficient, just about
keeping the pace. As the question of armor that can not be pierced and
projectiles that will pierce anything are first one and then the other
a little ahead, so it is with the bank forger and the banks.

Admirable as some of the work unquestionably is, if anything so
disreputable can be called admirable, there is even yet a something
about either the work or the operator that should arouse the
suspicions of the teller or cashier who is on the alert; and a teller
or cashier without suspicion, and who is not on the alert, may be a
comparatively good man, but is certainly in the wrong place.

The presenter of a counterfeit bill at the teller's window may have no
knowledge of the character of the bill that he is presenting, but he
who presents a forged draft, in addition to presenting a bad bill, has
a consciousness himself of the fraud that he is attempting, thus
giving the teller not only the chance of scrutinizing the bill, but
also to judge of the appearance, whether nervous or otherwise, of the
man who is laying the trap, and these two facts should inure greatly
to the advantage of the teller.