Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1918 — THEFT IS CHECKED [ARTICLE]

THEFT IS CHECKED

Insurance Embargoes on South American Shipments. ■ s Pilfering Formerly Wee Credited to the Canal Zone but Hae Been Reduced to Minimum. Pilfering Is still a great problem In the case of merchandise shipped to ports on the west coast of South America. At several ports the extent of the evil has been greatly lessened as a result of “Insurance embargoes on goods destined for those ports or in response to constant complaint on the part of the consignees, according to Commerce Reports. In Mollendo pilfering, so far as Bolivian goods are concerned, has been reduced to small proportions in consequence of an agreement between the Peruvian and Bolivian governments which provides for the prompter dispatch of merchandise for Bolivian destination. Nevertheless, the problem of pilfering remains a serious one st practically every port on the west coast Formerly it was the fashion to say that much of the pilfering took place In the Panama Canal Zone, and there was probably some basts for the statement in the days when traffic through the canal was stopped by the slides in Gaillard cut and freight was badly congested at Colon and Balboa. It is probably true, however, that even In those times much of the loss attributed to pilfering was due to unusual handling or exposure. Since traffic through the canal has been resumed on a normal basis the loss from pilfering in the Canal Zone has been reduced to an almost negligible point. Goods trans-shipped to Colon and Balboa are stored in pier sheds immediately upon discharge. The sheds are large, well built, fireproof, and can be easily guarded and protected. Both in the discharge from ship to pier and in the reloading from pier to ship the Panama Railroad company exercises strict supervision over all operations, since it has charge of all port facilities and does most of the stevedoring. To protect itself against claims for loss the railroad company long since instituted an elaborate checking system. Checkers not only take account of the number and weight of cases and packages loaded or unloaded on the piers but also note the condition of the containers as they pass over the piers and put aside for careful inspection cases that appear to be underweight or to have been tampered with. In niany instances pilfering can be detected by a difference in the recorded weight and the weight on arrival in Panama, though pilferers are clever enough, a» a rule, to substitute articles of the same weight for those they have abstracted. Moreover, a number of watchmen and detectives are employed by the Panama Railroad company. Some of the detectives work as dock laborers. The watchmen cannot be in all parts of the pier sheds, and in a far corner of a shed or a hold the stevedores may handle a case-with such roughness aa to cause it to break open, enabling its oentehts to be easily carried Off. Detectives can exert an effective restraining influence in such cases. It is clear, then, that the precautions against pilfering in the Panama Canal Zone are extensive and effective and; that the source of the pilfering must be •ought, for elsewhere.