The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-01-21

10 secure the teller and investigate his ac- |
counts, and not to try the cashier for lying. |
If the president of bank receives charges of |
fraud against one of his officers as some
members of the Methodist body have received |
the charges of fraud in the Book Concern,
and enquired into their truth only indi-
rectly, through n libel suit against the
accuser, people would certainly be very
shy of keeping deposits at his bank or
owning stock in it. The time to try a false
witness is after his accusations have been
examined and have broken down. To treat
him from the outset as a cul prit is to favor
crime by making the exposure of it trouble
some and vexatious, if not dangerous. SLAM
der and scandal are bad things, but they are
not so bad as theft or embezzlement, and it
is recognized in all systems of jurisprudence
with which we possess any acquaintance that
to make accusation prjBlG taCje an offense
would enable all other classes of offenders
to thrive. If all this be true of the ma
chinery for the protection of purely mundane
interests, how much more true is it of ma
chinery for the protection of interests that
are eternal.
We doubt, indeed, if we have ever met
with more striking illustration of the dan
gers which the Church runs whenever it be-
comes great proprietor than is to be found
in Judge Fanchers speech at the opening of
Dr. Lanahan's trial. After mentioning the pub
hcation of DR.. Lanahan's charge in the news
papers in September 1869, he proceeds to speak
of their consequences. To anybody who duly
considers what the Methodist denomination
and oil other denominations profess to be aud
undertake to do, the consequences of most
gravity seem obvious enough indeed, the
gravest consequences are so grave that all
others beside them seem utterly Insignificant
and trivial. Of course, in the case of an in-
stituton which has for its object the spread
of moral and religious truth, and which is
ostensibly managed for the glory of God
and not for worldly profits, the most lament
able result, and, indeed, it would seem the
only result worth, mentioning of charge of pc
cuniary dishonesty against its conductors, is
the shock to the religious convictions of that
large body of persons in all churches aud COM
munities in whose eyes the claims of religion
to confidence and respect are based on the
character of its leading teachers and profess
sors. That youth who has been brought up
on the mental and moral psbulum supplied
by the Book Concern should be suddenly in
formed that the managers Of the Concern, who
get up and distribute ali these improving pub
lications are parcel of knaves who care more
for their own pockets than for the salvation
of souls, is certainly a serious matter, not so
much because he will not buy or read the
books of the Concern any more, as because it
sacred-the greatest misfortune that can hap
pen to human being.
We were, therefore, good deal surprised
we were going to say, entertained-at
reading Judge Fancher's enumeration of the
terrible things which happened after the
publication of DIR. Lanahan's charges in the
New York Times. AS the first, and we sup
pose the worst, he sets down the heavy de-
probation of certain bonds issued by the
Enf1nn To for hn M h1il linz
called the Publishing House" Those per-
SONS who had bought some already declared
they were swindled, and nobody else could be
got to buy any at all. An effort, the Judge
says, was then made to do something to
counteract the effect of that atrocious
article"-that is, the effect not on faith and
morals, but on the credit of the concern in
Wall street. DIR. Lanahan refused, however,
to sign a paper that was prepared for this
purposes SO Judge Fancher declares with much
solemnity, ''that the man who would
permit such an article to circulate without fol-
lowing it with an explanation was not fit to
have charge of the vast interests of the Meth
odist Book Concern, as if the first and great
interest of the Book Concern and of all other
Concerns on the globe was not to be hon.
estly managed. After the appearance of the
article, says the judge, not bond could be
issued, though $50, 600 worth had previously
DtSu thhSh HulIC lISSll LII lCOI. tuS pIOuIS
of the Concern were $SS, ,G02, in 1868,
they were $131, $50; but when these
changes were made, they fell in 1869 to
$6S, 10, and properly fell, we think; but the
Judge thinks it was horrible, and of other loss
and damage he makes no mention. We wish
they had fallen to nothing, until the charges
were investigated fully and openly; it is dis
grace to the Methodist Church that the profits
did not disappear altogether-that anybody
Ln,,rtt &C oEc x1hila "a
trying to shirk enquiry as to whether a
solemn trust had or had not been grossly
abused. DIR. Lanahan, according to Judge
Fancher, has written to bishops and others
of the clergy such words as these:-FraUd,
fraud, fraud! Infamous and deep has been
! the history of this concern for many years.
is man, the judge enquiries, that is ca.
Fable of writing that sentence, capable to
stand in the place of one of the principal
agents of the Book Concern? May it please
the Judge, if the frauds exist, the man who
wrote that sentence is just the man to stand
| in that place. Moreover, there is no surer
| sign of rottenness in any sect, body, or orga-
nization than the appearance of greater
horror over the making of an accusation than
| over the commission of the otfense. AS soon
as we see scandal become the greatest dread
! of a community, we may be sure that its
morals are becoming muddied at their source
The elaborate arrangements made by Jesuit
casuists for it's prevention at any cost are
among the disgraoes of Catholic theology,
and we should be sorry to see similar pains
taken in any Protestant denomination for the
polishing of the outside of the platter
Bonds might rise, and profits" grow, and
sales swell, and yet every object for which
the Christian Church exists be neglected
There is point at which man may become
too good businessman for the successful
promotion of the Christian religion, and every
denomination which for any purpose takes Il