New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-01-30

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Judge or of jury.
Mr. BENJAMIN E. Bates recently died in Boston
universally respected as man of the most scrlpu-
Ious integrity He was treasurer of the extensive
mills at Lewiston. Me- most of tine capital of which
is held in Boston. An examination OF the affairs OF
the Bates Company SHOWS that Mr.. Bates has used
for his own purposes some 100000 belonging TO
that conoern Of which he was treasurer Ii is said
that he had so long had control Of the affairs of that
company that he came to regard ITS property as his
own So he efec ted loans for his personal ad IAN
tage giving his note as treasurer and never thought
his friends say tina. he doing anything irregu-
lar This is the latest special plea for defalcation
that has come TO our knowledge, and promises to
supplant that OF insanity. 1t is true that great
many treasurers and cashiers have treated the
| money intrusted to thom IA their own, but j has
never been urged in their behalf that they actually
thought il to be SUCH There Is another
point to be noticed. though it has not
much novelty about it. TIE Bates Mill Company
had plenty Of directors who didn't direct. but, on
the contrary. permitted Mr.. Bates, without let or
hindrance do exactly as he pleased. He borrowed
money without anybody's leave, IN the name # the
corporation signed the notes treasurer, and put
the proceeds of the transaction into his own pocket
This. saw one account constitutes error on the
part Of Mr. Bates" If he were living, be might find
his doings designated by a different and harsher
name. His estate 1t is hoped, will supply the deii-
cheney; but meanwhile the stock of the Bates Mill
s said to have been impaired in value by the dis
closure as wo should naturally suppose it would be.
If any holder loses by this who to make good the
loss 7
Even a Turk seems TO have better idea of
public honesty and financial commOnsense than the
American Congress. In CAPITA Gamblers sketch
of tho career of Mdhat Pasta, in the last number of
The Nineteenth Century, We read that before lie had
been a week Grand ViZor. the finance law of the
9th of October. 1875, was abrogated which law,
in the Dyes of Europe, exceeded in enormity every
other crlme-was it massacre mutaton, or de-
bauchery-that nation could commit for it actu-
ally stopped part payment of coupons" The change
which the fearless Minister of the Porto enforced
was attended with difficulty. and even danger but
he knew that in the long run, nothing could relieve
tho embarrassments of tho Empire except honesty.
Possibly the gallant bographer is not quito just to
the popular sentiment OF Europe ut il is true that
no nation can afford to afront the conscience and
selfntere.t of the world by tampering with the
credne.s Of IFS debts. Perhaps, one of these days
We shall get TO have as much conscience the
Turk and statesmen will rise to the moral level
of this Mohammedan, who believes in The Kor n,
and keeps lot Of wives.
Now that the repudiators nave 5truck their first
blow at the vicious creditor class" it oud not be
amiss for them TO reflect that poor people, as
rule, are not debtors. Everybody who
earns wages or receives salary Is of
necessity creditor nearly all the time. All
the people whose small accumulatons together
make up the immense aggregate in the savings
bank, are creditors. The people who live on fixed
hu. limited incomes arc all creditors. The debtor
class is largely composed of those who have Dor
rowcd money to carry more or less extensive bus
mess enterprises, from tho savings banks and life
insurance companies, where the little all of
small creditors is deposited. But after
all, this a matter Of not much moment.
Even if sneak thieves and highwaymen had time to
wrestle with great ethical problems, they would, es
result, find themselves sustained and cheered by
an approving conscience to about the same degree,
whether they made business of robbing debtors or
! creditors.
The course OF eight illustrated lectures on Pagan
and Christian Rome" by the Rev. III. G.. Spaulding.
! of Boston, will open tomorrow morning in Chick
ering Hall. From the interest taken in the subject
| by number of our w0ll-knOwn citzens, there will
undoubtedly be such an attendance as the lectures
deserve In Boston. where Mr.. Spaudng il at home,
| he has already given them this season before five
different associations; while at the Peabody Insti-
tute in Baltimore, where he appeared as q stranger.
his graceful oratory and clear picturesque power of
description attracted the largest audience of the
season. The subjects treated of In the course will
especially interest all who have studied. even
slightly, the collections in the Metropolitan Museum
or who may be intending to study them.
| a Tammany Democrat is never quite so pestilent
as when he starts i'll to econ0mize. There is com
mendabo impartiality about him as robber, and
he steals without any unfair discrimination from
! the just and from the unjust. But there never was
| so iniouitous unreasonable and unreasonable an
economi2er 1t will take great many years of
unbiased and non partisan stealing TO atone for
such op-sled efforts at economy as the removal OF
Mr. Olmsted OF the reduction OF the salaries of the
public school teachers.
General Butler is uneasy about the possible effect
upon his temper of "a Presidential obstacle" to the
enactment OF the silver swndle, and he proposes,
therefore that the full details of the fraud shall be
discussed now while hc is still able to speak " with
out passion feeling" before his original sin gets
| to be too strong for him. We are all worms; par
| ticularly General Butler
The Charity Ball is always one of the pleasantest
and best managed of the annual festivals in which
| tho ladies and gentlemen Of New-York combine