The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-05-14
CURIOSITIES OF THE CONSCIENCE
FUND

AT regular intervals, says the Wash
ington Star, a paragraph appears an
nouncIng the receipt by the treasury
department of contribution to the
conscience fund" These contributions
nowadays vary from one dollar to be-
tween one and two hundred. A few
years ago they were much larger. The
money comes from all parts of the coun-
try, Philadelphia and New York lead
ing in the number of contributions. A
member OF congress from New York,
when Mr.. BristOw was in the treasury,
referring to this fact, remarked that it
showed conclusively that New York
and Pennsylvania were the most re-
ligious states in the Union. Mr.. Bris-
tow replied that in his opinion it show
ed that those two states had done the
most stealing. The money which comes
in from conscience-stricken people is on
account of frauds on the customs, frauds
under the old income tax law, or on the
revenue. The income tax having been
abolished some years ago, contributions
ON its account are very few now.
The first record of money received by
the government from repentant de-
frauders was in 1868. When General
Spinner was treasurer he kept the ac-
count separately, but the practice was
discontinued. The money now, as it
has been for the greater number OF years
since 1868, when the contributions be
gan, is turned into the treasury as mis-
cellaneous receipts. Repeated attempts
have been made by members of con-
gress to secure appropriations to be
paid out of the conscience fund II the
money goes into the treasury as miscel-
laneous receipts it ceases to be a sepa-
rate fund, and cannot be drawn upon.
1t is not known how much the con-
science money now amounts to. The
total amount from December l, 1868, to
June 30, 1874, as given in the treasurer's
report for the latter year, was $162,914
Since then no account of the contribu-
tions has been kept. Treasurer Gil
fillan, however, estimates that the money
now foots up $3.50, 600.
The contributions, as u rule, come
through the mail, with Il note saying for
what purpose the money is forwarded.
Very frequently penitential explana-
ton is included. Some of these explain
ations are very curious and some very
laughabie. The ladies contribute good
deal. They repent principally over false
returns made under the income tax, and
for having evaded the duties upon arti-
Giles of dress.
A lady visited this country in 1864
from England. She Struggled in while
HtTe "a SIlA uTcSS pdlteIH. n sioI6 tInAC
ago she wrote confessing the evasion
of custom duties, and sending $15 to
clear her conscience. She gave the
value of the dress and wanted the
balance sent back TO her if the duties
did not amount to SIS. The customs
division of the treasury made compu-
tation based upon the duties charged IN
1864, and found that the lady owed ex-
actly $3.50. The balance was RENTED.
Ministers of the gospel are very fire.
quently the medium through which the
money is refunded. While administer
ing spiritual consolation, the confession
of defrauding the government is made,
and restitution follows. The clergy
transmit the money without mentioning
names. The largest amount ever re-
ceived as one contribution was $4,000
| in United States 7-30 notes. This con-
| tribution was announced in the news
papers. Many aud ingenious attempts
were made to get this money out of the
| treasury One man said that his father
made the contribution, and that he was
crazy. The contributor of il had care
| fully cut out the numbers of the notes
so as to make it impossible to discover
! from the books who had sent them.