The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-03-11
Curi0sities of the Conscience Fund.

At irregular intervals q paragraph
appears announcing the receipt by the
Treasury Department of a contribution
to the conscience fund.- These con-
tributions nowadays vary from one
dollar to between one and two hundred.
A few years ago they were much larger.
The money comes from all parts nf the
country, Philadelphia and New York
leading 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 religious
States in the Union. Mr.. Bristow replied
that in his opinion it only showed 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 it's account are yerv
few now. Haf A'es- F' ti4ss"
nj The first record of money re-
ceived by the. Government from
repentance defrauders was in 1868.
When General Spinner was Treas
urer he kept the account separ-
ately, but the practice was discontinue.
The money now, as it has been for ii,
greater number of years since 1863
when the contributions began, is turne.t
into the Treasury as miscellaneous, rel
ceipts. Repeated attempts nave been
made by members of Congress to secure
appropriations to be paid out of the con-
science fund. If the money goes into
the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts,
it ceases to be a separate fund, and can
not be drawn upon. 1t is not known
how much the conscience money now
amounts to. The total amount from
December l, 1878, to June 80, 1874, as
given in the Treasurer's report for the
latter year was 1852, 2,9l4. Since then
no account of the contributions has been
kept. Treasurer Gilfillan, however,
estimates that the money foots $3.50, 900.
The contributions, as a rule, come
through the mail with a note saying for
what purpose the money is forwarded.
Very frequently a penitential explana-
ton is included Some of these explain
ations are very curious and some very
laughable. The ladies contribute good
deal. They repent principally over
false returns made under the income tax
and for having evaded the duties upon
articles of dress. # Hfs
ID A lady visited this country in 1864
from England. She smuggled in while
here silk dress pattern A short time
ago she wrote confessing the evasion of
customs duties and sending Sl5 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 $15. The customs division of the
Treasury made computation based
upon the duties charged in 1864, and
found that the lady owed exactly 81 so.
The balance was remitted. Ministers
of the Gospel are very frequently the
medium through which the money is re-
funded. While administering spiritual
the confession of defrauding
the Government is made, and restitn-
ton follows. The clergy transmit the
money without mentioning names. The
largest amount ever received as one con-
tribution was $4,000 in United States
7-30 notes. This contribution was an
nounced in the newspapers. Many and
ingenious attempts were made to get
this money out of the, Treasury. One
man said that his father made the con-
tributi0n, and that he was crazy. The
contributor of it had. carefully cut out
the numbers Of the notes SO as to make
it impossible to discover from the books
who had sent them.-W WASHINGTON Star.