The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-09-29

| "h" "i"' N"iu ull'l tlldI yOu Wtle HIS
taken, but too late to correct the
wrong done, We must hold all
men innocent till they are proved gull
ty But no man in public, or out of it,
has right to let the crime itself 90
without arraignment and anathema.
There are two or three things that make
this lnlqulty especially aggravating.
The first wrong is to all Taxpayers. In
the great struggle of life the tax bill
comes to many an OyeT-WOrked man and
many an invalid woman as a torture.
All the year round it is matter of cal
culatiOU how to meet that crisis. But
it is pay or be sold out" pay or give
up your home" "pay or sacrifice all you
have previously gained" 1t seems at
the Collectors Office an easy thing, as
the money is handed through the busi-
ness windows, and the receipt returned; {;
but God only knows what the anXieties,
and the tug, and the sweat, and the
pang that made that payment possible.
There is much blOOd-mOney that has
been stolen in that $2C0,000 of purlOin-
ing. Another aggravatiOn is the fact
that the public school teachers have
been pushed and crowded in their live
lihOOd by this fraud. Enough moneys
have been appropriated for educational
purposes, but that which ought to have
gone to the support of the men and wO-
men who are putting brain and nerve
and life into the education of the young
has gone into the hands of scOundrels,
the salaries of teachers lowered, and
lowered into positive suffering because
the treasury was in the hands of plum
derers. 1t will never be known how
much some of the families of this city
have suffered in consequence of the ne
cessitated economy in fixing teachers
salaries. 1t is of course in many cases
true that the young teacher has sup
ported invalid parents on small sti-
pend, and when that was cut down it
meant domestic tragedy. If One-fOurth
of the squandered or stolen moneys of
the Board of Education had been apprO-
priated to the salaries of our teachers
there would have been better work done
in the school rooms and less priyatiOn
in many of the homes of Brooklyn, and
less injustice to answer for on the day
when God will bring us all to account
This event which has dazed and
stunned the city leads us to two or three
remarks. First, there is something aw-
fully wrong in the management which
makes it possible for a man to steal
hundreds of thousands of dollars and tC
carry on the work year after year and
not be found out sooner than this fraud
was discovered There must have been
quite a group of men cOgnizant OF
this malfeasance, and a good many
hands enlisted in it. 1t is my
hope that the officers of the law may
track those official ministers to theil
den and haul them out into the SUI
light of public inspection. But there
is need of new style of doing bust
ness in the different departments o
public service; closer inspection anC
less opportunity afforded for embezzle
ment. Lest man shall take five cen
piece that does not belong to him thO
bell Of d conductor on the city railroad,
must be sounded at every payment ant
business life is full of caution agains
small Otfenses. But plenty of openings
are left wide enough for sinners ON {
large scale to make easy escape, Fol
the boy who steals loaf of bread from
the corner grocery prison, but for de-
faulters who take half a million cas-
tie on the Rhine till the world forget,
it and then a castle on the Hudson.
Another remark | am led to make is
let no man put himself in a position
where the temptation may be stronger
than his character. He who has large
sums of money passing through hi,
hands ought to be sure of his integrity
Do not put out into the cyclone with al
unseawOrthy vessel. Fly the position
for which you have not the moral Ell
durance. A young man can tell by thu
feeling of weakness or strength in thu
presence of bad opportunity whether h,
is Iii a safe place. Parents often maxi
sad mistakes in putting their children
in places of responsibility for whicl
they have no fitness. To trust then
with money for which you expect NJ
account may open the way for them t,
do wrong easily, and you may allow up
on them a pressure to crime that the,
can not stand. How many boys are pu
in stores and in banking houses and il
offices without any discretion as to thei
capacity to resist? Many men viii
take positions full of temptation, cou
sidering nothing but the fact that it i
lucrative.
| address many who have in thei
, keeping the moneys or the properties 0
others. 1t is a high compliment tina
, you have been so trusted. | charge yOl
before God and the world, be scrupu
Iodsly faithful Be as careful of tina
which belongs to othersas of thatwhicI
belongs TO yourself, Keep your priyat
accounts separate from youraccountsa
trustee. At that point thousands 0
men who seem 20 be as good as you hay
made shipwreck Going into great en-
terprises they have invested their owl
and that of others, and deieaDed i'm thei
, undertaking and losing ALL have no