The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1884-10-01
THE CONSCIENCE FUND.
How II Originated. ard ficw IL Continues
to Swell.

Every now ard then, SAYS the Washing
ton Capital, you see an announcement III
| the papers TO the effect ;liat some anony.
nous person has forwarded to the Treas
my Of the United States, at Washing
ton, contribution TO the conscience
fund. You suppose from this that there
Is somewhere IN the treasury o fund
made mp OF such contributions, which,
by this time, must be OF very consider.
| able size. Now, the fact is that
there is 10 such thing rs q separate
fund for the contributions of the con-
scieucc-stncken. Such contributions
have always been covered into the treas.
ury under the head OF miscellaneous re-.
coipis. The term conscience fund"
was the invention Of Old Treasurer
Spinner, the man with All autograph
which was autographed. Twenty
years ago, during the war. letter was
one day received ut the Treasury De-
pariment from q man who, iuclosing a
check for $3.50. said that that repre-.
seDted little misappropriation OF Gov
eminent funds, which lie hal been
guilty when acting as qnartermastcr IN
The army OF the United States. Then
cane the happy idea into Spiuaer's
handsome head.
"We'll call that a contribution to the
Conscience Fund" he said. "and have
II announced in the newspapers, and
perhaps we'll get some more
The contribution 10 the conscience
ffsfI dole arsVsLv.V..l al tt.a
country. The Treasury Department.
promptly got "somc more" From that
time on for ten years the contributions
were very numerous. During the pa:
ten years they have been constant.
" growing more intrcqueut. it IS q
problem whether The conscience Of the
country Is GROWN; more cal!ous OF noro
tender.
The contributions TO the conscience
fund have never been very large IN
amount. The largest ever made was
$1,000 forwarded by former internal
rcvcnue gaugcr in Chicago as the
amount 81 the brides he took from dis.
tillcs who desired to dciraud the Gov.
eminent. Tie smallest contribution
ever received was nine cents, forwarded
by Massachusetts dude, whose sensi-
tive conscience had been burdencd for
years with the conccled three.cent
stamp which. as n small boy, he had
carefully washed and used on letter TO
his sweetheart. He thought the nine
cents would adequately cover the prin-
cipal and interest involved in the steal.
Most Of the contributions have been
small in amount. Most Of them have
been made on account Of successful
evasiOns in the Customs laws. Most Of
them have been made by women, who
owned up in their letters to having
smugglcd through some feminine lux
ury in spite Of the hundred-eyed custom
house.
4 recent case is typical. It was that
Of a lady residing in Canada, who, years
ago, smuggled into this country silk
dress pattern worth 500. Her con.
science tormentcd her ever since, and
recently she wrote to an American con-
sui IL nciphboring town, telling him
the facts aud asking him to calculate for
her the duty which she ought to have
paid on Der dress pattern and interest on
the duty from the time it ought TO have
been paid until tho day on which her
letter was written. The consul sent her
the little calculation, and received in re-
turn her check which he has Just for.
warded, with MI the correspondence, to
the Treasury Department. OF course,
her letters, like all those which the de-
partmont has received from the contrib.
utors, were signed with a nom dc Ii,,BlG
or single initial.
Now and then the department gets n
contribution from some offender through
II Clergyman who received dcath-bed
confession. But ordinarily they come
directly from the anonymous offenders
themselves. Next to the smugglers in
point Of numbers come the breakers Of
the Internal Revenue laws. The total
amount Of the contributions to the con.
science fund is unknown, since the con.
science fund has not been kept separate
in the Treasury Department; but it is
estimated by Treasury officials that it
would he found - be about S3j0,000.