Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-07-21
THE CONSCIENCE FUND.
HOW TREASURER SPINNER SET
THE BALL ROLLING

| Received-Some of the Peculiar Meth
DDS Employed In Hiding identify
The Smallest and Largest sums Re-
ceived.
Every now and then, says Washington
letter, you see an announcement In the
papers to the effect that some anonymous
person has forwarded to the Treasurer of
the United States at Washington con-
trbution to the Conscience Fund. You
suppose from this that there is some
where in the Treasury q fund made up OF
such contributions, which, by this time.
must be Of very considerable size. Now
the TACT is thatthere is no such thing az
a separate fund for the contributions of
| the conscience stricken. Such cnnfrih,,
tions have always been covered into the
Treasury under the head of miscellaneous
receipts. The term ''Conscience Fund,
was the invention Of old Treasurer SDin-
ner, the man with an autograph which
was autographical. Twenty wears 400.
during the war, a letter was one
day received ut the Treasury De-
partment from n man who. inelns-
ing check for $1,000, said that thar rem.
resented little misrepresentation OF rov-
ernment funds of which he had heen
guilty when acting as quartermasfer IN
the army of the United States. Then came
the Happy idea into Spinner's handsome
nead. wen call that a contribution TO
tue conscience Fund," he said, "and have
II announced in the newspapers. and nov
haps Well get some more. The contri-
button TO the Conscience Fund was duly
announced all over the country Tho
Treasury Department promptly got ..some
more." From that time on for ten Years
the contributions were very numerous
burlng the past ten years they have been
nnnEfnnfiV -
is a problem whether the conscience ~
the country is growing more Gallons
or more tender. The nomination of Rlo;ne
and the nomination of Cleveland In
the same year do not help you 10 a soln-
tion. The q Mributions to the Conseience
Fuhu haFe~heyer been very large in
amount. me largest ever made was
@l,UOV, forwarded by former internal
revenue gauger in Chicago as the amount
OF the bribe he took from distillers who
desired to detraud the government. n
Will be seen that none Of the biz thieves
who have fattened on public plunder have
ever aVailed themselves of this EASY wav
oil making partial reparation. The small
est contribution ever received was nine
Genus, forwarded by a Massachusetts
dude-mugwump Pharisee perfeatiopist-
whose sensitive conscience had been bur,
dened for years with the Cancelled three
cent stamp which, as a small hoy
he had carefully washed and used
on letter to his sweetheart.
He thought the 8 cents wcald ade-
quately cover the principal and interest
involved in the steal. Most of the contri-
buttons have been small in amount Most
of them have been made on account of
successful evasions of the customs laws.
Most of them have been made by women.
who owned up in their letters TO having
smuggled through some feminine luxury
in spite Of the hundred-eyed custom
house. A recent case is typical. 1t was
That OF lady residing in Canada, who.
years ago, smuggled into this country
silk dress pattern worth 500. Her con-
science t0rmented her ever after. and re-
Gently she wrote to an American Consul
IN nelghboring town telling him the
facts and asking him to calculate for her
the duty which she ought to have paid
on her dress pattern and interest
on, the duty from the time it
ought TO have been paid until
the day upon which her letter was writ
ten. The Consul sent her the little calcu-
lation and received in return her check,
which he has just forwarded, with all the
correspondence, TO the Treasury Depart
ment. or course, her letters, like all
those which the department has received
from the contributors, were signed with
nom de plume or single initial. Now
tion from some offender through clergy
man who received deathbed confession.
But ordinarily they come directly from
the anonymous offenders themselves.
Next to the smugglers in point of num-
Ders come the breakers of the internal
revenue laws. The total amount of the
contributions to the Conscience Fund is
unknown, since the Conscience Fund has
not been kept separate in the Treasury
department, but it is estimated by Treas
ury officials that it would be found TO be
about $S50,00O.
The Accumulation OF Silver Dollars
Arrears of Pensions and Other Mat
ters.
WASHINGTON, July 1S.-The Treasury
officials have solved, at least for a period,
the Yexatious problem of what to do with
the accumulated and accumulating silver
dollars by the construction Of an immense
vault in the basement Of the Treasury
building. The cry comes from all the sub
Treasures that their vaults will hold no
more, but the monster receptacle IN the
Treasury, which will be ready for use
very soon, can cry "Give" for a long time
TO come. According to the estimates it
will hold $45,000,00O. When it is filled
perhaps Congress can beinduced to sus-
pend for while the monthly coinage of
S2,000,000.
LAAOG AhhEAk0 Oh GENblOAbs
Gen. RObt. @. Schenck for some time
enjoyed the distinguished honor of having
drawn the largest sum total under the
existing arrears of pensions act, about
$1,000. Several others, however, subse-
quently received as large, if not larger,
amounts. A few days since the represen-
tatiyes Of a New York soldier, made
insane in consequence of his wounds,
were paid $1O,231 arrears, which is the
largest sum paid up to this time. IL
is said there are a number of other
cases before the Pension Office not
yet disposed of which, if allowed, will
require sums greater than this. Even
at this late day there seems to be
no data accessible upon which a reason
ably correct estimate can be made Of the
final cost OF the arrears Of pensions act.
Had the proposition which lately was up-
der discussion in the Senate become a
law there would have been hundreds sf
cases where the arrears claimed would
have run not only up to $4,000, but very
much in excess of those figures. Not
only with such law in operation could
all surplus have been speedily wiped out,
but additional burdens would have been
laid upon the people in the shape Of In
creased taxes as absolutely necessary TO
prevent alarming deficiencies.
Republican BoIters in Brooklyn.
The machine Republicans OF Brooklyn,
saws a special of the 18th inst. are en-