Milford chronicle., 1889-03-15

q moral bankrupt.
My charge is to you, In all departments Of
life steer clear Of bribery, all Of YOU. Every
man and woman at some time will be tempted
to do wrong for compensation. The oribe
may not be offered in money. 1t may be
offered in social position. Let US remember
that there is day coming when the most
secret transaction Of private life and Of pub
lie life viii come up for public apprehension
We cannot bribe death, we cannot bribe sick
ness, we cannot bribe the grave, we cannot
bribe the judgments Of that God who thun-
ders against this sin.
"Fieln said Cardinal Beaufort, "fel can't
death be hiredi is money nothingi must
die so richi if the owning of the whole realm
would save me, | could get it by policy or by
purchase-by money" No, death would not
be hired then; he win not be hired now Men
of the world often regret that they have to
leave their money here when they 60 away
from the world. You can tell from what
they say in their last hours that one Of their
chief sorrows is that they have to leave their
money. break that delusion. | tell that
bribe tazer that he viii take his money with
him God will wrap it up in your shroud, or
put It in the plain Of your hand in resur-
rection, and there it will lie, not the
cool, bright shining gold as it was on
the day when you sold your vote and your
moral principle, but there it will lie, hot
metal, burning and consuming your hand for
ever Or, if there be enough Of it for chain,
then it win fall from the wrist clanking the
fetters Of an eternal captivity. The briba is an
everlasting possession. You take it for time,
you take it for eternity. Some day in the
next world, when you are longing for sym
pathy, you viii feel on your cheek kiss.
Looking up you viii find It to be Judas, who
took thirty pieces Of silver as a bribe and fins
ished the bargain by putting an infamous
kiss on the pure cheek of his divine Master.
Another wrong use Of money is seen in the
abuse Of trust funds Every man during the
course Of his life on a larger or smaller
scale, has the property of others committed
to his keeping. He is Sd far a safety deposit.
he is an administrator, and holds in his hand
the interest of the family of adeceased friend.
Or, he is an attorney, and through his Gus
tody goes the payment from debtor to cred
itor, or he is the collector for a business house
which compensates him for the responsibility;
or he is a treasurer for a charitable institu-
tion and he holds aims contributed for the
suffering; or he is an official Of the city or
the state or the nation, and taxes, and subsi-
dies and salaries, and supplies arc in his keep
ing 1t is as solemn trust as God can mako
it. It is concentred and multiplied conf
dences. On that man depends the support Of
a bereft household, or the morals of depend
ents, or the right movement of thousand
wheels Of social mechanism. A man may do
what be will with his own, but he
who abuses trust funds, in that one
act, commits theft, falsehood, perjury,
and becomes in all the intensity of the
word, a miscreant. How many widows and
orphans there are with nothing between them
and starvation but a sewing machine, or held
up out Of the vortex of destruction simply by
the tiiread Of needle, red with their own
hearts blood, who a little while ago had, by
father and husband, left them a competency.
What is the matterl The administrators or
the executors have sacrificed it-running
risks with it that they would not have dared
to encounter in their own private affairs.
How often it is that a man will earn a liveli-
hood by the sweat of his brow, and then die,
and within a few months all the estate goes
into the stock gambling rapidsof Wall street.
How often it is that you have known the
man to whom trust funds were committed
taking them out of the savings bank and
from trust companies, and administrators
turning old homesteads into hard cash and
then putting the entire estate in the vortex
Of speculation Embezzlement is an easy
word to pronounce, but it has ten thousand
ramifcations of horror.
ABUSE OF TRUST FUNDS.
There is not a city that has not suffered
from the abuse of trust funds Where is the
court house, or the city hall, or the jail, or
the postoffice, or the hospital that in the
building Of it has not had political iobl
Long before the new court house in New
York city was completed it cost over Sl2,00O,
civ aud
three thousand dollars for furniturel For
plastering and repairs, S2,370,OO0 For
plumbing and gas works, S1,23l,Slz For
awnings, S23 553 The bills for three months
coming to the nice littlesum Of Sl3, i5l, 1889.
There was not an honest brick, or stone, or
lath, or nail, or foot Of plumbing, or inch Of
plastering, or inkstand, or door knob in the
whole establishment
That bad example was followed in many Of
the cities which did not steal quite so much
because there was not so much to steal.
There ought to be closer inspection and there
ought to be less opportunity for embezzle-
ment Lest n man shall take fivo cent
piece that does not belong to him, the con-
ductor on the city horse car must sound his
bell at every payment, and we are very eau
tious about small offenses, but give plenty Of
opportunity for sinners on a large scale to
escape. For boy who steals loaf Of bread
from corner grocer, to keep his mother
from starving to death-a prison. but for de
frauders who abscond with half million Of
dollars castle on the Rhine or, waiting
until the offense is forgotten, then castle on
the Hudson.
Another remark needs to be made, and
that is that people ought not to 60 into places,
into business, or into positions where the
k,,,r,fof ffrr, 4,,irbffa4 than fha;r character
If there be large sums Of money be handled
and the man is not sure Of his own integrity
you have no right to run an unseaworthy
craft in an euroclydon. A man can tell by
the sense Of weakness or strength in the pres
ence Of a bad opportunity, whether he is in
safe place How many parents make en- awful
mistake when they put their boys in banking
houses and stores and shops and factories and
places of solemn trust, without once discuss
Ing whether they can endure the temptation
You give the boy plenty Of money, and have
no account of it, and make the way down
become very easy, and you may puJ upon
him pressure that he cannot stand. There
are men who go into positions full Of tcmp;a
ton, considering only the one fact that they
are lucrative positions. l say TO the Young
people here this morning, dishonesty viii not
pay in this world or the world to come.
An abbot wanted to buy piece OF ground
and the owner would not sell it, but the
owner finally consented to let il to him unul
he could raise one crop, and the abbot sowed
acorns, a crop of two hundred years. And
tell you, young man, that the dishonesties
which you plant in your heart and life viii
seem to be very insignificant, but they viii
grow up until they will overshadow you with
horrible darkness, overshadow all time and
all eternity Il viii not be crop for two
hundred years, but crop for everlasting
ages
stand this morning before many who
have trust funds 1t is compliment to you
that you have been so intrusted; but charge
you, IN the presence Of God and the world, be
careful, be as careful Of the property Of 9th
ers as you are careful Of your own. Above
all, keep your own private account at the
bank separate from your account as trustee
of estate o1 fr1tsfaa of an institution