St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-02-28
LOOKING A GIFT HORSE IN THE
MOUTH.
SIDNEY II. HATCH.

According to the old proverb this should
never be done. Where the horse is a val
liable one, it has not been customary to
do it, at least in public. Times change.
The soundness of old proverbs is some
times questioned, or they are repudiated
ALTOGETHER. That other proverb, The
partaker is as bad as the thief" is being
arrayed against the one which forbids
looking a gift horse in the mouth. The
conviction is gaining ground that, if the
horse was stolen or got dishonesty, his
value is greatly lessened, and that some
examination of the beast and his ante
cedents is not only a proper thing, but
a duty, lest the receiver become particeps
crimiuis with the giver. Some are affiict.
ed with the conviction that agift may be
so tainted, by having been dishonesty
acquired by the giver that, for that rea-
son, it should be respectfully declined,
with or without thanks.
There has been in the air, for a year or
more past, flying expressions, in the form
OF suggestions, hints, questionings, ex-
pressed convictions and denunciations
relating to some large gifts made by a
member of w~tllknown mammoth trust,
whose immense income common rumor
says is gained through the machinery Of
an unrighteous monopoly, and not by
fair and honest business methods. These
gifts have been bestowed for the most
worthy ends OF promoting the cause of
institutions that have received the gifts,
have not been slow to suggest that the
excellence of the object to which the gifts
went could not s%anctity the traudulrntly
obtained money. In other words they
assert the duty of looking the gift horse
IN the mouth, even though his teeth are
ofgold, because he is morally tainted by
having been dishonesty obtained by the
donor.
This question of the ethics of receiving
money for educational, or moral and re-
ligious purposes, which, believed to have
been gained iraudulently or in unlawful
traffic, has become to Drury College a
practical one. In response to an effort
of the president of that institution for
funds to increase its endowment, a st.
Louis brewer subscribed $1,000. The
Christian Register says that, on learning
of it, the students held a mass meeting
and asked President Fuller to decline to
receive the gift, on the ground that the
money was made from the liquor traffic.
1t further says: THE question is an in
teresting one. Decided changes have
taken place in pubic sentiment concern
ing the acceptance oil property unlawIully
acquired. The mar who receives stolen
goods knowingly is indicted along with
the thief. No college would think of re-
ceiving money got by highwaymen,-a
species Of business which professional
thieves consider quite legitimate. Once
Harvard College used to raise money by
lotteries; but not only the sentiment OF
the college, but the laws of the state,
would prevent it from raising money in
that way now"
Many will contend that the brewer, the
saloon keeper when the law gives him a
license, and the manager OF a trust does
business which the law allows and pro-
tects him in doing, 1t is business which
the public wants, and it is as responsible
for it as he is. Therefore the money he
makes is not tainted and is just as good
to sustain schools and religious institu-
lions as any other money, and no one
should object to receiving it, or discour-
age such men from b%estowing it for char
table and public purposes. Probably the
majority of men willreason somewhat in
this way. We have not heard that any
institution. which has been offered large
sums from large m%onopolies or trusts or
brewers, have refused to receive such
gifts, or appointed committees to enquire,
whether the money was so acquired that
thew could, on ethical grounds, receive it.
There are Others, and probably the num-
Der is increasing, who believe that money
made by great trusts, by stock gambling,