The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-08
greater in authority. then certainly the

that this evil of bribery often begins in
the home circle. and in the nursery. DO
not bride your children. Teach them to
do that which is right, and not because OF
the ten cents or the orange which you
will give them. There is a great differ
euce between rewarding virtue and max
ing the profits thereof the impeling mo-
tive. That man who is honest merely be-
cause honesty is the best policy is al
ready a moral bankrupt
My charge is 10 you, in an departments
of life, steer clear Of bribery all of you.
Every man and woman at some time will
bc tempted to do wrong for compensa-
ton. The bride may not be offered in
money. It may be offered in social posi-
ton. Let us remember that there is "A
day coming when the most secret transac-
tion of private life. and Of public life, will
come up for public reprenension.
We cannot bride death, we cannot
bride sickness, we cannot bride the grave,
we cannot bride the judgments Of that
God who thunders against this sin. "Fier'
said Cardinal Beaufort "he? Can't death
he bribCd2 Is money nothing2 Must I
die. and so rich? If the owning Of the
whole realm would save me, ! could get
il by policy or by purchase-by money"
No death would not be bribed then; he
will not be bribed now. Men of the world
often regret that they have to leave their
money here when they go away from the
world. You can tell from what they say
i'm their last hours that one of their chief
sorrows is that they have to leave their
money I break that deluson. I tell that
bribe-taker that he viii take his money
with him. God viii wrap it up Ia your
shroud, or put it in the palm of your
hand in resurrection, and there il win lie
not the cool, bright, shining gold as it
was on the day when you sold your vote
and your moral principle but there 1t will
lie a hot al burning and gnncnTniDf r
your hand forever. or, IL there be enough
of it for a chain, then it will fan over the
wrist, clanking the letters of an eternal
captivity. The bride is an everlasting
possession. You take it for time, you take
it for eternity. Some day in the next
world, wien you are longing for sympa-
thy, you will feel on your cheek a kiss
Looking up, YOU will find 1t to be Judas
who took thirty pieces of silver as a
bride, and finished the bargain by put
ting an infamous kiss on the pure cheek
Of his divine Master.
Another wrong use of money is seen in
the abuse Of trust funds Nearly 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,
so far, safety deposit he is an admins
traitor, and holds in his hand the interest
of the family of a deceased friend. Or he
is an attorney, and through his custody
E8fE TIE payment from NGDtOI TO creator,
or he is the collector for a business house,
which compensatcs him for the response
biiity; or he is treasurer for charitable
institution, 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 subsidies and salaries and sup
plies are In his keeping.
Tt is as solemn a trust as God can make
it. 1t is concentered and multiplied con-
= Al
of q bereft household or the morals of de-
pendents or the right movement of 81
thousand wheels of social mechanism. A
man may do what he 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, q miscreant. How many widows
and orphans there are with nothing be-
tween them and starvation but a sewing
machine, or held up out of the vortex of
destruction simply by the thread of a nee
die, red with their own hearts blood, who
a little while ago had, by father and hus-
band, left them a competency! What is
the matter? The administra tors or the ex-
ecutors have sacrificed drumming 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
livelihood by the sweat of his brow and
then die, and within q few months all the
estate goes into the stock gambling rapids
of Wall street, How often it is that YOU
have known the man 10 whom trust funds
We're committed taking them out of the
savings bank and from trust companies
and administrators, turning old home
steads into hard cash. and then putting
the entire estate into the vortex of specu-
lation, Embezzlement is an easy word tc
pronounce, but 1t has ten thousand rant
fications. There is not a city that has not
suffered from the nb11ca Of dc
Where is the court house, or the city hall
or the gaol, or the postofice, or the hospi-
tai, that in the building of il has not hao
political job? Long before the new court
house in New York city was completed, il
cost over $1,000 600. Five million six hun
dred and sixty three thousand dollars fol-
fuTniturei For plasterng and repairs, 81
37o,000. For plumbing and gas works. 81,
| 81 Sl7. For awnings, $23, 553. The bills for
three months coming 10 the nice Httle sum
of $l3, 15l 1883 There was not an honest
brick, or stone, or lath or nail, or foot
of plumbing, or inch of plastering, or ink
stand, or door-knob in the whole establish.
ment.
That bad example was followed in MANY
| of the cities, which did not steal quite SC
much because there was not so much &C
| steal. There ought 10 be a closer inspec.
| ton, and there ought to be a less opportun.
! ity for embezzlement. Lest man shall
! take a fiVe-cent piece that does not belonp
TO him, the conductor on the city horse-cal
| must sound his bell at every payment; auC
! we are very cautious about small offenses
! but give plenty of opportunities for sinner,
I on large scale to escape For a boy whC
| steals a loaf OF bread from a corner grocer
| TO keep his mother from starving to death
| a prison; but for defrauders who absconC
| with half million of dollars, castle OF
! the Rhine, or, waiting until the offense /.
! forgotten, a castle on the Hudson!
| Another remark needs to be made, anC
| that is that people ought not to go int
] places, into business, or into position.
whore the temptation is mightier than thel
! character. IL there be large sums of money
! 20 be handled, and the man is not sure OF
/ his own intesrity, you have no right TO run
! an unseaworthy craft IN a hurricane. 4
/ man can tell by the sense Of weakness OF
| strength ia the presence Of a bad oppor
! tunity whether he is in a safe place How
! many parents make an awful mistake
! when they put their boys in banking hous
es and stores and shops and factories anC
| places of solemn trust without once dis
/ cussing whether they can endure the tenn