The Progress., 1898-08-13

With him. GOu Will wrap Ii up III your |
shroud. or put it in the palm of your hand
In resurrection. 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 viii lie, q
hot metal, burning and consuming your |
hand forever Or, if there be enough of it |
for chain, then it will fall over thewrist, |
the letters of an eternal captiv- |
ity. The bribo is an everlasting posses
sion You take it for time, you take it for
eternity. Some day in the next world,
when you are longing for sympathy, you
will feel on your cheek a kiss. Locking
up, you will find 1t to be Judas, who took
the bargain by putting an infamous kiss
Oh the pure cheek Of his Divine Master.
Abuse of Trust Funds.
Another wrong use Of money is seen in
the abuse Of trust funds. Nearly every
man during the course of his life, on Il
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 deceased friend, or he
Is an attorney, and through his custody
goes the payment from debtor to creditor,
or he is the collector for business house,
which compensates him for the response
bility, or he is treasurer for a 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 supplies are
in his keeping.
It Is as solemn trust as God can make
Il. It Is concentered and multiplied con-
fdences. On that man depends the sup
port Of a bereft household, or the morals
Of dependents, or the right movement Of q
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 a
miscreant. How many widows and or
phans there arc with nothing between them
and starvation but a sewing machine or
held up out of the vortex Of destruction
simply by tho thread Of q needle, red with
| their own hearts blood, who IL little while
ago had by father and husband left them
a competency! What Is the matter? Tho
administrators or the executors have sacri-
feed it-running risks with 1t that they
would not have dared to encounter in their
own private affairs.
How often it is that man will earn q
livelihood by tho sweat Of his brow and
then die, and within few months all the
estate goes into the stock gambling rapids
Of Wall street! How often it is that you
have known the man to whom trust funds
were committed taking them out of tn.
savings bank and from trust companies
and administrators, turning old home
steads into hard cash, and then putting thu
entire estate into the vortex of specula
ton. Embezzlement Is an easy word t.
pronounce, but it has 10, 600 ramiAcations
There is not city that has not suffered
from the abuse of trust funds Where /
the courthouse or the city hall or the jai
or the postofllce or the hospital that in tn
building Of 1t has not had political job
Long before the new courthouse in NeH
York city was completed 1t cost over $l2,
100000. Five million six hundred AM
sixty-three thousand dollars for furniture
For plastering and repairs, s,370,00C
for plumbing and gas works, 81 1881, 81
for awnings, $2s, 55a, the bills for thre
months coming to the nice little sum {
$l3, 15l, 1913. 80. There was not an homes
brick OF stone or lath or nail or foot {
plumbing or inch of plastering or inkstan
or doorknob in the whole establishment.
An Everlasting Crop.
, That bad example was followed In man
of the cities, which did not steal quite {
, much because there was not SO much
steal. There ought to be a closer inspe
D ton, and there ought to be less opport7
q nifty for embezzlement. Lest man sha
! take a cent piece that does not belong
, him, the conductor on the city horse Ct
must sound his bell at every payment al
7 we are very cautious about small otfense
9 but give plenty of opportunities for 81
= ners on large scale to cscape-for b.
!. .,b, ctoo1c "a Loaf of broad from corn