The Washington weekly post., 1900-12-11
THE WEEKLY POST,
Washington, D. c.


clearinghouse certificates, and more legal
tender notes, and more loans and more
discounts than there really are, and when
you give an account of your liabilities you
do not mention all the unpaid dividends
end the United States banknotes out
standing. and the individual deposits, and
the obligations to other banks and bank
ers. An authority more scrutiniZing than
that of any bank examiner will go through
and through and through your business.
Every man during the course CT his
life, on a larger or smaller scale. has
the property of others committed to his
keeping He is so far a safety deposit,
and holds in his hand the interest of the
family of a deceased friend. Or he is aa
attorney, and through his custody goes
the payment from debtor TO creditor; or
he is the collector for a business house
which compensates him foT the response
bility; or he is a treasurer for eharit-
able institution and ne holds aims con-
tributed for the suffering; or he is an of
fetal of the city, or the State, or the na-
ton, and taxes. and subsidies. and salar-
les, and supplies are in his keeping. II is
as solemn a trust as God can make II.
1t is concentered and multiplied conf
6ences. On that man depends the support
of a beseft household, or the morals Of
dependents, or the right movement of i
thousand wheels Of social mechanism.
Crime of Unfaiihfuipess 90 Trust.
"a man may do what he will with his
own, but he who abuses trust funds, in
that one act commits theft, faisehoOd,
perjury, and becomes in all the intensity
of the word a miscreant. How many
widows and orphans there are with moth
ing between them and starvation but a
sewing machine, or held up out OF the
vortex of destruction simply by the
thread of a needle, red with their own
hearts blood, who a little while ago had.
by father and husband, left them a COM
potency? What is the matter? The ad-
ministrators or the executors have sac
rificed it-running risks with 1t that they
would not have dared to encounter In
their own private affairs How often II is
that a man will earn a livelihood by the
sweat of his brow, and then die, and
within a few months all the estate goes
into the stock gambling rapids Of Wall
street? How often ii 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 ad-
ministrators, turning old hOmesteads into
hard cash. and then putting the entire
estate i'm the vortex Of speculation En-
beZZlement is an easy word 10 pronounce.
but il has ten thousand ramifications of
horror
Gathered in all religious assemblages
there are many who have trust funds.
Ny friend, 1t is a compliment to you that
you have been intrusted with the money
of others, but | charge you, in the pres
ence OF God and the world. be as careful
of the property of others as you are care
full of your own. Above all, keep your
own private account al the bank separate
from YOUR account as trustee Of an estate
or trustee Of an institution. That IS the
point at which thousands of people make
shipwreck. They get the property Of 9TH
ers mixed up with their own property,
they put IL into investment, and away Il
all goes. and they cannot return that
which they borrowed. Then comes the
explosion. and the money market IS
shaken, and the press denounces, and the
church thunders expulsion. You have NJ
right 10 use the property OF others. except
for their advantage EOr without consent,
unless they are minors. If with their
consent you Invest their property as wei
as you can, and il is all lost you are roI
to blame; you did the best you could;
but do not come into the delusiOn Whica
has ruined so many men OF thinking be-
cause thing Is IN their possession. there
fore II i theirs. You have a solemn trus.
that God has given you.
Million. sf Trust Funds STOLEN.
'In any assemblage there may be some
who have mlsappropriated trust funds.
Put them back, or, Of you have so hope
lessly involved them that you cannot yut
them back, confess the whole thing 20
those whom you have wronged. and you
will sleep better nights. and you will
have the better chance for your soul
What a sad thing il would be- II after
you are dead your administrator should
find out from the account books. or from
the lack OF vouchers, that you are moi
only bankrupt In estate, but thai you
lost your sOuli II all the trust funds thai
have been misSppropriated should sud
denly fy to their owners, and ali the prop
erty that has been puriOined should sud.
denly 90 back 10 its owners. il wOule
crush into ruin every city in America.
"A missionary in one OF the islands ot
the Pacine preached on dishonesty, ana
the next morning ne looked out Of hi,
window, and he saw his yard full oi
goods Of all kinds. He wondered. ana
asked the cause Of all this. Well SAID
the natives, our gods that we have beer
/ wornhiping permit Us TO steal, but, ac
| eoFding 70 what you said yesterday, ths
God OF heaven and earth will not allow
| this. 30 We bring back al these goods
aic We ask you 20 help Us IN taxing then
| 70 the places where they belong n uexi
sabbath all the ministers III America
| should preach sermons on the abuse 0i
/ trust funds, and on the evils % puF.oin
| Ing, and the sermons we've all blessed Ol
| God. and regulations were made that al
| these things should be taken to the clt5
halls, II would not be long before eyery
| city hall Ia America would be crowded
| from cellar 10 cuDolz-
Let me say In the most emphatic man
| ner 10 Ill young men. dishonesty Sil
| never pay An abbot wanted TO buy I
piece OF grouud ane the owner would no.
| sell IL. but ths owner finally consented Il
| 1lnS II 20 him until he could raise Ons
| crop, and the abbot s0wed acOFns. crOg
of two hundred years, Ard / tell you
ycurg man, that the dishonesties which
| you plant IN your heart and life vii
seem 70 be very Insignificant but fhej
| Will grow up until they will oyershadOV
| you with horrible darkness. .oYersAadoV