The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1901-11-22
Discourses Interestingly On the
Sins of Lying and Stealing.
CORRUPTION IN PRESENT DAY POLITICS
Public Crib Offers Temptations tnat
Otherwise Honest Men Find II
Hard to Resist-Liars OF
hiuh and Low Degree.

enty years u long cnou6h AoA hs
or a political power to rule q great me-
tropolis. Corruption breeds more mag
COTS as the city grows, Cor. as Thomas
Jefferson said: The growth OF great
cities il pestilential to good morals.
The public treasury Is . thing to De
plundered, whether 1t be municipal.
state or national. There are thousands
Of men who would not steal from me,
but would steal the money l pay Into
the treasury, for there 1t becomes so
mixed up that nobody knows whose
money It is. II Is just as it was two
hundred years ago. when Swift wrote:
Great fieas have little ieas upon their
backs to bite EN-,
And little feas have lesser deas, and
so on ad inflinitum."
There is one comfort about all tails
public plumber Tho money does not
20 dead. II has TO be invested and
gives employment to labor. A million
aire can't eat nor wear out much more
than can, nor will he lock up his mon
ey and let it rest Not long ago ask
ed a clever northern man why 1t was
that rich people who pay the most OF
the taxes let the pension steal go on
so long and get bigger every year! He
smiled and said: why that pension
money goes mostly to the poor and we
get it all back sooner or later. It Is
our cheapest way of supporting them.
especially when We have your help.
Poor Garfield. In his last message he
lamented that the pension rolls had
rot to the alarming sum Of $50, o0o. 900.
but said there was comfort in knowing
that 1t was obliged to decrease from
natural causes, for death was the COM
mon lot and the pensioners were rap
idly decreasing in number. He was
mistaken. They have been multiply.
ing ever since he was killed, and nov
It takes $3.50. 900, 900 to pay the roll.
Public plumber Toc,c no. be 30 bad
II It was done in tie open. What AZ.
gravates US is that il d done on the sly
through corruption. through brides.
franchises charters, licenses. salaries
and schemes. II always vexes me to
see the cook hiding something or her
child carrying on q bundle on the sly
and hiding 1t under her apron as she
is going home. But they are all SO
kind and so willing and so good to the
children that We saw wood and say
nothing. They remind me Of what q
blind phrenologist said Of public Of
fcial IN Rome while feeling the bumps
on his head. He did not know him at
all. but said, "This man is kind-heart.
ed and good-natured and would do you
. favor n you were in distress. but he
viii steal. II he found q man asleep
alone In Q room at night he would slip
his purse from out his. pocket, but
would kiss him before he left him."
He diagnosed the man correctly. for he
was turned out Of ONCE soon q .er for
embezzllng the public money. and ev-
erybody was sorry for him because he
was so generous with his plumber.
Stealing from the public crib seems to
be q higher grade of crime than lying,
though It takes lying and hypocrisy
and deceit to accomplish it. have
often wondered why lying was not for.
hidden in the Ten Commandments.
Thou shalt not steal" Is there, bat
Thou shalt not lie" - not there, and
yet 1t Is accursed all through the scrip.
tvxp t. h. l. -sn Ia t.
the last chapter of Revelations and In
nearly the last verse For without are
dogs and sorcerers. and whore mongers
and murders and whosoever loveth and
mateth . he." According to David,
that sin did not leave very many to
enter heaven, for he says. Il said IN
mine haste al men arc liars" The old
Scotch preacher took 1t for text and
His frst remark was.N"Ah. David, me
mon. n ye had waited until now ye
might have said 1t at your leisure"
Lying 10 no doubt the most universal
sin among mankind. but 1t Ii graded
and not Always . sin. Stealing Is al
ways q sin. but lying must be malIg-
MANI Va h0A AAAA ooA 8CAb kl06 "
Crete and wrote to him that he would
have . hard time In establishiRg
church there, for the Cretans were all
liars. Crete is Gambia now, an island
In the Mediterranean. inhabited by
Mohammedans chiefly. and travellers
say that they are no better now than
they were in st. Paurs day. for they
are not only liars. but thieves. Eng
land used to have laws to punish COM
mon scolds. common drunkards and
common vagabonds. but none to pun
ish common liars. for they are gener.
ally harmless. Every community has
one or two and they keep as amused
at their Munchausen exploits IN hunt.
ing and fishing and their narrow e.
capes. Then there are some uncom-
mon liars-liars Of the hrst magnitude
as Shakespeare calls them. such a.
Baron Munchausen. Joe Mulhatton and