The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-06-18
sTAINTED MONEY!"


The C"mmoncr, B1yan> paper. 9un<
r.. says: Some Of the ministers who de
lend the acceptance OF the money from
Rockefeller insist that the church car
not inquire into she methods employed
in obtaining the money or refuse the
yivcr the right to contribute to Chris
ton work. While there are few prece-
dents which can be accepted as authOr1-
,;.tiye, there is one >Crlptural incident
upon which the anti-Rockefeller minis.
tiers can rely. for it proves concluolvclH
that the church can inquire into the
and can refuse to use tainted money tol
! the advancement Of church work. The
precedent will be found in the twenty
seventh chapter Of ST. Matthew. verse:
three to eight 1t reads as follow>:
Then Judas, which had betrayed
Him, when he saw that He was con
,ltmned repcntcd himself and brought
| again the thirty pieces of silver to the
chief priests and elders. saying. have
>inned in that | have betrayed the limo
cent blood And they said, What /:
that to Us: See thou to that. And ht
cast down the pieces of silver IN thu
temple and departed. and went an(
hanged himself And the chief priest
took the silver pieces. and said, 1t is no
lawful for to put them into the treasury
because it is the price of blood. An'
they took COUNSEL. and bought will
them the potter's field to bury stranger
| in. Wherefore that field was called. Tn
field of blood unto this day.
1t will be seen from the above tina
the chief priests and elders" not onl
Exercised the right to close the treasur,
to such money. but cited law saying
1T is not lawful for to put them 9TH
silver pieces received by Judas) into tn
Treasury because it is the price 0
blood" They refused to accept tn
money for the treasury. even though
Judas came repentant saying. Il hay
sinned in that | have betrayed the limo
cent blood"
| But Mr.. Rockefeller might find som
Iconsolation in the fact that while tn
chief priests and elders would not &C
cept the money for the treasury the
| did agree. after he had left it with then
Ito put it to some good use. They too
counse1 and used the money to buy
|potter's field to bury strangers in. Nov
1.-The potter's field is the place where tn
IpoOr are buried-those who leave so Iii
tie that the family can not buy a lot /
the cemetery. Mr.. Robert Hunter l
) | his book on "Poverty" presents stati*
tics to show that sometimes as many a
10 per cent of those who die in the cit
of New York are buried in the potter
field.
| This is the best precedent that hs
+ been found for dealing with the Rock
Teller contribution, although in tt
: Rockefeller case the element of repen
: ance is lacking. But possibly the r.
f. [ligious boards might overlook the a
Isence of repentance and agree to II
$ for the purchase of potter's fields wha
v ever money Mr.. Rockefeller desires
give to the church. Having aided
jmaking a great many people poor,
: Knight be some consolation to him
# furnish them last resting place. Al
v Iif The term ''potter's field seems hars
: twhy not call the fields bought with h
n money "Rosebuds." for did not his 81
s Ico1npare the methods of the trust Wi
Il the plucking of the weaker rosebud
THAT the remaining rosebuds might e
= 10y the strength that nature intend
# for all Of them?
Il Until someone finds a more autho
n tative precedent. let tainted money
" used for the purchase of potter's helt
+ Or rosebuds.