Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-30
A FATHER COMPRESSOR
Unique Official Function of
Secretary Shaw.
HIS CONFESSIONAL
ANNUALLY YIELDS MORE MONEY
THAN HIS SALARY.
conscience Fund.- Established in
1611-Money Returned for Thefts
From Government.
HIS CONFESSION

Copyright. 1905, by John Elfreth watklns)
| Secretary of the Treasury Shaw is, by
virtue of his exalted Office, Uncle Sam
| father confessor, and the non-sectarian con-
| fessional which he conducts in the big,
crumbling. sandstone pile Just east of the
White House annually adds no insigniti-
| cant figure to the revenues of the govern
ment.
| Now and then,' among the hundreds OF
news paragraphs daily flashed broadcast
| from Washington. your eye lights upon the
| intelligence that some person, Invariably
unnamed and almost invariably unknown.
has contributed perhaps one cent, or per-
| haps thousands of dollars to the Federal
! conscience fund
The Earliest Penitent.
| It was back in 1S11-on the eve of our
second war with Johnnie Bull-when some
penitent sinner up in New York state in
augurated this custom of dropping into
| the national Golfers coin of the realm which
| had weighed nightly upon his conscience
| o nights. This initial contribution was ST.
and it was not until 1S61-a half century
later-that another conscience awoke in the
same material manner This second con-
| tribution, received shortly after the break
| ing out of the civil war, was $1,000 In bonds,
| dCCOHpdHieU ny d statement tnaC Inc sum
had long been due the government, and
| that the remittance was prompted by con-
| science. This concluding clause gave the
| fund the name which it has subsequently
| borne. 1t has since remained open, and
| the amounts received are converted into the
nations hoard as miscellaneous receipts,
| which may be used, like any other assets
| of the treasury, for whatever purpose Con-
| gress may deem proper.
| 1t has been suggested that the public con-
| science would pay the public debt, IL once
| thoroughly aroused. However this may be,
| 1t has within the past forty-four gears
when it reawakened from it's fifty years
slumber-added more than 100000 to the
! revenues of the nation. If we draw an
| average we find that within this period of
| its renewed activity it has yielded cash at
| the rate of some $1,000 per annum-enouSh
| to pay the combined salaries of the Secre-
! tary of the Treasury and one of his clerks.
| 1t is highly probable that manifoldly more
citizens would each year thus purge them
! selves Of guilt were their minds satisfied
as to several facts, viz:
Identities Neer Divulged.
| Uncle Sam never seeks the identity of
any contributor to the conscience fund nor
| does he ever allow communications inclos-
| ing such payments to be utilized by any
| one who might wish to trace them to their
sources. He never betrays givers who
| frankly give their names. Such names are
| not entered upon the official records.
| mo questions asked is the policy of
| Chief E B. Daskam of the division of pub
| lie moneys, the official keeper of the con-
| science fund account at the Treasury De-
| partment.
All conscience letters are carefully put
| away in separate files, every one of them
| as full of good reading as an oyster is fuil
| of meat Each such mission is the page OF
| q little drama enacted neutrality-suspicious.
| within a darkened death chamber, or, per-
| hap, within the shadow of the grim galiows
itself. Many of the letters are written by
4 IL t1n nttr1Sc fnr araf-
| tent members of their focks whose names
i are scrupulously withheld. Many are
! printed or scrawled in characters purposeo
to give the impression that the senders are
| ilIiterate Only the postmarks reveal the
| source of ninety-nine out OF hundred OF
| these confessions. Acknowledgment Is
made through the newspapers at or near
| the localities where they have been mailed
Largest and Smallest Deposits.
The largest conscience deposit record
| was received five years ago through. our
| consul general in London from a British
| clergyman. RENTING 1t on behalf of a sin
| rer who had confessed a fraud once per-
petrated at the expense Of our government.
| 1t was an English bill of exchange Tor the
value of S14,255. in pounds sterling, drawn
| upon New York bank and In favor OF the
| Secretary of the Treasury.
The smallest contribution received is &C
| companied by the following expiandtloIl' III
| illiterate penmanship:
"Mister Shaw / stole a Iced pensel in
your office last month and am sorry for 1t
now and 1 sends you cent to pay Tor IL
now so gets square wild the guvement
agen let me no If its all right wild you
1t Is believed that many of the contribu-
lions are prompted by religious REVEALS
held about the time the correspondents are
heard from. The scriptural admoniuon that
the sinner should repay fourfold is echoed
in many of the transmitting letters. For
example, Secretary Shaw lately received the
following note, intelligently written with
pencil and inclosing the large amount
stated
Dear Sir: am sending you herewith in
closed 81, 200, which is to go TO the uses or
the u S. Government. Years ago defraud-
ed the Govt of money, but have returned
1t all, and now am paying fourfold In ac-
cordance with the teaching of Scripture
The way of transgressors is hard, and no
one but God knows how l have suffered
the consequences. and would seek to do
bountiful restoration. May God pardon
while the u. s. Govt. is benefited
Misused Stamps and Unpaid Duties.
A large class of correspondents are vio-
lators of the postal laws. letter from
one of this category incloses $3.50, although,
by an omission of the decimal point, the
amount is stated ct hundredfold that
amount. Il inclose $50. which SATISFIES my
conscience for a small amt have wronged
| the Govn't out off, IL begins. This is
/ possible fourfold the amt for packages
| mailed which had written matter in them
| and with postage only sufficient for pack
| ages without written matter" The COM
| muncationN concludes:
Best wishes
"PENITENT SINNER.
Pardon me, and may God do So"
ITO His Majesty President Cleveland, :"
| one of the quaintest of this class of letters
| is addressed. Dear President: ] am in a
| doubtful state of mind and / thought /
| would write and tell you all. About two
| years ago-as near / can remember it
| is two years-I used two postage stamps
| that had been used before on letters Six
cents was inclosed.
| Another penitent violator of the postal
| laws incloses 20 cents ito replace stamps
| that had been cancelled poorly and were
| used a second time" He signs himself
lone who wishes to be right with God -
] Five cents is returned by another user of
| Cancelled stamps, signing himself, Zone who
| wishes to lead a Christian Hfe-" Many
| such letters are received from people who
| have misused stamps or moderated pack
| ages.
! Evaders of customs duties constitute an
/ -.