The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-12
THE UNCOVERED HYPocRrrE.

The New Bedford Standard says that Nipple, the late President of the loot ed Banking and Trust Company of Philadelphia, lis execrated almost as much for his obtrusive piety. his avoid- anee of liquors and tobacco and his early hours for slumber as he is for having stolen something like five mill lion dollars of the banks money. Nor is this altogether without leason. Peo- ple do not like to see a rascal dis guised in the robes of a conspicuously conventional sainthood. It is somehow an additional breach of confidence to pose as a pattern man, while acting the thief in the safety of the trust thus obtained. So when one of these hypocrites is discovered. the revulsion of feeling toward him naturally breaks out in hard language. There are persons who mistake this for denun- citation of piety, of fastidious morals. and perhaps of orderly habits of life. Some who themseles ivndulge in the criticism think they are denouncing these things. But the truth is that the denunoiation is directed against a sham. and there can be no sham if there is not a genuine The feeling against the Philadelphia bank presi- dent in this regard is really evidence of the perception that there are true men, shown by the indignation that this man was not in that class"
 Villainy is villainy. by whomsoever 1t may be prscticed, but people nat urally expect better things from reli gious people than from others When man has long made himself promi- nent and protrusive in religious mat ters, who is so fond Of exhibiting him. self as a model for others to follow, and who is continually posing as one of the saints--when such a man proves to be a common thief, to put it plain Iy, 1t is natural that good people should be shocked. It is not only a crime against the laws of the country but is to some extent reflection on the churches a-d religious organizations. They are not to blame for his acts, but they naturally feel that he has brought discredit on them and on the Christian religion.
 There have always been hypocrtes and always will be. When the Savior was denouncing them and their acts in such scathing terms He was only condemning them for a sin that is too common in our day. When man uses religion simply as a cloak to hide rascalty he is worse than the ordinary thief who professes nothing better The latter will be suspected and watched. but the former goes his way and enjoys his villainy unsuspec ted and in safety until some move of fate removes the cloak and reveals him in all his hypocritical ugliness. Such men as Nipple do more harm than all the plain rascals In the land.
 And there is another point to be borne in mind in connection with this affair. The institution of which he was President. and which went to ruin through his rascality was a trust con- cern. holding in trust the money of many people. There can be little doubt that many careful persons put their money into the bank for safe keeping because of his apparent piety. Surely Brother Nipple is honest and l will be in no danger of losing money de- posited in his bank" is about the way they reasoned, we suppose and that faith in his honesty and his religion proved their ruin. Believing him a sincere and Christian official they trus- ted him and found him hypocrite and a scoundreL