The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-03-02
CONSCIENCE FUND
REACHES $500, 900
One Penitent Cheat has Paid In
$50, 900, Four Times Amount
OF the Original Fund

n
is generally known as the United
States Treasury Conscience Fund,
Washington newspaper men call it
"Uncle Sans Confessional" while
to the personnel of the Treasury
Department it goes under the name
of moneys Received from the Per-
sons Unknown"
During 1920 the conscience 'baro-
meter" of the United States regist-
cred s1e,27s.13.
The fund has been in existence
10 years, and during that time ap-
proximately $5OO,OOO has been con-
tributed. In 1911, President Madi-
son found upon his desk letter
containing So, of which the anony-
NOUS writer confessed he had rob-
bed the Government. The President
ordered that the amount be credited
ITO Account Conscience"
Like a wind tanning small flame
the news of the contribution stirred
the conscience of the people and, for
a year or two, every week brought
dozens of letters from persons who
hoped to stop the pricks OF con-
science by returning defrauded
money with interest. And then,
gradually, the amount of money
sent in dwindled almost to nothing.
The civil war brought in its wake
a wave of conscience money. While
the letters were invariably anony-
nous, and the writer's seldom ex-
planned the conditions under which
the money had been stolen, few
limited that they had defrauded
the Government in the "hoss and
mule" trade of the war.
Civil War Funds Received Yet
Money from acts of detraudatlon
committed during the civil war are
being received even at this late
time, showing how long a period
may 'elapse before the conscience OF
some men assert itself sufficiently
to force them to return stolen
money.
In years of financial depression
little conscience money has been re-
ceiyed, as 1913, which brought a
totAa of $2,944.44, and 1914 with
$3,d03.3 .3S, whereas 1916 saw more
thans$ 0,000-a banner a year
and. 1917 and 1918 still considerably
above the first two years mentioned.
During 1916 the largest single
sum in the history Of the fund was
received-s30,O00. The sender
wrote that he had so far sent the
Treasury $4,000, or -four times
what he had stolen. What story
this case would make-of a man
who, .goaded by that most varying
and inexplicable force, conscience,
returns not only what he has stolen
but four times the amount!
But the story will never be told
unless the man himself, with con-
science still unsatisfied, chooses to
disclose it, for there is an unwritten
but never broken rule In the Trea-
sury Department that no investiga-
ton of the senders of conscience
money be made. Even if man
should give his true name and ad-
dress, his confidence would not be
broken.
President Cleveland received per-
haps the most interesting letter that
has ever come in from a remorseful
US41duucI VI Vic HofSILAlSuI. Lie
sender, young girl, explained that
once, long before, she used a two
cent stamp which had already been
employed on a letter but had not
been cancelled. Thought of her mis-
demeanor had never left her mind,
and so, at this late date, she was
sending him some stamps to take
the place of the one she had fraudu-
lently used.
Had Pastor Make Restitution
Several years ago, the American
Consul in London was handed a
check for $14,225.15 by clergy
man, who explained that he had re-
ceived it from a member of his con-
gregation, who was an American.
The confessor had said that the
money represented the amount he
had once stolen from the United