Evening star., 1923-09-23


prohtably in the development of
their business enterprises. In the
majority of instances, however. they
subsequently refund to the United
States Treasurer the money which Is
not rightfally theirs. There is no
specialized account on the Washing
ton registers of the Treasury Depart
ment where these cash gifts from
persons unknown are recorded. The
money simply is credited to the
miscellaneous funds Of the federal
treasury.
The amounts which United States
Treasurer Frank White and his prede-
cessors in our greatest financial office
have received range from cents to
$4,000. Certain people who have
used a postage stamp a second time
to carry a letter have thereafter
learned that their actions violated
Uncle Sans postal laws. They then
have respectively remitted cents to
the federal conscience fund. The
identity of the person who sent in
the bank draft for $4,000 or the rea-
SON for his subscribing this large
amount TO the Treasury Departments
most novel credit account have never
been ascertained. The national au-
thorities have never violated the let
ter of the unwritten law which pre-
serves the secrecy and inviolability of
anonymous contributions.
A CERTAIN New York importer,
n convinced that the United States
customs had overcharged him on
commodities that he introduced to
this country. sued Uncle Sam for
damages. He not only proved his
case, but also showed that the goods
were injured through careless hand
ling while in government hands. A
large check was sent to the importer
by the treasurer of the United States
to settle the controversy.
Several years later the importer
sent one-half of a mutilated $1,000
government bond to the conscience
fund at Washington. He said that
after due deliberation and study he
had definitely decided that Uncle Sam
overpaid him. He used the extraor-
binary method of partially destroy
ing the bond which he had purchased
to balance his obligation with Uncle
Sam. At the time no record of this
curious transaction was made at
washington and IL was not until
twenty eight years later that the
whereabouts and history of the
mutilated bond were discovered. This
Rip Van winkle-like security is a
fit running mate for the vagrant post
card recently delivered in Washing
ton, which required six years to
travel the short distance of a half
mile between sender and receiver.
via the ordinary postal avenues.
During the last days of the civil
war a Union soldier deserted. taking
with him into the remote Businesses
of the Carolina mountains fine gov
ernment mule. Both the man and
the mule were marked as missing"
and then were forgotten. The In
cident became closed history with all
except the man and his conscience.
The deserter. by the strength of his
arms and the help Of the Missouri
canary. carved a prosperous little
farm out OF the highland wilderness.
Ultimately, his honest conscience in
fiicted upon him such mental torture
that he dispatched a roll OF green
backs, covering the value of the mule,
with compound interest. to the United
States Treasury.
A rural minister in the eastern
states recently sent a conscience fund
contribution to Uncle Sam, stating
that It came from one of his church
members. He wrote that this woman
visited him in great anguish one day
and told him of an overpayment
which she had received from the gov,
ernment. She confessed that she had
kept and used the money. but that
her conscience had troubled her so
much that she desired to make
restitution. At her request. the
clergyman sent the surplus funds
back to washington.
**
|yxyHEN the epochal Forty-third
wv Congress passed the notorious
salary grab act" which featured the
increase in the salary of the average
representative from $4,000 to $500
q year, way was paved indirectly
for marked additions to the con-
science fund contributions. The ma
tiona[ legislators fortified the new