Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-03-07

! WASHINGTON, March 4.-Oftl-
Gals. of the United States Treasury
are wondering what has happened
to the national conscience. Whether
lat is deadened or has been wholly
/. cleansed is a matter for conjecture.
The fact is that for more than a yeas'
| contributions to the Treasury's con-
science fund have fallen off to prac-
tically nothing.
l. The conscience fund is made up
| OF voluntary contributions sent TO
| the Federal Government TO salye the
consciences of the senders who for
| longer or shorter periods had been
| troubled by the knowledge that they
had defrauded the Government.
These sums are not set aside, in any
particular account. They merely are
covered in with the .4eral stock of
| money in the Treasury, but a receCd
! has been kept Of all contributions SO
that the aggregate Is known.
The first recorded contribution to
| the fund was in 1911 when some
! carly American citizen felt the prick
! of conscienct and remitted few dol
/ lars 10 the Treasury, Since that
date. more than e century ago, con.
! tributions have come in totallipg
! S545. 600--not a great sum from the
! point OF view of the Treasury but
! enough to make an individual rich.
! The contributions take various
forms, Sometimes they come in the
! form OF stamps, sometimes in cur
rency, but never by check nor money
order which would reveal the send
/ er's name. Some of the contribu-
! tons are accompanied by letters ex-
planning the reason for the remit
tances and some merely by a slip of
! paper marked Conscience fund"
/ It has been the uniform policy of
! the Government to ask no questions,
! to make no inquiry and TO make no
! effort to arrest or 0unish the per-
son who, by remitting to the con-
| science fund, thereby confesses that
he has committed some fraud against
the Government, The theory on
which this Is based is that, first, res
Tuition has been made of the money
! loss to the Government and that.
second, the perpetrator of the fraud
| had been adequa tely punished by the
panss Of bis own conscience.
Couldn't Fool His Conscience
a curious example OF just how Bit
ter and inescapable a punishment
the conscience can be in some cases
ls furnished in the story Of the man
who sent the Treasury $50 with the
statement that he had stolen this
and that it had preyed on his con-
science for SO long that he had to
pay back the money, Some weeks
passed and d second letter came in
containing SEQ with the explanation
that it was from the man who pre-
J YiouslY had dispatched the $50. He
said that in reality he had stolen
$50. He thought the payment of $50
would ease his conscience sufficient
~. but discovered that he worried
just as much about the $40 balance
as he hal about the whole sum.
The largest single contribution to
tho conscience funC ever received
was $4,000. One morning a pack
age about the size of paving brick
was delivered by mail to the office of
Secretary OF the Treasury. Upon
being opened it revealed a stack OF
bills of large denomination aggregat-
ing $4,000. The package merely
w marked for the conscience fund.
Another large contribution was OF
$1,000. This was delivered in cur.
ious way. The sender had obtained
so 500 bills, Placing them in pile
he cut them squarely in two with
Ishears. Then he made two pack
iages. each containing a pile of halt
bills. One package he sent 10 the
Secretary of the Treasury at Wash
ington and the other half to the col
lector of Customs at the Port of New
York. A note accompanied these
packages. both of which had beer
mailed in New York City. explaining
!, that some years before the sender
had smuggled in valuable goods on
which the duty would have beer
$4,000. Unable to sleep restfully since
. the fraud, he sent the money.
Inasmuch as the sender never re.
veals his name for fear of possible
prosecution, the Treasury cannot ac'
knowledge receipt Of contributions
J.. The only method OF acknowledgment
possible is through newspaper an
Inouncen1ent, For this reason wher
q Conscience fund contribution come;
in the Treasury alwsvs informs th'
! newspaper correspondents who "a
port the nes's of the Treasury. Near
} Sly always there Isl some interestinr
feature about the contribution which
makes it worth reporting in tn,
Ipress and, by watching the papers
Aeendaq. ia 1iIxalNy IN fifad fhfa sv d;.ac