Show r i THE FL f d OF A KNOCKER KNOCK R RBY i BY JOHN KENDRICK KENDRICK BANGS l WONDER said Mid the Knocker as UH ash I 1 h ht he perused peru eq the newspaper ac account acL L count of how h w clergymen J the Ute acceptance of Mr l money for foreign missions I 1 Inder w end or if it came Caine to show a u down how JOW or Qt the dollar now in circulation L ouid b be proven to be filthy lucre and hw w much good lood square q are currency that never knew sin These The e clergymen e the time noe tainted ta tOd Rockefeller dollars doUrs ef of f being seem to have an Idea that somewhere JQ hat bat In fn the world orl l there are some are arc as pure as a new born babe ind md they thie se seem ni to think they the can get et long Liong without dirtying their their hand bands with the other What Id like to is i how hos I going to hind find out what hat is iti the clean money and what Row won are arc re they to spot pot the sanctified sash mash which alone is lit fit for fOI or heathen Certainly even oen if all Torn Tom Lawson has to say about the Rockefeller crowd is true sonic some of Mr Rockefellers vast wealth has been honestly earned canted some MOme of ot his dollars are ure ta liS clean as a anybody How do the protesting prote clergy know 10 but that Mr Ur Rockefeller himself lf realizing the time n which is alleged to exist has bas dIvIded l hJ hI lila surplus up into fresh i I strictly trash freh and absolutely fresh fres dol lara lar the Ute way they the do eggs eg s at the gro cern cr f He may have classes of dollars which range nIl all the way from respect re able ble to rancid just juet as the grocers have eggs eg s fit lit for or poaching and others other lit for nothing but the stage tase Of or course h he going to tell the public that he ha hac so 8 classified his Ids fortune if ir he lie has lias flono such a thing but as long Ion as he lie doe nt it seems to me the time board of Missions are perfectly justified ju in ing time the dollars he ht sends in the benefit pC DC f the doubt It is generally conceded concede l that a man inan may make these flays without indulging in any of those underhanded devious methods that everybody but our financiers regard as unscrupulous Five per hier cent interest int n that is js a year so assuming Q 0 that to the tune of M Mr lUr Rocke feller roller has come ome bj by b lila his fortune accord aCcor l lug Ing to Hoyle loyle he should have hRYC the lege ie of giving away OOOO without having his hI contribution treated with contempt which hid of or course lets in the 1 he has donated to the tIme use of ot the missionaries But t after all 11 Is there any clean money in the world barring that that conies fresh train flom the th mint Is any auy t nf at f the time cash that comes into the coffers I f r the missionaries mia through the contri boxes and collection plates of the church no so obviously free from taint tidal taints LS is s to make the matter absolutely sure suie t I doubt dott it iL If every penny that finds a Its way into the missionary treasury treasur were re accompanied by a typewritten I statement of its record from rom the day of oJ Its mintage Ill In wager wa t you ou that not tm hn of o them would be free from sus suspicion suspicion F At some time tim somewhere find that every lery mothers COppel copper COppelt a mf t em has been mixed up in some moro more t or rr less Jeas irregular Irre transaction which In 11 I tI its own degree was wag just as question able Je as any an of ot those deviations from fron I the Ume path poth of o strict rectitude re which are ar i charged barged up against Ira the Rockefeller Ro dol dollars dollar lars lana lar Tike Take T ilke the pennies S for Instance 1 Is 11 there a ti penny in iii this world that lime liaa ha hanot not at some Mine time lime in its career been won wet I ar ai r lost lt in a 8 game of craps tossed in a a 1 Rambling ga enterprise c into inlo a slot machine to the tin i I spreading of the nIP nefarious hewing chewing t I gum um habit or 01 0 in M some m similar other L tL Vav put to base batlle uses Do you believe thit there hele t is i H am nickel In creation that the t tas as not at one time tim or another beer been en i 1 dishonestly I earned by b a l ling hying ing slot machine squandered on th I ultimate schooner that was iva tIme the final Heat I I ause au e of a drunkards debauch or ex cx x 1 I ended pen j ed upon a a cheap heap package of or cigar j i i ettes e to steal an awa away ay the brain Wain of some i thoughtless t boy bO Can you YO definitely locate ocate l a R dime of which you ymon can ean sol 1101 take your y ur oath that It has never neer ben b een guilty of the crime of furthering the t ime circulation of pernicious literature ture in i n the shape Hh pe of o weekly papers full of or naughty aughty n pictures or 01 dime novels about I Jew Je J ee James that inspire light minded minde yV youths y to leave leav home and seek s ek the I vicious V pleasure of ota a bandits life Ufe on I I the t he prairie What quarter known to I you can ean honestly say flaY in one I I of o f those thoe rare momen ts when money talks alks t that it has never been spent s nt on a cocktail or some other agency a en for furthering f the cause causo of intemperance ranee hI I never neel met the gentleman mur maur i meekly Or been ben an active a thc participant in a game of poker won on a mere bluff in I n a cent limit continued the ime t Knocker fiercely Or 01 given iven to a u rotten waiter Wolter in a public restaurant r because h the tIlt giver was wai actually afraid not r to tip the cuss and so no nOlo 54 honestly Earned Darned I tell you my boy theres precious little in the time way of or small change chaUle that at some time tinie been m up in a u crooked piece place of work but I dont notice that the clergy mire are averse to keeping it when it turns up In the th plate Sunday Sunda morning penny of it is i Is accepted without a JL question of or its right to associate with wHit respectable table people and to go out into the world again to do 10 what good it can canas canas an anaC as aC a sort ort of compensation for Its mis deeds leeds I know a wan ivan i Who Iio won tOO GOO in iii a game of roulette one Saturday night ni ht in a gilded gambling den don that all the tho reformers In the time neighborhood were rere condemning as a It sink of or Iniquity and I r give you my word that the next morning 1800 of it was put in th the thaI contribution box as a sort of sop to that mans conscience and up to the tIme hour of ot going to press it has not even b been en suspected of or a low origin and I doubt not has succeeded In doing a ava va t lot of good in the world So you see when you come right down dons to it the man live who can say that any dollar or fraction traction of ofa ofa ofa a dollar in existence is as us clean as a sharks tooth and as pious as an aim arch archangel archangel archangel angel and if that is true trul why by choose a n out of all the time bil lions in time the world worl to be b cast into outer darkness to be ostracised forever from Crom Cromall all decent human h man society and to be de do denied denied nied abed the time privilege of carrying in the good work to the heathen It fair Then you advocate the church taking in iii every dollar it can cnn lay its hands on eh cli said That is a u Christian habit said Hid the Ule Knocker As well miri as a n Jewish custom Of course Treat the dollars just as you ou would people No church in Christendom would refuse to t ke Ike i ia In a lI sinner and md turn him hint into a saint if it could The ruic more tainted the sinner the greater the opportunity of the church to lal labor or with him Same way 8 with the dollar If the time dollar is a low lowdown lowdown down own sneaking offender against decency decenty cy ty grab him labor with him pray pra over oyer him set rot him luau upon the tIme legs of respect respectability ability and then when his reformation reform Uon is complete send scud him out into the time world to do good goodWell goodell goodWell Well ell sensible said aid Still nobody likes to be a receiver of stolen goods Oh dont I ont know said the Knocker Theres Then s that thal eminently respectable in institution institution the British its jam jammed jam jammed med meil full of em and even you ou have kept that five dollars you ou borrowed from rom me last October got to do with it growled Nothing only I stole it from said the Knocker Knock r I bet him to five on Roosevelt It was a regular hold bol up |