Show conscience FUND aut at Washl neton from and others A unique feature of the treasury department part ment is the conscience fund surprising as it may seem the contributions amount to a considerable sum annually in spite of the fact that most people regard it as perfectly legitimate to beat the government or a railroad company the greater number of these conscience contributions says the washington star came from people who have been abroad and smuggled in some dutiable article some come from persons who have cheated uncle sam in paying internal revenue taxes several days ago a dainty little per fumed note was received from minneapolis stating that the writer had brought over from paris a number ol 01 pairs of gloves for friends upon which she had paid no duty and that she had discovered that the tax would have been about five dollars which she A letter was received from pleasant lake N D inclosing a ten dollar bill wrapped in a piece of brown paper upon which was written for the conscience fund with no explanation as to how the government had been defrauded of that amount A few years ago a letter was received from an old fanner in tennessee stating that he had distilled several barrels of whisky without paying the tax and inclosing a check for fifty dollars of course his signature was on alie check and he could easily have been in but on account of his having made restitution of the amount due tho internal revenue bureau it was decided to let the matter drop the money in most cases however is simply put in a plain envelope and addressed to the treasury department there is no doubt eliat much money is lost in this way through dishonest postal employed emp loyes who readily recognize recognise such letters and know that they contain money there would be no risk in taking it as in the case of a registered or even ordinary letter as the sender would probably never know whether it had been received at the treasury department or not A good deal of money is sent to the conscience fund which does not properly belong to the government sometimes a man swindles his neighbor but does not care to acknowledge the fact and eases his conscience by sending the money to the treasury department |