OCR Text |
Show THI "CONBCIgNCB FUND," aaaaa Agraalla aoo.one A pel 14 la II la aaHIlea- Washlngton furnlahea many peculiar and Intereetlng gtudlee In lt varlona departmenta, but there la none which glvea the oftlclale more food for thought than the "eonaclenca fund." aa It la popularly known In the treaaury department. The fund originated In 111, when aome conaclence-atrlrkan government rlerk mailed a I note to the secretsry and aaked that It he applied ap-plied to the reduction of the national debt. The amount waa turned In with the other revenue, and It waa not until un-til fifty yeara later that another contribution con-tribution of the kind waa received. la tha flrat year of the war came tha aeoond amount, which waa ten tlmea the alae of the flrat. The eender declared de-clared that the amount waa due the government and that he sent It to "eaae bla eonaclenca. " That gavs the cue which haa been followed ilnce In calling auch contribution 'conaclenc contribution." Bine that time many amount, lrge and mall, hava boen received. Th greatest eutn aver aent to the government In thl way waa I14.2M). which waa aent from London without further explanation than that It wa eont becauae the Bender had defrauded de-frauded the government of the amount At leaat 10 per cent of the money of thla kind cornea from prleat or preacher. preach-er. Invariably a letter arcompanlea theaa, with the atatement that they were mad aa the reeult ot religion ronvlrtlonB which followed a revival or aome other alrallar rellgloua agitation. agita-tion. A majority of th caaea In which cauae are assigned are muggllng caaea. Tba treaaury deparment baa mad It an Invariable rule not to In' quire Into th "conaclenc" letter, and acknnwledgea thnlr receipt through th column of the preea. Bven where th nam I signed to th letter thee are never made public, and th experience of th department haa been that when aniwered th answer an returned, howlng that tha name used wer fictitious. fic-titious. Th Bums which have been aent to th department under th "conaclenc fund" t thl tlm aggregate over 1 300.000. Contributions to th fund ara frequent. fre-quent. Only a few day ago someon In Chicago aent In ti cenU; th day before It ram 110 waa sent from New York city, aud the day preceding that bO cents was mailed to th department by someone In Waablngton. On of th moat unique contribution! came In the government from an eastern east-ern city. The writer aent half of a number of bill whoa aggregate valu waa 18.000. He aald In sending th mutilated bill that aa Boon aa ha aaw the acknowledgment of their ruelpt In th public prints ba would aend th ret of th bill. Correspondent of rnatern paper wer told of th matter aud two day aftet lie publication th other half of each bill waa received, ao . that they could be Joined together and redeemed. |