A BRIBE.

NZ Truth, Issue 68, 6 October 1906, Page 7

A BRIBE.

Described and Denounced.! i... ....... -.., __ „.,,....,..,» ! WITHERING WINGED WORDS. "The Lips Quiver k Scorn." The Flail of the Frenzied Financier's Foe. Luminous Literature from Lawson. Thomas Lawson, the author of "Fren-zied-Finance," a work m wnich the misdoings of the Clique of Gold that controls the Standard' Oil conspiracy were mercilessly, and scathingly, exposed, has produced a fine piece of- rhetorical -writ-^ ing to express his detestation of bribery. He imagines a 100 dollar note, upon which is printed a portrait of George AVashington, and underneath the portrait the words, "The Father of His Country; His Country the Greatest on Earth,"' arid this is how he finely describes the 100 dollar "bill," or note, and its career until *it is used for the •; PURPOSES OF BRIBERY :—- ---It was a worn and dirty evil smelling bit bf jjj^per." Its ' centre bore the',pb'rtrait of a man, a man the image of "bis iobd. '■ ■•--••'■.- •/ -■''' j Behind .'the- " ' I IfASSIVE, STATELY BROW I was stored wisdom. From the-' great, • ' kindly eyes- shone -toleration. The. squire set, I've-weighed-it-and-decided-it'-:beyond-recall jaw was. power* incarnate. Under that face the one script, "In God We Trust," seemed almost unnecessary ; } the other', "The Father' of His \ Country ; Hi 3 Couritry the Greatest on . Earth,"; '■ superfluous. For the features bore l: His indelible stamp, "True by .Birth and by choice, great" by env'ironriient and bjf decision, splendid within and by -reflection." From that resolute mouth came forth m organ tones, "Ali men shall be judged by what they have done, arid they shall be , REWARDED AND ' PUNISHED accordingly, here arid hereafter.""' | On- the trodden bit ol paper, silent witnesses to its potency, were" traced autographs of lesser men, dingy biack upon faded green/- In a lower cornet" waß its tag, 232323, arid plainly iv the upper angle was its universal passport, the symbol •of its power for good and for evil, '. ■ ( . ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS Over broad oceans and be'ateri highways, alottg- tortuous" huriiaii currents, and irfto' earth's hidden nooks and crannies, up and down upon the ebb and flow of "many ' generations; this bit of paper has found its way. In the great, shops of trade it had bought necessaries, comforts, : ' luxuries, life itself. In the noisome marts where Satan caters to 6vil passions it took f r'bm men .' arid wofnen respect, truth, virtue, and jgave them^ SOMETIMES DEATH."' Those blots are the tear-marks left bjr a broken-hearted mother, who' by tliis bit of paper freed • an erring ■ child' f rorii' prison, but riot from disgrace. That blur records the mingled joy of the snbW-hair-ed, care-bent couple whose tumblinglKbirie by the Christmas-coming of this -magic token was stiatched from prasping straligcrs.. The blue-pencilled v letters - 6n" ;'the edge note 'the' snaring of the thief who stole to save those dearer . to him tha'ri . his h orior. The red Stain is the . " ' • v BLOOD OF MORTAL COIIiBAT, a struggle to the- death— fbr ; 'thls fc flimsy bit of; paper. '■■'.-.■' ' v -■, In all its coinings and goings, its messages of S(>rrow and 'happiness, . its services to crvfeful thrift iirid; unbridled7'^license, its .nisSions for kindly compassion . arid; merciless cruelty, the 'grWen, f ace"' of the imari ( was ever calm, tranquil; serene, a 'mirror of unalterable, faith ih-G.od aaiti Tiin'e, who right all things.- ' ;•< 5 ! But nbw the placid lips relax> curl up, •quiver m scoi&i;. '•'•■•;> The gentle eyes blaze and spirks of anger fly: The firm"'- jaw' becomes 'rigid;? haT-ali, menacing. The shrinking scrips redd," ''In Greed We Trust," "The Forsaken bfi His Country,- His Country the-Graftiest- | bri Earth!:" ' : "•' . '1 ' The face flashes put fierce contempt and ! unutterable wrath, for now the soiled 4riti besmirched bit- of tfaper/ shtrivelling ; of itself as 'it passes from bne''i_ihamelei_Ss Hand into another'" more' vile, has" become Tihe* sign of thb unpardonable irfn,* the '?unspeakable trade,- one's- manhood for atfot*her*_S sbul-^-THE BRTB.E. ; ■ ' ;i