"
An institution asking of Government only permission to live and
opportunity to work, planting itself firmly and squarely on the
generosity of the people, subsisting solely by their free-will
offerings, it is a noble monument of the intelligence, the munificence,
and the efficiency of a free people, and of the alacrity with which it
responds when the right chord is rightly touched. It is, however, not
unnatural that doubts should exist as to the success of a plan so
far-reaching in its aims and hitherto so untried. Stories have been
circulated of a mercenary disposition of its stores and trickery among
its officers. Where these stories have found considerable credence, they
have been tracked to their source and triumphantly refuted; but it would
indeed be hardly less than miraculous, if an institution ramifying so
widely, with agents so numerous, and resources so extensive, should have
no knaves among its servants, and no waste in its circulation. The
wonder is, that more leakage has not been proved than has ever been
suspected.
Pages:
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465