Also, there is another view of these things. By our Christian code of morals and law, the _whole_ $1.33 1-3, if taken from a man not formally _proven_ to have committed the damage the dollar represents, is “theft and extortion.” It cannot be honestly used for any purpose at all. It must be handed back to the man it was taken from. Is there no way, then, to justify these thefts and extortions and make them clean and fair and honorable? Yes, there is. It can be done; it has been done; it continues to be done--by revising the Ten Commandments and bringing them down to date: for use in pagan lands. For example: _Thou shalt not steal_--except when it is the custom of the country. This way out is recognized and _approved_ by all the best authorities, including the Board. I will cite witnesses. _The newspaper cutting, above_: “Dr. Ament declares that all the collections which he made were approved by the _Chinese_ officials.” The editor is satisfied. _Dr. Ament’s cable to Dr. Smith_: “All collections received approval _Chinese_ officials.” Dr. Ament is satisfied. _Letters from eight clergymen_--all to the same effect: Dr. Ament merely did as the _Chinese_ do. So they are satisfied. _Mr. Ward, of the “Independent.”_ _The Rev. Dr. Washington Gladden._ I have mislaid the letters of these gentlemen and cannot quote their words, but they are of the satisfied. _The Rev. Dr. Smith_, in his Open Letter, published in the _Tribune:_ “The whole procedure [Dr. Ament’s] is in accordance with a custom among the _Chinese_, of holding a village responsible for wrongs suffered in that village, and especially making the head man of the village accountable for wrongs committed there.” Dr. Smith is satisfied. Which means that the Board is satisfied. The “head man”! Why, then, this poor rascal, innocent or guilty, must pay the whole bill, if he cannot squeeze it out of his poor-devil neighbors. But, indeed, he can be depended upon to try, even to the skinning them of their last brass farthing, their last rag of clothing, their last ounce of food. He can be depended upon to get the indemnity out of them, though it cost stripes and blows, blood-tears, and flesh. THE TALE OF THE KING AND HIS TREASURER How strange and remote and romantic and Oriental and Arabian-Nighty it all seems--and is. It brings back the old forgotten tales, and we hear the King say to his Treasurer: “Bring me 30,000 gold tomauns.” “Allah preserve us, Sire! the treasury is empty.” “Do you hear? Bring the money--in ten days. Else, send me your head in a basket.” “I hear and obey.” The Treasurer summons the head men of a hundred villages, and says to one: “Bring me a hundred gold tomauns.” To another, “Bring me five hundred.” To another, “Bring a thousand. In ten days. Your head is the forfeit.” “Your slaves kiss your feet! Ah, high and mighty lord, be merciful to our hard-pressed villagers; they are poor, they are naked, they starve; oh, these impossible sums! even the half----”