The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1874-03-12

lars to deposit in the savings bank, whert
there was already quite q respectable sun
to his credit.
Meanwhile the various divisions of hi,
ten-dollar greenback, now scattered abou
in different hands, began to chuckle
They said, with one voice: This IL wha
I like. I'll see something Of the world
and in all probability do some good"
Let US see how 1t was. The three dol
lars and forty cents which he had left a
Skettle's grocery went to help make ny
the quarterly rent which Skettle owed
and which was due that very night. HI
paid it to Mr.. Balcolm, the owner of thu
building, who, in turn, promptly handed
| 1t over to some wOrkmcn who bad beer
making repairs. 1t so happened that {
portion of it went to carpenter who haC
| u sick child, and who was thus enabled
to purchase some needed delicacies, there
by, perhaps, saving the child's life. A
dollar and half of it went to hod.c car
rior, who Immediately took it and bought
of Skettle sundry small packages of sugar
coffee, flour, etc. Skettle took this same
dollar and half and gave it to his wife,
who wished to pay woman for DOING
some little jobs of cleaning and scrubbing
Now, this woman was the hod -carrier's
wife; and so this dollar and half OF
Luke's greenback went first to Skettle
then to the hod-carrier, then back to Sket.
tie again, then to his wife, and then to the
hod-carrier's wife. 1t is not presumable
that it lay long idle in her hands. Gu.
rious, wasn't It?
And the two dollars and ten cents that
went to the butcher? Why, this was
paid to the boy who tended shop, who
handed it to his mother, who in turn paid
it 10 Carpenter Bailey for some repairs
done on her little cottage. Bailey settled
up his coal bill, the coal merchant paid
one of his teamsters, the teamster walked
straight to the butcher-shop and paid for
his weeks meat, and the butcher put the
money with another pile and paid it to a
farmer for a good, fat COW. And what
did the farmer do? Why, he went and
bought wagon at the factory that had
paid the ten-dollar bill to Luke Preston
over its black-walnut desk.
And the dollar that went to old Gar.
land? He did as he had told Luke he
should-paid it to John Brady as part of
the borrowed sum. John Brady said he
had need Of the whole amount, but would
get along the best he could. OF the dol
lar, fifty cents went for provisions, and
the other fifty to poor old cobbler for
mending Johnny's shoes. This had to be
expended at the hardware store to replace
a broken awl, and the hardware dealer
paid it to boy for shovelipg the snow
off his sidewalk. The boy ran home in
exultation to his rheumatic mother to in.
form her ofhis good luck.
And the dollar that went to Editor
n,,i11 He vN0fA - IN hso q lo~,sC
whose hands it went to a poor woman
vino had been making him coat, and
who held body and soul together by the
earnings Of her needle. The beggar girl
to whom Luke had given ten cents bought
of hunger that were tOrturing half dozen
brothers and sisters.
And the thirty odd cents expended at
the newsroom went into q box of small
change which was subsequently counted
over and pinned in neat packages of one
dollar each and sent to the News Com.
pany where the supplies of papers and
magazines came from. These small sums
from five to forty cents enabled the dealer
to maintain his little stand, greatly to the
convenience of.those who depended on it
for their periodical supplies of reading
matter.
The two dollars remaining Luke de-
posted, as has been mentioned before, in
the savings bank.
"Ah, hal" exclaims some surly, short.
sighted reader, who begins to see the
point of this sketch, $50 Luke Preston
boards up money too. Isn't it Just as
bad, in proportion, for him to consign his
two dollars to idleness as for the fat old
fraud to keep his money so close?"
But pause and consider for a moment.
The savings bank pays Luke per cent.
interest on his deposits, and how could it
do that if the money lay idle in its vaults?
No, such is not the case. The savings
bank took Luke's money, put it with that
of few other depositors, and lent it to a
well-to-do farmer who wished to make
some Improvements in the way of build
ing fences and barns and purchasing
choice breeds of stock. The farmer laid
out the money to good advantage and paid
the bank Z per cent. interest, the extra
per cent. going to defray the running ex-
penses of the Institution and affording its
stockholders small dividend.
Now about the time the farmer was
ready to begin his Improvements bust
ness was slack in the establishment where
Luke worked, and there was q prospect
of his being thrown out of employment
for month or more. But he CHANGED to
learn that the farmer required some labor
that was in his line, and straightway en-
tered into an engagement with him. And
so the money that he had put in the saw
ings bank was loaned to the farmer and
by him paid into Luke's own hands
again, and Luke still receiving interest on
it all the time.
And now we must leave Luke Preston's
greenback to its fate. We have of course
related only 1.-THE Of its entire history,
but we have seen it fairly launched on
the tide of life, and the prospect is that
its career will continue to be busy one.
Now let us take a look at the idle
greenback that lay in the desk of the
"fat old fraud" This individual was
none other than the same Squire Clinch
that had refused to pay old Garland for
saving his wood. II he had paid this
debt promptly, Garland could have paid
Brady in full and on time, and bought
the boots he so much needed. As it was,
he had to 90 without the boots and, in
his feet were severely frost
bitten while on bitter cold day he was
engaged in saving wood. This was
great misfortune, for he was disabled, ex-
cept to limited extent from following
his usual avocatiOn, and forced idleness
brought with it winter of hardship and
dependence on charity.
But the ten-dollar greenback, along
with its fellows, lay in Squire Clinch's
desk for some time. The Squire had in
tow a grand stroke of business. He held
q mortgage on certain piece of valuable
properly, whose owner was embarrassed
in his financial matters. The mortgage
would soon become due, and then he
meant to offer to buy the property at .
price far below its real value, and in the
event of his victims refusing to come to
his terms to threaten instant FORE
closure. With this transaction in view
land he almost always had some similar
scheme ahead) he kept his cash in resdi.
ness in his own private desk, preferring
not to deposit in bank, as the times
were rather "panicky," and the tighter
and scarcer money was the more the
Squire thrived. He was cautious, safe
<hSo S9uspsro GuSnrh-ovnd at a H016