davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1886-01-21
History Of the Silver Dollar.

The history of the adoption of the dol
lar, or the unit Of American money is a
very short and simple one. From the
control by Spain of nearly all the Ameri-
can mines during the 10Th, 18th and 18th
centuries, it happened, naturally, that
Spanish coins, and especially silver coins,
as the American mines yielded chiefly
silver, were circulated all over the COM
merclal world.
AS early as 1926 the Spanish govern
ment coined silver piece containing 400
grains of fine silver, which was reduced
about 1900 to 376 grains. This piece,
known as the dollar, and sometimes
called the pillar dollar, has been the most
widely circulated of any coin known IN
the history of the human race. 1t was
early introduced into the British North
American colonies, in consequence of
their trade with the Spanish American
countries, and in 1704 it was made, to-
gether with its fractional parts, lawful
money in those colonies by royal proc
lamation issued by Queen Anne.
After the independence of these col
onies had been acquired by the American
revolution, it became necessary to fix the
unit of money for the newly created ma
ton, the United States, and IN 1885 con-
gress adopted, upon the suggestion of
I fhumas Jefferson, the silver dollar, to be
the weight of the Spanish dollar as then
actually current here.
| In 1871 Alexander Hamilton, secretary
of the treasury, caused the average
amount of fine silver in several hundreds
of such dollars in circulation in this coun-
try to be ascertained by weighing and
assaylng, and he found it to be 37l11s
grains. He, therefore, recommended
that our dollar contain tLat number of
grains of fine silver, so that it might be
exactly the same as the coin which had
been in use.
Congress adopted his views, and the
first mint act passed in 1892 fixed the
amount of fine silver in the dollar &C
cordingly, and it has never been changed
from that day to this.
Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1886-01-21

In making ne declaration of sentiment
on the division and admission question
the Fargo convention probably did the
best thing it could do under the clrcum-
stances. 1t was plainly evident that the
delegates were very neatly equally divl-
dcd on the question of division or admis
sion as whole, and a declaration IN ia
vor of either would have been misrep-
resentation of perhaps half their constit-
uents. BY this compromise congress IS
advised that the people of northern and
central Dakota cannot agree whether the
territory should be divided, or admitted
as whole, which is perhaps about as
definite a statement of the case as could
be truthfully made. There has been a
great revolution in public sentiment IN
North Dakota on this question within the
last year, and it has been brought about
by the foolish statehood movement in
South Dakota, and the consequent hope.
lessness of securing division.
Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1886-01-21

of the principal educators of the country
during the past three or four years. MIR.
Blair has shown great energy and inap-
preclable interest in this mea sure, and
has written thousands of letters and
given much time in the interest of it..
The country owes him debt of graft
tude for his work in this direction. He
is one of the most jealous laborers for
the cause of education to be found any
where, and Is an earnest and faithful adj
vocate of his constituency.
Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1886-01-21
Points OF Sch Il Law.

Points OF Scb' Il Law.
A correspondent of the Ellendale Com
mercial makes the following observations
on the school law:
A misunderstanding seems to exist in
regard to the force of section SO of the
township school law and section 10 Of
the amendments approved March l3,
1885, and the following instructions are
accordingly given for the government of
those concerned n the execution of the
law:
First: The school laws provide for the
collection OF complete statistics of school
work each year, and, in order to accom-
plish this, it is made the duty Of township
treasurers and clerks to make full, true
and correct reports, to the proper officers,
on or before the times specified, namely:
the treasurer on or before the 18th day of
July, and the clerk on or before the 1st
day of August. 1t is important that these
reports be made as required BY law, and
that they should be complete. TO do
this work thoroughly and well, requires
that some time be given to 1t and that no
other matters shall interfere with this
special duty. Should these officers do
their work faithfully, and the reports be
found by the board of county commits
sioners to be correct, the commissioners
are required by section SO of the school
law to approve them and pay each officer
not less than ten and not more than twen-
ty-five dollars, as compensation for
making such report. If the reports are
not made as required by law, the COM
missioners are not authorized to pay any
thing to these officers. In other words,
the compensation is for correct report,
made according to law, and for no other
duty. The county commissioners have
nothing whatever to do with paying
members Of the school board for services
connected with their general duties, and
in counties not working under the town
ship system the county commissioners dc
not examine the reports referred to, mol
do they pay the school officers for max.
ing them.
Second Section 10 of the amendments
of 1885, approved March 18th, provides
that the school boards of school townships
may pay their members at the rate of two
dollars per day for services actually rem
dered in the performance of their general
duties; but no officer must be paid for
more than fifteen days services in any one
year at this rate. Ii is not in the nature
of yearly salary. An itemlzed bill, or
voucher, should be filed in each case,
showing specifically what services have
been rendered by the member to be paid,
and the times at which they were rem
dered. These vouchers should be care
fully preserved with the other records of
the board In no case can the board al.
low member more than thirty dollars
during any one year, for services render
ed. Should he devote more than fifteen
days to school work, the extra labor must
be considered and treated as gratultous;
though the board may allow less than
two dollars per day, at their discretion,
in which case a mem Der may be paid for
as many days as he labors, provided it
does not amount to over thirty ollars for
the entire year. The school year begins
with the lst day OF July and ends with
the 30th day of June.
Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1886-01-21
Cattle Growing in North Dakota.

In communication to an eastern paper
Donald Stevenson, of Emmons county,
who recently made tour of the cattle
ranges of Montana, for the purposes of
comparison with North Dakota in the
cattle growing business, makes the fol-
loving observations:
81 am satisfied that Montana is great
cattle country. But man with small
herd has no business there. In the first
place, he will haYe to join the association,
so that he can be represented at the
round-ups,--one in the spring and anoth-
er in the fall, and his small herd of cat
tie will be scattered around the different
ranches when the roundup is finished.
He will then have to go to the different
ranches to gather his little herd together,
and if he does not find them all he will
have 10 wait until the next roundup. A
man can keep small herd of cattle in
Emmons county cheaper than he can in
Montana. The cost of putting up hay is
not as much as the expense of men and
horses to ride the range. Besides, here a
man has the satisfaction OF knowing
where his cattle are.
"Another thing: On the ranges of
Montana the stock-ralser gets no beef
from his old cows. They die of old age
on the range. Here q cattle. man can
separate the calf from the old COW, dry
her up. and fatten her into good beef.
"My experience has been that in this
county you can raise q three year
steer for Sc, and at that age he Is worth
$40, leaving you profit Of sS4.
al do not know of any business that
will pay as much on the Investment as
raising cattle in Fmmons county, where
there is the finest of summer range and
plenty of hay.
"Mix it with farming, raise some hogs
and chickens, and if you stick to 1t you
will come out all right in few years.
Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1886-01-21

The Bismarck Journal says: ssThc
Fargo convention did not include one
delegate from Missouri river county or
from any county west Of the river. Dcn-
ocrats felt that 1t was not their duty TO
help the Republican leaders of the terri
tory out of the troubles into which they
have blundered; and republicans of this
section probably considered that II they
went to Fargo and favored division Il
would be said of them, on both sides, that
they were afraid Of losing the capital:
while if they opposed division It wsuld
be said Of them that having the casasal
they want all the earth also.
Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1886-01-21
]. @. wARNOCK, Edito,
IT was doubtless a surprise to many

IT was doubtless q surprise to many
others besides the Alert that Col. Plum
mer offered resolution in the Fargo con-
vention looking to the presentation of a
request of the next legislature to pay the
expenses of the delegates to that conven-
tion. The resolution was very properly
tabled and all such attempted raids on
the public treasury should be frowned
down. 1t Is worse than the payment of
the delegates to the Sioux Falls constitu-
tlonal convention out of the territorial
treasury, for that was proposition made
them by the legislature in advance of the
convention, and whatever blame attaches
to that raid upon the treasury falls upon
the legislature who gave, not upon the
delegates who received.
Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1886-01-21
LATE TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

FARIBAULT, Mimi, Jan. 2O-Louis Re-
Wark OF this city was shot IN the mouth
last night while returning to his place of
business on Carmon Lake. The ball
lodged in the back of his cheek, and the
wound will probably prove fatal.
HELENA, Mont, Jan. 2O-Thc work of
locating the line of the Helena g. Red
Mountain railway is about half finished,
though progressing slowly on account of
the extreme cold. AS soon as the work
is completed. the same party will locate
line from Helena to Great Falls.
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 2O-Colonel King
has gone to Chicago, where he goes to
make arrangements for the immediate IN
auguration of building operations on the
North American telegraph line. 1t Is ex-
pected that the line will be put into ac-
tive service by May l.
ST.. PAUL, Jan. 2O-J. j. Brown, of
Washington territory, is here, enroute
for W Washington. He says the territory
desires admission as state, and claims
that Northern Idaho desires to be added
to Washington, whose legislatu now in
session, will make mining laws favorable
to that section which is mineral,
DULUTH, Jan. 20-On the St. Paul &,
Duluth road early this mornlr g the north
bound passenger colllded with freight
train near Barnum. Both trains were
pretty badly wrecked, especially the en-
glnes, which are nearly demolished. The
accident delays passenger trains about
eight or nine hours. No one was killed.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20-Judge Moody,
who was elected United States senator by
the Huron, Dakota, legislature, today ad-
dressed the house committee on terrific
rics IN favor of the admission of South
Dakota as state and the creation of a
territory of the northern portion. On
Friday Mr.. Boynton of Dakota and Others
will address the committee IN favor of ad-
mission but against division.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-05-19

have been sent to the senator. They
consisted of aflidavits charging that the
Burlington custom-house was run as a
political machine. There were no
charges of personal nature against
General Wells. Treasury officers say
that everything that has been filed in
the department against General Wells
has been sent to the senate. 1t does
not appear that Senator Edmunds is yet
satisfied, but there is no probability
that Smalley will be defeated if the case
shall be reported. 1t is. very possible
that his case may be hung up until after
the adjournment of this session. In
that case there is the best authority for
the statement that Smalley would again
be nominated by the President. Sup
porters of the administration say that
the President does not intend to ap-
point any other collector of customs at
Burlington"
Probably there is no one who has
the slightest doubt that Collector Wells
was removed, or Collector Smalley was
appointed, solely for political reasons.
The senate has confirmed many such
appointments and will confirm many
more. 1t appears to be conceded that
Collector Smalley's nomination cannot
be defeated, and it is believed by many
persons in Washington and Vermont
that final action in his case is delayed
because his confirmation might be
prejudicial to Mr.. Edmunds' interests
at home.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-05-19
Wages In 1900.

The condition of the wage-class of this
day may well be examined; IL is full of il
struction for social agitators. In the gres
cities unskiled workmen were hired by TIL
day, bought their own food and found the !
own lodgings. But in the country, on TIL
farms, or wherever band was employed
on some public work. they were fed and
lodged by the employer and given a few
dollars month. On the Pennsylvania
canals the diggers ate the coarsest diet
were housed in the rudest sheds, and paid
30 month from May to November, and 81
a month from November to May. Hod-carI
rlers ana mortar-mixers, diggers and chop|
pers, who, from 1893 to 1900 labored on thd
public buildings and cut the streets and avl
enues OF Washington city, received $40
year, or, If they wished, $50 for all the work
they could perform from March LIST to De-
cember 10Th The hours of work were in
VarlaDly from sunrise to sunset. Wages al
Albany and New York were three shillings
or, as money then went, forty cents, q day,
at Lancaster, rs to $40 a month: elsewhere
in pennsylvania workmen were content
with SO in summer and 50 in winter. Al
Baltimore men were glad to be hired al
eighteen pence day. None, by the month
asked more than So. AT Fredericksburg the
price of labor was from 50 to ST. In Vir.
ginia white men employed by the veal
were given ZIG currency; slaves when hired
were clothed and their masters paid 81 g
month. A pound Virginia money was, in
wages the land over was therefore, S65 a
year, with food and perhaps lodging. Out
of this small sum the workman must. with
his wife's help, maintain his family.-Mc-
Masters History Of the People Of the United
States
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-05-19
Personal.

Miss JENNIE STACY of Burlington has
been appointed register of the probate
court for the district of Chittenden.
FRED r. Ross of st. Johnsbury was the
successful candidate for the West Point
cadet appointment from the second con-
gressional district.
DIR. FREDERICK n. PALMER of Boston,
who committed suicide last week by Jump
ing from Portland steamer was the in
ventor OF the postage-stamp.
REV. j. NJ. GELoT, pastor of the French
Church at Rutland, is to be removed to
Poultney and Castleton. He will be sue
ceeded by Rev. George N. Caissey of St. AL
bans.
DIR. A. II. w. JACKSON of Grand Isle has
held the Office of town clerk for thirty-one
years and has been postmaster forty-five
consecutive years His first appointment
was in 1871.
SAMUEL C. SMITH, station agent at Hart
ford, celebrated his eightieth birthday last
week Monday. He has been in the employ
of the Central Vermont railroad ever since
it opened for travel, and has been station
agent there for thirty-seven years.
REV. o. G. WHEELER, who has been pas
tor of the Congregational churches in South
Hero and Grand Isle for forty-six years, has
just rendered his resignation on account of
advancing age. He is father of Rev. S. II.
Wheeler of Waterbury and II. o. Wheeler
Esq, superintendent of the Burlington pub
lie schools
Mr.. WILLIAM f. BARRETT will in few
days assume the managing editorship of the
Boston Daily AdUertiser and Record. Mr..
Barrett, though ayoung man, has had news
paper experience. He was graduated at
Dartmouth College in 1880, and was the cor
respondent of the Boston journal. He be-
came connected with the st. Adams Mes
senger after his graduation, and since 1882
he has been the resident Washington cor
respondent of the Daily Advertiser .-Boston
Journal
THE NorthWeSt Magazine for April con-
tains a portrait and sketch of Hon. Edmund
Rice, mayor of st. Paul, MINI. He was
born in Waitstield, VT, February IA, 1919,
and was clerk in a country store until, at
the age of nineteen, he went to Kalamazoo,
Mich, and began the study of law. He held
various offices in that state and served in
the Mexican war. In 1S49 he organized a
law firm in st. Paul, and has since been
prominent in promoting the railroad inter-
ests of Minnesota. He has served in both
branches of the legislature.
CoMRADE ID. c. PAvEY of Pittsfield Mass.
will deliver the Memorial day address at
st. Adams, Lieutenant Henry Ballard of
burlington at Bristol, Captain II. c. Lull of
Montpelier at Barnard, Comrade Simeon
Grow of Springfield at North Springfield
James NJ. Slade of Middlebury at Middle
bury, Hon. w. p. Dillingham; of Waterbury
at Stowe Rev. f. E. Herrick of Chelsea at
East Corinth, Frank Plumley, ESQ, of
Lowell of Albany, n. Y, at Rutland, DR..
Azel Ames of Boston at Bennington, Colonel
j. II. Benton, Jr., of Boston at Bradford,
Ex-Governor Proctor and Comrade Sanford
Mitchell at Ludlow and Hon. Alexis T.
Smith of Vergennes at Hinesburgh.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-05-19
The Wool Interest and the Tariff.

The advocates of the Morrison tariff
bill, which puts wool in the free list,
maintain that it is a raw material which
should not be taxed. The wool-grow-
ers insist that wool is as much manu-
featured product as flannel. This enor-
nous product, amounting to almost
half billion pounds in a year, has
grown from small beginnings under
protective tariff. In the tariff sense
wool is not raw material, and it is as
much entitled to protection as the ar
ticles which are manufactured from it,
If the free -traders were successful in
removing the tariff duties on foreign
woods, their next attack would be di-
rected against the duties on wooden
goods. The Manchester Mirror says
on this subject:
!" Last year the imports of wooden goods
most of which came from England
amounted in value to more than sixty mil
lions of dollars at the custom-house and on
these the duty averaged sixty-seven per
cent. In other words, the English manu-
facturers paid about forty millions for the
privilege of selling sixty million dollars
worth of wooden goods in our market and
were then able to compete with our manu-
facturers. So, too, foreign wool-growers
paid about four millions for the privilege of
selling twelve million dollars worth of wool
in the United States last year, and thus beat
our home farmers in our own markets
With these facts before us, what folly it is
to talk about our home industries living I'M
der free-trade, without largely reducing the
cost OF production-that is, the cost of labor.
But, says the free-trader, every dollar that
is paid in duties, and every dollar that the
tariff increases the cost of goods made here,
is assessed upon the consumers by the sell
ers. So it is but it is kept in this country.
Somebody here gets it, and sooner or later,
directly or indirectly, it finds its way back
into the pockets of those who pay it, while
when we send to England for goods, because
we can buy them cheaper there than here,
every dollar we pay is lost to this country
and goes to support the foreigner. Free
trade runs upon the theory that it is better
for community that man should send
dollar to somebody across the ocean and
keep twenty-five cents in his pocket than
that he should spend the dollar and twenty
five cents among his neighbors."
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-05-19
Interstate Commerce.

The interstate commerce bill passed
the senate last Wednesday, by vote of
forty-seven to four, after being amended
so as TO destroy the intended effect of
the Camden amendment, which re-
CURED railroads to charge the same
rates per ton per mile for a long dis
lance that were charged for short dis
lance. The modified proposition is a
compromise between the two extreme
views. 1t does not make the rates be-
tween New York and Chicago, for ex-
ample, the maximum rate that could be
charged between intermediate points,
but it does prohibit railways from
charging higher rate for shorter
than for longer distance on all ship
ments from any given point of depart
ure or destined to any given point of
arrival. A Washington paper says if
the Camden amendment had not been
modified the railroad companies would
have put up through rates so that the
shipments of produce to the seaboard
from the far West would have been
practically prohibited, and, as Senator
Stanford expressed it, would have re-
suited in complete commercial disaster
The bill passed by the senate pro-
vides for a commission of five persons,
who are to deal with all railroads whose
tracks do not lie wholly within one
state. 1t requires that all charges for
any service in transporting passengers
or freights, or storing goods, by COM
mon carriers, shall be reasonable. 1t
prohibits all rebates and drawbacks,
and all unjust discrimination, requir-
ing that all persons shall be charged
and treated alike for services rendered
under substantially similar circum-
stances and conditions. Every COM
mon carrier subject to the bill shall,
within sixty days after it becomes a
law, file with the commission copies of
all its tariffs of fares and freights, in
Guiding its classifications and terminal
charges, and shall make them public so
far as the commission may deem prac-
ticable. No advance on such published
rates shall be made without ten days
public notice.