The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1895-03-14
SOURCES OF PROFIT.
Living Out of the WastefulnesS
of Others.
THE CHANGES WROUGHT BY TIME
The U. S. Governments Profit and Loss
Accounted Tidy Sum Turned in by
Carelessness or Misfortune.


again it grows out of changes wrought
by time aud the forces of nature, while
infrequently some individual is sharp
enough to make an excellent living
out of the unrecognized wastefulness
of others.
The most recent unique instance of
the latter method of making ones for
tune was located in South Jersey. A
man who had been as poor as his neigh
bors began to be noticeably prosperous.
In time his acquaintance began to
connect his increased fortune with his
regular disappearance from town with
huge and apparently weighty jug.
Some one suggested "moonshine" and
set the revenue officers ON his track.
The officials investigated, smiled, but
went quietly away without disturbing
the supposed culprit or explaining
their conduct to his neighbors.
One night, however. as i'll luck
would have it. an inhabitant of that re.
gion fell into the creek which ran close
by what little village there was.
!
black as ink. This led to discovery.
Some miles away the refuse of a dye
establishment ran into the creek. The
dye was SO strong and the water supply
so meager that the result of the mix
ture was good ink, which the smart
countryman dipped into a jug and
carried to a neighboring town for sale
as often as he needed money. I do not
vouch for this tale, but it is said to be
a true one
Ginseng is the basis of the Chinese
elixir Of life. 1t is considered the pam
acea for all Celestial ills. Every year
the people of that country pay people
in the United States three million dol
lars for five or six hundred thousand
pounds of ginseng.
Ginseng is a root which grows in
all the rich upland woods of America
from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
In great many States sang digging is
merely an incidental, if profitable, ad-
dition to regular farm crops. Up in
the mountains of West Virginia, how
ever, there are whole communities of
people who do nothing else for a liv-
ing. The men are short, tough, tire
less and agile, peaceable and temperate,
and they clothe themselves in any kind
Of cast-off rags. The women usually
wear single calico garment, while
the children go naked, and they all live
on fried bacon, corn bread and tobacco
Marriage is not necessity, but any.
thing bordering on polygamy is not
smiled upon. Their dwellings are
one-roomed log huts with clay chin
neys. The beds are the floors of theil
houses.
From October to May the sanger, -
as be is called. hates work, but from
May to October he works like beaver
digging ginseng root. This he sells
green to the nearest country store.
keeper. The rind of the root is pale
salmon color, the interior is pure
white; it tastes not unlike licorice and
has faint aromatic odor Ginseng
root must be died either in the sun OF
in kilns, or else it must be evaporated
by steam before it is ready to pass
from the rural merchant to the city
dealer, who passes it on to the sea.
board and thence to China.
Not far from Cape May, New Jer
} sey, there is a unique mining industry
Cedar is Indigenous to the soil of that
foreign country, and centuries age
there must have been fine forest OF
cedar trees where are now the swampy
suburbs of Cape May. A mighty storm
or earthquake must have felled this
wood at one swoop, for gigantic trees
as well as smaller ones lie at full length
imbedded in soft muck many feet be-
low the surface Of the earth.
As far back as 1912, a log was dis
| covered by a Jerseyman supposed tc
' have been digging for Captain Kidd's
3 lost treasure. When hauled to the
surface, it was found to be perfectly
preserved. Since that time the peo
pie of that vicinity have mined fol
this wood to greater or less extent.
The government of the United States
too, makes money annually from
sources which have grown to be Sc
constant that they can hardly be called
l unexpected. Before each year is ovel
; there is always tidy little sum turned
over to the profit and loss" accoun
through the carelessness or misfortun,
of people with whom it transacts bus
9 mess. The government is not at fault i
i man loses his money order and doe
Q not know enough to get duplicate
Its employees try in every possible way
: to help the creditor to his deserts, ant
yet in the thirty years since money
e orders have been in use, $1,000, OO(
I has been turned into the Postoffice De
partment fund solely from UNPAID
money orders. Then there is pape,
Q money which has been destroyed be
: yond redemption. or the fragments O
which have never been presented tt
$ the proper bureau, and the lost coupon
{ bonds which are never replaced and
Q the destroyed postage and revenu,
9 stamps. All this amounts to millions
q of dollars year in profits which car
never be cast up once for all since Gov
: eminent debts are seldom outlawed.
: New York City contains any numbe,
OF men who earn their living innodt
ways. There is the 81" man wht
: winds, repairs and keeps all the clock
fTTIr NlN IL