The Van Buren press., 1896-06-20
ARP HAS 4 VISITOR.
Eroe Tucker @ the United States
Laboz DeDartrs 1ss
c.,-,,sa-snr tn. Oh Methods wish the
Nsys-E.egsnas Orrifsrs aad sse S@saAs
-Taa Mask Wsrk aad Too
IfznIs sskeslfag-

This "a great government D. We
E.anFs l-zs9sa gerry much about 1t ufit4I we
o.. EesFna the seeass-behind tas
screens. a. 10 N1ere-and SEE what : go-
Tsy en- Tie dozngs q congress a. We
read shern n the papers are very nolsy
and exciting. bat It 3 mostly routine
work and Tells "a nothing ct what -
rafn.g O. IN the various departraents=-
scientific and Industrial We Used %
rea the patent office reports that Ead
!. morId Of el4rIoas information and ex-
planasofY pictures, but how they seem
to have stopped coming. And there
ware books o. agriculture and hoFfi-
caltzre ard pesrfferOus insects and
books that tod about cattle and sheep
and all she diseases 10 which they were
sTHhfeet- All these used 70 be distrIo-
uHed among the people Ike garden
seeds are distributed, and pretty much
far the same vote-catching purpose,
but they cost : Big lot Of money,
and are now given only TO the
'ssfeneifle- The men Of science make
but little noise in the world. They
care bat little for fame or for
tune. but they are at work studying
nature and solving mysteries and less
eufng the burdens OF life. Itdoes seem
10 be eIispensatIon Of Providence that
great ns4n care SO little for money.
" hat they discover or invent soon be-
comes common property. | am not
speaking Of the small man who takes
0ut a patent On fish hooks or hairpins,
but o. great men, like Jenner and Pas
tear. Agasziz, Fulton, Watts, Newton or
Morse.
But I was Illuminating about visit /
had recently visit from Prof. Tucker.
The United States agent for the labor
department.. He came to find out
about how the silk business was con-
Quoted in Georgia 50 years ago. So |
tod him how ny father. in 1881, got
some morus multicaulis cuttings from
Washington and in two years had sew
sral acres Of young trees, and then
buIIt house, 40 feet square and two
stories high, and filed it with hurdle
frames and got some sllkworm eggs,
and when they Matched the worms
soon filed the house and eat up all the
mulberry leaves and wanted more. We
got enough from a neighbor to finish up
NIth. and We BOYS were glad enough
when the nasty things began to wrap
up in their murnmy-lil1e shrouds.
But M curiosity vas excited. What
dos the United States want to know
all this for? So he explained by saying
that his department. is comparing the
old with the new-the primitive meth
DDS with the modern-shd the cost of
each, and which was the best and gave
more happiness, and other economic
questions. lie had a leather grip full
Of samples OF the handiwork Of the
women Of western North Carolina and
northeast Georgia. Every little square
or scrap was pinned to printed sheet.
that gave the name of the weaver and
her name and residence. There we're
samples of wooden and cotton and linen
and silk, samples OF linsey and jeans
and eounterpanes and quilts and wag-
on sheets and curtains and table
cloths. and some OF them were gems Of
beautiful fabrics, and in those noun
tain counties the humble people are still
spinning and weaving in the old-fash-
Toned way and are happy. In many
families their handiwork is piled up on
the shelves and clothes presses, await
ing the marriage Of sons and daughters
to whom they were to be given as bridal
Dr. l
cimens Of silk sewing thread and fax
thread that were made at home. He
found good people up there who seldom
bought anything and were able to give
a stranger good bed and plenty to eat
and sincere hospitality.
He told me of an old man in Rabun
who said he never fell out with the
United States until the revenue officers
began 10 sneak around his little still
where he had been making peach brandy
for 80 years, and had the respect of his
Maker and his neighbors, and he told
them that the United States wasn't big
enough to stop him, for the right to
make it was handed down to him from
his father and grandfather. He said
they threatened him every time they
came about, but he kept two pitchforks
in the house-one under the front door
and the other at the head of his bed. and
they dident dare to arrest him. But
after worrying with them for three
years things kept getting hotter and
hotter and his neighbors advised him IN
quit stilling and he did, tor he was get
ting old and wanted 70 live in pea,e
but it was bad government tina. would
let rich man still and not let n moor
man. These big distilleries, said he
swindle the government out of more
tax money than all the moonshine stills
put together. All they have to do is
to bride the storekeeper. | know NJ
one over in North Carolina that sold
$500 gallons in one year and never mid
dollar tax on it. He told Prot Tucker
that the revenue men broke up 40 stills
in that region that year, but to his
knowledge there were about 100 that
were still running on small scale
''The boys sorter like the danger of If"
said he, "ao1 the informer catches a
when found out. He generally leaves
this part of the country as soon as he
pockets his bride. The mountain neo-
pie are not as honest and honorable nc
they used to be, and il all comes of This
bribe-taking business. The United
States ought TO be ashamed of it,"
The professor said il is impossible
10 convince those mountaineers who are