Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1897-12-07
UNCLE SANS MILK CHECKS.

4 Story oe Dalry. . Lead Mins. Lad
Cciss and % ssms Qussr People WE
Wanssa Wages Reduced.
There was once dairyman who did
Z large and prosperous business He
was known and respected BY large
community. and nearly all the people
Who knew him did business with him.
! do not know what his real name VISA
but they called him Uncle Sam. At the
early day when these things happened
there was very little money, and people
used bar lead, bullets and tobacco for
change. Finally Uncle Sam, who was
rather unusual character. read pas
sage in one Of Aristotle's works In re-
gard to the invention Of money, that lit
was afterward determined In value by
mon putting stamp on il in order
that Il may save them the trouble Of
weighing it"
So Uncle Sam built stamping ma
chine which would stamp out an Eng.
lish penuy's worth Of lead and was worth
pint of milk, as he was then sell
Ing milk. These checks proved to be
quite convenient People found them
all full weight. and Uncle Sans work.
men and servants took their pay in
them. People also sold him their cows
for them, and Uncle Sam sold milk for
them. Sometimes the people used the
lead coins for bullets and for weights.
but Uncle Sam didn't care very much.
Although IL did cost him something to
coin them. he had passed them at their
lead value In fact. Uncle Sam would
exchange coins for bar lead Mt any time.
weight for weight, AZ matter Of pub
lie convenience. Some other people
made coins in mold occasionally. but
people generally weighed them In ord
to find whether they were m heavy as
Uncle Sans coins Uncle Sam said b
didn't care how many coins they made.
and he would take them himself II they
were full weight
A lead mine was discovered not very
far from Uncle Sans, and lead went
down In price 10 about half what It had
been. A great many people who had
some Of Cncle Sums lead began to
wonder what he was going to do about
the matter. The checks were worth m
" n halfpsnuy now. They Discovery
that Uncle Sam was still receivir3
them for renny's worth Of milk ar
that he was continuing to pay them out
To his work cn just as before.
His business was enlarging. and he
was stamping cut these checks in larger
hunters than ever People sold him
hay and COWS for them nc the same rate.
for he had said that he intended 10
maintain the parity Of his checks and
the penny People didn't use his checks
for bullets now. for bar lead ccst only
half as much Aud Uncle Sam request
ed his friends 10, to make any OF these
checks on, of bar lead. for he didn't
like TO accept halfpcnny checks for n
penny unless he had passed them of on
the public for penny swor;h Of labor.
The next thing of note that happened
TO Uncle Sam was this: The people who
owned the lead mine heard about his
scheme, and they got up n convention
| in order 10 see II something couldn't b.
done for lead. They wanted 10 get the
good old prices. They proposed that
Uncle Sam should coin the whole out
put Of their mine free and let them cart
away the checks. since they owned the
lead. They tried to make Uncle Sam be-
lieye that this would double the price
Of lead and he could go right on doing
business as IL nothing had happened.
There was also some talk to the effect
that people couldn't pay their debts IN
less they could get some cheap money
to pay with.
The working people wero getting q
penny q day. and mnny OF them
thought these lead pennies they wer'
getting We're too good and would buy
| too much at the stores They Joined
the free coinage movement in order to
| get cheap penny which would buy on
IL half ms much as the present penny,
with u view Of restoring lead to its old
price. SO people could pay their debts In
cheap money They said they would
trust to luck to get their wages doubled.
Some Of the wiser ones shook their
heads and said Uncle Sam certainly
couldn't carry the whole lead output al
twice its market value. They were
confident that il he should attempt &c
do so the lead coins would soon pass al
their junk value. This would upset
credits and business and ruin the whole
community.
When finish the translation Of Thu
story and learn how the tangle was set
tied, will write again. Francis +
Eipher in ST. Louis Globe Democrat