Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1897-09-17
UNCLE SANS MILK CHECKS.

n story or a Dairy, Lead Mine, Lea
Coins and OF Some Queer People VIII
Wanted Wages Reduced.
There was once dairyman who die
u large and prosperous business HI
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 was,
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 q
rather unusual character read pas.
cage in one Of Aristotlo's works in re-
gard 10 the invention Of money, that lit
was aftorwnrd determined in value by
men putting stamp on it in order
that il may save them the trouble Of
weighing H., "
80 Uncle Sam built stamping ma
p chine which would stamp out an Eng
lish penny worth Of lead and was worth
q pint Of milk, as he was then sell
ing milk. These checks proved to be-
quite convenient People found them
all inll weight, and Uncle Sam 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 it did cost him something to
coin them, he had parsed them at their
lead value. In fact, Uncle Sam would
exchange coins for bar lead at any time,
weight for weight, as a matter of pub
lie convenience. Some other people /
made coins in mold occasionally, but /
peoT'e generally weighed them in order /
to fiEd whether they Were as heavy as
Uncle Sans coins, Uncle Sam said no /
didn't care how many coins they made,
and he would take them himself If they |
were full weight.
A lead mine was discovered not very /
far from Uncle Sans, and lead went .
down in price to about half what it had .
been. A great many people who had I
fomo OF Uncle Sans lead began to
wonder what he was going to do about
Che matter. The checks were worth on
ly halfpenny now. They discovered
that Uncle Sam was still receiving
them for II penny's worth of milk and
that he was continuing to pay them out
to his worlsmen just as before.
His business was charging, and no
was stamping out these checks in larger
numbers than ever. People sold him
hay and cows for them at the same rate,
for he had said that no intended to
maintain the parity of his checks and
the penny. People didn't use his checks
for bullets now, for bar lead cost only
half as much And Uncle Sam request
cd bis friends not to make ony of these
checks oct of bar lead, for no didn't
ike TO accept halfpenny checks for
penny unless be had passed them Off on
the public for a penny worth of labor. ,
The next thing of note that happened
10 Uncle Sam was this: The people who
lwned the lead mine heard about his
scheme, and they got mp n convention
n older 70 see if something couldn't DO
lone fer lead. They wanted to get the
rood old prices They proposed that i
Jncle Sam should coin the whole out !
lnt of their mine free and let them cart p
way tie checks, since they owned the
cad. They tried TO make Uncle Sam be-
ieve that this would double the price
( lead and he could so right ON doing
usinoss rs il nothing had happened. t
hero was also some talk to the effect !
hat people couldn't pay their debts I'M g
PISS they could get some cheap money Y
D pay with. :
The working people were getting !
emmy day, and many of them
bought these lead pennies they were
citing were too good and would buy +
10 much at the stores. They joined 81
ne free coinage movement in order to
ct a cheap penny which would buy on a
: half as much rs the present penny,
18th view of restoring lead TO its old d,
RICE so people could pay their debts in
heap money They said they would :,
'ust TO luck 10 get their wages doubled. "
Some Of the wiser ones shook their K
eads and said Uncle Sam certainly II
,uldn't carry the whole lead output at
vice its market value. They were
niident that if no should attempt to
so tho lead coins would soon pass at -,
cir junk value This would upset
edits and business and ruin the whole ~
When | finish the translation of this -
Dry and learn how the tangle was set
ed, l viii write again. Francis T. S,
iphor in St Louis Globe Democrat.
Tho Drift Toward Gold. Y,