The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-04-13
JOHN BULL ANDUNCLESAM
Two Best and Most Widely
Known Nicknames.
THE ORIGINALS OF THEM
Interesting Story OF How the Two
Great Nations Acquired the Cogno-
mems by Which They Are Now
So Generally Known.

1t is probable that Uncle Sam" and
| John Bull are the two best and most
widely known nicknanes of nations
ever devised by the Wit. humor or af-
! lection of man. Germans are called
| generically by the name OF Hans
| The F'renchman is known as Johnny
| Crapaud,' an appellatiOn bestowed upon
him by the sailors of brakes and Haw-
kins day. The Spaniard is the Don"
| now and has been for three centuries.
The Chinese are "Celestials" or John
Chinaman," name originally applied
to members and servants of the British
Chinese company. The Scotchman is
Sandy the Irishman is Pat the ne
gro is "Eph." These terms come from
the commences of the Christian names
of which they are Authorizations. The
Russian, so far as known. has no ma
tional patronymic of he nickname kind.
Neither has the Swede, the Norwegian,
the Dane, the Dutchman. the Portu-
guese, the Italian, the Switzer or the
Greek. The nicknames of the two great
English-speaking nations are the only
ones traceable to an indubtiable histori-
cal origin. Many stories have been told
of them, but their derivation has been
finally settled beyond all cavil. Uncle
Sam" is now just 81 years old. John
Bull was born in the early part of the
18th century.
When the war between John Bull
and the Yankees broke out in 1917 one
of the men who took contracts to supply
the army and navy with necessaries
was shrewd Fastener named Ebert
Anderson. He got a good price for his
goods, as prices went in those days,
and all of the evidence tends to show
that he gave good goods for the good
prices. He was man of infleXible
honesty and well known for his pa
triotism. All the same, his high repu-
tation did not incline the government
to take his supplies IN trust. They did
things better in those days. Anderson
brought his things from time to time
and offered them to the nation, but
they We're accepted only after rigid in
spection One of the inspectors select
ed to examine his furnishings was
Samuel Wilson, known to hosts of
young relatives and intimate friends as
"Uncle Sam" This Uncle Sam was
veritable watchdog of the treasury. He
made Anderson no end of trouble, but
in the end all was forgiven and they
became fast friends When Wilson had
inspected a pile of supplies and found
them all right, religiOusly tasting the
sugar, the tea, the bread, the meats,
the drugs and anything else offered for
acceptance, making Of his stomach an
amalgamation of grocery store and
druggists shop and earning five times
his salary, he signified his approval of
them by saying 20 X and giving place
to his marker. This marker would
brand the goods re. A.-U. S." mean
ing Gilbert Anderson and the United
States. Anxious inquirers were proper
tionately as thick r. then as now and
they asked many times for what the
initials stood The marker was some
thing of wag and always made an
hot
son and "Uncle Sam" meaning Wilson,
the inspector. Perhaps the American
sense of humor was not SO sound then
as now, or perhaps the taste of the
people for fun has been educated in the
ensuing so years. At any rate, the
markers joke in the early part of the
century struck the hearers as very eX-
cellent fooling indeed, and they repeat
ed it industriously. The letters ~. S."
| went of course, wherever the govern
ment stores went and became familiar
to the fighting Americans. Before the
end of the war it was an understood
thing all through the country that ~.
s. was the mark of government own
ership and that spelled out it meant
Uncle Sam" The name became fas-
tened on the nation in this way and it
is a certainty that it will never become
detached. Samuel Wilson died at Troy,
N Y, in 1854. He was 81 years old.
That Uncle Sam" who watched over
the birth Of the infant republic, fought
for it valorously, coddled it through the
time of it's swaddling clothes told it
that it was destined to be the greatest
country on earth and insisted that it
endeavor to be also the best, was diff
ferent parsonage. Men still live whose
memories run back to the time when
the genuine Uncle Sam might have
posed as the typical American citi-
zen-a type of the new race sprung
from the lons of the world and nher-
iting the worlds strength. One of
them Charles H. Haswell of New York.
thus describes Uncle Sans" costume
in the days when he first stalked be-
fore the startled gaze of the nations, a
giant in word thought and deed:
The hat was high and slightly bell
crowned, Of felted fur. The collar of
the shirt was high and connected with
the bosom, which was frilled. projected
we'll out and carried a jeweled pin in
it. The craVat was white and very
wide, stiffened with what was called a
pudding The waistcoat was single
breasted, of buff cloth, with a set of
gold or gilt buttons. The coat was
blue, swallow-taled, with high rolling
collar, lapel of peculiar shape and a
high waist showing the WaistCoat I'M
derneath. The pantaloons We're close
fitting, with a narrow fall in front, and
htted below the knee for the wearing
of boots with tassels in front. The
watch was carried in a fob in the pan
falcons and was attached to a ribbon,
from which hung a SEAL" In the spring
and autumn in place of an overcoat a
spencer or Jacket was worn over the
swallowtail. The anachronisms of the
modern figure are many. Colored skirts
for women Were not known until 1929
and striped pantaloOns We're of later
date. Straps under the boots did not
appear until 1925 They were a part of
the pantaloOns, fashioned over the boot
in front and buttoned under it. They
We're known as "a la mode de Paris"
The goatee, or imperial, was not worn
until late in the '30s. The goatee pre-
coded by a few years the imperial in
troduced by Napoleon III. Colored
shirts came in about 1928.
The face of "tncle Sam" as he really
was is the face Of a kindly, humorous,
brave and independent citizen, straight
forward, honest manly and well bred.
1t is distinctly the face and figure of