davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-01

der long for homo. mother. ana pound
Of chalk.
'"But while there were large profits in
this and similar contracts. my employer
didn't make the bulk OF his fortune out
Of them. I'D 1 NV q
The Old Way Of Collecting Revenue.
I'm the time OF which I am speaking
tbs machinery OF tho revenue depart
nent OF lie government want as perfect
as It !s at present. Nowadays, as you
probably know. special revenue stamps
are provided by tho Internal Revenue
Department, and each package Of to-
bloco whom put upon the market must
bear stamps sufi c!ent In value 70 show
that the tax upon the contents Of tho
package has been paid to the government.
The present method was not inaugurated
method being much simpler and, conse-
cult
Under the old system each internal
revenue collector. instead Of having
stamps to sell IN quantities as required
by the manufacturers, was provided with
sat OF stencil plates ana dies. When
requested by the manufacturer, the col.
lector would 30 to the factory and brand
tho packages that were ready for tho
market The brand, which was stamped
on one and Of each caddy, stated the
number OF the factory and tho internal
revenue district in which 1t was located.
Tho dies stamped into the wood tho num-
Dor Of pounds each caddy obtained. The
days stamping and branding was figured
up and the manufactures gnve his check
for the total amount Of tho tax,
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-01
He TURNED UPON NE EYES Too FIERCE
To4BE IN "A HU76AfT HEAD.

''Most Of the time during tho war the
tax upon plug chewing tobacco was forty
cents per pound. The oaddies varied In
size. In accordance with the length OF
the plugs, and there was slight varia-
ton Of weight in caddlos Of the same
size. The cAddies containing tho finch
plug-and this was the greater part OF
the product-Tan from eighteen pounds to
twenty-five pounds in weight; tho finch
plugs made oaddes from thirty-eight to
forty-tWo pounds You can see that.
averaging the six-inch packages at twen-
ty pounds. and the twelve-inch at forty
pounds. the tax amounted to IS and sic,
respectively.
No Protection Around the System.
"About all the protection thrown
around the system consisted of the watch
and that waI far from perfect at that
time, How many swindles went through
to the end without being detected will
never be known, but eventually some
pretty big game was caught In the secret
service not But let mo get back to my
story.
There wasn't clock In the rolling
room Of the factory, and those OF tho roll
ers who owned watches would hang them,
during working hours, In convenIen {
places about their benches SO that they
might keep track OF the time, as the
rolling VAS done by tho piece system, and
tho rollers would set tasks for them
selves which kept them always on the
Jump. was wrapper stemmer for my
uncle, with whom lived. One evening
about 8 O'clock he called to me as I was
playing In tho street, and. whom I came
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-01
BY FRANK q. CARPENTER.

The city IL about sixteen miles back
from tho sea built upon piles on both
banks Of tho Mas The piles are driven
as much as fifty feet into the soil and
OF stono Qua?s enormous warehouses;
nnd city OF about $4,000 people. Tho
town controls all public improvements
and It Is spending vast sums to Increase
Its shipping facilities and trade, II I
remember correctly the COST OF deepening
tho river Mas, so that the biggest ocean
stesmships could come right into tho city
was moro than sI0,ooo000. This work,
however, has made Rotterdam superior
to Amsterdam as q port, and 1t now
ranks second among the ports Of con-
continental Europe. and Ia surpassed by
mona In It's safety and In Its convenieneea
FOR handling goods have spoken OF its
miles OF stone Quays.
It has also shipyards and floating dry
Docks and every means OF repnlrtng and
taking care OF shippng. It has moor
ing buoys In tho Mas, 80 that the ves-
sells can unload into the bargea In mid
stream, and tts qusys are 30 fitted with
cranes that Ill sorts of freight can be
rapidly moved. At present there are sew
enty-fve ocean lines which call regularly
at Rotterdam, and the river and canal
craft which annually enter this port
number 125.o00. The river is always free
from leo, and business goes on all the
Year round, t'
UNCLE SANG DUTCH coNNEcTIoNs.
In my ride around the wharves was
surpriaed at the number OF ships loading
for and unloading from the United States.
Our trade Is very Important to Holland.
OF all Its tonnage moro than 28 per cent.
comes from our country. and the only
county Wild CHI surpassss tho United States
in this !s Great Britain, which has about
SO per cent. OF tho total tonnage, but
some Of this consists OF American goods
which come to Holland via England.
There are more than 400 ships leaving
Rotterdam every year for the United
States, or more than one every day.
There are thirteen regular steamship
lines, which do business between the two
countries.
The Holland-Amcrican line Is the great
est. 1t has passenger line to New
York and freight steamers for Newport
News. Tho passenger ships make the
journey from Rotterdam In eight or ten
days, while the freight steamers take
from nIne to twenty days.
This line Ia making money and 1t has
for several years paid dividends of 10
per cent. and upward,
Outside the IIoland-American line the
chief steamship companies which deal
with the United States are freIghters,
the most OF the Vessels going to tho
Southern States. There are tank Hteam-
ers belonging to tho Gevnan-Alaerican
Petroleum Company ana the American
Petroleum Company which ply regular
ly between New York, Baltimore, Phila-
delphIa and Rotterdam, and here are
tramp steamers which carry oil, The
N~ptuns line has one Of s1aogA steaMer
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-01

past miles and mI!os OF rlvor and canal
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-01

Of that time and community wi1oee folks
were either unabla or unwilling to keep
their youngster. In idleness, worked as
q steMmer IN one Of tho tobacco fac
tories from March till October-the rest
OF the year wns devoted to schooling.
The war between the North and the
South demorallzed the tobacco Industry
south OF the Ohio river. and brought to
the towns on the Upper Mississippi such
boom as they had never dreamed OF.
and. by tho way, they are dreaming Of
It yet. In addition to the usual markets,
which made extra heavy demands upon
our towns because OF the closing Of so
many Southern factories, there We're large
orders from the government for plug to
supply Its cornm!ssary department..
We'll DO remember one OF those
government orders. It was for 10000
pounds OF Black Navy. The factory In
which I worked at the time got the
order. The brand was rightly named,
for nothing could be blacker than It
was. The casing consisted OF the lowest
grade OF licorice. dirty brown sugar, and
musty gum arabic. The filters wore not
stemned. and soma OF tho stems were
as large as a lead pencil. Tho plugs
weighed a pound each and everyone con-
tanned enough heartburn to mako SOL
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-01

up 10 him, asked me to 80 over Do tho
factory and get his watch, which ne had
left hanging on his bench when he quit
work at 8 O'Clock.
two n1astfh dogs that belonged to our
factory. They were big fellows, and
bad been told that they were as fierce as
they looked. Like many OF the other
boys about the factory, I had made
friends with Pluto and Ponto, and often
went at tho noon hour into the walled
yard back Of tho factory where the
fed them scraps from my unon. It was
understood that tho dogs were turned
loose at night, but. AZ I had never been
down there otter dark until tho night
I was sent aftor the watch, I didn't
know anything about It Ny uncle had
told mo that there was q watohman at
the factory, and that he would let mo
60 up To- the rolllns-roop after the
WATCH
A Dog on Guard.
"As drew near the building noticed
a light burning in the Office. which was
located In the centre Of tho lower floor.
There were entrances at each front oor-
ner OF the building ! tried the door OF
the first enerance and found 1t locked.
then went on to the mkt entrance.
passing tho Office windows. Apparently
no ono was In the Office, but I didn't
stop to Investigate.
Whom l reached the other entrance
there lay pluto. stretched out on tho door
sill, but with his head erect, alert In at
t1tude and manner He was evidently on
guard but not expecting one OF the,
young friends who fed him on scraps Of
bread and meat at noontimes. He was-
god his tall when he saw who the late
caller was, and offered no protests as I
opened tho door-which, aiterward
understood, was loft unlocked to avoid
suspicion-and stepped into the store
room
TT was necessary for me to pass
through the entire length Of this room
to reach tho stairway that led to tho
roling-room on the floor above. AS I
moved toward the rear Of the room, I
saw dim light burning In tho fnrthest
corner. Thinking this was the watoh-
mans light and intending to make my
presence known to him, and. at the Same
time. to ask him to loan mo a lantern, I
approached tho corner. my bare feet
moving noise!essly over tbs floor.
The Boss" Caught Counterfsitlng.
Imagine my surprise and oonsterna-
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-01

Europe. One or two Of our firms are
pushing their foreign business moro
Company, which has Its advertisements
than any other, and especially the Singer
everywhere aud branch houses In oil the
cltios OF England and the continent, In
fact. found a store here on the Hoog-
straat-the Broadway Of Rotterdam
which had photographs Of some OF the
sewing schools OF Holland IN which tho
little Dutch girls are working away on
American machines. Ono OF these pic
lures is Of school at Alkmaar, one Of
the oldest towns OF Holland.
Not far from this shop are hardware
stores, with q great variety of Ameri-
can goods, including Philadelphia lawn
mowers and Michigan pitchforlss, and In
the music store. just over the way,
saw windows Allied with the marches Of
sousa printed with the American flag
on the cover. They are made BY Rot
terdam firm md sell IN sets at 40 cents
q copy.
The American shoe does not seem to be-
walking into Holland as rapidly as could
be desired. The climate Is SO wet that
! thicker shoes than ours are needed, New
ertheless, 1t Is no worse than England,
and our shoes will sell II properly
pushed. There Is one store In Rotterdam
with a big sign above 1t advertising
American footwear and another store,
Nillclt n NNn flIIlSllueu loIi BeltNlS AInerl-
oan shoes, is vacant. The Dutch mer-
chant opened his place on contracts
which he had with Americans, leasing
ono Of the best places and planning to
make our shoes q speciality. Ills goods,
owing to the carelessness OF tho Amerl-
can exporters, failed to como on time,
and tho result was that he compromised
his lease and gave UP the business.
ARH WE POOR BUSINESS MEN?
Indeed. tho Americana have bad reps
utatton In Europe as experoters and
traders. We make the best goods, but
we don't know how to sell them. Such
trade as we have Is because our goods
are SO good, and not because OF our
business ability in selling or csre in
filling orders. 4
Taxe for instance an order which a sta
tlonery dealer here sent to New York
and had filled at loss. The man has a
shop right next to the Witte Huis, and
I dropped into It to buy q lead pencil.
ana when asked him II he handled
other American goods, took me through
rooms filled with unit book cases, desks
and office furniture. and showed me coses
or American inks. penclls and pens, AS
l looked at them he said:
II can sell American goods, but I
don't care especially to do so. For your
psople do not watch my interests nor
try to save money for no, Only last
month ! had;n customer who wanted q
certain brand OF American pen wrote
q New York exporter to send mo three
boxes by mail and supposed that the
ohergss would be about 70 cents, The
ekpcstsr cent the pens ny express 10
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-01
AMERICAN GOODS FLOODING THE NETT7ERLANDS

past miles and mI!os OF rivor and canal
craft.
HOLLANDS RIG TILyDD.
As I wont on ! could see something Of
the enormous buslueEs which the Dutch
have with tho rest Of tho world. Thoy
Europe. They do not number as many
40 three times tho population OF Chsca-
90, but they have twioo as much foreign
trade as the 12oo00,0oo Russians, three
times as much as tho spaniards or
Italians and twice as much as tho whole
so!th American continent. Holland stands
s!1th IN the point OF bushes. done among
the commercial nations OF the world and
ABOUT one-tet1th of It's trade is with the
United States. 1t makes exchanges to
tho e&tent of more than billion dollars
q year, and 1t annually buys more than a
hundrod million dollars worth Of goods
from us.
Let US stop a moment and think what
this lneent. This llttlo country has In
round numbers Just about Ave million
people, Or one million families, but It buys
one hundred million dollars worth Of I'm
Gle Sans goods every year. This means
that on the average every family buys
and this withstanding Its sales to US
Will not average more than Sl2 or $15 per
family. OF course, much of the goods
are bought to sell again, and some go
to the Dutch East indies, which are
eighty times as large as Holland itself,
butt the trade Is there all the same
and the business Is so biz that 1t Will
pay the most careful nursing and the
most enthusiastic pushing. Tho South
American continent Is less important to
us than Holland. Our trade with the
Chinese brings In nothing like as much
as our trade with the Dutch, and in
its possibilities i Is worth as much
as the business OF any Of the countries
of Europe, with the exception OF Eng
land, Germany. France and that unde-
yeloped empire, Russia.
UNCLE SANS TRADE WITH HoL-
LAND.
J9rst now is the best time to increase
this trade, The Dptchmen do not Ike
the llnglsh. They can't get over the
troubles OF their South African cousins.
the Beers, and other things being equal
they will give tho United States the pref
erence every time. There are hundreds OF
articles which we make that ought to be
sold here, and by studying the wants
OF the people and drumming the trade
There can be an enormous increase
ness now consists Of have before me
the Dutch imports fropI the United States
Tor the frst half OF Lhe year 1900, They
are allttle old, butYthe trade Is practi-
cally the same to-day. I win give you
some Of the ltems/ They consist OF cot
ton, cotton seed oIl, lard, tallow, uarga-
rlne. meat ana tobacco, I'D we'll a. a
large variety OF her articles. 8
The cotton thfy bought amounted to-
twenty million pounds, equal 70 more
fhAu khrsS kuti1ls RotndS ~ cotton psx
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-01

dou WHOM as turned the corner around
q large stack OF caddiss, beheld my ern-
ployer swiftly atnxing n brand with stem
oil and brush to tho end Of caddy.
while one OF bis soma stood BY, dies and
nallet In hand, ready to stamp ia tho
weight, The young man saw me- first,
and, touching his STOPPING father on
tbs shoulder, said To me:
What do you want here boy7
The father arose quickly to his fun
height OF ELK feet three inches, turning
upon me a pair OF eyes that I had always
thought too fierce to be in humans
head, searched mo as explained the
mission upon which had been sent by
my uncle When had finished, he said,
In voice that had often caused every
boy In the factory to tremhlo whom
caught IN the act Of tearing q wrap
per;
Well. go and got your unnles watch
ana get out Of here. and don't bother
US any more whom we arc putting the
name brands on, tho sides of our cad
dies. We were putting tho rcd brands
on, weren't we2' he Numbered. threaten
ingly.
Il trernbled from fright, and, though
I distinctly saw IN his hand the black
brush used only Ia putting on tho rev.
enue stencil and right before me o
score or more OF oaddies standing On
their ends instead Of lying on their sides.
I nodded my head and answered affirm
atiVely in a scared tone.
It's nobody's business but mine that
como hero at night to do this branding
the boss then roarcd at me- and II you
ever speak OF 1t to any one-any one,
you understandable throw both you and
your uncle out Of this factory, and,
what's more, Ill keep you out OF every
factory in this town, Now set out, and
mind you travel fast!''
II lost no time In folliwing his orders.
Taking the lantern he offered me, I
rushed up tho stairs, secured the watch.
came down again in four Jumps, set tho
lantern on tho floor and dew out
of the door at such speed as to
Dring old Pluto to his reot with Erowl..
Tho dog was soon reaEsured and hur-
risd homo, which reached all In
sweat. MY unole didn't think 1t necss-
sary to aak mo any a,lastons and aatd
nothing OF what had happened at tho
factory. u.s.,
A Million Made l!Hct!y.
.At the time T didn't realize al that
was going on when I came upon my
employer and his 500 thnt night. A faw
years later I heard my unclo talking
about tho matter. ana the figures no
mentioned showed that tho counterfeit
stencil and dies had bscn prollho sources
Of wealth to the man.
1t seems that he kept ur his fraud
ulent branding for more than four years
netting something like a million dollars
and that he was not run down until
he had sold out bis factory in our town
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-01

and gone to ono Of the large Southern
cities where he WAS making arrange.
ments to reopen ono Of the largest go.
Establishments that had been closed dur
Ing the war. It WAS said that during
tho four years the average OF his swind.!
ling amounted to ono-third Of tho lac
tory's output. N
A Fortune Lost In Day.
'fIe was only about four years aeon.
ruleting his million and quarter; ~
all slipped away from him inside OF
twenty-four hours The secret agents
OF the revenue department had BEEN
watching tho factory and Its output for
Two years before the proprietor sold ont.
and no had, hardly ssttled In his new
homo when they came down Upon him
with such evidence as to make him wills
Ing to accept the compromise offered by
the Government In the settlement, he
had to give up every dollar that he pos-
sessedy but by go impovorishing hln-
self. he kept out of prison.
The Judge pushed his chair back, arose
to standing position, and, with hands
in hls trousers pockets. continued:
In the autumn of 1871 was riding On
q night boat from st. Louis to Quincy,
III. There was quiet poker game in tha
forward end OF the cabin, and In this
game were flyo Players. With half O.
dozen other passengers, was watching
the game. In fact, was interested In
one OF the playcrs-something familiar
about his face and general appearances
held my attention. was sure that I
had seen him before. but q youth OF
seventeen can't hx names and faces
together like he can some years later. q I
was waiting for tho man to speak
Presently one of the party said, AZ he
was shufflIng the cards:
Gentlemen, what Will you have ia
drinkT
"a waiter stepped up to the table ana
three OF the gentlemen said they..w0,HS
take some whiskey; the other two, one o.
whom was my man. simply nodded their
heads. When the LIQUOR was placed upon
the table. e1ch man laid his cards down
and as they poured their tipples, they
seemed to md their tongues, One Of tho
party spoke OF a big pot he had won on
previous trip up the river. another
said something about making money
quickly, and then my, man spoke for the
first time. I'll know than voice II I hear
It In another world thousand years
from now. 3sa
well. gentlemen he said, ''in 1860 I!
didn't have $500 thnt ] could call my own
In 1865 ! was worth million and a;
quarter. Now I am where was In
1eG0. ] made my pile In four years. j
lost It in one day. But I'm gntno yet, and
I'll have another million before I'm bui
away In my sevenfot onddy.' s5;a
"The game ana the silence were "a
sumed ana turned away, but I had att
ted a name and habltation to face
and figure with tho assistance Of z
VOICE.
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-01
HARYARD's BIG IN.,coMR
Unlversty's Return From Investment
foots Up $500, 900 Yearly.

BOSTON, MASS. Jan. s.--That Har
ward University Is an expensive institw
t!cn is shown very clearly In the annual
statement OF the treasurer Just made pub.
lie, This report shows that tho incomt
yielded from the Unlyersity's invest,
mtnts for tho past fiscal year has hess
se25, 5is.T2, the investments themsslYol
amounting to si4.ll+54,.S5. s5 & i
The total amount OF gifts for capital
account to tho University the past yeR{
has beep s127, sis,6s, and that OF gifts to(
immediate raa $3G7, S9l.S7. x 7gs
Tho largest gifts We're as followsi 8
John D, Rockefeller, for the new
medical school -. ~. y. Z. ftsos, Tt1A
Subscriptions for medical school. lss, oe&5
Gift FOR the George EIiYginson's
.professorship " phytBploSy.
from Mr.. IIiEs1nsen,s stlli dlsn. ~ l11l
The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-01

month. This went TO tho Dutch mills
and largo part Of 4 was made into
cloths for Java, Rumatrn and different
parts OF Africa.
HOLLAND BUTTER FROM OUR COT
TON SEED.
Tho cotton seed oil Weighed just twice
as much as the cotton jtssIl. and thereby
hangs a tale These Dutch are among
the chief artificial butter makers Of tho
world. They bought forty three million
pounds Of margarine OF US during that
six months but at tho kaIne time they
used this forty-otd million pounds OF
cotton seed oil to make other mar
garlne and low grade blrtter, for uso
not only in Hollard, but IN England and
other parts OF Europe, There Is ono fac
tory horo which makes over three million
pounds OF such butter every month, and
England Imports something IKE eight
hundred million pounds. OF 1t every year.
making this butter, but tho Dutch have
the biggest factories, and they DO the
bulk OF tho worlds bustness along this
line. Thoy make also sow butter for ex-
port SO much. indeed. that Holland has
been called the dairy farm Of London.
DUTCH sCIINAPPs FROM AMERICAN
4 CORN.
Our biggest Dutch export in point Of
weight Is American corn. In this six
months IT. amounted to almost one hun
dred million pounds per month and
brought In several millions Of dollars,
What do you suppose 1t was used for7
To feed the Iolsten cattle. to furnish
butter for I.ondon7 No the grass here
Is good and 1t makes the sweetest OF
milk. For corn bread for the people? No,
the Dutch don't ent maize, though they
take vast quantities of our sacond-grade
flour and like It, What. then? I can
easily show YOU IL you will come with
me to SchiedH1n, little way out from
Rotterdam. At that place are the great
dlstillerles which make ths Holland Gin
or schnapps, There are two hundred OF
them and their business Is to grind up
American corn and reduce 1t to alcohol,
which mixed in certain way with the
juice Of the Juniper berry forms gin,
Holland gin Is considered tho best md
the Dutch think 1t Ia the best drink of
the world They consume vast quantities
OF It and It warns them body and soul,
IT is used not only hero. but throughout
the Dutch East Indies, where the hotels
give you free gin cocktails before every
meal, and where the people drink gin al
most every hour OF the day.
"A large part of what Holland soils
to us Is Gin, alcohol and wines, she
two million pounds OF spices every year.
all OF which comes from her colonies
In the East Indies.
Tfll MODERN PORT OF RoTT1SRDAAi.
Rotterdam, Is by far the best place for
pushing our trade. It Is. With the excep-
stlon OF Hamburg the best Distributing
point on ,the coast Of northern Europe.
snd II l]hs &. Wer trade restgistiorls thai,
kAH1k2Qu3lk }f6s gS my li sst5