Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1906-11-23
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FsFty Year, Age AnA AZ Prssoas.
Forty-ave years marks. We may cay.
tho man OF middle eye. yet us re-
ltrospect Of The last IS yeArs win point 10
many Of The most remarkable, and -
now considered, indispensable, irven.
tons and devices of civilized Life, Gays
the Philadelphia Record. These. Tie
middle-aRed man, as q boy, did NOT
even dream Of. Going back % the time
when men now 45 was five, We will find
that he and all the rest OF mankind
lived very satisfactorily without tele.
phones. Scarcely a houss Of any CON-
siderable size would now be deemed
habitable without ono. When Dom.
munication with a distant point was
needed quickly the telegraph was
brought into requisition. II great
haste was not requisite, a letter sufaced.
The expedition with which business is
now transacted was obviously impossible
without the telephone, although other
Inventions. then equally unknown, con.
tribute much to the hurry OF today.
The electric light, like most other
electrical inventions, was as distant as
the telephone; though gas and OF,
principally the former, made what wa
considered satisfactory illumination.
Great construction works could not,
however, be carried on by night with
gas, while now, by arc light, they may.
In that day the miner toiled under
ground by the dim ~AickerIng iIlumiDa-
ton of a candle. AT present large
are strung with incandescent
electric lights and kept practically as
light as are surface establishments by
night.
Forty years ago, a speed OF 80 miles
by rail was deemed wonderful, ind cen
t%inuous trips Of moro than 200 miles
we're rare. Changes Of cars were
frequent on long distance Journeys. and
as the segments of road we're in those
days controlled by different companies,
there was much transferring Of passeug.
ers and baggage, and buying of new
tickets. Dining cars were unknown,
and -Yayside lunch counters, with their
familiar gongs md summary "an
aboard" examinations to unsatisfactory
and abbreviated rapas,s, were the rule.
The postage rate on domestic letters
was then three cente. and foreign
postage was charged TO Canada and
Mexico; while every negotiable docu-
ment, deed, check, bond or legal in.
strument bore nm internal revenue
stamp. Bankers, brokers, statioDers
~druggiste and sven saloon keepers kept
a supply ut revenue stamps on sale.
and merchants had them in sheets ready
to be affixed to receipts il aver Tor the
most tritiinR amounts.
Every bank and merchant, and prac.
tically every storekeeper then subscrib-
ed to some publication which gave a
weekly list of new counterfeit bank
notes; md these publications, owing 10
tile then imperfect methods Of engrav-
ing and registration, were usually many
pages i'll extent.
Songs OF the war, printed on single
sheets OF music, were strung along park
%fences, and sold at a petin, apiece, tile
dealer being generally a wounded col.
dier Of the civil war, incapacitnied for
work. Small change was mostly pupef
in denominations OF three, tive. ten, .
and so cents. For a time a 10. cent bill
was circulated, but it was eoon with
drawn. Nlckle three.cent pieces, as
substitutes for silver three.cent pieces,
also were III circulation, though the sil
yer three.ceut piece, or @%acally,' was not
rare. Plugged silver pieces, when there
were ANY silver pieces, usually five or
ten cent pieces, we're the rule rather
than the exception, though ths holes
and lead filing seemed III no way to in
terfere with their circulating capacity.