Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-12-31


but no resident, miner or business man,
dared go that far, so discretion got the
best of valor at home and things went
along Besides, in those days the orig
inal "Stalwart' was in the saddle at
Washington and two per cent" Hubbel
represented the district in congress, so
complaints, what there were, simply
went to the department pigeon-hole.
But wave of reform" came along
and Bristow, the ancient if not original
reformer, took charge of the treasury
in 1875 and examinations of the murky
and web-covered pigeon holes came in
order. Special agents went up to the
mining sections to report what there
was to this Iron" money, any way?
and more, every complaint on file, and
this put our two per cent" statesman,
with "Stalwart' old Zach" Chandler
in the senate to help him, on his merits.
The revenue officials had footed up the
annual 10 per cent. tax with the COM
pounding penalties at so and 100 per
cent. additional, as the revenue law
and regulations prescribe, and for
nearly twenty years this summed up
into figures that would bankrupt every
mining company and business concern
of the upper peninsula. The collection
of the governments due here was, in
fact, what are equal enforcement of the
anti-rebate proviso now is - and of
which Standard oil, so far, has the first
intimation. OF course, collection be-
came impracticable and morally wrong,
as the government had itself all these
years, through its officials, connived at
and tacitly approved the money" sys-
tenn, now first challenged Besides, the
"Stalwarts" were sufficiently strong in
congress to actually pass bill reliev
ing these mining companies (the small
fry was not noticed at alp from the
accrued taxes and penalties-on prom
Use of good behavior for the future,
which, of course, was given.
And thus the Bristow reform" fell
fiat.
And yet, il had its results. 1t cooled
down the money issuing craze in the
mining country and all the leading
mining and furnace companies, such as
the Iron Cliff and Jackson at Negau-
nee; Cleveland, Barnum, New York,
and others at Ishpeming, etc, an
nounced that their checks and drafts,
hitherto drawn on nobody and payable
nowhere, would be redeemed on pre-
sentation at specified local banks and
at the head offices of the respective
companies in Boston, New York, Cleve-
land and elsewhere. As the masses, as
well as the business men, realized the
change-for the redemption of the
good" company bills, soon brought
real greenbaeks and national bank
notes into cjrculation-the rag-tag and
bob-tail portion of the Iron" currency
was out. Even the simplest greene"
now caught on to discriminate between
good company money and the cheap
homemade truck.
But the elimination of the wild cat"
in the Iron" currency suggested to
some sharpers-one recent graduate
from prominent foreign university
and the other resident physician of
large acquaintance-Gt is unnecessary
to mention names SIS no good can come
from publication at this late day. the
profit in going into money" manufac-
turing as business, to supply the gap
caused by the disappearance of the
Tom, Dick and Harry bills. The big
companies checks and drafts, still ac-
cepted in general channels of business
and practically currency as before, had
deliberately engraved and color litho-
graphed makeup, very similar to Natl
bank notes, with the respective
treasurer and secretary of the company
in their written signatures as the sig
natory vouchers for the genuineness
and redemption of the bill. Either
through cshoots with SEINE subordinate
where the plates had been made, or by
actual copy, fac-similes of these various
checks and drafts were produced-the
university professor and the doctor,
however, boldly signing themselves as
treasurer and secretary, respectively,
so no tergery charge could lay. The
company" in name, of course, the
same as an original, had dating as from
st. Louis, New Orleans, or some other
out of the way place, and where the
paper would be redeemed on presenta-
ton. Thousands of dollars were soon
in circulation and not till good bunch
was gathered up and sent in To head
Office for redemption did the bubble
burst. The university man skipped,
bat the doctor staid and faced the
music. The local revenue official had
him as we'll as others who had, know
ingly or innocently, helped in circulat-
ing the stuff, indicted for counterfeit
ing, but as the original checks and
drafts copied were in no sense money
land the companies issuing them took
good care not 10 criminate themselves
in any such presumption1 there was. of
course. no ''counterfeiting' and the
charge fell fiat In fact, it was made
clear that any individual or company
could issue all the notes or drafts they
could lind takers fort rested with the
public whether to extend the cur
rency" value or not. All the govern