Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-02-22
Poor Ola Uncle Sam.


on him. Like Moses OF old, s'his eye Is
not dim, nor his natural force abated.'
Like almost all well-meaning, hard.
working people, he is sorely imposed
upon, and, until the %proverbial last
straw Is laid upon him, he resents II
not, but patiently bears his burden.
About twenty-five years ago Con-
gress, with a view TO disseminating
useful information and thus promot-
ing the public intelligence, imposed
upon Uncle Sam the burden Of carry
Ing papers whose primary object was
educational, at the low rate OF cent
a pound, provided he was paid in ad-
vance as the representative OF the
government for taking them around
to the postoffices and homes. He made
no complaint on this score; for was 1t
not the supreme mission and the most
cherished object Of his life to promote
intelligence, an absolutely essential to
the growth Of this great people?
In the course of years Uncle Sans
pack began to grow very heavy, and
he began to look into it. He found a
greatly increased number of letters OF
all kinds-business letters, circulars,
postal cards, love letters-and he said
to himself: ..This is all right. The
people must talk to each other. AS
there are more people, there must be
more talk"
Then he began to weigh up his mat
ter, to find out what he was paid for
each particular part OF the burden.
He was very much surprised to find
that two-thirds OF it was papers and
little books with paper covers. When
he began to look into his cash account
he found to his great surprise that
this two-thirds OF his pack, made up
OF papers, furnished only one-sixth OF
his pay.
He found also that he was packing
around not only letters from congress
men and congressional speeches, and
occasionally a bureau or writing desk
or piano, but that he was obliged to
do all this for nothing. Examining
still further, he found himself loaded
down with whole a loads OF garden
seeds and other truck, and, to his sur
prise, saw the farmers feeding them
to the chickens or pitching them out
in the road on the way home from the
p~ostoffice.
Uncle Sam then began to grumble
and kick. He first refused to carry
any more books with paper covers for
a cent a pound. He then began to
open the papers. He found that some
Of them were advertisements OF col
leges, seminaries, and manufacturing
plants OF various kinds. Some were
mere catalogues, and he said to each
and sundry: "Keep this sort OF truck
at home. I won't be bothered with
1t any longer
He then began to look more partic-
ularly into the contents OF some OF
the newspapers, and found to his dis
gust that there was more advertising
than reading matter; that The read
Ing matter was not an effusion OF the
brain but made up with scissors and
paste pot. He then began TO look at
the advertisements, and found not
only that the information he was dis
seminating was not only very useful,
but that the advertising pages con-
tained advertisements of gold, silver
and copper mines, and that these
were mostly mere holes In the ground;
ana OF oil wells that were dry and al
ways had been; and that he was in
wiling well-meaning but foolish peo-
pie infected with the get-rich-quick
microbs to put their money into
these holes. He knew that many OF
his friends were sick, and found that
he was carrying the recommendations
OF quack doctors and poisons under
the names OF cures. The more he In
~vestigated the madden he got. He
found that his friends, the people,
had often not subscribed for these
papers that he vas Juggling about, or
had subscribed for them for but a
short time, and that he was forcing
them into unwilling hands; in fact,
that they were getting Disguised
with him.
Pursuing his Investigations, he
found that bankers, proprietors OF
creamerfes, elevators, lumber COM
panies, etc, we're buying these papers
for less than the cost OF the white