Evening star., 1916-06-04
Uncle Sam as a Solomon.

n official of the Treasury Department
~ tells how Uncle Sam. as represented
by that department, once acted as judge
in dispute between man and wife. The
couple had had spirited squabble as to
the possession of several banknotes, each
holding fast to an end of the wad
five dollar bill was in this way torn across
the middle, and each contestant carried
off half of it.
The Treasury Department received half
of the bill from the wife. who said that
the other half had been destroyed and
that she desired a new bill. Shortly after
the receipt of her communication there
came the second half of the bill from the
husband, with similar statement and
request. As the government then had
both ends of the bill it awarded two
dollars and half to each.
Among the most remarkable requests
ever addressed TO government officials
was that from a Chicago business man.
month or two before the time set for
the marriage of one o. his daughters he
sent to the Treasury Department large
bundle of old and torn greenbacks, re-
questing their redemption and the is
suance in their stead OF new bills in the
amount of those turned in. The new bills,
he stated. were to be given his daughter
a wedding present So far the request
of the Chicago man presented no peculiar
difficulty to the Treasury officials. but
they objected when he naively suggested
that the new notes should bear in red
letters on their face the full name of his
daughter.
Secretary Wilson. while at the head
/, of the Department of Agriculture. re-
ceived a letter from western farmer,
who descanted at length upon his ad-
miration of the work done under his
administration of the affairs of that
department. Especially did the farmer
praise the publications issued by the
department for the guidance of farm
ers desiring to experiment with the
preparations for inoculating the soil
with chemical compounds to increase
its fertility.
The writer complained. however that
he was not entirely competent to pur-
sue the experiments himself, and so
would the department be SO good as
to send professor" to him, with in
structions to institute a series of ex-
periments in the line referred to?
An Iowa farmer once complained bit
terly to the weather bureau that its
official prognostications were being
discounted by the predictions of an am
ateur weather prophet in that state.
The correspondent seemed to be labor
ing under the impression that the
weather the government maps
was copyrighted matter and as such
should be protected from parties in
fringing thereon. 1t required some cor
reSpondence from the bureau to con-
vince the Iowan that any man had the
right to place any kind Of weather on
the market in the form of predictions
long he did not claim any official
authority for so doing.
Volumes might be written with ref
erence to the appeals made to the pat
ent office by inventors. bona fide and
otherwise. A favorite complaint with
many inventors is that their ideas are
being stolen by others. One man wrote
that inadvertently he had disclosed the
principle of an invention that he was
then perfectinF because he had been
SO indiscreet as to talk in his sleep
while rooming with cousin, an un-
scrupulous man. who. it was claimed,
would certainly attempt to forestall
the real inventor. The correspondent
desired to warn the government that
he would institute proceedings for
damages should the patent be issued
to the person complained OF.