The Mentor: Uncle Sam, Vol. 7, Num. 11, Serial No. 183, July 15, 1919 , Hart

 

 

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THE MENTOR 1919.07.15, No. 183,
Uncle Sam

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ONE

Our country maintains an Army and a Navy to fight against human beings with whom we are occasionally at war. In the fight against two far more dangerous and insidious foes with whom we are always at war—Disease and Ignorance—our doctors have the aid and guidance of the United States Public Health Service and our schools that of the United States Bureau of Education. These Federal institutions are aided, respectively, by state and local boards of health and by state and local boards of education.

The Public Health Service, which is a branch of the Treasury Department, was formerly called the Marine Hospital Service, and was originally devoted only to caring for sick and disabled seamen of the American merchant marine. Today it is safeguarding the health of everybody in the country. It maintains quarantine stations and offices for the medical inspection of immigrants at the principal seaports; establishes domestic quarantines, when necessary, to prevent the spread of disease from state to state; investigates and suppresses epidemics; collects and publishes health statistics; makes elaborate studies of important diseases, such as hookworm disease, malaria, pellagra, trachoma, typhoid fever, and tuberculosis; investigates public water supplies and sewage; carries on research in regard to school, mental and industrial hygiene; and, last but not least, educates the people in hygiene and sanitation by distributing tons of literature, holding exhibits, giving lectures, lending lantern-slides, et cetera. During a recent outbreak of influenza the Public Health Service distributed 6,000,000 leaflets in regard to the disease. A new duty of the Service is to operate hospitals for the physical restoration and re-education of discharged soldiers disabled in the World War. The Service has established a Sanitary Reserve Corps, consisting of medical men and others who are available for active duty in time of national emergency.

The Bureau of Education, which is under the Department of the Interior, is the national clearing-house of information on educational subjects. This information is set forth in a large number of valuable publications, and the Bureau also maintains a corps of experts who travel about the country giving advice and conducting investigations in regard to various lines of education. One of the duties of this Bureau is to supervise the expenditure of the liberal funds provided by the Government toward the support of agricultural and mechanical colleges, commonly known as the “land-grant colleges.” Another is to operate schools for the education of native children in Alaska and to look after the Government reindeer industry in that territory. A comparatively recent undertaking is the promotion of home gardening under school direction in cities and towns throughout the country, and the organization of a School Garden Army, which has materially increased the national food-supply.

Another educational agency of the Government is the Federal Board for Vocational Education, which was organized in the year 1917. This Board directs a scheme of cooperation between the Federal Government and the states for the promotion of vocational education in the fields of agriculture, home economics and the industrial arts. Congress has made liberal appropriations for this work, and these are to be increased annually until they amount to $7,367,000 a year. Each state is required to spend as much for vocational education as it receives from the national Government for the same purpose. Before this plan was inaugurated, the training of young people at public expense for definite trades and industries had made little progress in the United States. Since the World War the Board has had charge of the training and education of discharged and disabled soldiers and sailors. This work is carried on in the various technical, trade and commercial schools of the country, or other institutions offering special courses, and also directly in the trades and industries. It is not limited to manual training. The Board has announced that “all careers are open to the disabled men.”

This educational work must not be confused with that carried on for discharged soldiers in the hospitals conducted by the Public Health Service, and for soldiers still in service in the Army hospitals.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 7, No. 11, SERIAL No. 183
COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

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TWO

It would take a good-sized library to tell adequately all the things the Department of Agriculture is doing for the people of the United States. A formal program issued each year sets forth in barest outlines the undertakings on which the Department is engaged. Although only a few brief paragraphs are devoted to each project, one of these “Programs of Work” fills about 600 pages of fine print.

This Department is devoted to the two-fold task of gathering and disseminating information; primarily for the benefit of farmers, but also, directly or indirectly, for that of every man, woman and child in this country. It is also charged with the duty of administering various laws designed to safeguard the health and welfare of the people. Under this head come the inspection of food and drugs, meat inspection, protection of useful birds and animals, supervision of the national forests, and a host of other useful activities.

Let us set down at random some of the astonishingly varied tasks with which the Department has lately been occupied. Last year nearly sixty million animals were slaughtered for food under the inspection of the Bureau of Animal Industry. The Biological Survey treated more than thirteen million acres of land with poisoned grain to destroy rodent pests. The Bureau of Crop Estimates published monthly data obtained from an army of about two hundred thousand volunteer crop reporters. The Bureau of Public Roads administered the Federal-Aid Road Act of July 11, 1916, under which the Government is to cooperate with the states in road-building by means of appropriations which began with $5,000,000 for the year 1916, and will increase annually by $5,000,000 to $25,000,000 for the year 1921. The Bureau of Soils continued its work of mapping and classifying the soils, which work now extends over nearly a million square miles. The Weather Bureau established new observing stations in the West Indies, to keep a lookout for hurricanes, and added the study of volcanic phenomena to its wide range of scientific undertakings. The Federal Horticultural Board conducted an immense campaign to rid the cotton-growing regions of the country of the pink boll-worm. The Department as a whole led a nation-wide effort to provide means of feeding a hungry world. In a single year the area planted with agricultural crops was increased by 22,000,000 acres. In 1918 the planted area amounted to 289,000,000 acres. During the same year the country produced about nineteen and a half billion pounds of meat: an increase of about four billion pounds since 1914.

A branch of the Department known as the States Relations Service is engaged in educational work on a vast scale. All over the country its “county agents” are giving direct instruction and advice to the farmers. There are about twenty-four hundred of these officials now in the field, besides 1,700 “home demonstration agents,” who help the farmers’ wives to solve their domestic problems. Farm work is made interesting and profitable to the rising generation by means of some forty different kinds of clubs, such as Pig Clubs, Corn Clubs, Canning Clubs and Poultry Clubs, in which are enrolled more than two million boys and girls.

Lastly, the Department is by far the largest publisher of agricultural information in the world. Last year it issued over twenty-five hundred documents of all kinds, in editions aggregating nearly one hundred million copies. Included in this stupendous flood of literature were millions of copies of Farmers’ Bulletins, distributed free of charge, and each devoted to some practical topic connected with rural life and industries.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 7, No. 11, SERIAL No. 183
COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

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THREE

The Department of Commerce, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Reserve Board, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Bureau of Markets, the Shipping Board, and many other agencies of the Federal Government are engaged in promoting and regulating the commercial business of the country. The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, a branch of the Department of Commerce, collects information about foreign markets for American goods from American consuls, commercial attachés stationed at the principal foreign capitals, and a corps of traveling special agents. The Bureau issues a daily newspaper called Commerce Reports, containing notes and articles of commercial interest from all parts of the world and a list of “Foreign Trade Opportunities.” Each of these “opportunities” for American business in some foreign country is set forth in a brief paragraph. The following are examples:

An American manufacturer or exporter who is interested in one of these notices can obtain the address of the foreign concern that desires goods, agencies, etc., by writing to the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, in Washington. The Bureau maintains district offices in several large American cities. At the New York office, which is in the Custom House, there is a permanent exhibit of samples showing the various kinds of foreign-made goods sold in the principal importing countries of the world. The exhibits, after being shown first in New York, are usually shown in the principal centers of the particular industry concerned. Special exhibits of samples are also held in connection with trade conventions. Apart from Commerce Reports, the Bureau publishes an immense amount of statistical information concerning the foreign commerce of the United States and foreign tariffs, and also extensive studies of foreign markets for particular lines of goods.

The other bureaus of the Department of Commerce are the Bureau of Standards, which facilitates commerce by regulating weights and measures and by carrying on scientific research relating to all the manufacturing industries; the Bureau of the Census, which compiles elaborate statistics concerning trade and industry, as well as those relating to population; the Bureau of Fisheries, which has immensely stimulated trade in fishery products; and four bureaus which aid, protect and regulate navigation—the Bureau of Lighthouses, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Steamboat-Inspection Service, and the Bureau of Navigation.

The Federal Trade Commission is charged with the duty of preventing various abuses in interstate business, especially in the nature of unlawful trusts and combinations. The Federal Reserve Board supervises the affairs of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks, and indirectly exercises a certain amount of control over the banking system of the country. The Interstate Commerce Commission regulates interstate transportation, controls freight rates and passenger fares, and promotes the safety of travel by prescribing rules concerning equipment and methods of operation. The Bureau of Markets of the Department of Agriculture promotes business in all kinds of agricultural products, and maintains a market news service. The Shipping Board, which was established in 1916, is engaged in the very important work of building up the American merchant marine.

The Pan American Union, a potent factor in promoting our trade with the Latin-American countries, is not a branch of the United States Government, but an international organization in which all the American republics are represented. It has its permanent headquarters in Washington, and the Secretary of State of the United States is ex officio chairman of its governing board.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 7, No. 11, SERIAL No. 183
COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

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FOUR

In his annual report for the year 1918, the Secretary of Labor declared that “had the Department of Labor not existed at the beginning of the war, Congress would have been obliged to create such a department.” During that year, mainly under the stress of war conditions, the number of bureaus in this department increased from four to thirteen, and immense efforts were put forth by it to promote the smooth running of industrial machinery at home, so that the military forces might successfully prosecute their great task abroad.

In normal times the chief purpose of the Department is, as stated in the Act creating it, “to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage-earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.” To this end the Department collects, digests and publishes statistics and information concerning labor at home and abroad; supervises the admission of immigrants into the country and their naturalization; and aids in the adjustment of disputes between workmen and their employers.

One of the most interesting branches of this Department is known as the Children’s Bureau. The law provides that this Bureau “shall investigate and report upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of children and child life among all classes of our people, and shall especially investigate the questions of infant mortality, the birth rate, orphanage, juvenile courts, desertion, dangerous occupations, accidents and diseases of children, employment, and legislation affecting children in the several states and territories.” The Children’s Bureau has been especially identified with efforts to secure effective laws restricting child labor, and it furnished the machinery for administering the United States Child-Labor Law which went into operation September 1, 1917, only to be set aside the following June, when it was pronounced unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court. The Court unanimously agreed, however, that child labor is an evil, and Federal legislation on this important subject not inconsistent with the Constitution will doubtless be eventually enacted.

A notable development of the war was the United States Employment Service. The Department of Labor had previously maintained an employment service in a small way under the Bureau of Immigration for the purpose of helping newly-arrived immigrants to find work. During the war this expanded into a vast organization for mobilizing the labor resources of the country. About eight hundred public employment exchanges were opened, and labor was moved from place to place as required, whether for war industries, for harvesting the crops, or for other purposes. During the year 1918 nearly two million wage-earners were placed by this service in positions for which they were qualified and in which their services were needed. After the armistice an important branch of the work consisted in finding positions for discharged soldiers. As a means of recruiting workers for the industries of the country and helping solve the problem of unemployment, this service is one of the most promising undertakings of the Government, but its future depends upon further legislation by Congress.

During the last year before the war began in Europe the number of immigrants admitted to the United States was 1,218,480. The laws relating to immigration and the Chinese-exclusion laws are administered by a branch of the Department of Labor known as the Bureau of Immigration. Immigration stations are maintained at the principal seaports, where physical, mental and moral defectives, as well as persons likely to become public charges or afflicted with contagious diseases, polygamists, anarchists, contract laborers and Chinese are eliminated. The most important immigration station is at Ellis Island, in New York Harbor.

The Bureau of Naturalization, besides supervising the work of the courts in naturalizing aliens, is in charge of an extensive campaign of educating and Americanizing prospective citizens.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 7, No. 11, SERIAL No. 183
COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

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FIVE

In the year 1790 there were 75 postoffices in the United States. In 1918 there were 54,345. The number of pieces of mail handled in a year approximates twenty million. In order to operate this vast business enterprise Uncle Sam requires the services of 300,000 people.

The Postoffice Department, constant in service, day and night, probably has no rival among Government institutions. In 1863 the free delivery of mail was undertaken in half a hundred cities, with 449 carriers. In 1918 there were 2,000 city delivery offices, with 35,000 carriers. The first rural free delivery routes, three in number, were established as an experiment in 1896. There are now considerably more than a million miles of such routes, employing over forty thousand carriers. Special delivery service was established in 1885. In an average year the number of pieces of mail handled by special delivery approximates fifty million. In 1865 there were 419 money-order offices and the money orders issued amounted to $1,360,122. In 1918 only a very small percentage of postoffices did not issue money orders, and the value of the orders amounted to $940,575,219.

The postal savings system was begun in 1911. Within six years there were upward of six thousand postoffices that received deposits and the amount to the credit of depositors was nearly $150,000,000. The smallest deposit accepted is $1, but smaller amounts may be saved by purchasing a 10-cent savings card and affixing 10-cent savings stamps. Interest is allowed at the rate of 2 per cent.

The parcel post system dates from 1913. It has gradually been made more serviceable to the public by the removal of restrictions regarding the size, weight, packing and nature of shipments and by the increased use of motor vehicles. The Department estimates that 3,000,000,000 parcels were handled in 1918.

On May 15, 1918, the first regular air mail route was established in this country between Washington, Philadelphia and New York. The flight between Washington and New York requires approximately two hours, as compared with five hours by the fastest railway trains. Other routes are in course of development.

During the latter part of the World War the Postoffice Department operated the telegraph and telephone systems of the country.

In the year 1918 the Department inaugurated a system of motor-truck parcel post routes, especially to facilitate the distribution of food stuffs. The trucks are owned by the Government and many former Army trucks are now utilized in this service. A great variety of merchandize is hauled along these routes; all sorts of farm products are carried to the city markets and the merchandize purchased in the city is distributed through the rural districts on the return trip. The trucks pick up parcels anywhere along their routes—not merely at postoffices, but at farmhouses—and deliver in the same way. Produce from the country is delivered directly to the consignee in the city, house-to-house delivery being made wherever the houses are easily accessible to the regular routes of the trucks. While certain produce cannot be shipped through a postoffice, under the postal regulations, all kinds of produce, including live poultry, are accepted by the trucks where the delivery can be made directly without having to go through a postoffice.

Besides these routes operated directly by the Government, many of the so-called “star routes” (routes operated by contractors) are now equipped with motor vehicles.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 7, No. 11, SERIAL No. 183
COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

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SIX

Although the United States Government has been conspicuously backward, as compared with foreign Governments, in providing retirement allowances for its veteran civilian employees, it has generally made liberal provision for those who have served in the Army and the Navy, and especially for the veterans of the various wars in which the country has been engaged. In fact, in the payment of pensions to former soldiers and sailors, and their families, not only as compensation for wounds or other disabilities incurred in the service, but also as a reward for brief participation in a war, this country has carried liberality to an extreme not approached by any other nation. The Revolutionary War cost the United States about $70,000,000 in pensions, and every subsequent war, except the recent world struggle, has added to the pension roll, which reached its high-water mark in the year 1905, with a total of 998,441 pensioners, while the annual payments rose to a maximum of $174,171,661 in 1913. The Pension Office is still one of the largest and busiest establishments of the Government, although our latest war added practically nothing to its labors.

Shortly after the World War began, and long before the United States became a participator, Congress established a new office under the Treasury Department known as the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, for the purpose of insuring American vessels and their cargoes against the risks of war. In June, 1917, the Government provided insurance for the officers and crews of such vessels. Finally, in October, 1917, the Bureau of War Risk Insurance became the agency for a vast scheme of protection and compensation afforded to the soldiers and sailors of the United States and their families—a substitute for the old plan of war pensions. Under the new plan three forms of financial aid were rendered, as follows:

1. Allotments and Allowances. Every enlisted man was required to allot at least $15 a month from his pay to his wife and children and other dependents. To this amount the Government added family allowances, up to a maximum of $50 a month.

2. Compensation for Death or Disability. This applies to officers and enlisted men alike, and is the same for all ranks, but varies with the size of the soldier’s or sailor’s family. A bachelor, without dependents, gets $30 a month for total disability incurred in the war, while a married man with three or more children may receive as much as $75 a month. The disabled veteran is also entitled to free medical and hospital service, artificial limbs, et cetera. In case of death resulting from injury in the line of duty, the widow and family receive monthly allowances.

3. Government Insurance. During the war all persons in the military and naval services were granted the privilege of taking out insurance against death or total disability (whether due to war service or otherwise) up to the amount of $10,000, at a very low cost. This was entirely distinct from and in addition to the compensation provided as mentioned in the foregoing paragraph. The war insurance runs for a period of five years after the war, and may then be converted into any of the ordinary forms of insurance offered by commercial companies, without medical examination. Up to July 1, 1918, the Government received 2,579,912 applications for insurance under this novel plan, representing $21,640,065,000 of insurance—an amount about equal to that carried by all the insurance companies of the United States. In some regiments every man was insured for $10,000, the maximum amount allowed.

The Bureau of War Risk Insurance occupies a magnificent new building in Washington and has about 15,000 employees.

Besides making these liberal provisions for the relief of its disabled soldiers and sailors, the Government has embarked upon elaborate measures for restoring them to health and efficiency. They are not only given the best medical and physical treatment known to science, but also taught various trades and occupations, suited to their condition and natural aptitudes. During the period of treatment and training they receive an allowance for the support of themselves and their families. The Army and Navy, the Public Health Service, the Federal Board for Vocational Education and the Bureau of War Risk Insurance all take part in this paternal enterprise.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 7, No. 11, SERIAL No. 183
COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

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UNCLE SAM
And What He Does For His Relatives

By Prof. Albert Bushnell Hart, Harvard University

On an April day in 1865, a poor old colored woman was walking through the streets of Richmond wringing her hands and moaning, “Oh, Sam’s dead; Sam’s dead!” “What Sam’s dead, Aunty?” asked a passerby. “Oh, Lord, Uncle Sam!” It was the death of Abraham Lincoln for which that faithful heart was grieving. He was her Uncle Sam, the representative in human form of America, particularly of the Government at Washington, that mid-point of the strong, and protection of the weak. Yet after all she missed the great idea that whoever dies and whoever lives, Uncle Sam is eternal; for Uncle Sam is the American people governing itself. He is the emblem of the force and courage and resolution of the United States of America.

The Birth of Uncle Sam

Among the names by which American heroes and popular figures have been called, how did Uncle Sam come to be adopted as the national denominator? As well ask why Americans were called Yankees, long before the Revolution, or why “Yanks” has been the name applied by Allied soldiers to the forces of the United States in the European battlefields, and has been accepted by regiments from North and South alike. As well try to run down the first use of “Brother Jonathan,” in much the same sense as that in which we now employ “Uncle Sam.” Learned men and some of the unlearned have delved deep to find the origin of the term Uncle Sam, and the significance of his out-of-style clothes.

One school of these explorers has presumed to trace Uncle Sam back to an obscure Samuel Wilson, who during the War of 1812 was engaged in a government contract for beef and pork to feed the United States army. Nobody mentioned this yarn until thirty years later, when Jack Frost in his Book of the Navy gave it currency, without stating where he found what he himself calls “a silly joke.” Frost asserts that from casks marked “U. S.” by Samuel Wilson, the idea was taken by the soldiers, and that gradually it spread through the army and the nation.

The only facts that can be ascertained on this subject are that in 1813 there was a firm of meat packers at Troy, in which Samuel Wilson was a partner. Then that on September 7, 1813, the Troy Post printed an article containing the expression “Loss upon loss, and no ill luck … except what lights upon UNCLE SAM’S shoulders.” A note in the newspaper goes on to say “This cant name for our government has got almost as current as ‘John Bull.’ The letters ‘U. S.’ on the government wagons, etc., are supposed to have given rise to it.” A month later another paper commented on the number of deserters in the army, adding “The pretence is, that Uncle Sam, a now popular explication of the U. S., does not pay well.”

Three or four years later, other newspapers, who appeared to have no knowledge of Samuel Wilson, made the far more probable explanation that the term Uncle Sam was simply taken from the letters “U. S.” on soldiers’ caps and knapsacks. Even the Indians accepted the new term, and when President Madison was at the northern front asked the privilege “to shake hands with Uncle Sam.”[A]

Uncle Sam’s clothes, like the Quaker dress, were not invented to be humorous, but as the fashionable costume of the period when Quakers’ and Uncle Sam’s began to appear. Trousers with straps under the insteps were still worn down to fifty years ago. In the days when the striped cotton trousers of the French soldiers began to drive out the old-fashioned knee breeches, Uncle Sam came by his lower protection naturally. The broad-brimmed beaver hat, till very recently, could be seen on the heads of wealthy Quaker bankers in Philadelphia. The star-spangled coats and correctly flag-striped trousers are of course the inventions of later patriotic times.

What Does Uncle Sam Do for His Nephews and Nieces?

The great thing about Uncle Sam is his dignity, activity, keenness, endless good nature and love of his countrymen. His cousin, John Bull, is the beefy, sturdy, pragmatic, land-owning squire of the British counties, brave enough, resolute enough, but a defender of his country, rather than its most intimate friend. Uncle Sam and the popular interest in his thousands of portraits are standing proofs of the common sense and good temper of the American people. We like in Uncle Sam what we like in our personal Uncle Ezra, or Uncle Peyton, his genuine, affectionate, thoughtful and protecting affection for us.

The three men in American history who have most nearly corresponded to Uncle Sam in their own personal relations with their fellow men were Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Jackson was testy, and sharp tempered, but he could be very genial and gallant when he chose. Lincoln was the Uncle Abe of the nation; in person, in speech, in action, and above all in his great affectionate heart he was what we like to think Uncle Sam is. Theodore Roosevelt was not so much uncle as brother; there is only one “T. R.” in our history!

In the popular thought Uncle Sam is ourselves at our best; or rather he is ourselves gathered up into one body, one agency, one force. Uncle Sam stamps his initials on the public buildings, the camps, the stores, the guns, the ships, the uniforms, the army wagons, and the army mules. Uncle Sam carries the mails, prints the greenbacks, sends the seeds, digs the canals, lays the taxes, enlists the soldiers, fights the war and makes the peace. Uncle Sam is the national Santa Claus, the trimmer of America’s Christmas tree, the free mail-order establishment, the ready subscriber to all good causes. In a way, Uncle Sam means the Government of the United States—more accurately he stands for the human side of the Government, interested in the people, eager that they should be happy, warding off dangers immediate and far away. Uncle Sam rocked the cradle of the republic and watches over it with pride, just as the wealthy and generous uncle in ordinary family life looks after a high-spirited bouncing niece.

To come down to more precise and commonplace terms, what does the great Government of the United States, centered in Washington, do for the people of the United States? The moment we attempt to make a list of his benefits we discover that they outrun the capacity of any human comparison. The United States Government is more like a telephone exchange, with direct wires to every hamlet and household. It is like a vast school with many class rooms in which are taught various branches of the same subject, namely how to make the United States citizens happier, better and more prosperous. Out of the many radiations from this central influence, let us select a few of those in which the benevolent side of our Government is more clearly presented. For instance, let us see what the Government does for such matters as education, labor, agriculture, commerce, and the carrying of intelligence, for the defense of the community, and protection of free institutions here and elsewhere in the world.

Uncle Sam’s Schools

For many years Uncle Sam left to the people at large the task of educating young people, except the future officers of the United States army and much later of the navy. These schools have been kept up, enlarged and provided with magnificent buildings; and they trained nearly all the officers in high command during the world war in both army and navy. In the course of the war the number of cadets was much increased; but it was found necessary hastily to set up special officers’ schools and training corps in various parts of the country. The United States also takes part in the public education of the states in a variety of ways. It has given to the states for common schools about 80 million acres of land, and for agricultural colleges and similar purposes about 15 million more. Ever since 1887 it has made also money grants to state agricultural colleges for experiment stations; and by the recent Smith-Hughes act is preparing to spend millions for vocational instruction, including farming. The states are obliged to put up an equal amount for the same purpose. Other bills look forward to a larger expenditure which would aid the states to get rid of the deplorable illiteracy found in some of them. Uncle Sam maintains schools in the dependencies—the Philippines, Hawaii, Porto Rico, etc.; and the Bureau of Education in Washington is a kind of center and clearing house of information and activity in education of every kind.

Uncle Sam as an Employer of Labor

By far the largest employer of labor within the United States is Uncle Sam himself, who had, about the time when America entered the war in 1917, 520,000 employees in the civil service, besides near 150,000 soldiers and sailors. Besides thus furnishing a livelihood to one person in a hundred and fifty of the whole population of the United States, the Government carries on a Bureau of Labor, which gets together all kinds of information about labor conditions in this country and in other countries. In 1916, the Government passed a special statute for settling the troubles between the railroad men and the railroads, commonly called the “Adamson Bill,” under which a strike was averted and wages were raised.

During the war, a National War Labor Board was set up to adjust troubles between employers and their hands working in munitions factories and other war industries; and many serious difficulties were settled by this official arbitration board. Thousands of workmen and workwomen of every degree of skill were drawn into the war service of the Government, as clerks, as workers in factories, and in many other capacities.

Up to the time of the war, the Government was much opposed to allowing its employees to join in trades unions, but when, in 1917, the railroads and later the telegraph and telephone operatives were transferred to Government control, they carried with them their existing unions, and even formed some new ones. Uncle Sam therefore takes a large responsibility for labor conditions both inside and outside of the Government service.

Uncle Sam as a Farmer

Although farming was the main pursuit of the American people when Uncle Sam first appeared on the scene, and although 33 per cent. of the workers in the country are today busy on farms, it was many years before the Government of the United States aided the agriculturalist. It began with printed reports (which, oddly enough, were issued by the Patent Office) on improved breeds of farm animals, with attractive colored lithographs. The immense Morrill Land Grant of 1862 was intended chiefly for agricultural education, and the students and graduates of the resulting colleges have done much to spread a knowledge of scientific farming, such as the adaptation of crops to soil, improvement of seeds and grains, the development of high-grade cattle and other farm animals, and the protection of fruit and other crops from insect pests.

In 1889 was established a Department of Agriculture, with a Secretary sitting in the Cabinet; and in the thirty years that have followed the Department has wonderfully expanded its usefulness. For instance, it has discovered the cause of the Texas cattle fever, which turned out to be a tick, and has very nearly put an end to that dangerous and destructive pest; it has found a serum to prevent hog cholera; it has established a system for checking the ravages of tuberculosis in cattle; its Bureau of Plant Industry brings in new seeds and fruits from all over the world—including such valuable varieties as the Durum wheat from Russia, Siberian millet and Egyptian dates.

Closely allied with the work of the Department of Agriculture is the irrigation service, which is reclaiming millions of acres of land otherwise useless, by furnishing it with unfailing water. The National Forests are under the direction of the Department of Agriculture, which employs about two thousand rangers and fire look-outs.[A] The Biological Survey has successfully found methods for destroying the rats, chipmunks, mice and ground squirrels which cause losses of many millions to the farmers. Millions of copies of printed circulars and pamphlets on various phases of farming are printed. No agency of the Government reaches so great a number of the active workers and producers of the land.

Uncle Sam in Trade

Besides their agriculture, our forefathers always pushed shipping and trade. They were keen on the Indian fur trade, and produced salt meats, grain “naval stores,” (pitch, tar and turpentine), potashes and pearl ashes, timber, and other things, and sold them to European countries. In return they imported calicoes and “oznabrigs” (which were a kind of linen) “paduasoy” (which was Italian silk), hardware, guns, tools, china, and the rich cloths, velvets and satins which Colonial gentlemen delighted to wear. When the United States came into being as a Government, it paid very little attention to commerce, leaving the merchants free to develop their trade with all parts of the world.

It is only in recent years that Uncle Sam has realized how he can help the merchant, the shipper and the vessel owner. Not until 1903 was there an office at Washington charged with the duty to “promote foreign and domestic commerce.” Not till 1913 was there a distinct Department of Commerce, within which were grouped some of the most important services rendered by the nation to its people. For example, commerce includes such varied services as lighthouses, steamboat inspection, fisheries, navigation, and the coast survey. In addition the Department of Commerce comes very near to the complicated organization of the business of the country, through its Bureau of Corporations, Bureau of Standards of Weights and Measures, and Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, as well as the Census Bureau, which collects a variety of statistics.

During the war, Uncle Sam stretched out his long arm still farther into the trade and business of the country, and appointed a Director of Railroads to take control of most of the railroad lines in the land. It was that Board which made possible the conveyance of the enormous quantities of stores and munitions which supplied our armies in France. Going still farther, Uncle Sam took up the ship carpenter’s axe, the caulker’s mallet, and the riveter’s electric machine. All the ship yards in the country were brought under the control and direction of the Government.

The Post Office has been Uncle Sam’s peculiar interest ever since the Federal Government was founded; and he pushes that business ever farther and farther. The letter, the newspaper, the book and the package, are sent flying from one of the long arms of Uncle Sam to another, till the business has come to total over three hundred million dollars a year. The registry service, special delivery system, and especially the parcel post, bring new conveniences, and new proofs of our Uncle’s desire to be useful. In the course of the war the whole system of telegraphs also was taken over. Many lines of business, especially the newspaper and periodical publishers, the mail-order houses, and the advertisers are dependent upon this field of Government operation.

Uncle Sam as a Watchman

Most of all in times of danger and distress do we turn eagerly to that multiple of ourselves, which we call Uncle Sam. In the most peaceful days the sailor in blue or the soldier in khaki stood behind the courts and the laws and the policemen. When rioters and anarchists raised their heads they knew that Uncle Sam was drawn up around the corner, and would stop them whenever they passed from noisy words to desperate deeds. “U. S.” is the trench line which protects this country from invasion. “U. S.” builds the forts, works out plans of harbor defence, keeps powerful ships in commission, and raises, clothes, equips, feeds, and pays the armies which are the clenched fists of the nation. Other governments, state, municipal and local, offer many benefits, but Uncle Sam is the only American known to foreign nations as the creator of armies and the fighter of battles.

The mystic two letters “U. S.” which are the emblems within the United States of peace and protection, became known in the World War far across the seas in many lands. Disturbed and broken nations welcome occupation by United States troops, because they have learned that Uncle Sam is both strong and merciful; that he hits his enemies hard; but raises up and saves the noncombatant, the neutral and the vanquished. Never has the reputation of the United States of America stood so high as a stalwart, resolute and unflinching power which puts out its wealth like water, and enlists its man-power by millions, when war must be fought. Never has the Uncle Sam conception of the great North American federation been so clear and so welcome in the minds of other peoples; what can any nation ask that is better and higher than to be hailed as the defender of civilization against the most furious blows; and at the same time as the friend, ally and protector of men of good will wherever found throughout the world? “U. S.” to hammer the Hun; “Uncle Sam” to succor the Belgians and French, to aid the Armenian and the Greek, as the friend of mankind.

Rivers, Harbors and Parks

In addition to the vast work of reclaiming desert lands, protecting forests, and improving rivers, harbors and canals, Uncle Sam has spent millions of dollars in opening up to the people great natural wonder realms of the country and putting them in order for outdoor pleasure grounds. Four National Parks—the Yellowstone, the Yosemite, Glacier National Park and Rainier National Park have already been treated in individual numbers of The Mentor, and future issues will be devoted to others of these magnificent public domains. The Grand Canyon, to which a Mentor number has also been given, is not one of the National Parks, but is a Reserve set apart for all time by the Government.

Most of the National Parks are situated in the western part of the continent. Through the beneficence and wisdom of Uncle Sam there have been preserved for the American people the prehistoric dwellings of extinct races in Arizona and Colorado. Rocky Mountain Park, Colorado, and Crater National Park, southern Oregon, attract thousands of visitors annually. Every summer, innumerable groups of Nature lovers camp and tramp in the Government forest parks of California. In all, there are now (1919) sixteen National Parks in the United States and Alaska, with a total area of nearly 10,000 square miles. In 1916 a National Park was also created in the territory of Hawaii, with an area of 75,295 acres.

Use Your Government

To many of us, perhaps, Uncle Sam’s Government may appear to consist of a vast number of men using up time and money in doing a great many things in which we see no useful purpose whatever. Other men in the Legislative Department appear to be discussing at great length the framing of new laws, good, bad or indifferent, and we criticize them accordingly. The thought that we can capitalize our citizenship in a most valuable material way and that we can make direct personal use of the Government, whatever our calling in life may be, few of us have ever realized. We have pointed out some of the ways in which Uncle Sam helps his relatives. Whatever your chosen work may be, whatever your interest may be, turn to Uncle Sam and learn how valuable a friend and support he can be.

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SUPPLEMENTARY READING

USE YOUR GOVERNMENT	By Alissa Franc
UNCLE SAM’S MODERN MIRACLES	By W. A. Du Puy
UNCLE SAM, WONDER WORKER	By W. A. Du Puy
THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT	By Frederic J. Haskin

⁂ Information concerning the above books may be had on application to the Editor of The Mentor.

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Entered as second-class matter March 10, 1913, at the postoffice at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1919, by The Mentor Association, Inc.

The true origin of the character of “Uncle Sam” is a matter of doubt. The figure has been a familiar one in the history of the United States for many years, but the actual date of its first appearance is not known. As a little school girl once wrote in her essay on Ancient Rome, “its origin is wrapped in antiquity.” It appears that “Uncle Sam” emerged from the soil and began to materialize into definite form about one hundred years ago. A favored theory concerning the origin of the tall, lean, Yankee figure type is that he owes his peculiar identity to a character created by Judge Thomas Haliburton, and known in literature as “Sam Slick.” Oddly enough, the creator—if we may call him so—of the figure that now stands for the national type, was not himself an American. Judge Thomas Haliburton was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, in December, 1796. He was a successful lawyer, and occasionally took a turn at literature. In 1835 there appeared in a Halifax journal a series of papers which were afterwards issued in book form under the title, “The Clock-Maker, or the Sayings and Doings of Sam Slick.” In this and in a later book “Nature and Human Nature,” the author pictured an acute, good-tempered Yankee who was a native of the state of Connecticut—the state of which Jonathan Trumbull, the original “Brother Jonathan,” was governor. Haliburton described Sam Slick as “a tall, thin man with hollow cheeks and bright, twinkling, black eyes.” As he sold his Yankee clocks he was supposed to meet on the road a “squire” who traveled some distance with him and found entertainment in Sam’s “down-east talk and shrewd Americanisms.” In England, where the book had a wide sale, Sam Slick came to be accepted as the symbolic American in speech, appearance and thought.

The London Times of November 27, 1840, said: “No modern book can give better insight into the politics, prejudices, manners and actions of the inhabitants of the United States than this.” Another English critic found Sam Slick “a knowing individual, sensible, sagacious, not without tact, and overflowing with humor.” According to Sam, “Push-on—keep movin’—go ahead,” was the maxim of the States. He described the typical American as “the chap with speed, wind and bottom; clear grit, ginger to the backbone, spry as a fox, supple as an eel.”

The illustrators of Sam Slick made him lean, smiling, and in all respects a contrast to the heavy-set John Bull. They put on his head the high hat and clothed him in the long-tailed coat and striped trousers that Uncle Sam still wears. “We call the American public ‘Uncle Sam,’” declared Sam Slick to the Squire, “as you call the British ‘John Bull.’” Sam’s humor was called “the sunny side of common sense.”

“The Clock-Maker” ran into fifty editions and was as popular in America and in Canada as in England—it also had many readers in France. So potent was the delineation of the Yankee, Sam Slick, that it established and still influences the foreign estimate of citizens of the United States. Judge Haliburton had a distinguished career, the latter part of which was passed in England—where he died in 1865.

We can see from the foregoing that there is some reason, then, for the claim of certain chroniclers that “Sam Slick” was the original Yankee character, and that Windsor, Nova Scotia, was the birthplace of the oddly-costumed figure that now stands for the shrewd, benevolent, wide-awake and efficient personality that we call “Uncle Sam.”

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The Mentor