Part 3

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 OPEN LETTER_

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.

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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.”

The Service of Uncle Sam

All of us know that Uncle Sam means well by the hundred million members of his family, but few have any adequate appreciation of the many varied forms in which Uncle Sam lends a helping hand. His service is apparent everywhere in city, town, village and farm--and in the great desert wastes and mountain heights. It is worth while to take a sweeping survey of the whole field of Uncle Sam’s helpful operations:

HELPING THE FARMER. Uncle Sam supplies a wealth of information about the planting and growing of crops, with crop estimates and statistics of agriculture. He supplies weather reports and gives helpful information on the control of destructive insects and birds--also on the fostering and improving of live stock. He gives advice on forest lands and forest fire protection. He helps in building rural roads and assists in farm management and in the procuring of farm help. He advises the farmer in marketing and in rural organization and farm finance. He gives information concerning diseases prevalent in rural districts. He supplies courses of reading for farmer parents, and assists in the work of rural schools. He spends large sums of money in administration work in the Department of Agriculture to help the condition of the farmer, the farmer’s wife and the girls and boys on the farm. He directs their education and shows them how to improve their living conditions. His office of information supplies documents full of valuable practical suggestions for the farmer.

HELPING THE SETTLER. Uncle Sam reclaims desert lands and places them at the disposal of settlers. He encourages the establishment of homesteads and conducts forest service and geological surveys to develop land and make it valuable.

HELPING THE BUSINESS MAN. Uncle Sam gives assistance and information to almost all businesses--and carries on, at enormous expense, special work for the Mining, Fishing, Fur, Lumber and Shipping Industries. He pursues scientific experiments with agricultural products and develops water power for commercial use. He protects the business man with the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Interstate Commerce Commission.

HELPING THE WORKING MAN. In the Department of Labor a vast amount of Service is devoted to securing employment for laborers, supplying information concerning labor conditions, pursuing practical investigations for the safety and health of the working men. He acts as a community organizer, advising and supervising, and is a mediator in disputes on labor questions.

HELPING THE IMMIGRANT. He greets the immigrant with an intelligent and careful scrutiny as to his health and general welfare. He opens the eyes of the immigrant to his opportunities in the United States, and helps him to get employment. He instills in him ideals of industry, integrity, and good citizenship.

HELPING THE NEGRO. Uncle Sam supplies statistics and detailed reports concerning the education of the Negro. He gives assistance to the Negro farmer, instruction to the Negro woman and children in home economics and in school and home gardening.

HELPING IN THE HOME. Uncle Sam pursues investigations and gives advice concerning the practical problems of the home. He is ever inspecting foods, drugs, meats and the quality of milk and water. He will permit no foul or tainted food or drink to reach the mouth of the mother or children. He carries on an employment bureau of service, giving information and advice. In the lives of children Uncle Sam’s helping hand is ever to be found. He prepares publications and gives information and conducts courses for the education of children in all branches of knowledge, stimulating, particularly, vocational education, in agriculture, and in the trades and industries. For the protection of children he enforces the Federal Child Labor Act, and to keep them well and healthy he has devised enticing plans for outdoor occupation in school and home garden, that they may be sound, healthy and fit for worthy citizenship.

If you want to know anything about the management of the country; if you want to make the most of yourself as a citizen, write to Uncle Sam.

THE PLAYGROUNDS OF UNCLE SAM

The National Parks at a Glance

Arranged chronologically in the order of their creation

[Number, 16; Total Area, 9,552 Square Miles]

+----------+------+------------------------------------- | | AREA | NATIONAL PARK |LOCATION | in | DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS and Date | |square| | | miles| ---------------+----------+------+------------------------------------- Hot Springs |Middle | 1½|46 hot springs possessing curative Reservation |Arkansas | |properties--Many hotels and 1832 | | |boarding-houses in adjacent city of | | |Hot Springs--bath-houses under | | |public control. | | | Yellowstone |North- |3,348 |More geysers than in all rest of 1872 |western | |world together--Boiling springs--Mud |Wyoming | |volcanoes--Petrified forests--Grand | | |Canyon of the Yellowstone, | | |remarkable for gorgeous coloring-- | | |Large lakes--Many large streams | | |and waterfalls--Vast wilderness | | |inhabited by deer, elk, bison, moose, | | |antelope, bear, mountain sheep, | | |beaver, etc., constituting greatest | | |wild bird and animal preserve in | | |world--Altitude 6,000 to 11,000 | | |feet--Exceptional trout fishing. | | | Yosemite |Middle |1,125 |Valley of world-famed beauty--Lofty 1890 |eastern | |cliffs--Romantic vistas--Many |California| |waterfalls of extraordinary | | |height--3 groves of big trees--High | | |Sierra--Large areas of snowy peaks-- | | |Waterwheel falls--Good trout fishing. | | | Sequoia |Middle | 237 |The Big Tree National Park--12,000 1890 |eastern | |sequoia trees over 10 feet in |California| |diameter, some 25 to 36 feet in | | |diameter--Towering mountain ranges-- | | |Startling precipices--Fine trout | | |fishing. | | | General Grant |Middle | 4 |Created to preserve the celebrated 1890 |eastern | |General Grant Tree, 35 feet in |California| |diameter--six miles from Sequoia | | |National Park and under same | | |management. | | | Mount Rainier |West | 324 |Largest accessible single-peak 1899 |central | |glacier system--28 glaciers, some of |Washington| |large size--Forty-eight square miles | | |of glacier, fifty to five hundred | | |feet thick--remarkable sub-alpine | | |wild-flower fields. | | | Crater Lake |South- | 249 |Lake of extraordinary blue in crater 1902 |western | |of extinct volcano, no inlet, no |Oregon | |outlet--Sides 1,000 feet high-- | | |Interesting lava formations--Fine | | |trout fishing. | | | Mesa Verde |South- | 77 |Most notable and best-preserved 1906 |western | |prehistoric cliff dwellings in United |Colorado | |States, if not in the world. | | | Platt |Southern | 1½|Sulphur and other springs possessing 1906 |Oklahoma | |curative properties--Under Government | | |regulations. | | | Glacier |North- |1,534 |Rugged mountain region of unsurpassed 1910 |western | |Alpine character--250 glacier-fed |Montana | |lakes of romantic beauty--60 small | | |glaciers--Peaks of unusual shape-- | | |Precipices thousands of feet deep-- | | |Almost sensational scenery of marked | | |individuality--Fine trout fishing. | | | Rocky Mountain |North | 358 |Heart of the Rockies--Snowy range, 1915 |middle | |peaks 11,000 to 14,250 feet |Colorado | |altitude--Remarkable records of | | |glacial period. | | | Lassen Volcanic|North | 12 |Contains Lassen Peak (10,437 feet), National Park |middle | |hot springs, geysers and lakes. 1916 |California| | | | | Mt. McKinley |Territory |2,250 |Contains Mt. McKinley, loftiest National Park |of Alaska | |summit in America, 20,300 feet. 1917 | | | ---------------+----------+------+-------------------------------------

National Parks of less popular interest are:

Sully’s Hill, 1904, North Dakota Wooded hilly tract on Devil’s Lake. Wind Cave, 1903, South Dakota Large natural cavern. Casa Grande Ruin, 1892, Arizona Prehistoric Indian ruin.

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