Albert Bushnell Hart

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ One cannot touch the many aspects of his whimsical, doubting, determined, sensitive face. Nearly the whole range of human feeling, of human expression is there.
Honestly he tries to secure a right balancing of the scales of justice for his multifarious offspring, yet often finds this delicate adjustment puzzling beyond his power to endure. Swift are the changes whereby his Hamlet moments of indecision slip into his Napoleonic moments of great deeds. Something of woman’s intuition is in him, and sometimes, too, woman’s over-ready action in the line of eager and sudden conviction ”

“ THE STORY OF UNCLE SAM
Public Health and Education 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ One sees him, too complacently,—in a rich-Jonathan moment,—riding the reapers and gathering in inexhaustible harvests; one sees him waking sleepily from a Rip-van-Winkle drowsiness, to guard his forests and waterfalls from despoiling hands ”

“ 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. ”

“ Inexhaustible are his activities, and of endless variety the moments of thought and of action in which the soul of the nation has been thus caught and fixed. Uncle Sam, farmer, householder, and landed proprietor, has domestic responsibilities upon a scale never known before. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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
TRAVELING OUTFIT OF U. S. SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS IN ARCTIC ALASKA
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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.
INFANT MORTALITY RATES (PER 1000) ACCORDING TO FATHER’S EARNINGS
Combined figures from seven cities studied by U. S. Children’s Bureau
The baby death rate rises as the father’s earnings fall
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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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:
29267.*—Chemicals, and equipment and supplies for electroplating work are required by a firm in Denmark. ”