Thursday, April 11, 1918
Trade, it may help society extend,
But lures the Pirate, and corrupts the friend;
It raises armies in a nation’s aid,
But bribes a senate and the land’s betrayed ~ Pope on Money
At the beginning of the war the paper currency of Germany amounted to 700,000,000 dollars. At this time, the issues amount to $3,800,000,000, or something like seven times the amount of normal times. We do not hear much about Austria in respect to paper money. May be that country has lost count. But for sound money, a conservative nation like Germany to be smothered under a flood of paper money shows the desperate nature of its resources. Probably no where in the world does the significance of over issues of paper money come home to the thinker as it does in the south, which remembers the indefatigable printing presses of the Confederate States of America.
One of our earliest recollections is a barrel full of this money at the old homestead at Marlins Bottom. In 1886, we saw the late Henry Clark, the grandfather of the Renick banker.
Henry Clark was a giant of a man and a very interesting conversationalist. In his usual style he established our pedigree and then grew reminiscent. He said, “in 1864, I bough some livestock from your grandfather at Marlins Bottom, and when it came time to pay for it, I offered him $160.00 in gold for the cattle or $30,000.00 in paper money. I was buying cattle for beef for the army. Your grandfather kept me waiting pretty near all day while he was making up his mind, and finally said that he believed that Early’s campaign in the Valley would win, and that he would take the paper money.”
In addition to the illustration of the relative value of gold and paper money at the end of the war, the above incident is a pretty clear indication of how far an individual can see into the future, and how easy it is to become a victim of self-deception.
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Ira D. Brill bought the interests of his partner, S. J. Rexrode, in the Peoples Store & Supply Company and the Marlinton Milling Company. The business was established nearly three years ago, and its growth has been phenomenal. About 10 years ago, Mr. Brill came to Pocahontas, a young man just out of school, and was employed by the Campbell Lumber Company. So successful has he been that he now becomes the owner of one of the largest business concerns of the county.
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Randolph Galford, of Cass, gave us about the finest Indian relic we have come across for a long time. It is a round stone with a hole in it. It is finely worked and polished and is about 4 inches in diameter. It was probably used as a target. While plowing near the mouth of Deer Creek, he turned it up from the bottom of the furrow.
AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT
The big Studebaker car of J. P. Duncan and the small roadster of Arnold Jack ran into each other near the Stony Creek bridge Saturday evening. The cars were somewhat damaged, particularly the light one. Jesse Wiley, son of Mrs. A. R. Wiley, who was riding with Mr. Jack, was thrown out and suffered a double compound fracture of the left arm…
DURBIN
We found that the clock one hour faster than usual did not bother the sun.
Farming is in full blast. We wish for a good season.
J. H. Elinger, of Albright, Preston county, was here last week taking up ship pins for the U. S. Shipping Board. Anyone having lumber that will do to make ship pins will do well to see Mr. Elinger.
Robert Chestnut has bought Henry Galford’s farm on Back Alleghany.