Fifteen millions of dollars! A breath will
suffice to pronounce the words. A few strokes of the pen will express the
sum on paper. But not one man in a thousand has any conception of the
magnitude of the amount. Weigh it and there will be four hundred and
thirty-three tons of solid silver. Load it into wagons, and there will be
eight hundred and sixty-six of them. Place the wagons in a line, giving
two rods to each, and they will cover a distance of five and one-third
miles. Hire a laborer to shovel it into the carts, and, though he load
sixteen each day, he will not finish the work in two months. Stack it up
dollar on dollar, and supposing nine to make an inch, the pile will be
more than three miles high. It would load twenty-five sloops; it would pay
an army of twenty-five thousand men forty shillings a week each for
twenty-five years; it would, divided among the population of the country,
give three dollars for each man, woman, and child.... Invest the principal
as school fund, and the interest will support, forever, eighteen hundred
free schools, all owning fifty scholars, and five hundred dollars to each
school.
Pages:
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234