Note 55 — UNCLE SAM. BY ALBERT MATTHEWS.

The words "more or less" apparently occurred in the official accounts of the capture of York in April, 1813, but I have not been able to discover in exactly what connection. At all events, they caused much fun in the peace papers. "One dead Indian, 'more or less,'" said the New York Herald of July 14, 1813, p. 1-1. "Wanted," declared the Columbian Centinel of December 4, 1813, "about five hundred ('more or less') able-bodied, stout-hearted real Americans, to collect our land tax in our territory of Canada" (p. 2-3).