Poultry and Egg Industry.—Nearly 500,000,000 of poultry, including chickens, turkeys, geese, and pigeons, are raised in the United States annually. The total value is about $203,000,000. Each year the production of eggs is about 1,600,000,000 dozen. The people of the United States eat about 5-1/2 fowls per year per capita, and a little over 17 dozen eggs.

Presidents of the United States

  1. George Washington.
  2. John Adams.
  3. Thomas Jefferson.
  4. James Madison.
  5. James Monroe.
  6. John Quincy Adams.
  7. Andrew Jackson.
  8. Martin Van Buren.
  9. William Henry Harrison.
  10. John Tyler.
  11. James K. Polk.
  12. Zachary Taylor.
  13. Millard Fillmore.
  14. Franklin Pierce.
  15. James Buchanan.
  16. Abraham Lincoln.
  17. Andrew Johnson.
  18. Ulysses S. Grant.
  19. Rutherford B. Hayes.
  20. James A. Garfield.
  21. Chester A. Arthur.
  22. Grover Cleveland.
  23. Benjamin Harrison.
  24. William McKinley.
  25. Theodore Roosevelt.
  26. William H. Taft.
  27. Woodrow Wilson.

Principal Countries of the World

COUNTRYCAPITALSQ. MILESPOPULATION
AbyssiniaAddis Abeba200,00011,000,000
AfghanistanKabul250,0004,750,000
ArgentinaBuenos Aires1,135,8406,210,428
Australia 2,974,5814,197,037
Austria-HungaryVienna, Budapest241,33345,176,230
BelgiumBrussels11,3736,693,548
BoliviaSucre605,4001,953,916
BrazilRio de Janeiro3,292,99117,388,556
British EmpireLondon11,343,706394,246,882
BulgariaSofia38,0804,035,623
CanadaOttawa3,745,5746,153,789
ChileSantiago307,6203,399,928
Chinese EmpirePeking4,277,170426,047,325
ColombiaBogota505,0004,303,000
Costa RicaSan Jose18,400351,176
CubaHavana44,0002,048,980
DenmarkCopenhagen15,5922,605,268
EcuadorQuito116,0001,400,000
Egypt[A]Cairo400,00011,189,978
FranceParis207,05439,252,245
GermanyBerlin208,78060,641,278
Great Britain & IrelandLondon121,39044,538,718
GreeceAthens25,0142,631,952
GuatemalaNew Guatemala48,2901,882,992
HaitiPort au Prince10,2041,500,000
HondurasTegucigalpa46,250650,000
IndiaCalcutta1,776,517294,317,082
ItalyRome110,55033,909,776
Japanese EmpireTokyo175,00050,000,000
LuxemburgLuxemburg998236,543
MexicoMexico767,00513,605,919
MontenegroCettinie3,630250,000
MoroccoFez, Morocco219,0005,000,000
$NetherlandsThe Hague12,6485,747,269
NicaraguaManagua49,200500,000
NorwayChristiania124,1292,240,032
PanamaPanama31,571300,000
ParaguayAsuncion157,000631,347
PersiaTeheran628,0009,500,000
PeruLima695,7334,609,999
PortugalLisbon35,4905,423,132
RoumaniaBukharest50,7205,956,690
RussiaSt. Petersburg8,647,657152,009,300
SalvadorSan Salvador7,2251,700,000
San MarinoSan Marino3811,439
Santo DomingoSanto Domingo18,045610,000
ServiaBelgrade18,6502,493,882
SiamBangkok195,0006,686,846
SpainMadrid190,05018,618,086
SwedenStockholm172,8765,377,713
SwitzerlandBern15,9763,463,609
Turkey and trib. states[B]Constantinople1,165,02025,414,300
United South AfricaPretoria. C. T.473,1845,450,217
United StatesWashington3,567,56388,566,034
UruguayMontevideo72,2101,140,799
VenezuelaCaracas364,0002,646,835

Printing Presses.—There are three distinct classes of printing presses: (1) The ordinary job press which is used for the printing of cards, letter-heads, billheads, and other small matter. It is run by power or by a foot treadle. Each card or piece of paper is fed into the press by hand and removed by hand. The average speed is from 1,000 to 1,200 an hour, but the most expert feeders can handle about 1,500 cards an hour, and the record is not far from 2,000. (2) The cylinder press. This press is used for the printing of weekly newspapers, books, catalogues, and other large work. The type is placed upon a flat bed having a lateral movement, and the paper is fed by hand onto a cylinder which revolves over the moving bed. These presses have a speed of from 1,000 to 2,000 an hour, but comparatively few hand-feeders can handle more than 1,500, or 1,600 sheets in an hour. (3) The perfecting press. This press is used exclusively for the printing of large city newspapers, and some books, and catalogues are printed upon it. The type matter is cast into to a cylinder. The paper to be printed upon stereotypes of circular form which are attached is in a continuous roll and passes between the stereotype cylinder and another roller. The paper is fed into the press automatically, and is automatically folded and counted. The largest perfecting press in the world will print, fold, and count both sides of an eight-page paper at the rate of 300,000 copies an hour, but the average perfecting press does not deliver more than 75,000 copies an hour. The perfecting presses used for books, magazines, and catalogues run at a much slower speed.

Production of Books.—In 1911, 8,183 books were produced by American authors of which 1,024 were fiction; 917 were on theology and religion; 919 of essays and literature; 527 on hygiene; 734 juvenile; 685 of poetry and drama; 300 educational; 196 were devoted to the fine arts; and 86 to music.

Public Debt of the United States.—The interest-bearing debt of the United States is $964,631,630, and the non-interest-bearing debt is $375,974,389. The United States has issued $946,242,270 in gold certificates, $482,367,666 in silver certificates, and treasury notes to the amount of $2,846,260. At the last accounting the United States treasury had on hand in cash $1,564,416,169.

Public Schools.—The public school system originated in Massachusetts and Connecticut shortly after the settlement of those States. Schools were not entirely free when originally established. They have now become common all over the United States, and their maintenance is required by law.

Pure Food.—Pure food laws enacted by the United States Government, and by State and City Governments, are supposed to protect the consumer against adulterated foods. The United States law, however, has no jurisdiction over food manufactured or put out in any of the States, unless it is carried from one State to another. The local food laws have to do only with the communities covered. The present law does not appear to be sufficient to protect the public fully. The statement written on many food packages, reading "Guaranteed Under The Food and Drugs Act, June 30, 1906. No. ——," must not be considered as proof positive of purity. It simply means that the contents of the package or bottle is according to the prescription or formula registered with the Government, and does not stand for quality or purity. Benzoate of soda and other preservatives may be legally used, provided a statement to that effect is made upon the package. Chemists differ as to the injurious effect of benzoate of soda, but it is not advocated by any eminent authority. Most of the pure food experts are opposed to its use, irrespective of any injurious effect it may have upon the consumer, because this preservative will effectively kill the odor of putrefaction and disguise the taste and smell of rotten or spoiled fruit and other products. The consumer will do well to refuse to purchase any article or food containing benzoate of soda or other preservative, for first-class and healthy meat, fruit, and vegetables do not require a chemical preservative. Artificial coloring may not be injurious, as so little of it is required, but food artificially preserved may be dangerous, and very likely is impure, and may not have been fresh when canned.