In 1850 there were 251,000 depositors in savings banks. There are now 11,000,000, with deposits aggregating more than 100 times as much as at the middle of the last century.
The value of farms and farm property increased during the last half century from $4,000,000,000 to $41,000,000,000; value of manufactures from $1,000,000,000 to over $20,000,000,000, and the number of miles of railroad in operation from 9,021 in 1850 to 258,033 in 1912.
Maker of Biggest Cheese Dies.
George A. Carter, maker of the giant cheese that was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, died at Geneva, Ohio. The cheese, which weighed more than a ton, is believed still to hold the record as the biggest one ever manufactured.
Old Sea Warrior Sold.
The United States frigate Independence, last of the fighting ships built for the War of 1812, has been sold to Captain John H. Binder, of Berkeley, Cal., for $3,515. The old vessel for fifty years has been used as a train-ship at Mare Island before it was placed out of commission. The navy department appraised it at $4,000, but was unable to get bids at that figure.
Study All America.
In a letter to high-school principals of the United States, Doctor P. P. Claxton, the government’s commissioner of education, urges special study of the countries of Latin America, those portions of America inhabited by races of Latin stock, including Central America, South America, Mexico, and parts of the West Indies. Doctor Claxton writes:
“We should teach in our schools and colleges more of the geography, history, literature, and life of the Latin-American countries, and we should offer instruction in the Spanish and Portuguese languages to a much larger extent than is now done.
“All our relations with the countries to the south of us are bound to become much more intimate than they have been in the past. The completion of the Panama Canal, the changes in commercial relations brought about by the war in Europe, as well as other recent events, have served to call the attention of the people of the United States to the recent rapid growth and development of the Latin-American republics.