Jnited States, and that the receipts for theatrical entertainments are about $40,000,000 a year. The total expenditures for salaries of teachers of common schools were $55,745,029; for buildings and grounds, $6,643,313; for all other purposes, $16,951,472; grand total, $79,339,814, as per census of 1880. The total expenditures of church societies of this country are not far from $70,000,000 a year, the estimates of different writers on the subject varying between $65,000,000 and $74,000,000. The total church membership of Protestant churches in the United States being, according to the American Almanac, 8,974,410, and the "adherents" of the Roman Catholic Church, according to the Roman Catholic Directory for 1882, 6,370,858, the total expenditure of $70,000,000 a year represents not far from $4.50 per member or adherent. The average in some denominations is about three times this per member (as in the Protestant Episcopal Church) and in others it is less than this. SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA. CHICAGO. Where and what were the seven traditional cities of Cibola? S. Answer.-Probably they were seven cities, or pueblos, of the Zuni Indians located in what are now the northern part of New Mexico, Southwestern Colorado, and Arizona. MAKING A VOTE UNANIMOUS, CHICAGO, M. The officers of a society are elected separately. Now the question is, after they are all so elected, is the motion in order to make all of their elections unanimous, and, if in order, would their elections be declared as being unanimous if there was a negative_vote? HARVEY L. HOPKINS. Answer.-The motion is perfectly in order and it is customary for the chairman to declare it "carried," even if there is a minority vote in the negative. At the same time every negative vote helps to defeat the moral effect of such a motion, though it should be declared carried. Every negative vote under such circumstances implies determined, unyielding opposition, whereas a vote for the opposing candidate or candidates in the beginning of the contest might signify only a preference-possibly but slight, and growing out of personal obligations or pledges. LEGAL INTEREST IN DIFFERENT STATES. OPDYKE, Ill. When the rate of interest is not named in a promissory note, what interest can a man collect in this State? What in the various other States? HARRY B. CORNELIUS. Answer.-He can collect only the "legal rate," as it is called. Some of the States, while permiting higher rates to be charged by agreement, provide that in all cases where no interest is specified a certain rate of interest shall be collectable, and no more. The same rates are allowed on all judgments for debts, damages, etc. Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia allow 6 per cent; California, Dakota, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, 7 per cent: Alabama, Flor ida, and Texas, 8 per cent; Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, 10 per cent; Wyoming allows 12 per cent, and Louisiana but 5 per cent. Until 1879 the legal rate in New York was 7 per cent. POPULATION IN 1790. SHACKELTON, Ohio. What was the population of the United States at the Arst census? How did whites and slaves compare then with same in 1860? INQUIRER. Answer.-The first official census of the United States bears date of Aug. 1, 1790, and was as given below. The population was estimated for the purposes of representation in the first Congress under the present constitution, and from the best data that could be had the population in 1780 was believed to be 3,070,000. First census, Aug. 1, 1790 States. Free States... Slave States.. Total... Free Whites. Colored. Blaves. Total. 1,900,772 26,831 40,850 1,968,453 .1,271,692 32,635 645,047 1,961,374 .3,172,464 59,466 685,897 3,929,827 These figures compare with the census of 1860 as follows: Eighth census, June 1, 1860Total population.. Total white population Total free colored population... 31,443,322 26,973,843 487,970 ..27,461,813 ......... .............. PATENT FERS 3,952.760 4,447,730 EARLY, Iowa. What is the cost of a patent on a simple device? How is the best way to proceed to procure a patent and avoid being swindled? SUBSCRIBER. Answer.-A patent for a simple, inexpensive device costs just as much as one for any other however intricate, expensive, and valuable. In any except design cases the "application" fee is $15; filing a caveat, $10. In design cases for three years and six months the fee is $10; for seven years, $15; for fourteen years, $30. Reissuing an application costs $30. Filing a dis-` claimer costs $10; an appeal from adverse decision of primary examiners costs a fee of $10; and an appeal from commissioner, $20. DEEP SEA SOUNDINGS. MONMOUTH, Ill, Is any part of the ocean so deep that a fifty-pound weight would not sink to the bottom? If so, at what depth will it stop? What is the greatest depth to which the ocean has been sounded? J. M. LOGAN. Answer.-So far no part of the ocean has been discovered too deep to be fathomed by a sounding line, so it is safe to say no part of it is so deep that a fifty-pound weight would not sink to the bottom. The deepest sea soundings that are admitted to be beyond reasonable dispute, are 3,875 fathoms, or nearly four and a half miles, and 4,475 fathoms, a little more than five miles. These were obtained by H. R. M. sloop Challenger; the former being taken about forty miles northward of the Virgin Islands, and the latter not far north of New Guinea. THANKSGIVING DAY. CARPENTERVILLE, Ill. Before Thanksgiving Day became a National festival, was it kept on Thursday? ARCHIE ESTEP. Answer.-In early times the days appointed for public thanksgiving were not in all cases Thursdays. The practice of annually appointing some day soon after the crops were all garnered for families and communities to collect their scattered members together and make grateful acknowledgment of the Divine goodness gradually became a custom in the New England States, and extended from them to the Northern States some time before President Lincoln, in 1862, first proclaimed it as a National religions festival. The practice of selecting some Thursday for this purpose had become common, if not uniform, but in some cases Governors appointed one Thursday and others another. Since the observance became National, the practice has been to select the last Thursday in November. ORIGIN OF BANKS. HANNIBAL, Mo. When and where were the first bank notes issued? How did ancient nations get along without such establishments? A. J. Answer.-The origin of banks is not accurately known, but they are of great antiquity. They existed in China, Babylon, Greece, Rome, and other ancient nations long before the Christian era. The oldest bank notes of which we have auy record were issued in China so far back as 2697 B. C. Perhaps we should say that the first of these were issued by the treasury, but it was not long before this business was passed over to banking companies under government inspection and control. The popular name of this paper currency was "flying money," or "convenient money," a name which would express the opinion the American people plainly hold in regard to our own "greenbacks" and National bank notes. The form of these bank bills was very similar to that of ours, except in the addition of mottoes, such as "Produce all you can; spend with economy." They bore the name of the bank, number of the note, value, place of issue, date, and signature of the proper bank officers. The value in some cases at least was expressed in figures, in words, and in pictorial representations showing coins or ingots, equal in amount to the face value of the paper. They bore also a notice of the penalties of counterfeiting. ▲ specimen issued in 1399 B. C. may be seen in the Asiatic Museum, St. Petersburg, printed in blue ink on paper made from the fiber of the mulberry tree. There were banks of deposit, loan, and exchange in Babylon, Greece, and Rome in very early days, but we are not so certain that they were banks of issue. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, there are Babylonian tablets of banking transactious, dating back to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The earliest of these tablets belongs to the year B. 0. 601. On it are memoranda of loans made in silver by a certain banker, Kudurru as follows: "1 mina of silver to Suta, 1 mina to Builudh, 1 mina to Beluepus, 5 shekels to Nabu-basa-napsati, and 5 shekels to Nergul-dann-total, 3 minas 5 shekels of silver," Assuming the value of the Babylonian talent to be equal to £406 and 5 shillings sterling, the mina was wortb about $31. The above-named collection contains more than fifty of these Babylonish bank tablets, some of them dating down to the time of Darius, 516 to 493 B. C. M. Lenormant has classified them into five descriptions, viz: 1. Simple obligations; 2. Obligations with penalty in case of non-payment; 3. Obligations with guarantee to third party; 4. Obligations payable to a third person; 5. Drafts drawn in one place payable in another. Of the latter he gives the following example: "Four minas, 15 shekels of silver (credit) of Ardu-Mana, son of Yakin, upon Mardukalalussin, son of Mardulbalatirib, in the Town of Orchoe. Mardukbalatirib will pay in the month of Tibet 4 minas 15 shekels of silver to Belabaliddin, son of Sennaid. Our the 14 arakhsamner, in the second year of Nabonidus, King of Babylon." To which is attached the names of witnesses. The earliest known Babylonian banking house is said to be that of Egibi & Co., a house that seems to have acted as a sort of imperial banking institution in Babylon from the time of Sennacherib (about 700 B. C.) down to the reign of Darius, having been traced through five generations. Records of this house, on clay tablets found in an earthen jar in the neighborhood of Hillah, near Babylon, may now be seen in the British Museum. The earliest records of European banks now in existence are those of the Bank of Venice, founded A. D. 1171; the Bank of Barcelona, in 1401; the Bank of Geneva, in 1407, and the Bank of Amsterdam, 1609. The most important bank in the world at this time is the Bank of England, projected by William Patterson, and incorporated July 27, 1694, with a capital of £1,200,000. Its present capital is £14,553,000, besides what is termed a "rest" of £3,090,249. Its circulation Sept. 28, 1882, was £36,956,000; its maximum deposits, public and private, aggregated in 1877-78 the sum of £43,047,038. Its shares were worth £288 each, on which it paid dividends in the year ending Oct. 5, 1882, at the rate of £10, 10 shillings per cent. POPULATION BETWEEN 6 AND 16 YEARS. MANTENO, Ill. How many children are there in the United States between the ages of 6 and 16? FRED HOLMES. of 6 and 16" 6 and under Answer.-"Between the ages would take in only such as are over 16. Of such children there were in 1880 a total of 10,772,427 in the United States. Including children 16 and under 17 years the number was 12,760,025. The school ages differ in different States, varying from 4 years as the minimum to 21 as the maximum. There were 16,052,283 persons of school age in this country in 1880. The total number of scholars enrolled in the schools the same year, according to the report of the Bureau of Education, was 9,781,521, but only 5,705,342 were reported as in daily attend ance. PLATTSMOUTH BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSOURI. UNION, Iowa. State if the bridge across the Missouri at Plattsmouth is completed, and give dimensions, and oblige several readers, U. G. WHITNEY. Answer-The Plattsmouth bridge across the Missouri, on the "Burlington Route" to Denver, was opened for traffic Aug. 30, 1880. It is a noble structure, of the truss pattern, resting on five piers of solid masonry, rising fifty feet above low United States, and that the receipts for theatrical entertainments are about $40,000,000 a year. The total expenditures for salaries of teachers of common schools were $55,745,029; for buildings and grounds, $6,643,313; for all other purposes, $16,951,472; grand total, $79,339,814, as per census of 1880. The total expendichurch tures of societies of this country are not far from $70,000,000 a year, the estimates of different writers on the subject varying between $65,000,000 and $74,000,000. The total church membership of Protestant churches in the United States being, according to the American Almanac, 8,974,410, and the "adherents" of the Roman Catholic Church, according to the Roman Catholic Directory for 1882, 6,370,858, the total expenditure of $70,000,000 a year represents not far from $4.50 per member or adherent. The average in some denominations is about three times this per member (as in the Protestant Episcopal Church) and in others it is less than this. The officers of a society are elected separately. Now the question is, after they are all so elected, is the motion in order to make all of their elections unanimous, and, if in order, would their elections be declared as being unanimous if there was a negative_vote? 1 HARVEY L. HOPKINS. Answer.-The motion is perfectly in order and it is customary for the chairman to declare it "carried," even if there is a minority vote in the negative. At the same time every negative vote helps to defeat the moral effect of such a motion, though it should be declared carried. Every negative vote under such circumstances implies determined, unyielding opposition, whereas a vote for the opposing candidate or candidates in the beginning of the contest might signify only a preference-possibly but slight, and growing out of personal obligations or pledges. LEGAL INTEREST IN DIFFERENT STATES. OPDYKE, Ill. When the rate of interest is not named in a promissory note, what interest can a man collect in this State? What in the various other States? HARRY B. CORNELIUS. Answer.-He can collect only the "legal rate,' as it is called. Some of the States, while permiting higher rates to be charged by agreement, provide that in all cases where no interest is specified a certain rate of interest shall be collectable, and no more. The same rates are allowed on all judgments for debts, damages, etc. Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia allow 6 per cent; California, Dakota, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, 7 per cent: Alabama, Flor ida, and Texas, 8 per cent; Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, 10 per cent; Wyoming allows 12 per cent, and Louisiana but 5 per cent. Until 1879 the legal rate in New York was 7 per cent. POPULATION IN 1790. SHACKELTON, Ohio. What was the population of the United States at the first census? How did whites and slaves compare then with same in 1860? INQUIRER. Answer.-The first official census of the United States bears date of Aug. 1, 1790, and was as given below. The population was estimated for the purposes of representation in the first Congress under the present constitution, and from the best data that could be had the population in 1780 was believed to be 3,070,000. First census, Aug. 1, 1790 States. Free States... Free Whites. Colored. Blaves. Total. .1,900,772 26,831 40,850 1,968,453 Slave States.....1,271,692 32,635 645,047 1,961,374 Total... .3,172,464 59,466 685,897 3,929,827 These figures compare with the census of 1860 as follows: Eighth census, June 1, 1860- ....31,443,322 ......26,973,843 ........ .............. .............. PATENT FEES 487,970 .27,461,813 3,952.760 4,447,730 Answer.-A patent for a simple, inexpensive device costs just as much as one for any other however intricate, expensive, and valuable. In any except design cases the "application" fee is $15; filing a caveat, $10. In design cases for three years and six months the fee is $10; for seven years, $15; for fourteen years, $30. Reissuing an application costs $30. Filing a dis-` claimer costs $10; an appeal from adverse decision of primary examiners costs a fee of $10; and an appeal from commissioner, $20. DEEP SEA SOUNDINGS. MONMOUTH, Ill, Is any part of the ocean so deep that a fifty-pound weight would not sink to the bottom? If so, at what depth will it stop? What is the greatest depth to which the ocean has been sounded? J.M. LOGAN. Answer. So far no part of the ocean has been discovered too deep to be fathomed by a sounding line, so it is safe to say no part of it is so deep that a fifty-pound weight would not sink to the bottom. The deepest sea soundings that are admitted to be beyond reasonable dispute, are 3,875 fathoms, or nearly four and a half miles, and 4,475 fathoms, a little more than five miles. These were obtained by H. R. M. sloop Challenger; the former being taken about forty miles northward of the Virgin Islands, and the latter not far north of New Guinea. THANKSGIVING DAY. CARPENTERVILLE, Ill. Before Thanksgiving Day became a National festival, was it kept on Thursday? ARCHIE ESTEP. Answer.-In early times the days appointed for public thanksgiving were not in all cases Thursdays. The practice of annually appointing some day soon after the crops were all garnered INTER OCEAN CURIOSITY SHOP. D 8. HANNIBAL, Mo. 3 is not accurately of the Babylonian talent to be equal to £406 and 5 shillings sterling, the mina was worth about $31. The above-named collection contains more than fifty of these Babylonish bank tablets, some of them dating down to the time of Darius, 516 to 493 B. C. M. Lenormant has classified them into five descriptions, viz: 15 1. Simple obligations; 2. Obligations with a penalty in case of non-payment; 3. Obligations with guarantee to third party; 4. Obligations payable to a third person; 5. Drafts drawn in one place payable in another. Of the latter he gives the following example: "Four minas, 15 shekels of silver (credit) of Ardu-Mana, son of Yakin, upon Mardukalalussin, son of Mardulbalatirib, in the Town of Orchoe. Mardukbalatirib will pay in the month of Tibet 4 minas 15 shekels of silver to Belabaliddin, son of Sennaid. Our the 14 arakhsamner, in the second year of Nabonidus, King of Babylon." To which is attached the names of witnesses. The earliest known Babylonian banking house is said to be that of Egibi & Co., a house that seems to have acted as a sort of imperial banking institution in Babylon from the time of Sennacherib (about 700 B. C.) down to the reign of Darius, having been traced through five generations. Records of this house, on clay tablets found in an earthen jar in the neighborhood of Hillah, near Babylon, may now be seen in the British Museum. The earliest records of European banks now in existence are those of the Bank of Venice, founded A. D. 1171; the Bank of Barcelona, in 1401; the Bank of Geneva, in 1407, and the Bank of Amsterdam, 1609. The most important bank in the world at this time is the Bank of England, projected by William Patterson, and incorporated July 27, 1694, with a capital of £1,200,000. Its present capital is £14,553,000, besides what is termed a "rest" of £3,090,249. Its circulation Sept. 28, 1882, was £36,956,000; its maximum deposits, public and private, aggregated in 1877-78 the sum of £43,047,038. Its shares were worth £288 each, on which it paid dividends in the year ending Oct. 5, 1882, at the rate of £10, 10 shillings per cent. POPULATION BETWEEN 6 AND 16 YEARS. MANTENO, Ill. How many children are there in the United States between the ages of 6 and 16? FRED HOLMES. of 6 and 16" Answer.-"Between the ages would take in only such as are over 6 and under 16. Of such children there were in 1880 a total of 10,772,427 in the United States. Including children 16 and under 17 years the number was 12,760,025. The school ages differ in different States, varying from 4 years as the minimum to 21 as the maximum. There were 16,052,283 persons of school age in this country in 1880. The total number of scholars enrolled in the schools the same year, according to the report of the Bureau of Education, was 9,781,521, but only 5,705,342 were reported as in daily attend ance. PLATTSMOUTH BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSOURI. UNION, Iowa. State if the bridge across the Missouri at Plattsmouth is completed, and give dimensions, and oblige several readers, U. G. WHITNEY. Answer-The Plattsmouth bridge across the Missouri, on the "Burlington Route" to Denver, was opened for traffic Aug. 30, 1880. It is a noble structure, of the truss pattern, resting on five piers of solid masonry, rising fifty feet above low water, and the tops of the two central spans are 100 feet from the water. Each of these spans is of Hay steel and measures 400 feet, while the other three spans are each 200 feet long, and each of the approaches consists of 2,200 feet of iron visduct and 2,000 feet of trestle-work. STANDARD TIMB ADRIAN, Ohio. Answer.-The points at which the changes of "standard time" take place have been chosen according to the terminations of divisions of the various east and west railroad lines, but, as nearly as convenient, midway between the standard meridians, i. e., about midway between the 75th and 90th meridians east of Greenwich; between the 90th and 105th meridians., etc. As a general thing this brings the change about midway between the cities you name for shifting from Eastern to Central time; while the line for changing from Central to Mountain time is the Missouri River. ENGLAND'S TARIFF NORMALS NORTH AND SOUTH. Answer.-England's tax on sugar expired, we believe, about 1865. During the financial year 1879 the English customs revenue, in dollars, was as follows: From articles imported not produced in England $42,949,405 $26,734,720 Total duties from imports......$102,042,370 Louisiana has no State normal schools. There are several such schools supported by the Peabody fund or by denominational aid, and having, all told, less than 200 persons in training for teaching. South Carolina has what is known as Fairfield Normal Institute at Winneboro, receiving from State, county, and town together $850. Missouri does far better, being one of the foremost of the Western States in affording candidates for teachers' certificates opportunity to fit themselves for their work by a course of training. Besides the normal departments in the State University at Columbia and at Rolla, the cost of which is incorporated indistinguishably in the aggregate disbursements for the university, there were $7,500 appropriated by the State for the support of Lincoln Institute (for the training of colored teachers) in 1881; $10,000 for the State Normal at Kirksville; $10,000 for the State STATES WITH TWO CAPITALS. Answer-Rhode Island still adheres to the folly of having two capitals, although the most diminutive of the States, because her people have not outgrown the old sectional jealousies and agreed to abandon either. The best excuse that can be given for still clinging to the old arrangement is the attachment to early historical associations. Connecticut, which had two State capitals from 1701 to 1873, had the same excuse for persisting in this arrangement but the people had the good sense, when amending their constitution, to agree on making Hartford, which was the sole capital previous to 1701, the sole capital henceforward. In both of the above States the rivalries of different sections grew out of the jealousies and extreme love of independence of the original colonies constituting different "plantations," as they were called in Rhode Island, and "settlements" in Connecticut. Newport was in colonial times one of the most prosperous ports of entry of the entire country. In 1764 its trade with the West Indies alone engaged 150 vessels. She sent out swarms of privateers to prey on British commerce during the revolutionary war, and in revenge the British quartered 8,000 British and Hessian troops on the town, destroyed 480 houses, robbed the library, burned the shipping, cut down the luxuriant groves and orchards for fuel, and so utterly prostrated the town and island that its commercial interests have never recovered. When the manufacturing set in Providence rapidly outstripped Newport; yet the latter long cherished a hope of regaining something of its old importance, and its people would never consent to the permanent removal of the capital. |