Seemingly out of nowhere, the issue of mandatory vaccinations has been in the news recently, particularly in conjunction with an upsurge in cases of measles. Governmental involvement in vaccination traces back to this date in 1810. That’s when Massachusetts enacted a law to “diffuse the benefits of inoculation for the Cow-Pox.” Such vaccinations of the mild, bovine cowpox virus immunized humans from smallpox, then a leading cause of disfiguring illness and death. This particular discovery dated from Great Britain just 14 years earlier. From producing simple cosmetics to complex vaccines and antibiotics, the pharmaceutical industry encompasses some 12,000 establishments doing over $250 billion of yearly business. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.
Saturday, March 7th. The right to vote began to receive some supervision more than two centuries ago, when Massachusetts acted on this date in 1801 to register voters. At that time, the franchise was limited to men — usually those of local repute and owning property. Town assessors drew up publicly posted lists of voters. If any voter was omitted, documents proving eligibility were accepted. The practice caught on very slowly. Only after the Civil War did voter registration become widespread. Today, North Dakota is the only state without a registration requirement, although proof of residency must be shown. In 2012, out of a voting age population of over 215 million citizens, just over 71 percent were registered to vote. In Massachusetts, registration was nearly 73 percent. Profile America is in its 18th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sunday, March 8th. The inventor of the first practical automatic dishwasher was born on this date in 1839 and was perhaps an unlikely candidate for the distinction. Josephine Cochrane was a socialite, and devised the dishwasher out of some annoyance at how her domestic staff damaged her china. Awarded a patent in 1886, Cochrane sold her machines in the 1890s mainly to restaurants and hotels. Her company eventually became KitchenAid, now part of the Whirlpool Corporation. In 2013, the Census Bureau’s American Housing Survey found that of the nation’s nearly 133 million housing units, about 87 million had automatic dishwashers. They are sold at the nation’s 8,300 household appliance stores, in addition to department stores. You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy from the American Community Survey at <www.census.gov>.