It’s purely coincidence, but nonetheless symbolic, that this date, the traditional presidential inauguration day, also happens to be the 231st anniversary of the end of hostilities in the American Revolution. This 1783 cease-fire, while throwing off a monarch, started us on the way to electing our head of state. Along with creating the office of president, the ensuing constitution of the new republic was unique in world history for requiring a regular, periodic census. Letting bygones be bygones, census figures show that in the decade leading up to the 2010 Census, over 153,000 Britons and other United Kingdom subjects obtained legal permanent resident status in the U.S. There are over 25 million U.S. citizens of English ancestry. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.
Sunday, January 19th. Being able to store food and distribute it before it spoiled became a lot easier in the young United States on this date in 1825. That’s when Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett were granted a patent for the tin can. Heating and sealing food in glass jars had started a few years before in France, and the British Royal Navy was being supplied with such foods by 1820. Even though today frozen foods, plastic containers and concentrates are widely available, canned foods are still popular, including soups and canned tomato sauce. In fact, it takes more than 19,000 people to make all the tin cans we use each year, an industry doing annual business worth more than $13.5 billion. You can find current data on the country’s economy by downloading the America’s Economy mobile application at <www.census.gov/mobile>.
Saturday, January 18th. In the depths of winter, many Americans find soothing warmth in a cup of hot tea, be it herbal, ginseng, black, green or some exotic specialty blend. Lumped together, this appreciation of the brew underlies January’s National Hot Tea Month. Tea is the only beverage commonly served either hot or iced and in any season. While tea has been consumed for thousands of years, Americans made two important contributions — inventing tea bags and iced tea — both in 1904. Recently, the U.S. has led in the development of ready-to-drink forms of tea in bottles and cans. There are 360 tea and coffee manufacturing firms in the U.S., employing nearly 13,000 workers, and doing over $7.8 billion of business annually. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.