William Howard Taft, Twenty-seventh U.S. President
(1909-1913)
Statehood
New Mexico (47 of 50 States) Admitted 6 Jan 1912
Arizona (48 of 50 States) Admitted 14 Feb 1912
Food: The Oreo-cookie debuts. Life Savers appear. Morton
introduces free-flowing, granulated table salt. Whitman Candy
Company boxes a mixture of chocolates, calls it a "Sampler," and
prints a chart inside the lid to identify each piece.
Anderson, Jean American Century Cookbook.
p 67 & 79
Photography:
Edward S. Curtis
(American Photographer of Native Americans 1899-1929)
Lewis W. Hine
(American Photographer of Child Labor in America 1908-1912)
Child Labor
In the late 1700's and early 1800's, power-driven machines replaced
hand labor for making most manufactured items. The factory owners found
a new source of cheap labor to run their machines — children. European
countries like Great Britain began making laws to shorten working hours
and raise the working age in the late 1800s. The United States
raised the working age to sixteen during school hours and fourteen during after school hours in
1938.
Technology:
Model T's selling fast!
Due to assembly line process
reducing production cost, sales price drops from $825 in 1908 to $575 each
in 1912 and sales soar! Ford becomes the world's biggest car
manufacturer and claims 48% of the automobile market.
News: HMS Titanic strikes an iceberg on April 14, 1912.
