To find the interest on a given sum for any number of days, at any rate of interest, multiply the principal by the number of days and divide as follows: 120 At 9 per cent., by 40 . 90 At 10 per cent., by. 36 72 At 12 per cent., by 30 60 At 15 per cent., by 24 52 At 20 per cent., by 18 45 TRADE DISCOUNTS. Wholesale houses usually invoice their goods to retailers at "list" prices. List prices were once upon a time supposed to be retail prices, but of late a system of "long" list prices has come into vogue in many lines of trade—that is, the list price is made exorbitantly high, so that wholesalers can give enormous discounts. These discounts, whether large or small, are called trade discounts, and are usually deducted at a certain rate per cent. from the face of invoice. The amount of discount generally depends upon size of bill or terms of settlement, or both. Sometimes two or more discounts are allowed. Thus 30% and 5% is expressed 30 and 5, meaning first a discount of 30% and then 5% from the remainder. 30 and 5 is not 35%, but 33%. 10, 5 and 3 off means three successive discounts. A wholesale house allowing 10, 5 and 3 off gets more for its goods than it would at 18 off. HOW TO DETECT COUNTERFEIT MONEY. In the space at disposal here, it is impossible of course to give a complete illustrated counterfeit detector, but the following simple rules, laid down by Bank Note Examiner Geo. R. Baker, will be found extremely valuable: Examine the form and features of all human figures; if graceful, and features distinct, examine the drapery. Notice whether the folds lie naturally, and observe whether the fine strands of the hair are plain and distinct Examine the lettering. In a genuine bill it is absolutely perfect. There has never been a counterfeit put out but was more or less defective in the lettering. Counterfeiters rarely, if ever, get the imprint or engraver's name perfect. The shading in the background of the vignette and over and around the letters forming the name of the bank, on a good bill, is even and perfect; on a counterfeit it is uneven and imperfect. The die work around the figures of the denomination should be of the same character as the ornamental work surrounding it. Never take a bill deficient in any of these points. BIG TREES. Of ninety-two redwood trees in Calaveras Grove, Cal., ten are over thirty feet in diameter, and eighty-two have a diameter of from fifteen to thirty feet. Their ages are estimated at from 1,000 to 3,500 years. Their height ranges from 150 to 237 feet. BANKERS' TIME TABLE. To Find the Number of Days Between Any Two Dates of the Same Year, or Two Consecutive Years, Consult the following table. The numbers in black letter at head of the columns represent the months:-1, January; 2, February, 1 2 3 4 60 10 11 42 12 12 43 13 131 111 14 16 16 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 25 561 90 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Twenty Points on American Railroading. I. There are in the United States 150,600 miles of railwayabout half the mileage of the world. 2. The estimated cost is $9,000,000,000. 3. The number of people employed by American railways is more than 1,000,000. 4. The fastest time made by a train is 422 6-10 miles in 7 hours, 23 minutes (443 minutes), one mile being made in 47 11-29 seconds, on the West Shore Railroad, New York. 5. The cost of a high-class eight-wheel IO. passenger locomotive is about $8,500. 6. The longest mileage operated by a single system is that of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe--about 8,000 miles. 7. The cost of a palace sleeping-car is about $15,000, or $17,000 if "vestibuled." S. The longest railway bridge span in the United States is the Cantilever span in Poughkeepsie bridge-548 feet. 9. The highest railroad bridge in the United States is the Kinzua viaduct on the Erie road-305 feet high. The first locomotive in the United States was built by Peter Cooper. 11. The road carrying the largest number of passengers is the Manhattan Elevated Railroad, New York--525,000 a day, or 191,625,000 yearly. 12. The average daily earning of an American locomotive is about $100. 13. The longest American railway tunnel is the Hoosac, on the Fitchburgh railway-434 miles. 14. The average cost of constructing a mile of railroad at the present time is about $30,000. 15. The first sleeping-car was used upon the Cumberland Valley Railroad of Pennsylvania; from 1836 to 1848. 16. The chances of fatal accident in railway travel are very slight--one killed in ten million. Statistics show more are killed by falling out of windows than in railway accidents. 17. The line of railway extending farthest east and west is the Canadian Pacific, running from Quebec to the Pacific Ocean. 18. A steel rail, with average wear, lasts about eighteen years. 19. The road carrying the largest number of commuters is the Illinois Central at Chicago-4,828,128 commutation fares in 1887. 20. The fastest time made between Jersey City and San Francisco is 3 days, 7 hours, 39 minutes and 16 seconds. Special theatrical train, June, 1876. Train Management. ("Standard Code.") A train while running must display two green flags by day and two green lights by night, one on each side of the rear of the train. After sunset, or when obscured by fog or other cause, must display headlight in front and two red lights in rear. Two green flags by day and two green lights by night, displayed in the places provided for that purpose on the front of an engine, denote that the train is followed by another train running on the same schedule and entitled to the same time-table rights as the train carrying the signals. Two white flags by day and two white lights by night, carried in the same manner, denote that the train is an extra. A blue flag by day and a blue light by night, placed on the end of a car, denotes that car inspectors are at work under or about the car or train and that it must not be coupled to or moved until the blue signal is removed. Swinging Lamp Signals. 1. A lamp swung across the track is the signal to stop. 2. A lamp raised and lowered vertically is the signal to move ahead. 3. A lamp swung vertically in a circle across the track, when the train is standing, is the signal to move back. 4. A lamp swung vertically in a circle at arm's length across the track, when the train is running, is the signal that the train has parted. *** A flag, or the hand, moved in any of the directions given above, will indicate the same signal as given by a lamp. Colored Flag or Lantern Signals-Torpedoes. Red signifies danger. ("Standard Code.") Green signifies caution, go slowly. White signifies safety. Green and white signifies stop at flag stations for passengers or freight. One cap or torpedo on rail means stop immediately. Two caps or torpedoes on rail means reduce speed immediately and look out for danger signal. Speed is hard to average. An average of 48 3-10 miles per hour is the fastest regular time in the United States. This is made on the Pennsylvania limited" in its run from Jersey City to Philadelphia, 90 miles, in 112 minutes. The Flying Dutchman train is supposed to make the fastest time in the world, between London and Bristol, 1184 miles, in less than two hours. The average, however, of even this fast train is only 59% miles per hour. There are several other trains noted for remarkably fast time on short distances Sometimes a straight and even grade for a distance of 20 miles will permit a train to run at the rate of more than a mile a minute. One train on the Canadian Pacific road from Cotaneau to Ottawa, averages 50 miles an hour for a distance of 78 miles. An average of 381⁄2 miles an hour is considered fast traveling. The largest and fastest passenger engine ever built is said to have been turned out of the Rhode Island Locomotive Works, at Providence, for the New York, Providence & Boston Railroad Company. She was designed to make the run from Providence to Groton, Conn., a distance of 621⁄2 miles, including a dead stop at Mystic draw-bridge, as required by the statutes of Connecticut, in just 621⁄2 minutes, pulling at the same time eight cars, tour of them Pullmans. Steamboating. The first idea of steam navigation was contained in a patent obtained in England by Hulls in 1736. Fitch experimented in steam navigation on the Delaware river in 1783-4. Ramsey was also an experimenter in Virginia in steam navigation in 1787. W. Symington made a trial on the Forth and Clyde with a small but rudely constructed model of a steamer in 1789. Chancellor Livingston built a steamer on the Hudson in 1797. The first experiment in steamboating on the Thames, England, was in 1801. Mr. Symington repeated his experiments on the Thames with success in 1802. Fulton built the steamer, the North River, and in 1807 made a passage up the Hudson river to Albany from New York in thirty-three hours-the first steam navigation on record. The next steamboat was the Car of Neptune, in 1808. Fulton built the Orleans at Pittsburgh-the first steamer on |