24 th April

1704 First regularly issued American newspaper started publication.

1800 The U. S. Library of Congress was established.

1833 The soda fountain was patented.

1898 Spain declared war on the U. S. (See April 25th entry.)

1962 MIT executed the first satellite relay of a TV signal.

1970 China launched its first satellite.

What American institution born on this day is black and white and read all over? In

1704, the first regularly issued American newspaper, the Boston News Letter, started publication.

Jacob Ebert and George Dulty are not exactly household names. But on this very day, in 1833, they received the first patent for the soda fountain. Ours is a soda fountain society. We’ve made major advances in the bottling and canning of soft drinks. And new flavors continue to hit the market each year. Did you ever stop to think that the soda is one of the ways America has colonized the world? Soda fountain psychology has shaped our social life—it’s the “pause that refreshes,” the elixir of youthful masses.

The U. S. Library of Congress was established on this day, in 1800, with $5,000 in donated funds and Thomas Jefferson’s entire book collection. Today, this vast depository of American literature, letters, sound recordings and photographs stands as a monument to our intellectual heritage.

The world got a little bit smaller on this day in 1962. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology successfully transmitted the first satellite relay of a television signal sent from Camp Parks, California, to Westford Massachusetts. This momentous achievement made it possible for the entire world to sit back and watch a live event as it happened in one small comer. Knowledge and information should never be limited to a select portion of a given population. And satellite technology obviously isn’t, because in 1970, the People’s Republic of China launched their first satellite.