UNIO

1967

UNITED STATES

dye, has been adopted as the dress of portions of the army regiments (infantry, cavalry and engineers), and white has been retained as the working dress of soldiers in addition to officers in the navy. The prevailing color of the army uniform, for tunics or sacks as well as for the full-dress frock, is blue, with a blue of a lighter shade for the trousers; the khaki is of the same shade both for tunics and pants; while the prevailing color of the naval uniform (outside of white) is a dark blue, alike for tunics, frocks and trousers. The bandman's dress in the navy is the «red tunic, with light-blue trousers, and helmet. For general and field officers (army) the full-dress coat is the double-breasted frock, with a double row of buttons, with epaulets for general officers and shoulder-straps for inferior ranks. The general officers wear a stripe of gold color, in full dress, down the trouser-leg; while the full-dress frock is adorned with a breast-cord and tassel of the corps, color of the department or arm of the service to which its bearer belongs. In the navy, on all but the white uniforms, the rank of an officer is indicated by gold-lace on the sleeve and devices on the collar, epaulet and shoulder-strap. Stripes of gold-lace of varying widths mark the rank on the sleeve of the officer from ensign to admiral; while all officers of the line or executive branch wear a gold star on the sleeve above the gold-lace.

The shoulder-straps of a second-lieutenant in the army are plain. A first-lieutenant's have a silver bar at both ends; a captain's two; a lieutenant-colonel's silver oak-leaves; a major's gold oak-leaves; a colonel's a silver eagle; a brigadier's a silver star; a major-general's two stars of silver; a lieutenant-general's three; the general's two silver stars, between which are a gold eagle and a device. All commissioned officers of the navy wear epaulets of gold-bullion on both shoulders, while strips of gold-embroidered, white oak-leaves or of gold-lace and devices on the shoulder-straps indicate the respective ranks.

U'nio, the name for a number of freshwater mussels very abundant in the United States. Their name would indicate a single shell, but they are bivalves. For their structure see Clam. Some forms, especially in the streams of Wisconsin, Ohio and New Jersey, contain pearls. These animals are gathered in great numbers, but the pearls are of infrequent occurrence and mostly small. Occasionally, however, those valued as high as $500 to $2,000 have been found. The shells are used for making pearl-buttons.

Union, N. J., a town of Hudson County on Hudson River, one mile from Hoboken. Its chief industry is the manufacture of silk, but it also has a large shirt-factory and breweries. It has the service of the

West Shore and New York, Susquehanna and Western railways. Population 21,023.

Union Stock-Yards, Chicago. See Stock-Yards.

Uniontown, Pa., a borough, the seat of Fayette County, on the Pennsylvania and Baltimore and Ohio railways, 43 miles south-southeast of Pittsburgh. Settled in 1767, it became a town in 1783, and was incorporated as a borough in 1796. Situated in a region rich in iron, coal and coke, it has, developed many industries connected with these minerals, among which are steelworks, carriage-works, a foundry, manufactories of glass-ware, leather and its products, a tannery, a brewery, a flour-mill and machine-shops. It also has natural gas. Population 13,344.

U'nit. See Measurement.

Uni'ted States of Amer'ica, The, a federal republic in North America, composed of states, territories and districts on the continent, of insular dependencies and possessions in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and of the Panama canal-zone in South America. Washington, D. C, is the capital.

area and boundaries

The continental United States, excluding Alaska (a. v.), occupies the central area of North America. It lies between the Atlantic on the east, the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico on the south, the Pacific on the west and Canada on the north. It extends approximately from 670 W. to 1250 W. in longitude and from 240 30' N. to 490 N. in latitude. Its longest line, east and west, is 3,100 miles; north and south, 1,780. Its continental area, including Alaska, is 2,970,230 square miles. (That of Alaska is 590,884.) But the republic's total territory, when the area of Guam, Guantanamo, Hawaii, the Philippines, Porto Rico (with Culebra and Vieques), the Panama zone, five Samoan islands and many other small American islands in the Pacific is included, comprises over 3,699,130 square miles. (See articles on each.) Part of the northern boundary runs through Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario and their connecting waters and through St. Lawrence, St. John and St. Croix Rivers, while the Rio Grande forms part of the southern boundary. The Canadian boundary extends 3,700 miles, the Mexican 2,105, and the entire boundary stretches 11,075 miles. The continental United States and Alaska almost equal- all Europe in size, and the entire territory of the republic is surpassed in extent only by that of the British Empire, of Russia and of China. When the sun is setting on Porto Rico and Maine, it is rising on the Samoan and the Philippine Islands; and the American flag dominates the Arctic Ocean of Alaska and the tropical South Sea of Tutuila.