100 years ago

[medic]

A friend emailed this to me. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it's interesting to think about.

quote:

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Maybe this will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1904 ... one hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes! Here are some of the US statistics for 1904:


The average life expectancy in the US was 47 years.


Only 14% of the homes in the US had a bathtub.


Only 8%of the homes had a telephone.


A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11.00


There were only 8,000 cars in the US, and only 144 miles of paved roads.


The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.


Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.


The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.


The average wage in the US was 22 cents an hour.


The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.


A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year.


A veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year.


A mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.


More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at home.


Ninety % of all US physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."


Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.


Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.


Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.


Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.


The five leading causes of death in the US were:


1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke


The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.


The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30!


Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.


There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.


Two of 10 US adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 % of all Americans had graduated high school.


Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health." (Shocking!)


Eighteen percent of households in the US had at least one full-time servant or domestic.


There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US


And I forwarded this from someone else without typing it myself, and sent it to you in a matter of seconds! Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years ... it staggers the mind.

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[Jeffrey]

Medic,

Bradford, PA...

That is where my parents were born (father in 1929, Mom in 1935). Lovely area. My father worked for Kendall Oil. By the time I was born we were living in California. We used to visit Bradford every summer. I spent my time fishing in Tuna creek, and behind Kinzu (sp?) Dam.

As to your census info...great stuff. Now get the same info from a census done late in the 1920s/early 1930s. I know the census is generally done every 10 years. U.S. history books often cover the 1920s as the decade in which many of the things you described changed. It would be neat to contrast 1904 with, say, 1924.

 

[Al]

The way things are heading in this country we may be heading back to this

 

[andrews]

Thanks Medic, interesting post for sure. I'll print it out and discuss it tonight over the family meal. My son will benefit especially.

 

[TheLoneRanger]

Amazing stuff. I too wonder what the next 100 years will bring. Who in 1904 could envision our level of technology today? Hard to imagine what it will be like in 2104. Or 2504? It does indeed boggle the mind.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Simple life. Not long, but simple.

 

[Spitty]

When I was at school there were no small electronic calculators, a trans continental phone call was expensive and the line was scratchy and the call was often put through by a Human opperator, a trans Atlantic vacation was a once in a lifetime experience, I would not belive that one day, I would own (need and want to own) a computer, almost all transactions were made by cash or Check, most people had a career that would last them until retirement, All the Kids in my class had a Mother and a Father, if a car had an 8 track stereo it was pretty cool.
I am 48 years old, what will the world be lie when I'm 75? Could I even guess?

 

[labman]

I remember when calculators first came out, that unlike slide rules, they never got lost in your papers.