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Tue 21 Dec, 2004 08:49 am
The Year is 1904
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 percent 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.
The 3rd Olympics of the modern era was held in 1904 at St. Louis.
Thomas Hicks won the marathon with a time of 3:28:53
The 1904 marathon in St Louis saw some of the most colorful
competitors in Olympic history. There were the Zulu tribesmen who were
in St Louis as part of a Boer War exhibit; there was the Cuban mailman
who hitchhiked to the Games after losing his money in a craps game; and
there was the eventual winner, Thomas Hicks, who was "zonked out" at
the finish after taking a strychnine and brandy tonic.
Unbelievable!
My grandfather was born in 1902 and died in 1997.
He fought in WWI and WWII, he never drove a car and
he never used a computer. He even was leery of the
telephone. The only thing he'd gotten used to fast, was
the television set
Re: The year is 1904
au1929 wrote:
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Oh, good God! I'm sooo gonna stop complaining!
The 3rd leading cause of death was diarrhea!
Re: The year is 1904
quote="au1929"]
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks or "Gee Your Hair Smells Like ****" for shampoo.
[/quote]
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