Some of us may remember some things close to
these itemized stats --and most of us realize the amazing
changes which occurred during the 20th Century --but the
contrasts of what was in 1901 as opposed to what is in 2001
are awesome.
Now that the 21st Century has finally arrived, it might
be fun to look back at the beginning of the last century and see what it was
like. Read on!
The average life expectancy in the United States was 47.
Only 14% of the homes in the United States had a bathtub.
Only 8% of the homes had a telephone. A three minute
call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
There were only 8,000 cars in the US and 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 twenty-first most populous State in the Union.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
The average wage in the US was twenty-two 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 $2500 per year, a veterinarian between $1500 and $4000 per
year and a mechanical engineer about $5000 per year.
More than 95% of all births in the United States 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 cost 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, either as travelers or immigrants.
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.
Drive-by-shootings -- in which teenage boys galloped down
the street on horses and started randomly shooting at houses, carriages, or
anything else that caught their fancy -- were an ongoing problem in Denver
and other cities in the West.
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was thirty. The remote desert
community was inhabited by only a handful of ranchers and their families.
Plutonium, insulin, and antibiotics hadn't been
discovered yet.
Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer and iced tea
hadn't been invented.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
One in ten US adults couldn't read or write.
Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from 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
is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."
Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine.
Punch card data processing had recently been developed,
and early predecessors of the modern computer were used for the first time by
the government to help compile the 1900 census.
Eighteen percent of households in the United States had
at least one full-time servant or domestic.
There were about 230 reported murders in the US annually. |
