Happy New Year!
Now that 2004 is about to be history, take a look at what 1904 was like.The Year is 1904Maybe 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 someU.S. statistics for 1904:The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.Only 14% of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.Only 8%of the homes had a telephone.A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11.00There 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 populatedthan California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was onlythe 21st most populous state in the Union.The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000 per year;a dentist $2,500 per year;a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year;and a mechanical engineer about $1,200 per year.More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education. Instead,they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press andby the government as "sub-standard."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 yolksfor shampoo.Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country forany reason.The five leading causes of death in the US were:1. Pneumonia and influenza2. Tuberculosis3. Diarrhea4. Heart disease5. StrokeThe American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, andAlaska 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 U.S. adults couldn't read or write. Only 6% of all Americans hadgraduated from high school.Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter atcorner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears thecomplexion, 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 U.S. had at least onefull-time servant or domestic.There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.And I forwarded this from someone else without typing it myself, and sentit to you in a matter of seconds! Try to imagine what it may be like inanother 100 years ... THAT staggers the mind.
