100 Years Ago
 

YEAR OF 1903

The year is 1903, one hundred years ago... what a difference a Century makes. Here are the U.S. statistics for 1903....

The average life expectancy in the US was forty-seven.

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

Only 8 percent 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 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, and 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 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.

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 were no Mother's Day or Father's Day. One in ten US adults couldn't read or write.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Coca Cola contained cocaine. 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 the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."

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.

Just think what it will be like in another 100 years.

So much of what has happened is good, if we could have just kept the good, and have left the bad behind.
On one hand I’m sorry that I will not be around to see how things will have changed, one the other I’m glad that I will not be.

Even in my lifetime it is just not the same world that I grew up in. And for the life of me sometimes I can not make up my mind if that is good or bad.

Sorry to ramble

WOW! What a eye opener, yeah what will it be like in another 100years!:o

And in 1903, having a "Limited Edition" Harley-Davidson ment you owned one of the three bikes they produced that year. :D

In another 100 years California will be and Island.:D

100 years ago, our very own Top was only just a young man! :p :D

(Sorry Top)
[laugh]

Rich

I knew I saw Top's & Shortround's faces in that painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware. [laugh]

Sounds like we need to legalize drugs and ban iced tea. It's gotta be the iced tea and the crossword puzzles that drove up the murder rate. [eyecrazy]

[laugh] [laugh]