1901 - 2001

[Bumper]

1901 - 2001

Now that 2001 is history, how did it compare to 1901? (Edit: Okay, so I've had this in the files for a while!! So, sue me!) Here are a few items of interest from the “first year of the last century.”

The average life expectancy in the United States was 47.
Only 14% of the homes in the US had a bathtub.
A mere 8% of American homes had a telephone and a three minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11.00.
There were only 8,000 cars in the US and 144 miles of paved road.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 MPH.
California, with a mere1.4 million residents, was only the twenty-first 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 $2,000 per year, a dentist $2,500 a year, a veterinarian $1,500 to $4,000 a year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 annually.
More than 95% of all births in the United States took place at home.
90% of all US physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and found by the government to be substandard.
Sugar cost four cents a pound, eggs were fourteen cents a dozen, and 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 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 thirty. The remote desert community was inhabited by scorpions, and a mere 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.
One in ten US adults couldn’t read or write, and only six percent of Americans had graduated from high school.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were available over-the-counter in corner drugstores.

...Ah, the good ‘ol days...

[SunKneeMarie]

My grandmother was born in 1903 and celebrated her 100th birthday last November. Still lives in the same house she's lived in since 1965 (my grandfather passed away in 1986), still balances her own checkbook, still cooks all her own meals daily and goes to church every Sunday (although she voluntarily stepped away from the steering wheel of her car 5 years ago when it just got too scary). And she LOVES to tell everyone how much things have changed since SHE was a little girl. That list just made me remember how many changes she has seen in her life. And how she used to tell us a-a-a-a-a-l-l-l-l-l about it!

[tommy]

how do we do it now? The cost of everything is just way out there...I would only have about 10 years left and alot of you folks would be gone!Scary huh!

[Bumper]

Originally Posted by sun seekers

how do we do it now? The cost of everything is just way out there...I would only have about 10 years left and alot of you folks would be gone!Scary huh!

On the face of it, Tommy, it's true that the costs of things do indeed look like they're horrendously inflated, and they are obviously higher. However, if you analyze income levels on a comparative basis, you'll find the majority of things that have endured over this period, and are still available, have actually gone down in price, based on how many hours of labour are required to acquire them. That applies to goods and services both. You're right about the age thing too, buddy. I would have been in the ground for so long by now that the youthful Mrs. B would have undoubtedly have attracted some vigorous young stud muffin with my insurance money as bait.