It was only 100 years ago...

[DragonFly]

I tried to find some 1908 statistics like this, but this was the best I could do with 1907. To think, this was only 100 years ago. :eek:

The average life expectancy in the US. was 47 years old.

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 8000 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 people, California was only the 21st most populated state in the US.

The tallest structure in the world at that time was the Eiffel Tower.

The average wage in the US was 22 cents per hour. The average US Worker made between $200 and $400 per year :eek:

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist made $2,500 per year, a veterinarian $1,500 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at the home.

Ninety percent of all U.S. Doctors had no college education! :eek: Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and 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 that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

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 only 30. :eek:

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores.

There were about 230 reported Murders in the entire US!

[HeatherFL]

There were about 230 reported Murders in the entire US!


'Cause they were all too high and happy from

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. !

[rileyandfredsmom]

What's really scary is what that list will look like in 2108....only 100 years ago

-2 out of every 10 people had an iphone

you add to the list....

[red_canuck]

"Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason."

I'm sorry, but what?! "poor people" WTH? not only is this not factual, it's insulting and plain stupid.
Someone didn't check their facts...

Are you telling me that of the over 400,000 LEGAL immigrants in 1913, not a single one of them was poor? And what is "poor"?

Not to mention, Canada in 1907 was still very much a British colony. I mean, "Canadian citizenship was originally created under the Immigration Act, 1910, to designate those British subjects who were domiciled in Canada." There wasn't even such a THING as canadian citizenship in 1907!

The closest I could come to find *anything* about *any* immigration law in 1907 involved a chinese and japanese head tax (http://www.canadiana.org/citm/specifique/asian_e.html)

And while there was a riot in BC due to civic unrest because of "the unexpected arrival of about 11,500 Japanese, East Indians and Chinese in 1907", there was a royal commission heard and compensation handed out to the injured *new* canadians (http://www.immigrationwatchcanada.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=2122)

Interestingly, I DID find information about such an AMERICAN law
"The Immigration Act passed in 1907 updated the 1882 Immigration Act and 1891 Immigration Act. The head tax was increased to $5 and "imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, unaccompanied children under 17 years of age, and persons who are found to be and are certified by the examination surgeon as being mentally or physically defective, such mental or physical defect being of a nature which may affect the ability of such aliens to earn a living" were added to the excluded list. It was originally intended to exclude every male who had not $25 in his possession ($15 for women). However this clause was removed before it was passed by Congress."
(http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/immiact1907.html)

[Adaya]

Interesting.

[DragonFly]

I thought that Canadian thing seemed a little off. Sorry, I didn't write it, so I wasn't trying to offend anyone.

[hisdaffodil]

"What's really scary is what that list will look like in 2108....only 100 years ago

-2 out of every 10 people had an iphone"
-computers weighed a massive 3lbs
-cars ran on gasoline

[sparkle&shine]

What is interesting is if the average person only made 22 cents an hour that eggs cost 14 cents a dozen. That is quite a chunck of pay for a dozen eggs.

Imagine if eggs cost the same ratio now. Federal min. wage is $5.85 then the same DZ eggs would cost $3.70 now. That is just crazy! I bet a lot of people just had their own chickens.

[jennylou]

What is interesting is if the average person only made 22 cents an hour that eggs cost 14 cents a dozen. That is quite a chunck of pay for a dozen eggs.

Imagine if eggs cost the same ratio now. Federal min. wage is $5.85 then the same DZ eggs would cost $3.70 now. That is just crazy! I bet a lot of people just had their own chickens.

Many, many people had chickens.

[dionysia]

Source(s) for stats, please?

[Kimberland30]

I remember when I was younger, we used to go to a local dairy and get eggs and milk. It smelled like crap, but it was fun to see the animals.

[sea74]

That was really interesting. I can't imagine what the list will really look like 2108!

[cynder]

Well, I am assuming the OP used this search string:

Google search string (http://www.google.com/search?q=It+was+only+100+years+ago)

Several sites had the same observations. Interesting!

[dionysia]

Huh.

This one says the stats are from 1904:
http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=41362

This one says the stats are from 1906:
http://www.rense.com/general70/100yrs.htm
and it's copywritten!

This one doesn't have a date, but does contain statements that are untrue (just search Snopes for some of them):
http://www.naute.com/stories/100years.phtml

Some debunking done by a commenter on this page:
http://bitsandpieces1.blogspot.com/2007/07/1907-one-hundred-years-ago.html
"At least some of these numbers are just plain nonsense. And I won't trust the other numbers either.

Some numbers I've got:
paved overland roads in Germany:
1876: 64978km
1900: 95945km
France with one of the best road network at this time:
1869/1906 ca. 38000km "routes nacionales" (Aka Highways)
but(!)
1869: 323400km
1906: 525172km of paved local streets (although there are the paved streets within the cities included)
(And these 2 county at this time each had an area about only 500k squarekm )


So that the USA had only 177 Miles (283 km) of paved roads at this time is bloody nonsense!- paved roads are no invention for cars - sorry dear author, but already the romans knew that you'll need paved roads for any reliable connection even with coaches during winter/rainy times and maintained a vast road network with thousands of miles of paved roads .
And I refuse to believe that in 1907 the USA were less developed than the Roman Empire!

BTW for the cars: on 1.1.1909 there were exactly 41727 cars registered in Germany - so in the US with at least the same penetration so would some 100k?"

# of cars was closer to 125K:
From the NY Times article here
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0B12FD385A15738DDDA00994DD405B 878CF1D3
"ENORMOUS GROWTH OF AUTO INDUSTRY; More Than 220 American Firms Make Nearly 800 Models of Motor Cars. 125,000 NOW REGISTERED Gasoline Type Predominates and the Prices Range All the Way from $250 to $15,000."

[Hula1974]

Five leading causes of death in the US were:

#3. Diarrhea

Holy Cow! lol
Thank goodness modern medicine has saved my life :D

[phoenics]

I'm not sure you care about this, but since the 100 year anniversary for my sorority was Tuesday (the 15th), I thought I'd add it to the list:

January 15th, 1908 - Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority - the first black greek sorority - was founded.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. We're all just so excited that we're 100 years old!!

Just a week before, it was January 9, 2008 and we were stoked because the numbers read: 1-9-08!! That'll never happen again when I'm alive!!

[Brandles]

There's a book, "America, 1908" that looked interesting when I read a blurb about it in either the Farm Bureau magazine or the AAA magazine. Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/America-1908-Flight-Invention-Making/dp/0743280776/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200663997&sr=8-1

[Foley42]

I love reading stuff like that. Thanks for posting :)