Subject: 100 years ago The year is 1902, one
hundred years ago ... what a difference a century makes.
Here are the U.S. statistics for 1902.
The average life expectancy in the US was forty-seven
(47).
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
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.
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.
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