User:Natsugumo

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. ~ Mohandas Gandhi

THE YEAR 1904
Maybe 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 some of the U.S. statistics for 1904:


 * The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.


 * Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. 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 U.S., 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 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 $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 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 and by 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 prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.


 * The five leading causes of death in the U.S. 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 was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.


 * Two of 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.


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


 * 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 bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health." (Shocking!)


 * Eighteen percent of households in the U.S had at least one full-time servant or domestic.


 * There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.