What a difference 100 years makes

[Deb2of9]

THE YEAR 1907

 

This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!

The year is 1907.

One hundred years ago.

What a difference a century makes!

Here are some of the U.S. Statistics for the Year 1907:

************************************

 

The average life e! xpectancy in the U. S. Was 47 years old.

 

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 people, 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 per 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 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 U.S. Took place at HOME.

 

Ninety percent of all U.S. Doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!

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 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 only 30!!!!

 

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 U.S. 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. Back then pharmacists

Said, 'Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind,

Regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian

Of health.'

 

There were about 230 reported Murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A. !

Now I sent it to you and others all over the United States,

Possibly the world, in a matter of just Seconds !!!!!!!!!

 

Just Try to imagine.....

What it may be like ....

In another 100 years !!!!!!!

[cookiejar]

I love history. This stuff amazes me...

 

but the wash the hair once a month thing

[Deb2of9]

I agree...if I let my hair go more than three days, I actually start getting a headache...I can't imagine washing it once a month. But then again, they used to bathe only once a week.

[Cat]

Hair?

 

 

Sheesh...

 

 

 

Nobody used deodorant, rarely took baths, and nobody really cared. Teachers used to have a handkerchief stuffed in their sleeve with perfume on it, to discreetly hold near their noses when dealing with smelly students. Kids fell in love with those teachers, because they "smelled SOOO nice"!

 

Still, people got married and had babies, and here we are...

 

 

 

[anrol5]

The thing I found interesting was the cost of food versus the cost of wages. On another board someone was complaining about the cost of food and the way it was rising. I commented that 100 years ago, food was produced by hand, no machinery, well certainly in the UK, and was very expensive compared to average wages. So everyone grew a garden, and had a few chickens for eggs. Only the very rich had lawns.

Farming in the UK wasn’t mechanised, in the UK, till the 1940s, and real food competition didn’t start to drive down food prices till 1980s, after Maggie Thatcher deregulated things. So at the beginning of 2007, food was at an historical low compared to wages.

So even though prices have started to rise, food is still very cheap compared to what our folks paid in 1907

 

So if you are saying wages were 22 cents an hour, then you had to work

11 minutes to buy a pound of sugar

38 minutes to buy a dozen eggs

and

41 minutes to a pound of coffee

 

Whereas in the UK, average wage for a man is, now, 498 pounds for a 40 hour week, ie 12.45 per hour

Eggs are one pound 60 pence per dozen or it takes 8 mins to earn a dozen eggs

Sugar is 40 pence a pound, or it takes 2 mins to earn a pound of sugar

and

Coffee is 3 pounds 60 pence a pound or it takes 17 minutes to earn a pound of coffee beans

 

[Belle]

Quote:

The American flag had 45 stars.
Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and
Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

There were only 48 stars when I was born!

When you're considering the prices of groceries 100 years ago, consider that they are an average, as are the wages. Forty percent of Americans lived on farms before WW2 and earned much less than the wages quoted in this article, but were able to raise most, if not all, of their food, leaving that cost near, or at, zero.

That leaves 60% of Americans living in cities, making higher wages, and buying food at the quoted prices. In other words, the price of sugar can't be translated into hours of work by looking at the average wage. Averages in one area skew the results in all other areas.