100 YEARS AGO

An interesting article in the local paper caught my eye this morning. Bob Kriebel, a local writer, shared an email he had received earlier this year...from a writer who describes some of the interesting facts from the year 1910. I don't know if Mr. Kriebel did any research on these facts...but he shared them as written.

I guess why it caught my eye...is that my dad was born in 1909...my mother in 1912. So these 'things' that were supposedly occurring in 1910...were what my parents were experiencing as young children.

Here's a few of the things that were shared:
-in 1910, 100 years ago, the average life expectancy for American men was 47 years
-only drugstores sold fuel for cars
-there were 8000 cars in the U.S, and 144 miles of paved roads
-the maximum speed limit was 10 mph
-1 in 7 homes had a bathtub, 1 in 12 a telephone
-the average American wage was $0.22 an hour
-the average American worker earned between $200-400 a year
-a competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 a year, a dentist $2500, a veterinarian $4000, a mechanical engineer $5000
-over 95% of all American births took place at home
-90% of all doctors had no college education. Instead they had attended 'so-called' medical schools
-sugar cost 4 cents a pound, eggs 14 cents a dozen, coffee 15 cents a pound
-most women washed their hair once a month and used Borax or egg yolks as shampoo
-the leading causes of death were, 1)pneumonia, 2) tuberculosis, 3) diarrhea, 4) heart disease, 5) stroke
-the U.S. flag had 45 stars
-the population of Las Vegas was 30
-crossword puzzles, iced tea, and canned beer had not yet been invented
-there was neither a Mother's Day or Father's Day
-2 in 10 adults could neither read nor write
-1 in 16 finished high school
-there were 230 murders reported in the entire U.S. that year

Things have changed in 100 years.


Dan