OT: 100 years..

[Woodstock]

The year is 1906.
One hundred years ago........
What a difference a century makes!
Here are some of the U.S. statistics for the Year 1906:

• 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 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 $2,000 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. doctors had no college education. Instead, they attended so-called 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 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 pharmacist said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."
• Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time
  servant or domestic help.
• There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years. It's Staggering....

[Craig Manoukian]

More technicological advances have occurred in the last ten years than in the previous century. Mind boggling, eh?

[amee6730]

"Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."



hummm...maybe that's why the average life expectancy was only 47 !?!?!?

[Little Luey]

Wow!
Really makes you think. Those salaries are bad, I could not afford a fish tank, my hobby would probably be "Eating once in a while"

[reefjitsu]

Actually, those salaries were perfectly live-able back then. Of course, reef tanks weren't around back then, but if they were, they would still be about as affordable as today. A reef setup back then might of cost 10 dollars but that would be the equivlent of spending a thousand today. The big difference is the expectations and materialistic mindset of people living today. Back then, if you couldn't afford something, you did with out it until you got the money or you just did without it. Not today though, you gotta have everthing that your neighbor has, even if it means running up a credit card bill or living outside your means.

[DaveK]

Actually, 100 years ago is not that long ago. My grandparents were born in the early 1890's and lived through 1905, and could have easily remembered all that stuf.

The aquarium hobby existed, and most likely you would have had goldfish, with some of the fancy types available. Really state of the art people would have had FW tropical fish, and many types of live plants were available.

The SW side of the hobby almost did not exist. The few people that were in a position to attempt it had to live near the ocean, so they could have a source of SW, and be able to collect their own livestock. With almost a total lack of knowlege, a SW tank soon failed.

Even in the 1960's you were doing good if you kept a SW fish alive over a year.

[Rougiem]

Originally Posted by reefjitsu

The big difference is the expectations and materialistic mindset of people living today. Back then, if you couldn't afford something, you did with out it until you got the money or you just did without it. Not today though, you gotta have everthing that your neighbor has, even if it means running up a credit card bill or living outside your means.

Good point Reef and everyone else! Thanks woody for the insight! An age of 47 is very understandable if you look at what were the major causes of death (disease). What medicine has done to combat those at least here, not so in the rest of the world though...

Cheers!

[Witfull]

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

id be out of a job~~