Good Old 1900

It was not too long ago that we were all looking forward to a new century, as well as a new millennium, and what it might bring us. A look back at the changes that have taken place since l900 makes this century even more exciting.

In the summer of 1900............

The average life expectancy in the US was forty-seven.

Only 14% of the homes in the US had a bathtub.

Only 8% of the homes had a telephone. A 3-minute call from New York to Denver cost $11.

There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved road.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were among the states more heavily populated than California. With only 1.4 million residents, California was the 21st most populous state.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

The average wage in the US was $.22 per hour. The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95% of all births in the US took place in the home.

Ninety percent of all physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended what were then called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost $.04 a pound, eggs were $.14 a dozen, and coffee was $.15 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, either as travelers or immigrants.

The five leading causes of death in the US were: 1. Pneumonia and influenza, 2. Tuberculosis, 3. Diarrhea, 4. Heart disease, and 5. Stroke.

The American flag had 45 stars, with Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska yet to join the Union.

Ride-by shootings, in which teenage boys galloped down the street on horseback and started shooting randomly at houses, carriages, or anything that caught their fancy, were an ongoing problem in Denver and other cities. (Colorado has had this kind of problem for 100 years.)

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30. The remote desert community was inhabited by only a handful of ranchers and their families.

Plutonium, insulin, and antibiotics had not yet been discovered, and Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea had not yet been created.

There was no Mothers' Day or Fathers' Day.

One in ten US adults couldn't read or write. Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Some medical authorities warned that professional seamstresses were apt to become sexually aroused by the steady rhythm, hour after hour, of the sewing machine's foot pedals. They recommended slipping bromide, which was thought to diminish sexual desire, into the women's drinking water.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the corner drug store. 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."

Coca-Cola contained cocaine, not caffeine.

Punch-card data processing had recently been developed, and early predecessors of the modern computer were first used by the government to help compile the 1900 census.

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

There were about 230 murders reported annually in the US.

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001