ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO..., Interesting tidbits! :) Options

[Cleo_Serapis]

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO...

YEAR OF 1903:

This ought to boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1903, one hundred years ago ... what a difference a century makes.

Here are the US statistics for 1903....
The average life expectancy in the US was forty-seven (47). Only 14 Percent of the homes in the US 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 US 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 average US 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. More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at home. Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee cost 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 US 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. Canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented. There were no Mother's Day or Father's Day celebrations. One in ten US 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 corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."

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

There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US.

Just think what it will be like in another 100 years from now. It boggles the mind..........
 :detective:  :detective:  :detective:  :detective:  :detective:

[Guest_Jox_*]

Wel, bizarrely, I have only, hitherto, found the anthrax statistics for GB 1903 (this excludes Ireland). So you thought that anthrax was a modern problem? No, farm workers have always been threatened by it. By the way, in World War Two, the British put an anthrax bomb on a Scottish island to test the possibilities of germ warfare against the Nazis. The sheep were infected but the bomb was thought too dangerous to the home side (the spores are spread by the wind). The island was only cleared up in the 1990s. Anyway, back to 1903...

Anthrax outbreaks in Great Britain
The Anthrax Order of 1886 made this disease notifiable
DISEASED ANIMALS
Number of outbreaks
Year / Cattle / Sheep / Pigs / Horses / Other animals
1903 / 767 / 809 / 48 / 234 / 51 / 1

Just a quick point or several...

We (my family) only bought our first 'fridge in 1965 - and had our first telephone then. Our first car was 1971. I am the first member of the family to be lucky enough to have become an undergraduate. And, only in the last twenty years, has my uncle traced our family tree (he'd been looking in the wrong garden before that). But, as far as anyone can remember, we've had dogs in the family - the best things never change! So (dogs aside) many of the best things which we take for granted today were not in our families in 1903 - but still not there fifty years later!

Lori says that canned beer had not been invented - so there's one retrograde step in the last century. Proper real ale cannot be canned! (Real Ale is beer that is still living - the yeast is still working - so under long-term pressure (as in tins or bottles - it would explode). Despite this CO2 production is very slow so it appears flat and has no added CO2. Oh, yes, and it is drunk at room / cellar temperature - not chilled. See Lori - you started me off. All your fault. It's dangerous to mention beer! Tell you what, if you're ever in Blighty (UK) I'll buy you a pint - then you can say you hate it from experience! But please say it very quietly - I love real ale.

[Guest__*]

The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America's oldest and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. The Institute is a nonprofit group founded in 1879 and chartered by the United States Congress in 1903. Today, the AIA has nearly 9,000 members belonging to 102 local societies in the United States, Canada, and overseas. The organization is unique because it counts among its members professional archaeologists, students, and many others from all walks of life. This diverse group is united by a shared passion for archaeology and waking up good people who are trying to sleep.

A