The year is 1910 one hundred and two years ago. What a
difference more than a century makes.
Here are some
statistics for the Year 1910:
**************************************************************************************************************
The average
life expectancy for men was 47 years.
Fuel for this car was sold
in drug stores only.
Only 14 percent of the homes had a
bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a
telephone.
There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of
paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10
mph.
The tallest structure in the world was the
Eiffel Tower !
The average US wage in 1910 was 22
cents per hour.
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
veterinarianbetween $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical
engineer about
$5,000 per year.
More than 95
percent of all births took place at HOME.
Ninety percent of all
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.
The Five
leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2.
Tuberculosis
3.
Diarrhea
4. Heart
disease
5. Stroke
The American
flag had 45 stars.
The population of Las
Vegas , Nevada was only 30!
Crossword
puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented
yet.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's
Day.
Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write and 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'
Eighteen
percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic
help.
There were about 230 reported murders in the
ENTIRE
U. S. A. !
This post can be see all over the world in a few minutes.
Try
to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.
H/T to Wendy
Amazing, but I'd sure like to go back for a visit.:)
ReplyDeleteMore on the ford from Wikipedia ..... The Model R was a higher trim level of the Model N with a larger body, wheels covered by full cycle fenders, running boards,and an oil lamp. Model R was $750, $150 above the $600 base Model N. The Model R was only produced in 1907, from April through October, and 2500 were sold. Its color was red.
ReplyDeletein 1910 the US was still using gold and silver for everyday transactions. Not just 'the gold standard'...actual metal coins and paper certificates* redeemable at the banks for same. With that in mind, using the current gold price as closed on 9-7-2012 ($1735/Troy oz.in de-valued FRN's), and using the historical valuation of gold at the time**, those same prices listed in the post would appear thus to the 'modern day' American:
ReplyDelete"The average US wage in 1910 was 19.082 dollars per hour.
The average US worker made between
$17,350 and $34,700 per year.
A competent accountant could expect to
earn $173,500 per year, A dentist $216,875 per year,
a
veterinarian between $130,125 and $347,000 per year, and a mechanical
engineer about
$433,750 per year.***
Sugar cost $3.47 a
pound. (it's less than $3 for a five lb. bag today)
Eggs were $12.145(!!!) a dozen.
Coffee
was $13.0125 a pound."
The car in question would cost either $52,050 or $65,062.50 depending on trim level according to monty.
*Gold and silver certificates were essentially 'bearer CD's' which were exchangeable by law at any bank for the same face value of physical US gold and/or silver coins. The current Federal Reserve 'note' is nothing more than a debt note (I.O.U) issued by a private bank (The Federal Reserve is no more a government entity than Federal Express) and has no intrinsic value in and of itself. Once unhinged from the gold backing (meaning each note represented physical metal(s) on deposit SOMEWHERE), the Fed-Res was free to print as many FRN's as they wanted...and each one is worth less than those that came before (until they become utterly WORTHLESS)...that's the true source of inflation folks. See also Zimbabwe from 2005 to present.
**In 1910 the value of gold was set by federal law at $20/troy oz. After the Gold confiscations in the (30's?) Fed-gov raised the valuation to $35/troy oz., and when Ron Paul all but forced the Fed-gov to resume issuing gold and silver money as required by the constitution, it was raised again to $50/troy oz. This means that $1 in 1910 = 1/20 of an oz. of gold, or $86.75 in de-valued FRN private bank scrip today.
***Something else to keep in mind....in 1910 no American had been enslaved by the so-called 'income tax', so everything they earned, they received.
Nice job on that Sir!
DeleteMy maternal grandmother told me stories from when she was 6, in 1906 of going to town on the buckboard and seeing men with six guns on their hips in the general store. She lived long enough to go from that to seeing a man land on the moon. From the standpoint of technology, the low hanging fruit has all been pulled. I don't expect to see the same exponential advancement in my lifetime. yeah, I know, we have cell phones and ipads now. Not quite the same as going from a horse to landing on the moon.
ReplyDeleteThe exponential expansion is happening, just not in a way that you recognize. I'm fair certain many folks who saw the progression of bikes, to cars, to planes would have thought that a moon walk was 'only' 60 years away. The exponetial expasnison of your grandmothers time was infrastructurally foundational. Having established that infrastructural foundation, the current generation is working to expand in other directions.
DeleteToday we already have 'affordable' home-hobbyist sized 3D printers turning out many products, including functioning 'firearms'*. Apply the (still increasing) computing power of today's technology, and it's very possible we could see a 'star trek' type replicator (Tea, earl grey, HOT!) within that same 60 years (assuming .Gov doesn't get in the way). Once that happens, a Moon base/colony is all but guaranteed to happen since they'd only need to ship some 'replicators' to the surface and utilize local material to build.
I can't imagine the mechanics of HOW it will happen... but then, the Wright brothers KNEW (along with everyone else) that the sound barrier was impenetrable even though they were engaged in proving wrong what everyone else KNEW about heavier than air flying machines being impossible too!
*where 'firearm' means the lower receiver of an AR-15 type gun.