|
Office
Humor -"1903"
As the New Year quickly recedes,
it's time to revisit where we were a century ago. This ought
to boggle your mind; I know it did mine!
YEAR OF 1903
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.
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 tallest structure in the world
was the Eiffel Tower.
The average wage in the US was 22 cents
an 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
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 US took place at home.
Ninety percent of all US physicians
had no college education. Instead, they attended 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, 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.
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."
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada
was 30.
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and
iced tea hadn't been invented.
There were no Mother's Day or Father's
Day.
One in ten US adults couldn't
read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated
from high school.
Coca Cola contained cocaine.
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.
|
