X-Message-Number: 18398
From: 
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 11:24:01 EST
Subject: 1901 trivia, some of it perhaps relevant to progress

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Hello to all,
I don't often forward posts, but this post about life a mere 100 years ago 
may give us some hope.

I cannot determine beyond a doubt if all the below is exactly true, although 
it sounds about right.  The take home message is obvious, that even in a 
single lifetime technological progress has been mind boggling.  I know this 
is not news to any readers here, and I might be accused in this post of "a 
keen grasp of the obvious.":)
Posting follows:
Subject: 100 Year Trivia
> 
> **************************************************
> Now that 2001 is history, how did it compare to 1901?
> 
> Here are a few items of interest from the last "first year of the
> century":
> 
> The average life expectancy in the United States was 47.
> 
> Only 14% of the homes in the United States had a bathtub.
> 
> Only 8% 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 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 twenty-first
> most populous State in the Union.
> 
> The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
> 
> The average wage in the US was twenty-two 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
> $2500 per year, a veterinarian between $1500 and $4000 per year and a
> mechanical engineer about $5000 per year.
> 
> More than 95% of all births in the United States 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
> 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, 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
> 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 thirty. The remote desert
> community was inhabited by only a handful of ranchers and their
> families.
> 
> Plutonium, insulin, and antibiotics hadn't been discovered yet.
> 
> Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer and iced tea hadn't been
> invented.
> 
> There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
> 
> One in ten US adults couldn't read or write.
> 
> Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.
> 
> Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at
> corner drugstores.

And, of course, our own Robert Ettinger had not written "The Prospect of 
Immortality."

Rudi Hoffman
Member Financial Planner's Association, Certified Planner
Member ALCOR Life Extension Foundation
Member Libertarian Party    
Member National Rifle Association
Member Extropy Foundation
Board Member Port Orange Chamber of Commerce
Board Member Daytona Salvation Army

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