100 Years Ago!

The Year 1909 – This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!

The year is 1909; 100 years ago. What a difference a century makes!

Here are some statistics for the year 1909:

Average life expectancy was just 47 years
Fuel for gas driven cars was sold in drug stores only
Only 14% of homes had a bathtub
Only 8% of homes had a telephone

There were only 8,000 cars and 144 miles of paved road
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower

The average wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour
The average worker made $200-$400 per year
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000 per year,
a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 & $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year

More than 95% of all births took place at home

90% of all doctors had NO college education
Instead they attended so called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as substandard

Sugar cost 4 cents per pound
Eggs were 14 cents per dozen
Coffee was 15 cents per 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

Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia & Influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart Disease
5. Stroke

The American Flag had 45 stars

The population of Las Vegas was only 30!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer & iced tea hadn’t yet been invented

There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day

Two out of ten adults couldn’t read or write and
only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school
18% of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic helper

There were about 230 reported murders in the entire USA!

95% of the taxes we have now did not exist in 1909 (nor did we have anything like social security, medicare, free universal public education, public hospitals…)