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AND THE YEAR WAS 1904 What a difference one hundred years makes! Here are some U.S. statistics for 1904: ¨ The average life expectancy in the U.S. was forty-seven years. ¨ Only fourteen percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub and only eight 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 U.S. and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was ten miles per hour. ¨ 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 U.S. was twenty-two cents an hour. The average worker made between $200 and $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 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year. ¨ More than ninety-five percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home. ¨ Ninety percent of all U.S. 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 was fifteen cents a pound. ¨ Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo. ¨ The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were: pneumonia/influenza; tuberculosis; diarrhea; heart disease; stroke. ¨ The American flag had forty-five stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn’t been admitted to the Union. ¨ The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was thirty. ¨ There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. ¨ Two of ten U.S. adults couldn’t read or write. Only six percent of all Americans had graduated 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 bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.” ¨ Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant. ¨ There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire country.
In all this time the Word of God
has not changed one whit!
Glad Tidings of Good Things |