It may be hard to believe that a scant 100 years ago, the average life expectancy in the United States was forty-seven. Only 14 percent of the homes in the United States had a bathtub, and just 8 percent had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars. At that time, there were only 8,000 cars in the US and a mere 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was just ten mph.
Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California, which had only 1.4 million residents, making it the twenty-first 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 per hour, with the average worker earning between $200 and $400 per year. Different professions had varying earnings: a competent accountant could expect $2000 per year, a dentist $2500, a veterinarian between $1500 and $4000, and a mechanical engineer about $5000 annually.
During that time, more than 95 percent of all births in the United States occurred at home. Surprisingly, 90 percent of U.S. physicians had no college education; instead, they attended medical schools that were often criticized as "substandard."
Other interesting facts include sugar costing four cents a pound, eggs priced at fourteen cents per dozen, and coffee at fifteen cents a pound. Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks as shampoo.
In that era, Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country, and the American flag had 45 stars as Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska had not yet been admitted to the Union.
Some shocking practices included drive-by shootings in cities like Denver, where teenage boys on horses randomly shot at houses and carriages. Furthermore, the population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only thirty, inhabited by a handful of ranchers.
Noteworthy inventions and discoveries that had not yet been made included plutonium, insulin, antibiotics, Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea. Additionally, there were no official Mother's Day or Father's Day celebrations.
It was a time when one in ten U.S. adults couldn't read or write, and only 6 percent of Americans had graduated from high school. Medical authorities even suggested adding bromide to professional seamstresses' water to curb sexual desires induced by the rhythm of sewing machines.
Surprisingly, marijuana, heroin, and morphine were available over the counter at corner drugstores, and Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine. Punch card data processing had just been developed, and early versions of the modern computer were used for the first time by the government to compile the 1900 census. Eighteen percent of households in the United States had at least one full-time servant or domestic staff.
From India, Delhi
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115Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California, which had only 1.4 million residents, making it the twenty-first 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 per hour, with the average worker earning between $200 and $400 per year. Different professions had varying earnings: a competent accountant could expect $2000 per year, a dentist $2500, a veterinarian between $1500 and $4000, and a mechanical engineer about $5000 annually.
During that time, more than 95 percent of all births in the United States occurred at home. Surprisingly, 90 percent of U.S. physicians had no college education; instead, they attended medical schools that were often criticized as "substandard."
Other interesting facts include sugar costing four cents a pound, eggs priced at fourteen cents per dozen, and coffee at fifteen cents a pound. Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks as shampoo.
In that era, Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country, and the American flag had 45 stars as Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska had not yet been admitted to the Union.
Some shocking practices included drive-by shootings in cities like Denver, where teenage boys on horses randomly shot at houses and carriages. Furthermore, the population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only thirty, inhabited by a handful of ranchers.
Noteworthy inventions and discoveries that had not yet been made included plutonium, insulin, antibiotics, Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea. Additionally, there were no official Mother's Day or Father's Day celebrations.
It was a time when one in ten U.S. adults couldn't read or write, and only 6 percent of Americans had graduated from high school. Medical authorities even suggested adding bromide to professional seamstresses' water to curb sexual desires induced by the rhythm of sewing machines.
Surprisingly, marijuana, heroin, and morphine were available over the counter at corner drugstores, and Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine. Punch card data processing had just been developed, and early versions of the modern computer were used for the first time by the government to compile the 1900 census. Eighteen percent of households in the United States had at least one full-time servant or domestic staff.
From India, Delhi
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I feel instead of repeating some hash about another country, why don't we concentrate on encouraging our people to know more about our past and the rich heritage we have had? Are we not discouraging others from learning about our great history by sending out such information about other countries?
Let us rethink our strategy of becoming a great country, one that is looked up to for guidance rather than becoming an "also-ran", one which just copies from other countries' culture and thinking.
Cheers.
From India, Hyderabad
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Let us rethink our strategy of becoming a great country, one that is looked up to for guidance rather than becoming an "also-ran", one which just copies from other countries' culture and thinking.
Cheers.
From India, Hyderabad
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Hello Yajeeth,
Thanks for your response to the mail. But dear, I'm really sad that people like you are not interested in knowing the history of the country which claims to be the superpower of the world. This is the irony of today's generation; without going into the details, they develop their own perception towards things. If you have read this mail clearly, there is nothing written about the praise of the country. This post is to tell people that a country like America has developed so much in a hundred years; we in India can also grow even faster than this. Anyway, it was your perception, and I welcome it.
Cheers,
Archna
From India, Delhi
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Thanks for your response to the mail. But dear, I'm really sad that people like you are not interested in knowing the history of the country which claims to be the superpower of the world. This is the irony of today's generation; without going into the details, they develop their own perception towards things. If you have read this mail clearly, there is nothing written about the praise of the country. This post is to tell people that a country like America has developed so much in a hundred years; we in India can also grow even faster than this. Anyway, it was your perception, and I welcome it.
Cheers,
Archna
From India, Delhi
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OD in India A Historical Perspective.pdf