The year 1909

Ahh!! The good old days! I got this in an email and thought I would share with you all.

Enjoy!


The average life expectancy was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles
Of paved roads.

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 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 took place at HOME .

Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which
Were condemned in the press AND 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.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from
Entering into their country for any reason.

Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

The population of Las Vegas , Nevada, was only 30!!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea
Hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write.
Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school..

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, 'Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind,regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health'
( Shocking? DUH! )

Eighteen percent of households had at least
One full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE ! U.S.A. !

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Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from
Entering into their country for any reason.

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And now they let anyone in...except maybe us conservatives!;)

you forgot that gold was selling for 77s. 9 7/8d on the London Exchange and then collapsed... and did not get back to the glorious level until 1914!

Wouldn't mind having the same murder-rate this days!

Very interesting. Life was much much simpler then. I often wish it still was.

Where did you get the list?

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores.

JMS


***Well, Mark...Marijuana, heroin, and morphine are all available on many corners NOW.
:roflmao

And this beautiful baby was already an antique.

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Originally Posted by Blade Wielder

Where did you get the list?

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In an email.

Everything is relative to your vantage point in time.

In 100 years people will look back to 2009 and say wow life was simple and cheap and whatever happened to Florida once the ice melted and it was overrun by 30 feet of oceanwater. And remember people in 1909 could look back to 1809 and think of themselves as being high tech.

It's easy to be impressed by these figures until you remember that in most of the world, 5,000 years ago, the state-of-the-art was a goat. :rofl2::rofl2:

My family lived in the center of my city (Swansea) from the 1850's to the 1920's.
It was where all the Irish came to live, it was called Greenhill (ala Irish -- Green !!) It was as rough as a Badgers Bum, especially if you where a Welsh Protestant:eek:
I had the great fortune to pick up an out-of-print book called "The Greenhill of my Mothers Childhood" by Georgina Stockhard.
It is set "smack bang" in the time my family had the misfortune to live in the roughest area of Swansea (still is)
Did you know? If a baby died, they would bribe the Undertaker to put the babies body in the coffin with an adult so at least it would recieve a blessing and be burried in hallowed ground. Also women would collect buckets of urine from the houses and sell it for a penny to furnace owners for some part of the smelting process. And towards the end of the book these poor people were rewarded by being used a cannon fodder in WWI - Nice:mad:
Average age at death 50. The authors mother lost half a dozen siblings.
And a genltleman could carry a pistol if he so desired - there is always a silver lining:rock:

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Originally Posted by ndw76

And this beautiful baby was already an antique.

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That got me.:rofl2: