100 Years

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THE YEAR 1909

This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!?
The year is 1909.?
One hundred years ago.?
What a difference a century makes!?
Here are some statistics for the Year 1909 :
************ ********* ********* ******

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.? !

I am now going to forward this to someone else without typing it myself.
From there, it will be sent to others all over the WORLD - all in a matter of seconds!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.

Quote :

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.

Quieter without you and me.

lol I there be someone to take our place 4 sure.

In 100 years, people will long for the good ole' days... just like they do now.

I sure don't long to have lived in 1909. I'm very comfortable with my electricity, cell phone, reliable vehicle, computer, and modern medicine, thank you very much. The good old days only get "good" because people idealize the good portions and forget the bad.

In 1909 there was no AIDS

Destructive drug addiction was less common even though drugs were easily obtained. Drug gangs holding our cities hostage and peddling to school kids were non-existent.

Pneumonia and influenza still kill the weak and elderly today by the thousands.

In 1909 a small home could be bought for a few hundred dollars.

Almost every home had a gun but drive by shootings didn't exist.

Cancer rates were lower, and death from illness was often just from poor sanitation.

In 1909 no news anchor ever had reason to say It's 10:00 O'clock, do you know where your children are?

In 1909 most of the taxes we now pay did not exist. Every US dollar was either made of silver, gold, or backed by gold.

In 1909 an almost unheard of event took place. One of the very first traffic fatalities in Kansas happened. He was a banker from Hoxie. (I happen to own his Masonic sword)

In 1909 even the most mass produced goods often showed craftsmanship that lasts to this day, and most of it was made by American hands.

In 1909 a man came home from work and relaxed with his family. He had a smoke and enjoyed a drink without being labeled an unfit parent for doing so in front of his kids. Christmas was a very special time, a simple parade was a grand event, and July 4th was spectacular.

There's pros and cons to everything, and I'd hate to give up some things too, but progress doesn't always mean improvement.

Quote :

The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year .

Quote :

In 1909 a man came home from work and relaxed with his family.

It was enough money that the wife did not have to work out side the house.
Her work in the house and with the kids was a lot more time consuming.

Mexicans were tourists.

I love where this post is going

100 years ago we didn't have Shake and Bake.

The grandfolks got indoor plumbing in the late 60's

there was no Viagra,and we still procreated

But, wilky, viagra isn't for procreation... it's for elevation and recreation.

You people are insane. Read up on the labor movement in the early 20th century and the working conditions that led to it... then come back and tell me how great workers had it back then.

I didn't see where anyone said the working conditions were good back then.

suzyr wrote:

I didn't see where anyone said the working conditions were good back then.

Me either.Who's insane?

Would you like to discuss Sinclair Lewis?

By chance do you mean Upton Sinclair the author of "The Jungle"?

Thanks. Don't have time to google much at work. Don't have time reallllllllll long cut and paste jobs that have no summary or opinion attached, also.

Bighead wrote:

You people are insane. Read up on the labor movement in the early 20th century and the working conditions that led to it... then come back and tell me how great workers had it back then.

Not all workers had it as bad as the immigrants in the cities working for the slave driving companies. Sure everyone worked harder because technology was not at our standards, but they probably thought the machines of their day were pretty cool labor saving devices.

Land sakes Pa, this new fangled crank washin machine sure beats usin that ole washboard.

Well, coming from a dying coal-mining town in Southern Appalachia- I have a little different perspective.

Bighead wrote:

Well, coming from a dying coal-mining town in Southern Appalachia- I have a little different perspective.

On many things.

In 1909 there was no AIDS-- there was, it just hadn't spread yet.

Destructive drug addiction was less common even though drugs were easily obtained. Drug gangs holding our cities hostage and peddling to school kids were non-existent. LOL Do you know how many people were stoned out of their minds on opium, laudenum and drink?

Pneumonia and influenza still kill the weak and elderly today by the thousands. Instead of the hundreds of thousands, as in the past.

In 1909 a small home could be bought for a few hundred dollars. And it still took years and years to save up since loans were horrendously hard to get.

Almost every home had a gun but drive by shootings didn't exist. Yeah, we were still transitioning from horses. However, murder and mayhem were not uncommon, just not publicized over the entire country.

Cancer rates were lower, and death from illness was often just from poor sanitation. One of the reasons cancer rates were lower is that most people didn't have the means to see a doctor for it. However, dying from cancer was a given in that day. There was no treatment for it.

In 1909 no news anchor ever had reason to say It's 10:00 O'clock, do you know where your children are? There were no news anchors. If your child wasn't home, you could try the neighbors, but if they ran away or were abducted, you had little chance of seeing them again. Unlike today's technology and Amber alerts which actually find children and bring them home safely sometimes.

In 1909 most of the taxes we now pay did not exist. Every US dollar was either made of silver, gold, or backed by gold. We also didn't have good roads, schools or half the other things that make life today so easy by comparison.

In 1909 an almost unheard of event took place. One of the very first traffic fatalities in Kansas happened. He was a banker from Hoxie. (I happen to own his Masonic sword) Since there were probably only several thousand cars on the road at that time, it makes sense there would be far less accidents then. Now, we have about 300 million cars on the road. More accidents, yes, but also so much more accessibility.

In 1909 even the most mass produced goods often showed craftsmanship that lasts to this day, and most of it was made by American hands. We now have a global economy due to the swiftness of travel. You can still buy American made products and you can still buy products made to last for decades, but you will pay dearly for that. However, it's your choice.

In 1909 a man came home from work and relaxed with his family. He had a smoke and enjoyed a drink without being labeled an unfit parent for doing so in front of his kids. Christmas was a very special time, a simple parade was a grand event, and July 4th was spectacular. Men were also free to beat their wives and children because they were widely considered to be "his" to do with as he pleased. Holidays and parades still make a child's face light up, so nothing has changed there.

There's pros and cons to everything, and I'd hate to give up some things too, but progress doesn't always mean improvement.

No, but idealizing the past by only thinking about the good things is self-destructive. If you want to idealize something, idealize your present and do all you can to make it better.

A happy ray of sunshine.

Quote :

In 1909 there was no AIDS-- there was, it just hadn't spread yet.

Give me some facts on this please.

Justoo wrote:

Bighead wrote:

Well, coming from a dying coal-mining town in Southern Appalachia- I have a little different perspective.

On many things.

Ya'll Kansans might appreciate this particular story because of the western perspective. But for those of you who aren't aware (and apparently that includes several of ya'll Haycites), essentially this same story was repeated over and over- DOZENS of times- during the early 20th century. In the rockies, the appalachains, and parts of the midwest.

And this sort of thing wasn't AT ALL limited to the coal industry- it's just that the coal industry produced some of the more spectacular confrontations.

No, Justoo- I won't sum it up. I know you can read... the question is whether or not you actually care about the truth of the matter.

http://www.sangres.com/history/coalfieldwar01.htm

And while I'm not ready to jump on board with Barak's Bolsheviks just yet... I do keep in the back of my mind that the ONLY reason that industry doesn't resort to these tactics today is that they can't get away with it.

The article someone else posted listed the first *human* confirmed case as in the 1930s to 1950s. However, the disease existed as an animal borne illness in Africa and was around for some time before that. Since there are people every day that die of "natural causes" that may or may not have been a disease, it is not unreasonable to assume that the "first" case was quite likely not the actual first case, just the first confirmed case.

It's funny to me how most people genuinely BELIEVE that people were different *back then*.

From what I know of history, it doesn't really matter which particular *back then* we're talking about. Doesn't really matter where. People have always been pretty much the same. Sometimes that's good... sometimes not.

CelticDragon wrote:

The article someone else posted listed the first *human* confirmed case as in the 1930s to 1950s. However, the disease existed as an animal borne illness in Africa and was around for some time before that. Since there are people every day that die of "natural causes" that may or may not have been a disease, it is not unreasonable to assume that the "first" case was quite likely not the actual first case, just the first confirmed case.

No, it said the first case confirmed in a person was in 1959 and that AIDS in Africa probably started not long before that from a single strain in that region. Researchers also stated in a PBS special several years ago that AIDS in monkeys probably mutated and jumped the bridge because of Africans believing monkey blood injected in their own veins would increase their virility. I don't think many Americans were shooting up monkey blood in 1909.

That was a good story Bighead. I myself believe management would screw the common worker if given the chance...Glad to see you bring this to light.

Blackie Kuhn wrote:

That was a good story Bighead. I myself believe management would screw the common worker if given the chance.

When did it stop? You know any common workers getting millions from the bailouts?

AHHHHGHGGGG!!!! GodDamn Motherfucking computers. I sit here and spent an hour replying to all of Celtics rebuttles, but when I tried to send it didn't go through and was all lost. Yeah, things are so much more relaxed in 2009.

Ok, to simplify this, the standard text in the quotations were my original comments, answered by Celtic in the italics.

CelticDragon wrote:

In 1909 there was no AIDS-- there was, it just hadn't spread yet.

African monkeys don't count.

CelticDragon wrote:

Destructive drug addiction was less common even though drugs were easily obtained. Drug gangs holding our cities hostage and peddling to school kids were non-existent. LOL Do you know how many people were stoned out of their minds on opium, laudenum and drink?

And you'd be surprised how many today still go to work stoned. Did you know US soldiers in the 1800's were given "generous" whiskey rations and many smoked opium?

CelticDragon wrote:

Pneumonia and influenza still kill the weak and elderly today by the thousands. Instead of the hundreds of thousands, as in the past.

If a virulent strain like hit in the early 1900's happens again there will be a big death toll. Why do you think researchers freak out every time a hot flu strain or virus shows up?

CelticDragon wrote:

In 1909 a small home could be bought for a few hundred dollars. And it still took years and years to save up since loans were horrendously hard to get.

And now after loans got easier we are bailing out the big banks who loaned to too many bums.

CelticDragon wrote:

Almost every home had a gun but drive by shootings didn't exist. Yeah, we were still transitioning from horses. However, murder and mayhem were not uncommon, just not publicized over the entire country.

Punk kids by the thousands were not terrorizing our cities. Men in those days would have hunted them down and put a stop to it.

CelticDragon wrote:

Cancer rates were lower, and death from illness was often just from poor sanitation. One of the reasons cancer rates were lower is that most people didn't have the means to see a doctor for it. However, dying from cancer was a given in that day. There was no treatment for it.

Around 1 in 3 Americans currently contracts cancer compared with 1 in 27 in 1900.

Source: New Internationalist (NI) workers' co-operative

CelticDragon wrote:

In 1909 no news anchor ever had reason to say It's 10:00 O'clock, do you know where your children are? There were no news anchors. If your child wasn't home, you could try the neighbors, but if they ran away or were abducted, you had little chance of seeing them again. Unlike today's technology and Amber alerts which actually find children and bring them home safely sometimes.

Runaways weren't that common and kids were in bed by 10:00 PM. Stranger abduction was rare then and most kids found today unharmed were taken by family.

CelticDragon wrote:

In 1909 most of the taxes we now pay did not exist. Every US dollar was either made of silver, gold, or backed by gold. We also didn't have good roads, schools or half the other things that make life today so easy by comparison.

They didn't need good roads and they probably faired better in those days with less education than a high school grad with honors would today.

CelticDragon wrote:

In 1909 an almost unheard of event took place. One of the very first traffic fatalities in Kansas happened. He was a banker from Hoxie. (I happen to own his Masonic sword) Since there were probably only several thousand cars on the road at that time, it makes sense there would be far less accidents then. Now, we have about 300 million cars on the road. More accidents, yes, but also so much more accessibility.

The reason fatalities were rare is because almost nothing drove faster than 25 MPH. There were no drunken teenagers running down the highways at 100MPH.

CelticDragon wrote:

In 1909 even the most mass produced goods often showed craftsmanship that lasts to this day, and most of it was made by American hands. We now have a global economy due to the swiftness of travel. You can still buy American made products and you can still buy products made to last for decades, but you will pay dearly for that. However, it's your choice.

Nowdays they operate on the planned obsolescence idea. They don't want things to last decades anymore. I was told that by the supervisors at a local factory. I've seen those old time pointed tip lightbulbs from 100 years ago that still work. My Chinese Christmas lights crap out in a couple years, but I still use old GE Mazda Christmas lights from the 50's.

CelticDragon wrote:

In 1909 a man came home from work and relaxed with his family. He had a smoke and enjoyed a drink without being labeled an unfit parent for doing so in front of his kids. Christmas was a very special time, a simple parade was a grand event, and July 4th was spectacular. Men were also free to beat their wives and children because they were widely considered to be "his" to do with as he pleased. Holidays and parades still make a child's face light up, so nothing has changed there.

My grandfathers did not beat my grandmothers, and they only whipped their kids if needed. And Holidays and community events were special to everyone, even when I was a kid in the 60's. Nowdays half the adults I know just bitch about the holidays.

CelticDragon wrote:

There's pros and cons to everything, and I'd hate to give up some things too, but progress doesn't always mean improvement.No, but idealizing the past by only thinking about the good things is self-destructive. If you want to idealize something, idealize your present and do all you can to make it better.

There is nothing self destructive about remembering good things. I know full well that there's lot's of bad in history too. I think my point here is that they worked hard in their days and appreciated what they had. Nowdays it seems most don't want to have to endure any hardship or work for what they get.

Wow... you're willing to invest A LOT of time to promote wishful thinking.

Maybe looking back is more pleasant for folks with little to look forward to?

Bighead wrote:

Wow... you're willing to invest A LOT of time to promote wishful thinking.

Maybe looking back is more pleasant for folks with little to look forward to?

With politics and the economy as it is I'd say looking back to what was beats looking at the current mess. I happen to like discussing history. If we all paid more attention to the past there'd be less mistakes in the present.

That's true enough. Thing is, I think that in 'paying attention' to history, it's important not to idealize it... and to try and avoid oversimplified narratives (mom, apple pie, good, evil).

Otherwise you end up with the sort of storybook history that glosses over nuking a few hundred thousand people... or what amounts to genocide of most of an indigenous people... or the sort of nationalism and control that Nazis promoted- and just how similar it was to our own politiks today.

I don't think making comparisons between daily living in 1909 and 2009 is quite the same as ignoring nuking cities and promoting nazism.

I'm just having fun debating the good and bad of then and now. Isn't oversimplifying 2009 as being high tech, convienent, healthier, and so much better than 1909 forgetting the bad in this time too?

The reality of the matter is a person from 2009 would likely find 1909 primitive, dangerous, and uncomfortable, while a person from 1909 would see 2009 as too loud, too fast, dangerous, and chaotic. I think traveling forward or backwards in time would be cool as hell initially. Until you saw what negatives comes with it.

Idealizing the past twists our view of history... glosses over everything that's nasty, brutal, and inconvenient.

You know how lots of folks idealize the 1950's and early 60's- they really BELIEVE that everything was Mayberry, jukeboxes, '57 Chevys, and Elvis.

Never mind the ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation. Never mind segregation and lynchings. Never mind that the top income tax bracket was 90%. And let's just forget about McCarthyism.

Doesn't matter what time in history you point to- men still beat their wives, people were still addicted to drugs, SOMEBODY was still a second (or third) class citizen, and people were being slaughtered wholesale somewhere in the world.

Samwitty wrote:

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

They used their cell phones?

Samwitty wrote:

The average wage in 1909 was 22?cents per hour.

About the same the Chinese workers get to produce your Nikes today.

Samwitty wrote:

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

In most places, every day was Mother's Day and Father's Day.

Samwitty wrote:

Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write.

Everyone went to Topeka High?

Bighead wrote:

Never mind that the top income tax bracket was 90%.

Don't worry. Those days will be back.

I hear so much whining about it lately that I'm beginning to hope so.

I doubt you're aware of it, but for a BIG chunk of the 20th century- including some our the greatest periods of economic growth- the top tax rates were well over 70%. <linky> And the tax increases that Obama proposes are MINISCULE compared even to what we saw for much of that Republican demi-god Regan's term.

Ya'll Republicans have played a BIG part in running up the current national debt and ever-increasing deficits- but you squeal like stuck pigs when somebody suggests that you ought to pay it back. I don't like taxes any better than you do, but they're GOING to go up... it's just economic/political reality. Whether those tax increases are visible in the form of increased income taxes or invisible through massively devalued currency (which we've already been seeing for several years now... the printing presses have been running for some time... and now Obama has REALLY cranked them up), the piper WILL be paid. Personally, I'd prefer to keep the currency (and hence the economy) stable.

So every time you hear a neocon whining about taxes... ask yourself how else are we gonna pay for Bush's idiotic and unnecessary trillion dollar war. You may not like the current spending (and I have my doubts, myself) - ostensibly to help us through this INHERITED economic mess- but the fact is that your guys on the right played a BIG role in creating the mess... and you're gonna pay to clean it up.

some of the factors I take into account to give now an edge up on then. central heat and AC, daily showers, refrigeration for our food, and the internet (you know porn etc..)

Of course refrigerators, TV's etc., are nice. Never said I'd prefer everything from 1909. Point was though, that they endured more hardships and were probably far more appreciative for what they had. Imagine giving your kids a doll or toy truck or a BB gun for Christmas and seeing them react like you'd given them the world.

And better yet, imagine your kids working long hard hours besides doing chores at home, saving everything they could and then spending every cent of it just to give you something in return. Mighty rare today.

Ratzilla wrote:

Of course refrigerators, TV's etc., are nice. Never said I'd prefer everything from 1909. Point was though, that they endured more hardships and were probably far more appreciative for what they had. Imagine giving your kids a doll or toy truck or a BB gun for Christmas and seeing them react like you'd given them the world.

And better yet, imagine your kids working long hard hours besides doing chores at home, saving everything they could and then spending every cent of it just to give you something in return. Mighty rare today.

yeah, it seems the more we have the more we take it for granted and don't truly appreciate it until we lose it

When you see those old pictures of people of long ago, they never had smiles, I think it was because life was so hard.

I remember going to visit some friends in Wichita back in the early 70's, the twin girls were a year younger than me and they got brand new hair brushes for Christmas. I was floored because I knew they had lots of baby dolls and things to play with. I usually at least got a new baby doll for Christmas.

At first they didn't smile in early photos because exposure time was long, up to a minute. It wasn't just click you're done. They had to hold a pose for awhile and keeping a smile is difficult. To get an entire family to hold a pose long enough was not always easy and so having a photo done was a chore. Another reason was that often in those days going to a photographer was a rare event and portraits were supposed to look dignified. A family portrait was considered a serious and often one time event.

You will see a few old photos from the Civil War era and later where girls might have a slight smile and young men would ham it up for the photo, but older adults were very dignified and small children damn well better be or else.

Later on by 1900 or so more photos can be found with smiles and it became common to do so after quick inexpensive photography became the norm. I have some family photos from the 1900 to 1910 era after photography advanced that subjects have smiles in.