Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

**1910: Our Nation**
americandigest. ^ | November 11th of 1910 | gerardvanderleun

Posted on 01/11/2013 8:18:43 PM PST by virgil283

"The year is 1910, over one hundred years ago.

The average life expectancy for men 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 US wage in 1910 was 22 cents per hour.

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

An accountant could earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 , a veterinarian $1,500 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! 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.

The 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 iced 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 and only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

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.!

(Excerpt) Read more at americandigest.org ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: 1900; 1910; nation; turnofcentury
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-28 last
To: virgil283

That life expectancy rate has always been misunderstood. Yes, the average was 47 because of the tremendously high infant and child mortality rate. But if you made it to the age of 20, you had a pretty good chance of reaching your 60s and 70s. There were also quite a few 80+ years people of both sexes in those days. I remember getting into an argument one time with two co-workers who firmly believed no one ever reached the age of 50 in those days. They quoted the life expentancy rate of 47, and I couldn’t disabuse them of their belief.


21 posted on 01/12/2013 6:13:35 AM PST by driftless2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ansel12
"talk to men"

I remember talking to a guy in 1972 who was born around 1890. He couldn't understand all the discontent and complaining by some of the younger people of that time. He said life now was a heck of a lot easier than it was in the early 1900s when he came of age.

22 posted on 01/12/2013 6:17:49 AM PST by driftless2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Charles Henrickson; ansel12; Windflier; Cletus.D.Yokel; bcsco; PJ-Comix; mikrofon
I'm a rank amateur genealogy buff and what I see from the times around 1910 was that a lot of children never made it to adulthood.

Great-great grandfather (1850-1926) writing to great-grandfather (1880-1964):

 

March 11th

 Well Jimy my son (illegible)

a few lines to (illegible) of

family I often think of

my children how good

some of them (illegible) mother

& I while some don't do

as I have done to them

Just got a letter from Lem he is well we

are all well thank the

good Lord for His kindness

to us We trust you all

are enjoying the same

blessing I am wishing

for spring to come so I can go down to see

you all for I want to

see (3.5 y.o. grandson) Unch & have a chat with him

 

 Unch I want a pack

to put in berries so we

can buy lots of candy & cakes

we will have a good time

Unch won't we dad John

is poorly the doctor said

he was liable to go

any time I think he

had a little stroke his

lungs is bad he has the

pneumonia poor fellow

he has worked hard

in his time it was

a big snow up here

it was 12 inches deep it rained

last nite took part of it

away Well (daughter-in-law) Maim last

Sunday was my birthday

that makes me 66 years old

how good the good Lord has

been to me that I am permitted

to write to you this morning

& talk about my children

that I love will close with

love to all good bye

WY

 

 Corinthians 15 ch 44 verse

(illegible) 33 chap read the whole chapter

Genesis 30 chapter 30 verse

Genesis 9 ch 6 verse

Servant kings 19 ch 16 verse

Psalms 95 ch (illegible) verse

Enoch walked with God

how could Enoch walk with

God if God had no body

Deuteronomy 3 ch 10 verse

Matthew 10 ch 20 verse

Psalms 139 5 & 10 verse

Psalms 9 ch the work of the kings

Now Jimy go look it

up & see whethere God is

all spirit or whether he

has a spiritual body

these are only a few proofs

The Bible is full

of proof that we

 

will have a body like

His to praise Him praise

his holy name for a

a home with Him when

this life is ended

We are created in

His likeness and image

of God

 

I never knew either of these men. Great-grandfather died when I was 4. Now through technology undreamed-of in his time and 86 years after his passing great-great grandfather speaks to us all.

23 posted on 01/12/2013 6:18:40 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

Charlie Chips! Thanks for popping that memory back in my aging brain. Excellent. Still likely the best chips I’ve ever eaten. Only thing that comes close to the flavor, today, is Conn’s, and they still don’t have the ‘feel’ of Charlie Chips.


24 posted on 01/12/2013 7:03:23 AM PST by PubliusMM (RKBA; a matter of fact, not opinion. 01-20-2013: Still seeking change.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

The thing is, that Bob Hope lived 100 years.


25 posted on 01/12/2013 8:55:15 AM PST by ansel12 (Cruz said "conservatives trust Sarah Palin that if she says this guy is a conservative, that he is")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Windflier
In early 1914, my grandfather, a Scotsman from Edinburgh, sent his wife and baby son to America to live with her brother who had emigrated a few years before. My grandmother was Jewish, from Russia, and her family had emigrated to the UK around 1900 to escape the many pogroms against Jews there.

She got a job as a singer in British Vaudeville, a kind of sordid career in those days. Her family basically disowned her, except for her brother who went on to New York. My Scots Grandpa was somewhat of a cad and showman himself and met, fell in love and married her against the wishes of the family.

My Grandpa, now disowned by his family for marrying a Jew, had to stay behind and work in a bakery to get enough money to come over. But in August of 1914, just as he got enough, the Archduke Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo and WWI begin. He had actually bought his ticket when his regiment was called up. Instead of reporting to duty, he made the trip to New York.

Because of the massive attack of German submarines, his ship sailed to Buenos Aries rather than New York. Somewhere in the South Atlantic, his ship was boarded by the British Navy and he was arrested. The Navy turned him over to a British merchantman bound for New York and then Portsmouth, UK.

As a showman, he told jokes and put on various performances for the crew. They really liked him. He told them his story and why he fled. Everyone felt he got a raw deal. When they got to New York he told he would like nothing better than to at least have a drink with them in America before going back and facing a firing squad. They agreed, and took him to some dive in Brooklyn. While they were all drinking, he snuck out the bathroom window and walked to the Bowery where my grandma was living. He never went back to Scotland. My Dad was born to them years later; the baby of the family.

26 posted on 01/12/2013 9:19:45 AM PST by Alas Babylon!
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: martin_fierro; Charles Henrickson

That is so great to have actual documentation from that era about your relatives!

All of my grandparents were born within a few years of 1890 in different areas of Poland (part of Russia at the time) and immigrated to the States during the 19-teens, eventually settling in Western N.Y. My paternal grandmother was the last to survive, passing away in 1979.

My oldest sister caught the genealogy bug a few years ago before taking a trip to central Europe through her choral group, where they were able to visit parts of Poland as well as Germany (the B-in-L’s ancestral home). One problem she noted in going through the various records was that Immigration and census staff tended to butcher Slavic names quite a bit making the research challenging. She did determine though that our maternal grandfather grew up in the Wadowice region, which also was once home to Pope John Paul Ii. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to locate any of our distant relatives while in that particular area, but were successful in meeting some 2nd-cousins of the Hubby in southern Germany.


27 posted on 01/12/2013 9:34:10 AM PST by mikrofon (Genealogy BUMP)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: virgil283

“Two out of every 10 adults couldn’t read or write and only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school. “

Today, more than two cannot read or write even though 100% of all children have access to schools. Conversely, although only 6% graduated high school, more could read and write then than now.


28 posted on 01/12/2013 9:53:26 AM PST by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-28 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson