Please stop me if you've seen this before, but it came in today's non-infected e-mail:

The year is 1902, one hundred years ago ...

What a difference a century makes.  Here are the U.S. statistics for 1902.

The average life expectancy in the US was forty-seven (47).

Only 14 Percent of the homes in the US had a bathtub.

Only 8 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 US and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

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 US was 22 cents an hour.

The average U.S. 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 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 cost fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or eggyolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.

The five leading causes of death in the US were:
 >1.  Pneumonia and influenza
 >2.  Tuberculosis
 >3.  Diarrhea
 >4.  Heart disease
 >5.  Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.  Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was 30.

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.

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

One in ten U.S. 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 corner drugstores.

Eighteen percent of households in the U.S.  had at least one full-time servant or domestic.

There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US.

~ What will the next century bring?

Eric The(GoodOldDays?)Hun[>]:)]

what, no canned beer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ah!!!!!
it sounded good til that part.

And you can order a rifle from Sears Roebuck and have it deliver to you via parcel post.

Oh happy days!

What?  No 1911's yet?  I love progress!

One hundred years. Just how many of the third world countries in the U.N. that are trying to tell us how to live would love to have THAT standard of living? A big step up for them. Now just WHY should we want to listen to them??? fullclip

dont forget u could cut your shotgun/rifles barrel to any lenght and no one cared.

Wow, 230 homocides in the whole country?

where did you find that little tidbit? I'd like to know if you don't mind?

I always knew it was lower back then but I didn't know anyone had been able to quantify how MUCH lower homocides were back then. Since only the States and counties kept records and they were highly variable in quality.