What A Difference 100 Years Makes

U. S. statistics for 1904:

Life expectancy was only 47 years.

Only 14% of homes had a bathtub, and only 8% had a telephone.

A 3-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11.

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

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than Califonia, which was only the 21st most populous state (1.4 million people).

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

The average U.S. worker made between $200-$400/year.

More than 95% of all births took place at home.

90% of all US physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Read more here, thanks to Lee Coppock.