America in 1904: What a Difference a Century Makes!

[Guest guest]

What this article doesn't tell you is that there was a high rate of

child death in those years. Many children died in Childbirth Fever

which was caused by unsanitary procedures during childbirth. Most were

attended by doctors but the delivery was at home. Doctors didn't think

it necessary to wash their hands, etc.

 

Many workers, including many children workers as young as 5 or 6, died due to

industrial accidents or industrial caused related diseases.

 

Poverty was another major contributor to disease and death. A lot of

living conditions were deplorable, due to very low wages for work

weeks of 10 - 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, under sweatshop

conditions. Some of this is still going on today in poorer countries.

 

Also a lot of food available to the working class was composed of low priced

ingredients to make meals of poor quality which were nutritionally deficient.

F.

 

 

 

 

http://www.mercola.com/2005/jul/14/america.htm

 

America in 1904: What a Difference a Century Makes!

 

It's amazing how much, and how little, things change over time. Take a

look at America a shade over a century ago (1904) based on a series of

one-line statistics shared during a history lecture at the University

of California, Berkeley:

 

The average life expectancy in the U.S.was 47 years old.

 

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

 

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

 

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

 

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. 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 Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world.

 

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.

 

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

 

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000 a year; a dentist

$2,500 a year; a veterinarian between $1,500-$4,000 a year; and a

mechanical engineer about $5,000 a year.

 

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.

 

Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians didn't have a college education;

instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned

in the press and by the government as " substandard. "

 

Sugar cost 4 cents a pound (and less than 6 pounds per year were

consumed per person on average in processed foods or drinks); eggs

were 14 cents a dozen; coffee cost 15 cents a pound.

 

Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg

yolks for shampoo.

 

Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country

for any reason.

 

The five leading causes of death in the U.S. 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 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

 

Only 6 percent of all Americans were high school graduates.

 

Coca Cola contained cocaine.

 

Marijuana, heroin and morphine were all available over the counter at

corner drugstores.

 

According to one pharmacist, " Heroin clears the complexion, gives

buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in

fact, a perfect guardian of health. "

 

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 U.S.

 

LibertyPost.org

 

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

 

The most eye-catching statistic I noticed from the above article was

that the life expectancy 100 years ago is nearly half of what it is

today. The average age of death in the United States is currently at

an all-time high of 77.6 years. You might be tempted to believe that

our health care system is largely responsible for this. You might even

be naïve enough to believe that vaccines are responsible for this

increased longevity.

 

Well, if you believe that you have been fooled.

 

Fooled BIG TIME.

 

The system has you right where they want you. The increase in

longevity is not due to vaccines; it is due to the massive

improvements in our hygiene that have been made possible by modern

technology.

 

We are now able to remove human waste and prevent the spread of

illness. We also have central heating and air conditioning that

radically improves our ability to resist infections. These are far

more responsible for increasing our lifespan than any vaccine ever was

or will be.

 

The incidence of all of these infectious diseases was dropping very

rapidly, starting in the 1930s. After World War II, the incidence

continued to drop as living conditions improved. Clean water, central

heating, the ability to bring oranges from Florida to the north in

February so the children could get vitamin C--these are the factors

that really affected people's tendencies to come down with infectious

diseases much more than vaccines.

 

Most of us are clueless about the benefits of central heating. For Y2K

preparation in 1999, I lived in my home for a few weeks with a

wood-burning stove. What a lesson. The wood would only last a few

hours before burning out and needing to be replaced. Having a

reliable, relatively inexpensive and consistent source of heat is a

profound health benefit that few of us truly appreciate.

 

I am also very grateful to have access to the best trauma care ever

known in the world. This certainly helps increase our lifespan, but it

is a relatively minor, even nearly insignificant, contribution to life

expectancy. Of course, it is a major increase for the few who are

affected, but that is just it--most of us do not die from acute

trauma. We die long, slow deaths from chronic degenerative illnesses.

 

Related Articles:

 

Natural Medicine's History and Future in the US

 

You Should Live to be at Least 100--Find Out How