• If you would like to get your account Verified, read this thread
  • The TMF is sponsored by Clips4sale - By supporting them, you're supporting us.
  • >>> If you cannot get into your account email me at [email protected] <<<
    Don't forget to include your username

What a difference a century makes

giantfan121262

1st Level Orange Feather
Joined
Oct 6, 2003
Messages
2,033
Points
0
The Year Is 1904 .....Very Interesting

Maybe this will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1904...one hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes! Here are some of the U.S. statistics for 1904:


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

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 eleven dollars.

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 tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

The average wage in the U.S. 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 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 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.

Two of 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all
Americans had graduated high school.

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.

I guess the accountants, dentists, vetranarians, and mechanical engineers only made up 8% of the population b/c that appears to be the group that can afford to have a telephone.
 
giantfan121262 said:
There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.

But there were probably dozens more unreported murders and lynchings throughout the country.... Scary thought, eh?
 
Man, I can't wait to see how much things change when it's 2104, or even in the next 10 years.
 
.....and only one tickle video company existed on the internet.


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

Diarrhea was number 3!!Holy SHIT!!! 😉
That is just amazing:wow: I would guess they died of dehydration, due to the loss of fluids and the guys from the ACME Doctor School!
 
Very interesting statistics. I have my BA in history, and none of my professors really talked about how different it was or in such detail. 47 year lifespan? That's amazing. At that rate, all the men who have ever been President except for Teddy Roosevelt, JFK, and Clinton would have all died before they took office, and Clinton would have died in his second year in office. One hundred years later, they have so many things to prolong life expectancy, medicines, heart surgery, greater protection of food and such. I guess with all our world problems, we should feel fortunate to live in these times with all of the technological advances.

Mitch
 
At the time, there were only sixteen major league baseball teams. This number would stay constant up to 1961. Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and St. Louis each had two teams, New York had three. There was no awards system; in fact, Cy Young was one of the star pitchers of the era. The pitching leader of the AL that year was Jack Chesbro of the New York Highlanders, who won a grand total of 41 games. However, he lost on the last day of the season to the Boston Pilgrims, thus giving them the pennant in a torrid, memorable race. This, by the way, was the last time the future Yankees would come out second best in a pennant race to the future Red Sox.
Ty Cobb at this time was eighteen, and trying to keep a job with a minor league team in Augusta, GA. "Iron Man" Joe McGinnity was pitching both ends of doubleheaders on a regular basis, sure to give those who avidly worship pitch counts and give birth to elephants at the mere thought of a pitcher going over a hundred many Maalox moments. Batting .400 in this time period (known as the 'dead ball' era), was not that common, although would become much more common in the near future with the advent of Cobb and Joe Jackson and the like. It was common for major league players to take the field in hot flannels with long sleeves and collars, and in some cases, even pockets on the breast. They wore pillbox caps with short bills and handlebar moustaches.
The first World Series was played the previous fall; it would not be in 1904, since the owner and manager of the NL winner, the New York Giants, both feared the prospect of losing to what seemed to be a minor league to them, even though they were favored by a wide margin. It wasn't till the following year that an official agreement between the leagues was drawn up for World Series play, thus cementing traditions that carry down to this day.
Those of us who really know our baseball know that at this time, there was a ten year old boy, the son of a barkeep on the waterfront in Baltimore, who was driving his parents crazy, running around with a young mob, and regularly stealing money from his father's till...the individual who would gain much fame following him in cleanup in the Yankees batting order at that time was a one year old toddler growing up in the Bronx...and a seventeen year old farm boy in Idaho was throwing one hundred mile an hour fastballs in sandlot games, making opponents and fans shake their heads in disbelief. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Walter Johnson would become a firmament in the history of the game.
Yes, 1904 was an interesting year...
 
Yes, it was the owner of the hated NY jints who refused to face the AL winner in 1904, and no World Series was played.

It was played in 1903, and then every year from 1905 to 1993, inclusive. No World Series, 1994, due to the strike/lockout. 🙁
 
Actually, the Giants were New York's most popular team by far, in those days, Mil, until Babe Ruth showed up. The Giants, in fact, were a national cultural institution during the dead ball era, and their long time manager and charter hall of famer John McGraw was one of the most recognized faces in the country, in the day before TV or radio or any other instant media.
The other National League entry in New York were regarded as representatives of a backwater, not even as socially or culturally advanced as the Denver of the nineteenth century railroad boom. The change would not occur for a few decades...
 
What's New

3/17/2025
The TMF Gathering Forums keep you updated on who is meeting where and whem.
Door 44
Live Camgirls!
Live Camgirls
Streaming Videos
Pic of the Week
Pic of the Week
Congratulations to
*** brad1701 ***
The winner of our weekly Trivia, held every Sunday night at 11PM EST in our Chat Room
Back
Top