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:
- Pneumonia and influenza
- Tuberculosis
- Diarrhea
- Heart disease
- 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.
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
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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.
