1915

[Amanda44]

My father just sent me this, I found it really interesting and quite amazing in parts, so thought I'd share.

THE YEAR IS 1915
“One hundred years ago”. What a difference a century makes!

Here are some statistics for the Year 1915:

The average life expectancy for men was 47 years.

Fuel for cars was sold in chemists only.

Only 14 percent of the homes had a bath.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower .

The average British wage in 1915 was £15 per year!

A competent accountant could expect to earn £800 per year.

A dentist £900 per year.

A vet between £600 and £900 per year.

And, a mechanical engineer about £2000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births took place at home

Ninety percent of all Doctors had no university education!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost two pence a pound.

Eggs were 10 pence a dozen.

Coffee was five pence a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and, used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

The Five leading causes of death were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhoea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

The population of Las Vegas , Nevada was only 30.

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

There was neither a Mother's Day nor a Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at local corner chemists.
Back then chemists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach, bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health!"

Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help...

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.! In 2014 this figure had risen to 14,249.

In the UK the murder rate in 1915 was 1420. In 2015 it was 537.

I am now going to forward this to someone else without typing it myself.

From there, it will be sent to others all over the WORLD all in a matter of seconds!

Can you imagine what it may be like in another 100 years!

"The average life expectancy for men was 47 years".

"Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason". Lol, Jordan.

"In the UK the murder rate in 1915 was 1420. In 2015 it was 537". Yay! Maybe we are doing something right!

"Most women only washed their hair once a month, and, used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo".

[Potjeh]

"The average life expectancy for men was 47 years".

You do realize there was a world war going on at the time?

[Amanda44]

Actually, I hadn't thought about that when I read it ... I just assumed it was like an average global statistic, irrelevant of wars and such. So yeah, maybe that explains it.

[pedorlee]

"The average life expectancy for men was 47 years".

You do realize there was a world war going on at the time?

Thats an important variable, but you are forgetting how the "universal" vaccines and the introduction of new advancements in medicine made life expectatives grew at the begining of XX century. WWI started at 1914, so you are right at that point, but changes on the life of people with what I've mentioned took some time 2. I haven't checked that data but I've checked the number of homicides in the USA in 2014 in the FBI web(first links on google) and it doesnt match either.
Thats an interesting chain.email or message, but it doesnt look very exact or veridic (what a surprise).

In the UK guns were banned for the police like 20 years ago after some disaster I can't remember right now, it makes sense. USA brutality among the forces of order its something that matter.

I mean, 45 or 47 years old in life expectatives looks very medieval.

[LadyV]

Amanda here are US life expectancy from 1900 - 1998. We were in the 50s in 1915.

http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/~andrew/1918/figure2.html

[Amanda44]

I mean, 45 or 47 years old in life expectatives looks very medieval.

Yeah that is what I imagined, but, I did do some checking on that and most sources say between 47-57 , so it would appear it's relatively accurate ... well, at least in that respect.

@ V yeah, I think UK was slightly below.

[Tonkyhonk]

interesting. kinda reminded me of "if the world were a village of 100 people" a decade or so ago. has this chain mail thing been going on recently?

kinda relevant video, "The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMiLWi0-Tsk

[jordancoles]

"There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.! In 2014 this figure had risen to 14,249."
All of the would-be murderers were drafted

[MagicManICT]

The average life expectancy is generally calculated at the time of the census. In 1915, the war had just started, and the 1910 census calculations had just gotten finished. Around 50 is about right. 50 years before that, and it was closer to 40 (want to say I recall reading the number 37 from some point in my life). Modern medicine started around the Victorian period. Even the little we knew during the American Civil War saved more soldiers than in the Napoleonic wars (most still died from gunshot wounds, though). Truthfully, the death counts from WWI and WWII barely even bumped the average life expectancy, and it was higher still after the 1920 census.

@speed limit: yeah, and factory cars generally only did 15-25 mph at best and took a mile to stop. It was all the fast tech advances of war that brought us cars that could go faster in the 1920s

Heroine came about as a cure for cocaine addiction... only to be the most addictive substance known (and worse for the body than the cocaine was!!) Drug regulations, in general, didn't start coming around until the 1920s at the earliest when cocaine became illegal in the US (not sure about rest of world) and Prohibition started. I believe heroine was on that first list, too, but not much else.

@reported murders: yeah, I doubt those numbers, too, both for US and UK. Reported... well, maybe that's the key word there. There were probably that many in some of the more populated states alone as it was easy to dispose of a body back then due to lack of forensic investigation. Then again, this was before prohibition and the rise of the mafia and booze runners. So... i dunno /shrug

All of the would-be murderers were drafted

The US joined WWI in 1917 and is when they drafted men for it, so no... they weren't yet. Stupid war between stupid governments with a stupid outcome. We should have never gotten involved, but without it, WWI would have been another 100 years war. (another topic for another thread, probably)

@US States: There were 48 states in 1915, and it had 48 stars, one for each state. It was 45 in 1900. Oklahoma joined in 1907 (was previously Indian Territory where we basically put what was left of the native tribes). New Mexico and Arizona both joined in 1912. Alaska and Hawaii joined in 1959. (Puerto Rico and other US territories are holding out even though they all meet population requirements.)

"In the UK the murder rate in 1915 was 1420. In 2015 it was 537". Yay! Maybe we are doing something right!

Maybe, but God forbid that the US pay attention to what the rest of the world is doing and learn those lessons...

I've seen some form of this chain letter since the early 90s when I first got on the Internet. Then again, I've seen stuff like this in gift shops and such as far back as I can remember being interested in trivia (like 8, 10 or around there). Just wish they'd get their facts correct on them, as they all have at least one major error.

[Redkat]

"In the UK the murder rate in 1915 was 1420. In 2015 it was 537". Yay! Maybe we are doing something right!

HEY Amanda that cant be true !
For most of my adult life there has been this crime show called Midsummer Murders ! I believe half of England have been murdered by now.

(yes guys its a joke )