100 years of startling mutations

July 24, 2003

Dear Julie,

Hiding among the spam glutting my e-mail inbox recently was an e-mail from a historian I know. It described life in the United States in 1903 through the use of statistics. Some of the changes that have occurred in the past 100 years are startling. In 1903:

The average person lived to be 47.

Fourteen percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub and 8 percent had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11.

The U.S. had 8,000 cars on 144 miles of paved roads.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa and Tennessee were more populous than California.

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour. The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

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

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 population of Las Vegas, Nev., was 30.

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented. Neither had Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Marijuana, heroin and morphine were available over the counter at corner drugstores. One pharmacist said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."

Only about 230 murders were reported in the U.S.

You wonder what someone in the year 2103 might think about 2003.

In 2003:

People more or less were stuck with the body they were born with.

The population of the moon was zero.

Humans were expected to work. Play was considered an extra.

Mutants with superhuman abilities first appeared on Earth. Most gravitated to the PGA tour.

Missouri was not a coastal state.

Cars were powered by gasoline and people were addicted to cups of brown water.

Some countries imposed the death penalty.

There were only five James Bonds.

Leaders considered war an acceptable way of settling disputes.

Marijuana, heroin and morphine were not available over the counter at drugstores.

Only Florida had rocket launch pads.

People generally believed they were superior to other forms of life.

Death was not optional.

The Beatles were not saints.

Love, Sam

Sam Blackwell is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.