COLUMN: “Let’s Chat”- Oh, what a difference 100-years can make

I checked around with a few people and could find no one who remembers the 1909 FORD Model R.

Yep, according to information a friend shared with me, there was a FORD Model R produced in 1909. Many of us remember well the Model T and the Model A, but I’d never recalled hearing of the Model R. One hundred years ago….what a difference a century makes!

I think I’ve told all my readers about the time I wanted to dress up Friend Husband’s and my all black Model A and did a paint job with enamel paint using a regular brush. I’ll save that story for another time.

But I found some statistics for the Year 1909, along with the picture of the Model R FORD that were pretty interesting.
The average life expectancy back then was 47 years. Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub and eight percent of homes had a telephone. There were 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads, the maximum speed limit in most cities being 10 MPH. The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower and the average wage in 1909 was 22 cents-an-hour.

The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000 a year, while a dentist made approximately $2,500 per year. Veterinarians made between $1,500 and $4,000 per year and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births took place at home and 90 percent of all doctors had no college education! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and the government as “substandard.”

In the way of food, sugar cost four cents-a-pound. Eggs were 14 cents-a-dozen. Coffee was 15 cents a pound. Most women washed their hair once a month, and used Borax and egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law in 1909 that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason. Five leading causes of death were: 1. Pneumonia and influenza,  2. Tuberculosis, 3. Diarrhea, 4. Heart disease and 5. Stroke.

The American flag had 45 stars. The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was 30!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer and iced tea hadn’t been invented yet. There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day as a holiday or special event. Two out of every 10 adults couldn’t read or write. Only 6 per cent of all Americans had graduated from high school. Marijuana, heroin and morphine were all available over the counter at the drug stores. Back then, pharmacists said, “Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.”

In 1909 there were about 130 reported murders in the ENTIRE United States.

All of this article, along with the picture of the FORD Model R, can be sent to as many people as I have in my address book without retyping one whit of it. From there it could be sent to others all over the world…all in a matter of seconds. Just imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.

It staggers the mind.