CNBNews

By Hank Miller

This ought to boggle your mind!  Think 100 years doesn't make a difference? Care to guess about what the year 2103 will bring?
Bob Hope was born in 1903, one hundred years ago ... what a difference a century makes.

Here are some US statistics for 1903....

* The average life expectancy in the US was forty-seven (47).
* Only 14 Percent of the homes in the US 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 US 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 average US 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.
* More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at home.
* Sugar cost four cents a pound.  Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee
cost 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 US 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.
* Canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.
* There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
* One in ten US adults couldn't read or write.
* Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
* 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 US had at least one full-time
servant or domestic.
* There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire USA.