Farmall Cub

Maybe this will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1904 .. one hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes!
Here are some of the U.S. statistics for 1904:
The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.
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 eleven dollars.
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. < B> 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 tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower! .
The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.
The average U.S. 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 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.
Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education.
Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."
Sugar cost four cents a pound.
Eggs were 14 cents a dozen.
Coffee was 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 U.S. 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!!!
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Two of 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.
Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated 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 bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health." (Shocking!)
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.

And I forwarded this from someone else without typing it myself, and sent it to you in a matter of seconds! Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years . it staggers the mind.

Jim,
This is from the "Phone Service" thread:

I'm amazed at the technology advancement in my short life time. Just think, 20 years ago we didn't have the need or the $$ for a computer now they're in just about every home. And we complain about how slow they are.
When Steven (6) gets my age I wonder what he'll be talking on/or about.

It is truly amazing how far we've come in such a short time I consider myself fortunate to have been born in these times

Jim
My father was born in Mar of 1902, and passed away 9 days before his 101st birthday, in 2003. When asked about all the things he had seen come about during his life (the first auto he remembered seeing was a Curved dash 1902 Oldsmobile when he was 4 years old) he excepted, and under stood the principle or concept of most of them, including computers, except for email. He didn't know how, or what made, a computer work, and as he said "didn't care", but email puzzled him - not by how it worked, but why anyone would want to spend that much time on a computer, talking to someone , when they could be doing something else .

Paul B wrote:Jim
but why anyone would want to spend that much time on a computer, talking to someone , when they could be doing something else .

I kinda wonder sometimes myself!

My dad was born in 1899 so he was 4 in 1904. He use to tell of a man who built a garage and the morning after finishing it it left for town very early. The neighbors looked for him to come back in the evening expecting him to be driving a car which he was. He drove it right in the garage and hit the reverse pedal on that T Model instead of the brake and it bounced right back out just as fast as it went in. See it had a throttle like a Cub. All the neighbors looking over the fence laughed at him and he said Well! why didn't you shut the door while I had it in there.

My dad was born in 1909. He has many horse tales. and stories of coal, gas lights in the house with mantles like a colman lantern and fortunately is still going. He will be 96 this year.

Bill

Carm wrote:

Paul B wrote:Jim
but why anyone would want to spend that much time on a computer, talking to someone , when they could be doing something else .

I kinda wonder sometimes myself!

Sometimes you can't do a whole lot else, which is why I spend so much time on the tractor forums.

John *.?-!.* cub owner wrote: Sometimes you can't do a whole lot else, which is why I spend so much time on the tractor forums.

This is true for at least two of us.

Pop turned 96 last September. In some ways, he's in better shape than I am.

I guess we do it for enjoyment. I think I spend a lot of time on the puter because I am not near my tractors so it is good therapy. Although I could do something around the house but it is not as much un as this

Poor Rudi is not even able to sit up at the computer very long. It was 71 here Sat. and I went out for some tractoring and got tired in 20 minutes and came back and got on this computer. Nothing on TV unless you like sports which I don't. I get tired of sleeping in my lazy boy. That's why I still come out to the shop every day. You retired guys never get a day off. I put on some disk pads for a customer today and that's all for today. But Sat and Sun I will get off.

A couple of thoughts. My dad was born in 1899, like Jim's. He passed away in 1974 and from my point of view as a history teacher, I have always thought about the stories he told me and the tremendous changes he saw and felt that he lived in truly remarkable times. And Dad would be astounded at the technological advances that have gone on in the 30 years since he's been gone. I can't begin to imagine what is in store for my own kids. I like the story about then-Governor Ronald Reagan meeting with some California campus protesters who told him he couldn't understand them because he didn't grow up in an era of computers figuring out in seconds what it used to take men years to figure out. Reagan said, "It's true what you said. We didn't grow up, my generation, with those things. We invented them."
As for spending time on this forum, I don't post all that often, but there's nothing better than a cup of coffee and reading the posts of really good people with similar interests.
Vern