[PW] 100 years ago statistics query

[Jon George]

I'm wondering about the validity of a list circulating around, usually
through email, with statistics claiming to be from 100 years ago.  For
instance, average life expaectancy in the U.S., 47 years; total number
of reported murders: 230; etc.

I'm highly suspicious, since versions of the list with the same numbers
can be found on the Internet dated variously from 1900-1907.

Is anyone familiar with this who can point me to something that will
definitively debunk this?  It doesn't appear to be covered on Snopes.

The CDC does report a life expectancy of 47.3 yrs. for 1900 (data from
10 states); the statehood fact is valid from 1896-1907; I'm wondering if
maybe the list was originally correct for the year 1900 and people have
just been re-circulating it, assuming a couple years' difference won't
matter?

Thanks,

Jon George
River Falls Public Library
River Falls, WI

An example list:

 The average life expectancy in the US was 47 years.               
   Only 14% of the homes in the US had a bathtub.                 
   Only 8%of the homes had a telephone.                       
   A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11.00

   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 tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.             
   The average wage in the US was 22 cents an hour.                 
   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 per year.               
   A mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.                   
   More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at home.

   Ninety % of all US 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 fourteen 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 US were:               
  o     Pneumonia and influenza                         
  o     Tuberculosis                               
  o     Diarrhea                                 
  o     Heart disease                               
  o     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 US adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 % 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 US had at least one full-time
servant or domestic.                               
   There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US