[AmericanEmpire]

Received this in my e-mail inbox. What a laugh. People really expect continuous technological advancement and life to get better? LOL!







Subject: Fw: The Year Was 1905




The year is 1905 -- one hundred years ago. What a difference
a century makes!

Here are some of the U.S. statistics for the year 1905:

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 and only 144 miles of paved roads
in the U.S.

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 people, 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 per hour.

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000 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. doctors had no college education.
Instead, they attended so-called 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 washed their hair only once a month, and they
used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from
entering into their country for any reason.

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 only 30!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been
invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every ten U.S. 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 the local corner drugstores.

Back then a pharmacist said, "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 help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years!














Yeah, I can imagine all right. Resource depleted and definitely not the standard of living we enjoy today.

[Schweinshaxe]

I think it was meant to be ironic. The last "fact" is: "There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S." Then it says: "Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years!"

Or are you ironic now? These potentially meta-ironic threads are killing me!

PMS, take care of this!

[JayBee]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AmericanEmpire', '
')Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the
counter at the local corner drugstores.

[gnm]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AmericanEmpire', '
')Two out of every ten U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schweinshaxe', 'I') think it was meant to be ironic. The last "fact" is: "There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S." Then it says: "Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years!"

Or are you ironic now? These potentially meta-ironic threads are killing me!

PMS, take care of this!

[Schweinshaxe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gnm', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AmericanEmpire', '
')Two out of every ten U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

[PenultimateManStanding]

There is an eerie parallel between 1905 and 2005. They had no idea back then how their precious 'progress' was about to dissolve into madness and their 'civilization' was to be shown a thin veneer over savagery. I think that's exactly where we are now. But this time, the fall could be much more precipitous.

[Daryl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'T')here is an eerie parallel between 1905 and 2005. They had no idea back then how their precious 'progress' was about to dissolve into madness and their 'civilization' was to be shown a thin veneer over savagery. I think that's exactly where we are now. But this time, the fall could be much more precipitous.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Lots of people in 1905 were expecting the Worldwide Revolution against the capitalists. Here's a great example from American writer Jack London writing in his essay on "Revolution":

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') received a letter the other day. It was from a man in Arizona. It began, “Dear Comrade.” It ended, “Yours for the Revolution.” I replied to the letter, and my letter began, “Dear Comrade.” It ended, “Yours for the Revolution.” In the United States there are 400,000 men, of men and women nearly 1,000,000, who begin their letters “Dear Comrade,” and end them “Yours for the Revolution.” In Germany there are 3,000,000 men who begin their letters “Dear Comrade” and end them “Yours for the Revolution”; in France, 1,000,000 men; in Austria, 800,000 men; in Belgium, 300,000 men; in Italy, 250,000 men; in England, 100,000 men; in Switzerland, 100,000 men; in Denmark, 55,000 men; in Sweden, 50,000 men; in Holland, 40,000 men; in Spain, 30,000 men - comrades all, and revolutionists.

In January 1905, throughout the United States the socialists held mass-meetings to express their sympathy for their struggling comrades, the revolutionists of Russia, and, more to the point, to furnish the sinews of war by collecting money and cabling it to the Russian leaders. The fact of this call for money, and the ready response, and the very wording of the call, make a striking and practical demonstration of the international solidarity of this world-revolution

Here are 7,000,000 comrades in an organized, international, world-wide, revolutionary movement. Here is a tremendous human force. It must be reckoned with. Here is power. And here is romance - romance so colossal that it seems to be beyond the ken of ordinary mortals. These revolutionists are swayed by great passion. They have a keen sense of personal right, much of reverence for humanity, but little reverence, if any at all, for the rule of the dead. They refuse to be ruled by the dead. To the bourgeois mind their unbelief in the dominant conventions of the established order is startling. They laugh to scorn the sweet ideals and dear moralities of bourgeois society. They intend to destroy bourgeois society with most of its sweet ideals and dear moralities, and chiefest among these are those that group themselves under such heads as private ownership of capital, survival of the fittest, and patriotism - even patriotism.

[PenultimateManStanding]

And BTW, Jack London was a terrific writer. I'm reading his book, The Sea Wolf now and am enjoying it. A powerful talent from circa 1905.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Oh, and another BTW: I think it's pretty clear that, to this point in time, the workers of the world got their butts kicked by the capitalists. The capitalists/globalists are winning and the workers are losing big time. I'm not so sure I would want to be a capitalist in 10 years from now, though. But then again, who the hell are the "capitalists" anyway? If you own stock, does that make you a capitalist? If you own a house, are you "bourgeoise"? What if you own a plumbing business with 10 emplyees: are you a "capitalist running dog" exploiter? What about big business in China? Are they capitalists? Things were so much clearer in 1905!

[lateStarter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ith a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st
most populous state in the Union.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lateStarter', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ith a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st
most populous state in the Union.

[Daryl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'O')h, and another BTW: I think it's pretty clear that, to this point in time, the workers of the world got their butts kicked by the capitalists. The capitalists/globalists are winning and the workers are losing big time. I'm not so sure I would want to be a capitalist in 10 years from now, though. But then again, who the hell are the "capitalists" anyway? If you own stock, does that make you a capitalist? If you own a house, are you "bourgeoise"? What if you own a plumbing business with 10 emplyees: are you a "capitalist running dog" exploiter? What about big business in China? Are they capitalists? Things were so much clearer in 1905!

[PenultimateManStanding]

Ah yeah, Marcuse. He and Norman O. Brown were the Leftie Illuminaries from those days. Norman Brown taught at UC Santa Cruz in the 70's when I was there. I didn't take a class with him, but he did give me a ride once when I was hitch-hiking downtown. Nice guy. He wore a heavy sweater with elbow patches as I recall. "Intellectuals".

[Daryl]

Well I didn't really understand a word Marcuse said. In fact, a friend of mine promised to give me $50 bucks if I asked him who he was taking in the Super Bowl. I didn't have the nerve.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Daryl', 'W')ell I didn't really understand a word Marcuse said.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Here's another aspect of 1905 which ought to be recalled. It is quite a central issue. If hard times lie ahead, this could become quite relevant. I'll let some of the prominent voices of the day spell it out:

H. G. Wells, writing in 1901, in Anticipations:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')nd for the rest, those swarms of black, and brown, and dirty-white, and yellow people, who do not come into the new needs of efficiency? Well, the world is a world, not a charitable institution, and I take it they will have to go.

[Daryl]

Those are amazing quotes. Not suprising, though. I just read a long biography of Teddy Roosevelt. The brazeness of the rascism at that time is astounding. Woodrow Wilson screened DW Griffith's Birth of a Nation in the White House. And Roosevelt and Wilson wrote things similar to London and they were the screaming liberals of their day. The Jim Crow South was in full lynch mob mode throught that whole period.

Have to re-read Gravity's Rainbow sometime. One of my favorite novels. Tried to read Mason and Dixon when it came out, but it never clicked for me.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Daryl', '
')Have to re-read Gravity's Rainbow sometime. One of my favorite novels. Tried to read Mason and Dixon when it came out, but it never clicked for me.