 
When My Grandmother Was a Child
by Leigh W. Ridge
The
average life expectancy in the United States was forty-seven
Only 14 percent of the homes in the United States had a bathtub
Only 8 percent 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 U.S. and only 144 miles of roads. The
maximum speed limit in most cities was ten mph.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
The average wage in the U.S. was twenty-two cents an hour.
The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year
More than 95 percent of births took place at home.
Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education. Instead they attended medical school, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as substandard.
Submitted by
Dale Deason, former county coordinator of
Anson,
Madison,
Swain counties, NC
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