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Keyser Söze

On 11/27/15 2:14 AM, wrote:
On Thu, 26 Nov 2015 11:44:54 -0500, Keyser Söze
wrote:

Comment about life being somehow better during the time of TR was
hilarious. Life was pretty miserable for the average working man and his
family back then. Sheesh.

Why do you think that is true?
Certainly life was simpler and we didn't have all the things we are
used to today but does that automatically make people happier?
If you are talking about the people who moved to the big city to get a
job in a sweat shop, life sucked but that is still true today.
There were still plenty of people who were very happy out in the
country.
Using the 4 branches of my family as an example, nobody really thought
life sucked that bad
My maternal grandmother's family at the turn of the century were
fishing right down the road from you. My maternal grandfather's family
was in the wholesale grocery and seafood business in Baltimore and
points south (how they met).
My paternal grandmother's family were real "sooners" already living in
Oklahoma when they started the rush and my grandfather's family were
in the tool business in Missouri.

I have not really ever heard a lot of stories about bad things in
their life until the depression but that is not the Roosevelt you are
talking about.

What TR did do was break up some of the robber barren companies with
anti trust legislation. He also started the park system and the
concept of federal land preservation.

Sounds like paradise:

America in 1900

Most Americans in 1900 were living in what we today would consider
poverty. In present-day dollars, per capita American income in 1900
averaged around $5000, less than a fifth the current level. In other
words, the typical American in 1900 had about the same income that a
typical Mexican has today.

Only three percent of American homes were lit by electricity.

Only about a third of American homes had running water; only 15% had
flush toilets; and half of farm households didn�t even have an outhouse.

Most people lived within a mile of where they worked, and depended on
their feet to get them around. Only one urban household in five owned a
horse.

Half of all people lived in spaces where they averaged more than one
person per room. Taking in lodgers was common.

Life expectancy at birth was 47 years, and infant mortality rates were
high. Of every 1000 babies born, 140 died in their first year. These
days, fewer than 10 do.

Flu, pneumonia, typhoid, gastritis, and whooping cough were common
causes of death.

10% of the American population was completely illiterate, and the
average adult had an 8th grade education. Only 7% of students would ever
complete high school.

A man's typical on-the-job work week consisted of 60 hours of work
spread over six days. Pensions were rare; men generally worked until
they were too feeble to go on doing so. 2/3rds of men over 65 had
fulltime jobs.

Women were 18% of the paid work force. They mainly worked in fields like
textiles, apparel, shoes, canning -� fields where you were paid
according to how much you produced.

At home, women spent around 40 hours a week on meal preparation and meal
cleanup, seven hours on laundry, and another seven hours on
housecleaning. The average housewife baked a half a ton of bread --
about 1400 loaves -- a year.