The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the
topic of Americans now versus one hundred years ago. Specifically, it will
state the reasons Americans are better off, with specific examples.
Americans are much better off today than they were in 1904 for a variety of
reasons. We have more technology, more medical understanding, and more
education to create better futures for ourselves. Americans lived simply
in 1904, and we live much better today.
There are many reasons why we are better off today than Americans who
lived in 1904. Technology is one example that is quite important to our
lives today. We use computers in every area of our lives, and they make it
easy to access information, to do our jobs, and learn more about the world.
Computers have changed the way we live our lives, and they make a lot of
what we do much easier. Of course, computers are not the only technologies
that we enjoy today; there are many other things we take for granted today
that people did not enjoy in 1904. For example, there were no televisions,
radios, or x-boxes in 1904. In fact, while the telephone had already been
invented, only about 8 percent of the homes in America had telephones by
this time (Varner). News traveled much more slowly then. They had the
telegraph and newspapers, but no Internet, and no way to get instant
information about important things. Technology is very important in
today's busy economy, and news travels much more quickly. In 1904, the
things we take for granted today would have seemed like science fiction,
and that is one reason that technology makes us much better off today.
Medically, we are also much better off than the people of 1904. In
1904, people still died of things like diarrhea. One historian notes the
"Leading causes of death were influenza, pneumonia, tuberculosis, diarrhea,
heart disease and stroke, in that ord...