No one would question the fact that things are very different today than they

were not very long ago at all. Some things have changed for the better and some

things are dramatically, dangerously worse.

My father was born 98 years ago. Here are some facts about the world into

which he was born.

The average life expectancy in the U.S. at the time of my father's birth was 47

years. Only 14 percent of homes in the U.S. had a bathtub. Only 8 percent had a

telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City costs eleven

dollars. There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. and only 144 miles of paved

roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph. California was only

the 21st most populous state in the Union. The population of Las Vegas, Nevada,

was 30.

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