As a major producer of iron and steel, coal and coke,
oil, cotton and woolen goods, farm implements, and
refined sugar, the United States in the 1890s was a
modern industrial powerhouse. It was also the fourth
most populous country in the world, with a popu-
lation of nearly 63 million. The steam engine and
steam-powered tractors had begun to transform farm
life, especially on the large wheat farms of the Mid-
west, but, as yet, few people had electricity or owned
cars.
Over the next three decades, the nation’s popu-
lation would expand greatly as a result of massive
immigration from southern and eastern Europe.
Simultaneously, the number of households that pos-
sessed electric power and lighting, telephones, and/
or automobiles would also increase tremendously. By
1920, immigration and technological innovation had
altered the face of America.
Public Health and Sanitation
As a result of scientific discoveries made in the sec-
ond half of the nineteenth century, several major sanitary
and medical advances—including the pasteurization
of milk, the chlorination and filtration of water, and
the use of antiseptics and other bacteria-destroying
agents—were gradually introduced throughout much
of the United States. Around the 1850s, many cities
had begun building both water supply and sewage
systems. By the turn of the century, greater cleanli-
ness of water and food as well as improvements in
medical care had increased Americans’ life expec-
tancy. While life expectancy in 1850 was only about
38.3 years for men and 40.5 years for women, by 1900
it had reached 46.3 years for men and 48.3 years for
women, and by 1920 it had risen to 53.6 years for men
and 54.6 years for women.^1
Nevertheless, pollution and poor sanitation
remained problems in both urban and rural areas,
in part because local efforts to stop pollution were
constantly being challenged by industry. The disposal
of garbage and waste, including droppings from
horses that pulled carriages, and the general lack of
good sanitation continued to endanger public health.
Furthermore, the problems of industrial waste and
soot that had plagued towns and cities in the nine-
teenth century [see Document 41] had intensified as