Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, gave his state of the union address on  December 3, 1906. If you are an astute person of Alpha history, this was the evening before the  official birth of our fraternity. Ironically, this was his 6th address to the congress. His address to  congress was very interesting because the U.S. was in the middle of building the Panama Canal.  Women and minorities had no real constitutional rights, and were moving towards the industrial  revolution.
In his address to congress, Roosevelt urged congress to pass laws forbidding corporation to give  money to campaigns, fix the national railroad situation, select good judges, and called for the  country to have better race relations. Continue reading →

1. The American flag had 45 stars.
2. Sugar cost $0.04 a pound
3. The average US worker made $200-$400 per year.
4. The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
5. The average life expectancy was 47 years.
6. Only 8% of homes had a telephone.
7. The average wage was $0.22 per hour.
8. 2 out of every 10 adults couldn’t read or write.
9. Only 6% of Americans graduated high school.
10.18% of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
11.95% of all births took place at home.
12.Only 144 miles of paved roads.
13.There were 8,000 cars!
14.Only 14% of homes in the US had a bathtub.
15.Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California.
16.The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
17.California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union with 1.4 million people.

- via Frat Chat Volume 2, Issue 1