No one could ever have predicted that change would occur at such a rapid pace during the first decade of the twentieth century. The century had opened with a feeling of hope and promise, and by 1910, many people had realized much of that promise.
By the decade’s end, previously rural landscapes had given way to huge cities with towering skyscrapers pushing the horizon. Inside the cities, factories had benefited from the scientific methods of time management, and assembly processes had been streamlined.
With the help of unions and sympathetic legislators, the country’s laborers had made headway. Wages were increasing, hours were shortening, and working conditions showed signs of improvement.
By 1909, the horse and buggy had been relegated to the back of many sheds. Internal combustion engines could be heard rolling down previously quiet winding roads and above in the cloud-dappled sky. The next few years would bring many more stunning improvements in steadily developing transportation technology. Middle-income families would soon be able to afford and own one, and sometimes even two, automobiles.
As the decade closed, it also promised that almost everyone would benefit from improved public transportation as trolleys and buses traveled city routes. The railroads would remain competitive through the next decade, adding passenger routes and comforts to their services. On December 5, 1909, the Pennsylvania Railroad set the world record for speed when one of its big steam locomotives was clocked at close to one hundred miles per hour.
Even the Wild West had succumbed to the changes created by the automobile. Tourism was creating a whole new industry in the West, as families packed the sedan and took road trips to see the remains of the frontier.
Faster and Better Lifestyles
It seemed that by the end of the decade, everything worked better and traveled faster. On May 10, 1909, the Mauretania, a ship from the Cunard cruise line, broke records on the Atlantic Ocean when it made the crossing from London to New York in four days, eighteen hours, and eleven minutes.
A year earlier, on July 1, 1908, Count Zeppelin remained aloft in his dirigible (airship) for twelve hours, crossing Switzerland at an average speed of thirty-four miles per hour. But the future clearly belonged to the airplane. The Wright brothers had continued to hold most of the air records throughout this decade and would do so well into the next.
Movie theaters gained in popularity and movie images developed more lifelike qualities, both in their film and in their actors. Hollywood, in 1910, was on the brink of becoming the movie center of the world. It would not be long before Theater Magazine’s daring 1908 prediction that "the time is not far distant when we will see along Broadway theatrical agencies catering to the manufacturers of moving picture films," would become reality.
The United States in 1909 was a major economic power, willing at last to acknowledge internal corruption by limiting the political power of its corporations. Its place on the world stage was set, too. America in 1909 had demonstrated that it would meet any challenge while working for global peace and economic stability.
