LIFE IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY WAS UNDENIABLY HARDER IN SOME RESPECTS, EVEN IF YOU WERE JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER

You may have already read the post at Cafe Hayek that discusses the differences between the life of John D. Rockefeller in 1916 and the life of an ordinary American today, but if you have not, I recommend it.  Although the discussion is by, and clearly from the perspective of, an economist, to me it’s as much as anything a gratitude check.  No matter how rich Rockefeller was, he couldn’t change some of the more sobering realities of life 100 years ago, such as infant mortality, disease, and just plain discomfort in everyday life that would seem intolerable today.  It calls to mind the thought I have when I’m reminded of what it was like when my grandparents came to Arizona around that time (actually, slightly earlier).  People were just much tougher then.  They had to be.