Amazing Predictions from 1911

Posted by Jack

In 1911 our best thinkers were asked to imagine what life would be like by 2011. Some were spot on and others missed by miles.

Predictions made in 1911:

Americans will be one to two inches taller. The increase in stature will result from better health due to vast reforms in medicine, sanitation, food and athletics. (The average height of an American man in 1910 was 5 feet 7 inches. Now, it is 5 feet 9½ inches.)

There will be no C, X or Q in the every day alphabet because they’ll be unnecessary. English will be a language of condensed words expressing condensed ideas.

There will be no street cars in our large cities. All “hurry” traffic will be below or high above ground. Cities will be free from all noises.

Wireless telephone and telegraph circuits will span the world. A husband in the middle of the Atlantic will be able to converse with his wife sitting in her boudoir in Chicago.

There will be no wild animals except in menageries. Rats and mice will have been exterminated. The horse will have become practically extinct.

Mexico and Nicaragua will apply for admission to become part of the United States. (Ha!)

Hot and cold air will be turned on from spigots to regulate the temperature of a house.

Fast electric ships moving at more than a mile a minute will go from New York to Liverpool in two days. The ships will be supported upon runners, somewhat like those on a sleigh.

Pneumatic tubes, instead of store wagons, will deliver goods purchased from stores.

Ready-cooked meals will be bought from establishments similar to the bakeries of today. Such wholesale cookery will be done in electric laboratories rather than in kitchens.