Our Mobile Society

Before the 1900s, large families were commonplace in the US of A.  These families were largely composed of males who worked on the family farm and as they grew older and got married and had families of their own, their homes were close by and they continued to work on the family farm.  The only time they traveled was into town to get supplies.

After the 1900s and with the advent of the railroad and automobile, family size decreased and when children got old enough to leave home, they could not wait to leave and went to the nearest big city to make their fortune.  Women soon followed the lead of the males and when they were old enough to marry, they oftentimes moved to another state with their husbands.

As a result of this natural evolution, Americans had the ability to be raised on the east coast and move to the west coast for work and vice versa.  Americans raised in the north just south of Canada had the ability to relocate to the south and vice versa.  Large cities like Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Las Angeles, Maimi, Dallas, Atlanta, Detroit, and Baltimore were like magnets drawing the people to them mainly because of work and adventure.

Today, the family unit hardly ever remains together once the children graduate from high school.  Some go into the military, some go to college, and some just go to work somewhere.  These interstate highways on which automobiles travel are also used by 18-wheelers moving all sorts of items from one state to another state.  What is not transported by truck, is transported by railroad or by commercial airlines.

It is difficult to imagine like without the automobile, trucks, the railroad, buses, and aircraft.  One Hundred years ago there were none of these...  and, now we are exploring ways to travel into outer space.