AMERICAN PLAN

Life in The United States

Greeting Friends,
     Because the traditional view of history usually overlooked
the significant contributions of women and minorities, it is very
much in fashion to discount everything done by all those old,
white aristocratic guys.  But 225 years ago, one group of old
white guys did something unusual; they declared their
independence from one of history's greatest empires without, in
turn, grabbing all the power for themselves.  Like all such
rebellion, the American Revolution had plenty of horror and
bitterness, but, unlike most every such event before and since,
it managed to avoid the slippery slope of dictatorship and
military takeover.  That was unique at the time, and it is still
rare two centuries later.  It is true that the founders of the
United States thought the phrase "all men are created equal"
covered only white males who owned land, but - maybe accidentally
- they managed to set in motion a system that has the ability to
learn from previous mistakes and correct them as it goes along. 
After a few millennia of searching in vain for philosopher kings,
we finally stumbled onto a system of government that can work. 
At least, some of the time.
     Our one really political holiday here in the U.S. is the
Fourth of July, which commemorates the signing of the Declaration
of Independence.  Of course, that really happened on the July
2nd; all that really happened on the 4th was that the Declaration
came back from the printers.  But let's not quibble with
tradition.  Thumbing their collective noses at the British Empire
took a rare combination of guts and foolhardiness rarely seen in
politicians.  And that is worth celebrating.
     Thanks this week - and every week - to all of our friends
and contributors, from America and beyond.  Special thanks to:
Eva Lu YuHwa & Tiffany, Howard Lesniak, Jerry Taff, Yasmin
Leischer, Bruce Gonzo, Nnamdi Elleh, Chuck Maray, R.J. Tully,
Steve Smith, Laura Hong Li, Carol J. Becwar, Tim McChain, Charles
Beckman, Jan Michalski and Major & Judy McCallum.  Have a safe
and sane Fourth, as they used to say.  But not too safe - or too
sane for that matter.
     Have A Great Week,


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THE WAY WE WAS...
--------------
     After the events of the last century, we are used to
thinking of the U.S. as the world power and center of high
technology we know today.  Consider that just one hundred years
ago in the U.S.:

   - The average person could expect to live to be forty-seven
     years old.

   - Only 14 percent of the homes in the United States had indoor
     plumbing, though almost as many households had at least one
     servant.

   - There were only 144 miles of paved roads in the whole
     country.  With less than 10,000 cars and trucks in the U.S.
     hardly anyone thought we needed more.  The maximum speed
     limit in most cities was 10 mph. (16 km/hr).

   - Only 8 percent of U.S. homes had a telephone.  A three-
     minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars
     - a week's pay for most people at the time.  It would be
     another decade before it became possible to call from New
     York to Los Angeles.

   - Iowa had more residents than California.  With a mere 1.4
     million people, California was ranked twenty-first among the
     states in population.

   - The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was thirty.  The remote
     desert community was home to only a few ranchers and their
     families.

   - Sugar cost four cents a pound.  Eggs were fourteen cents a
     dozen.  Coffee cost fifteen cents a pound.

   - Those prices might make you envious of folks back then. 
     Don't be - the average wage in the U.S. in 1901 was
     twenty-two cents an hour.  A worker most often made between
     $200 and $400 per year.

   - It wasn't much better for professionals - a competent
     accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist
     $2500 per year, a veterinarian between $1500 and $4000 per
     year, and a mechanical engineer about $5000 per year.

   - More than 95 percent of all babies were born at home.

   - Black people had the vote, IF they could exercise the right,
     given the racism and political games that kept them from the
     polls.  Even that was considered progress at the time - only
     40 years earlier, most Black people were still slaves and
     only counted legally as three-fifths of a person each.

   - The Wright Brothers were busy making racing bicycles in
     Dayton, Ohio.  Though they were working on the airplane in
     their spare time, the brothers were still nearly 6 months
     away from a successful test flight.

   - Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college
     education.  Instead, they attended medical schools, many of
     which were condemned in the press and by the government as
     "substandard."  There was no regulation of food or drugs and
     the marketplace was full of patent medicines that contained
     active ingredients like alcohol, cocaine and even heroin.

   - Electric lighting for homes was still uncommon.  In most
     cities, you could only get electricity in your home if you
     happened to live on a streetcar line.

   - New York City had no subways, and the last horsecar line in
     the Big Apple - the line on Bleecker Street - still had 16
     years to run.

   - The American flag had 45 stars.  The states of Arizona,
     Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't yet been
     admitted to the Union.

   - A tenth of U.S. adults could not read or write.  Only 6
     percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

   - Drive-by-shootings -- in which teenage boys galloped down
     the street on horses and shot randomly at houses, carriages,
     and anything else that caught their fancy -- were an ongoing
     problem in Denver and other cities in the West.


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IT'S ABOUT TIME...
---------------
     A glance at a map of the U.S. reveals a real oddity about
time zones; the only state to be split into two separate times is
Indiana.  And, if you are wondering why, the answer is the same
as usual: politics.
     Most of the state is in the Eastern time zone, sharing time
with New York, but ten counties in the western part of the state
observe Central time, which is an hour earlier.  As if this alone
didn't make for some interesting train schedules, there is the
additional complication that only 15 of the state's 92 counties
use Daylight Savings time, which changes the clocks forward one
hour in Spring and back in Fall.  So, a short trip across Indiana
on a nice summer day can easily take you through four separate
time zones.
     While this unique chance to experience time travel can be
interesting, it has always made a mess of schedules and
appointments.  Not that it is likely to change any time soon; the
Indiana House of Representatives recently ruled that it "needed
further study" and sent it back to committee.  (Reuters)
          [ Makes you wonder if the Timex people have a
          hand in this, doesn't it? ]


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HOW (AND WHERE) THE OTHER HALF LIVES IN AMERICA
-----------------------------------------------
     There are the rich, then there are the super rich.
     Asked to name the priciest places to live in the U.S., most
people would pick upscale addresses like Park Avenue in New York,
Boston's Back Bay, or maybe Beverly Hills.
     Not even close.
     Those are practically slums in comparison to the hot
locations for the folks with serious money.
     Try the astronomical home prices of Jupiter Island, Florida. 
The average house price in that neighborhood is $3,937,500,
according to Worth magazine.  Even most millionaires couldn't
make mortgage payments on that.  But an amazing number of folks
will pay that kind of price, if only for the neighbors it brings,
like actor Burt Reynolds, golfer Greg Norman and, until recently,
the late Perry Como.
     Jupiter Island was considerably more expensive than the West
Coast champ, Atherton, California, where the average house will
set you back only $2,697,500.  (Reuters)
          [ My guess is that these are not part of the
          "land of the free." ]


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WARTS & ALL
-----------
     And you thought the election mess between Al Gore and George
W was bad?
     How about the politician suspended for insider trading and
blackmailed for adultery?  Or, the one who was making big money
smuggling illegal booze?  Then there are the numerous affairs and
drunkenness to consider?
     Sound like a typical weekend in Washington to you?  Think
again.
     Try Philadelphia in the 1770's.  These were the statesmen
who created the American republic, and they were far from the
perfect models of gentlemanliness and political wisdom portrayed
in the history books.
     The inside trader was none other than the genius who managed 
American finances, Alexander Hamilton.  And, besides profiting
immensely from a smuggling operation, John Hancock was also fined
for getting an under-age servant drunk.
     Thomas Jefferson was vain enough about his writing that he
hated to be edited.  He took the trouble to hand copy his
manuscript several times to point out how others had "ruined" his
best work with their compromises.
     Then there were the affairs.  George Washington - of all
people - wrote impassioned letters to another  woman both before
and after his marriage to Martha.  Jefferson had the now well-
documented liaison with his slave Sally Hemmings.  Even wily old
Ben Franklin had quite a reputation as the dirty old man of Paris
during the years he served there, though he was married and quite
elderly at the time.
     In other words, in a closeup view, they come off about the
same as ambitious, modern politicians.  No one was more aware of
their limitations than the men themselves.  It is easy to be
where we are now and forget that these people had no idea what
they were doing much of the time, and no idea that the government
they were setting up would still be around all these years later. 
     "We have not men fit for the times," John Adams, wrote in
despair.  "We are deficient in genius, in education..., in
fortune - in everything.  I feel unutterable anxiety."
     Democracies are always messy and argumentative, as opposed
to the smooth, ruthless, soulless efficiency of a dictatorship. 
As Mark Twain said, "Anyone who likes sausage and respects the
law should never watch either being made.
     Now, doesn't that make you feel better about the mess in
Washington these days?


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MANAGEMENT 1776
---------------
     Things were simpler in the old days.  You wrote a simple
letter to the king, had a Revolutionary War, and that was it - A
new country.  These days, things are more complicated.  Imagine
if the Court of King George III had the benefit of modern
management consultants to analyze the pros and cons of each
decision...



The Court of King George III
London, England

July 10, 1776

Mr. Thomas Jefferson
c/o The Continental Congress
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Dear Mr. Jefferson:

We have read your "Declaration of Independence" with great
interest.  Certainly, it represents a considerable undertaking,
and many of your statements do merit serious consideration.

Unfortunately, the Declaration as a whole fails to meet recently
adopted metrics for proposals to the Crown, so we must return the
document to you for further clarification.  The questions which
follow might assist you in your process of revision:

     1.   In your opening paragraph you use the phrase "the Laws
          of Nature and Nature`s God."  What are these laws? 
          Please document with citations from the recent
          literature.

     2.   In the same paragraph you refer to the "opinions of
          mankind."  In order to better support your assertions,
          you must provide polling data and methods used.

     3.   You hold certain truths to be "self-evident."  Could
          you please elaborate.  If they are as evident as you
          claim then it should not be difficult for you to locate
          the appropriate supporting statistics.

     4.   "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" seem to
          be the goals of your proposal.  These are not
          measurable goals.  Please clarify using specific
          numeric targets.

     5.   Your description of the existing situation is quite
          extensive.  Such a long list of grievances should
          precede the statement of goals, not follow it.  Your
          problem statement needs improvement.

     6.   Who among the list of signatories will be responsible
          for implementing the proposed strategies?  Who will
          provide the theoretical research?  Please submit an
          organization chart showing the committee structure.

     7.   You must include an evaluation design.  We have been
          requiring this since Queen Anne`s War.

     8.   Please submit a PERT diagram, an activity chart,
          itemized budget, and manpower utilization matrix.

We hope that these comments prove useful in revising your
"Declaration of Independence."  We welcome the submission of your
revised proposal.  Our due date for unsolicited proposals is
November 31, 1776.

Sincerely,
Sir Arthur Anderson
Management Analyst to the British Crown


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