The human race hasn't become dumber in the last 100 years, just more connected. Most social developments are based around that fact.
Dumber may not be the right word, but there is a terrific difference in average mechanical ability and just plain old common sense, between people living in the era of the 1930s, 40s, etc, and most of the people of todays age.
If a 1929 Ford Model A car was sitting there, all set to go but required hand cranking because the electric starter wasn't working, the average driver of today could not start and drive it on the highway. I have used Ford as an example but the cars of the 1920s were all very similar.
On the post by the steering wheel were two little levers, one was a hand throttle the other controlled the spark, by advancing or retarding it. Would todays driver know where to set the spark for starting the engine?
There was no placard, or any printed instructions on the car, giving instructions on setting the spark. The Model A ford, like the Model T before it, had a nasty reputation for breaking the arm of the person cranking it, if the spark was set too far advanced.
If one went to start one of these vehicles, without retarding the spark setting from where it had been set for previous driving, the engine would fire before the piston went over top dead centre. The result was the engine would violently turn backwards, ripping the crank from the persons hand. In it's reverse action the cross handle of the crank would hit the persons arm above the wrist, sometimes resulting in breaking the arm, but if the person was lucky he would just get a very sore arm.
As I said there was no placard or instructions of any kind on the car and no manuals existed for the vehicles.
Then when driving down the road, the driver adjusted the spark control for existing conditions.
I'm going to tell a true story here, when you read it just compare the people of the time, during WW2, and today.
At the country school I went to the lady teacher lived half mile away and she owned a Model A Ford car. One morning she walked to school and in the classroom when school started, she looked at me and said, "Bruce, I want to drive to town today after school, but I couldn't get my car started. Would you take Raymond with you for cranking, and will you walk to my place and see if you can get my car started?" I was fourteen and Raymond was thirteen.
Off we went and we were back in quite a short time. She looked at me and asked if we had had any luck. "Yes," I said, we got it going and it will be OK when you want it." "Oh thank you," she said, "What was wrong with it?" "Nothing," I said, the gas was just turned off!? At this the class roared out laughing, with the poor teacher bearing the brunt of it, by forgetting to turn the gas on.
How do you think that would fit in with today. A teacher sending two of her class to start a car that had a reputation for sometimes injuring the arm of an adult cranking it?
But she had faith that I knew what to do and would set the spark so Raymond wouldn't be injured in cranking it.
At the time it was known as common sense. Now, it would be called fool hardy, stupid, dumb and probably result in the teacher being fired.
