Keep your hand upon the dollar, Shows salaries for officers, managers, clerks, operators, etc. Green miners like Frank Keeney also learned that surviving underground required men to depend upon each other and to honor the wisdom of the most experienced men. Wages are shown in both Italian lire and contemporary U.S. dollars. Source: Shows wages, hours and earnings for mechanics, pipe fitters, welders, tinsmiths derrick men, drillers, firemen, engineers and more. Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), A Novel of Putin's Russia That Got Its Writer Beaten Up, What Should You Read Next? Table 679 of this 1923 USDA Yearbook tells how much U.S. farmers paid for farm tools and implements, work gloves, shirts and shoes, shotguns, tobacco, wagons, building materials such as nails and shingles, and household items such as dishes and fruit jars, washtubs and buckets in 1909, 1914-1922. If a man died in a mine, they quit work to honor him and to take up a collection for his surviving wife and children. Expressed in dollars and also as a percentage of the property value. Includes drug items, toilet items, and miscellaneous items. Believed to be the worst coal mine disaster ever, an explosion at the Bnxh mine in Liaoning province killed 1,549 people in 1942. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. Shows wages paid on American, Belgian, British, Danish, Dutch, French, Spanish and Swedish cargo ships, by occupations including seamen, engineers, first mates, second mates, radio operators, boatswains, firemen, coal passers, stewards, cooks, waiters, messmen, mess boys, carpenters, deck engineers, quartermasters, store keepers, donkey men, and more. Shows the average weekly hours and hourly wages for workers in the boot and shoe industry. Shows data on the number of nursing school graduates from 1880 to 1929 as well as salary information. The mine operators assumed that if they paid a worker according to the number of tons he loaded, they would foster a competitive climate underground; and in a sense, the tonnage system worked this way. Wages shown in litas, and US dollars in parentheses. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily or monthly wages for various occupations in 5 different cities in Brazil. Source: The cost of living among wage-earners, Cincinnati OH, pp. How Thatcher broke the miners' strike but at what cost? Beds and mattresses, bedroom furniture, pillows, bedding. 25-38. Shows the average monthly wages of multiple occupation in the Alaskan fishing industry. The miners dressed in overalls, or bank clothes, for working the coal banks and wore cloth caps fitted with small oil lamps that lit their way in the tunnels. Immigrants in southern West Virginia comprised some 25 nationalities, including Italians, Hungarians, Poles, Austrians and Russians. Coal operators often provided services like company stores. Chart indicates hourly earnings ranges for piecework at automobile manufacturing companies in Germany. The miners world was dark and dangerous. COST OF LIVING It was usually undertaken by women, and sometimes children. Source: Shows the earnings per hour and week for sawmill workers over a 20 year period. Shows average wages by industry in both rubles and US currency. $15 - $30. In some cases, when word came around that a miner had been scolded or punished by a boss, workers would gather on a pile of slate to talk about the incident, and the bolder ones with a manly bearing toward the boss would speak up for their fellow worker. Ukrainian immigrant Nick Gurski began working in the Boone County coal mines in the 1920s. Coal mine owners and superintendents rarely went underground. In 1923, there were about 883,000 coal miners; today there are about 53,000. Women's: Wages are shown in pounds, shillings, and pence. Shows the average weekly wages of NY factory workers every month over a 14 year period. See p. 193 of this. Source: AAUP report, p. 162. Engineers working for Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Co. used this model to visualize the coal seams and design their mines. A standard tune in miners lore began with lyric, Youve been docked and docked again, boys / Youve been loading two for one, and asked what the miner had to show for working so hard. Wages are shown in contemporary U.S. dollars. By 1854, forty-six percent of all American pig iron had been smelted with anthracite coal as a fuel, and by 1860 anthracite's share of pig iron was more than fifty-six . FromTHE DEVIL HERE IN THESE HILLS(Atlantic Monthly Press), now out in paperback. Shows average public employee pay for each state. Source: 1934 Statistical Abstract of the United States. Source: Includes district-specific information and the average output of coal per person per shift. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily wages and hours of a variety of occupations in Madrid. One-page table shows average charges for residential electricity each year from 1924-1934, for cities over 50,000 in population. The strike was officially called to a halt on March the 3rd 1985. Prices are shown in Hungarian crowns. By 2003 that number had dipped to just 70,000. Wages are shown in both contemporary Yen and US dollars. After they loaded coal from the fallen pillars, the colliers and their helpers pushed their cars out into the main entry as fast as possible before sections of the roof collapsed. Miners waiting to start their shift at the Virginia-Pochahontas Coal Company mine near Richland, Virginia, in 1974. The mine was run by the Japanese, who had occupied the area, along with the rest of the puppet state of Manchukuo, using prisoners of war or poorly-paid Chinese locals as their miners. It may be necessary to read the chapters pertaining to the country, but you can find the actual minimum wages in the discussion. Wages are shown in shillings. Shows prices by month and year. In West Virginia's colliers, miners were paid 49 cents per ton of clean coal, compared with 76 cents in the unionized mines of Ohio. Shows wage rates for engineers, conductors, passenger baggage men, coal passers, firemen, switch tenders, hostlers, signalmen, station agents, telegraphers, machinists, car cleaners, and more. It also summarizes the years from 1907-1922. House paints, paint brushes, doors & windows, wrench sets, home improvement tools, steel safes, fencing, garden tools, wrenches & other assorted tools, water pumps, plows, milk cans, gasoline-powered generators. ), carriages, cribs, high chairs, etc. As a rule he is paid so much per car, and a definite number of cars constitute a day's workthe number varying in different minesaveraging from five to seven, equaling from twelve to fifteen tons of coal. Shows wages and prices in kronen, along with the exchange rate to translate into U.S. dollars. Article compares the cost of renting versus buying a home in 1928. Dining room furniture, silverware, dish sets. The US Coal Industry in the Nineteenth Century Boys discovered that serious men turned into jokers when they toiled underground. Eventually, his sons and grandsons also worked in the mines. Source: BLS Bulletin no. Source: Monthly price list for Ralph's Grocery Company, which sold only in the Los Angeles area. Tables 6-13 show farm land prices by county in IA, MN, ND, ID, OH, KY, NC and TX. Wages are shown in German marks. Source: BLS. During the first three decades of the 20th century, African Americans comprised about 25 percent of all southern West Virginia miners. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin #682, chapter 9: "Monthly earnings of professional engineers," pp. "75 Years of American Finance: A Graphic Presentation 1861-1935" Source: BLS, Shows the minimum hourly wages of various occupations in Brussels. From the Newcomb-Endicott store, Detroit, Michigan. Shows data for Washington DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroitand otheradditional cities on pages5-9. Salt operators eventually hired more white or free-black laborers due to the risk of investing money in bondsmen, who frequently were killed or injured in the mines. Source: For each college, this table shows tuition for residents and non-residents by course of study. Coal operators enticed workersmany African Americanto move to West Virginia from Virginia and the Deep South. Covers the states of NH, VT, MA, CT, KY, SC, AL, MO, KS, IA and OH. Tip: use the search tool to look for words like cents or rate. Teacher salaries for. For example, a dollar earned in 2020 had the same buying power as 7 in 1928. Source: Bulletin #269 of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, "Farm Family Living Among White Owner and Tenant Operators in Wake County," pages 24-28. This was the room and pillar method of mining common in the Appalachian bituminous coalfields. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (July 1930), Shows the average wages of multiple occupation in the mining industry. Cabinets and cookware. $20.00 per week. Patterns for sewing children's clothes, stockings, union suits, toys, bicycles. See quartile, "Women in Alabama industries: a study of hours, wages and working conditions," Women's Bureau Bulletin #34 (. Compares wage rates and hours of work for the WWI and WWII eras, focusing specifically on the manufacturing, mining, railroad, printing and maritime industries, as well as farm labor wages. Table shows average 1929 and 1931 weekly wages of full-time store employees, managers, and supervisors by kind and size of chain and location. Source: BLS, Shows the retail price of various foodstuffs and other items in Prague following Czechoslovakian independence. It provided a $1.20-a- day wage increase effective Jan, and an increase of 80 cents a day beginning April 1, 1959. Includes clam, lobster, oyster industries and more. Boys labored inside, sorting coal by size and removing rock. This calculator allows you to compare the buying power of wages earned at different points in history. West Virginias mine safety laws were the weakest in the nation. Prices are shown in Japanese yen. Following legal tradition, companies usually placed blame and responsibility for injuries on the workers. Boys younger than 12 often worked beside their fathers underground because, in many communities, it was the only paying job available. Expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence. Discussion puts wage data in context with price levels which were definitely affected by the wars. Source: BLS, Shows the daily wages for various occupations in Tokyo. See the. Discusses doctor and hospital fees as well as related expenses such as home nursing care. The failure of a mine boss to dampen the coal dust was the reason the Red Ash mine blew up in 1905, killing thirteen men and boys on Fire Creek. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily wages of manual work occupations in Barcelona, Spain. After a temporary escape to attend grammar school, it was the world he reentered in 1900 as an eighteen-year-old man willing and able to load coal for a miners pay. Full chapter extends from pp. First, the men had topush an empty coal car up wooden rails that they had installed on their own time. Also shows the averagecost to rent farm landor pastures by the acre, by county. Every workday a panel of miners, ranging from fourteen to twenty-eight men, passed through a main entry and then turneddown a side entry. Time became important to managers as they changed their labor model. Self-respecting craftsmen were even known to stop working when a foreman came by to inspect their room. Iowa farm houses averaged around 8 rooms and had an average value of $3,043. In the US, coal mining is a shrinking industry. Includes breakouts by state, source of income, and more. Wages are shown in Spanish pesetas. Report published in 1923 tells wages by race and by industry. One threat the animals and birds could detect was the odor of gas that oozed from the ancient vegetation compacted over the ages. Shows by county the price of undeveloped land, plow land and farm land. In the words of the popular song Miners Lifeguard, written by a miner from Oak Hill, West Virginia: A miners life is like a sailors, Safety sign in eight languages, about 1910. Source: BLS, Shows the daily wages and hours of workers in 4 different industries in Madrid. Three decades earlier a boy about the same agea newly emancipated slavehad worked in the same minefield. Source: BLS, Shows the average pay for a 48 hour week throughout 5 different industries in Milan. Telephones, radios, cameras, kitchen ranges, home electric appliances, record players, music records, sewing machines, fabrics, clothes washers, laundry supplies, vacuum sweepers. Priced by the single unit. As former miner Gary Bentley of Kentucky remarked in a recent New York Times article, Its not going to make a comeback. Use "search in this text" feature to navigate (or contact us for assistance). Shows data for 12 cities located in NY, OH, PA and MA, including NYC, Boston, Philadelphia and more. To view an issue of interest, select it from the list and click View. Source: Lists prices of typical food items, housing expenses, clothing, fuel, light and more. In the 1920s decade, 8% to 12%of peopleaged18-21enrolled incollege. These deposits could produce firedamp, which contained methane and sometimes carbon dioxide that seeped out of the coal seams. Source: Women's Bureau Bulletin #25. Covers elementary, junior high, and high school teachers in American cities with populations of 2,500 or more. West Virginias drift mines were cut into the mountains horizontally and its slope mines descended gradually into the earth. Another statute required employers to hire pit bosses to examine every working place in the mine, but only as often as practicable. A third rule required the managers to water the coal dust, but only when they detected a dangerous level of gas. Source: This table provides average yearly wages per industry or trade type, including transportation, education and agriculture, among others. Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of foodstuffs and other staple goods in the Mexican capital. Wages are shown in both Hungarian gold crowns and contemporary U.S. dollars. Red Ash mine was also the location of a disaster in 1900, which killed forty-six miners. Conversely, a dollar earned in 1928 had the same buying power as abut $15 in the year 2020. After checking in, they climbed up a steep trail from the office to the portal of a mine. Wages are shown in Latvian rubles. The laborer's work is often made difficult by the water and rock which are found' in large quantities in coal veins. Wiki User. Manufacturing wages -- SEE box further below. Wages are shown in Brazilian milreis and contemporary US dollars. Report published in 1923 gives wages for Arkansas women by occupation and race. As a novice, Keeney learned the colliers trade from older craftsmenthe skills of cutting the face, setting the charges, and loading the coal without wrenching his back or crippling himself. Wages shown in 1931 US dollars. Shows brand names. U.S. coal mining employment change by state Q4 2011-Q4 2016 ; But to those who suffered alone in silence, the chorus offered hope and strength: Union miners, stand together! About half of the surveyed penal institutions gave prisoners some compensation, based on its use as incentive toward good work and better behavior, and to provide the convict with a small way to provide for his family. From. Its an era of company town labor we are not likely to see return as automation and renewable energy continue to render these kinds of occupations obsolete. Wages are shown in Belgian francs. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (July 1930). Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin, no. Shows the wages of Japanese mining workers by gender and age. "The fees and cost of books, instruments, board, room, laundry and incidentals will hardly be less than $400 per session of thirty-two weeks." A paid subscription is required for full access. Wages are shown in Czech krone. There is also a table showing, Shows the value of multiple currencies in US dollars in the years of. Children's: They designed complex ventilation systems with fans and interior doors to keep dangerous gases from causing explosions. Prices are shown in Spanish pesetas. Union wages by occupation and city, 1922-1928, Women's median wages by state and industry, 1910s-1920s, Cigarette packs - Average retail price by brand, 1929, Average college expenses and tuition by institution, 1928, Family budgets by income group, 1918-1930, https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages, Common labor - Average entrance wage rates, 1926-1934, Union wages by occupation and city, 1920-1921, Steam fitters' and sprinkler fitters' helpers, Structural-iron workers: finishers' helpers, Union wages by occupation and city, 1929-1930, Captains, masters, mates, pilots, and engineers, Maintenance-of-way employees: Gang foremen, Maintenance-of-way employees: Assistant gang foremen, Maintenance-of-way employees: Iron workers, Maintenance-of-way employees: Masons, bricklayers, and plasterers, Maintenance-of-way employees: Section laborers, Maintenance-of-way employees: Crossing and bridge flagmen and gatemen, War and postwar wages, prices, and hours, 1914-23 and 1939-44, Urban Negro weekly earnings by sex and occupational class, 1925, Negro wages by occupation - Chicago, 1920, Teacher salaries by race - North Carolina, 1922, Teacher salaries by race - Texas, 1925-1926, Accountants, auditors, bookkeepers, etc. Wages are shown in Brazilian milreis. Paragraph below the table describes the weekly earnings of blast furnace workers, smelters, rolling mill operators, and foundry workers in both Pounds Sterling and U.S. 1920, Home plans and costs to build in California, 1920, Retail prices of building materials by city, 1922, Building material prices paid by farmers, 1923-1924, Cost to construct houses, by type of material - 1921, Building material prices paid by farmers, 1910-1960, Farm real estate - Average value by state and county, 1920, Price of farm land by county in selected states, 1912-1924, New England farms and land - Average value by county, 1920-1930, Farm real estate values in Midwestern states, 1912-2019, Land in Missouri - Cost to rent or buy by county, 1922, Rents in working class neighborhoods in Cincinnati, 1920, Household heating fuel costs and expenditures by city, 1927, Electricity - Average monthly bill, 1924-1950, Household electricity costs and expenditures by city, 1927, Changes in retail prices of electricity, 1923-38, Car prices with illustrations, 1900-1920s, Gasoline prices andtaxes, and annual consumption per vehicle, 1920-1939, Horse-drawn carriages, buggies and accessories, 1920, Horse and mule prices by state, 1919-1920, City transit fares in NY, PA, OH and MA - 1927, Streetcar, omnibus and subway rates, 1926, Passenger train fare in the U.S., 1871-1933, RR ticket prices between NYC and Chicago, 1910-1944, accessories (diapers, baby bottles, etc. White familiesspent an average $103.71/yearon medical care around 1928-1931. Must use "search in this text" feature to navigate. View object record Steam whistle With industrialization, workers lost control of when to start, eat, and end their day. The wage data is broken out by sex. along with the country of origin, value in that country, transportation charges, duty charges and retail price in the U.S. Includes a photo of most items. Workers and Managers | National Museum of American History Lists single-unit prices for barbital, benzoyl peroxide, benzocaine, aspirin, quinoline, and more, showing proprietary and coined drug names. Source: BLS. Source: BLS, Shows the average wages of Spanish agricultural workers in different cities. A Day in the Life of a West Virginia Coal Miner Literary Hub From, Average monthly wages by state,with and without board. Wages are shown in Japanese yen. 365-372. Source: American Druggist, January 1923 issue. Took into account additional sources of income for farm families, such as income derived from animals or investments. Photographer + writer. Source: Howard University, States "the average student probably spends about $700 per year for a college education" and shows, This source shows the cost of funerals and burial in 18 states and in 10 major cities. Links to government documents and primary sources listing retail prices for products and services, as well as wages for common occupations. This source lists actual salaries paid to administrators in various lines of business. An increase in annual vacation pay was also stipulated.Wage Chronology: Bituminous . Shows the daily wages of Chilean miners between 1911 and 1924 in both pesos and the U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, his wife Mary operated the Nellis boarding house for foreign-born miners. Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Watterson is back. Pianos, violins, guitars & banjos, accordions, other musical instruments. NOTE: Forhouseholdincome data for 1929, we recommend a1934 Brookings Institution report titled America's Capacity to Consume. This Farmers' Bulletin, Cost of Using Horses on Corn-Belt Farms, goes into great detail about the costs of keeping work horses, including a. Wages are shown in Greek drachmas. Shows average wages (with and without board) by province. Covers more than 1,200 cities. The average hourly pay for a Coal Mine Worker is $21.49. MORE PRICES in the U.S. by SEX Compares average retail prices for "warehoused" name brand grocery items at independent and chain stores in Cincinnati. Taken from Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. During the 1910s and 1920s, minimum wage laws were adopted by a handful of states and generally applied only to women and children. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review, July 1930. Between 1880 and 1920, southern West Virginias population grew from 93,000 to 446,000, due almost entirely to the coal industry. Source: National Education Association of the United States. Some New York City teacher and principal salaries are shown on the following page in Table 42. Source: Compares 1922 to1940 wage rates for a variety of RR jobs, pp. Arranged by occupation and then by city and year. Managers concentrated on business decisions, such as arranging transportation and selling their product. Average earnings by occupation and districts. Recognizable name brand items in the price lists include Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Quaker Oats, Cream of Wheat, Hershey's Cocoa, Aunt Jemima Pancake Flour, Mazola Oil, Wesson Oil, Coleman's Mustard, Post Toasties, Morton's Salt, Knox Gelatin, Sun Maid Raisins, Palmolive soap, Log Cabin syrup, Del Monte canned goods, Heinz ketchup, Gold Medal flour, Carnation Milk, Life Savers candy, Bon Ami scouring powder, Lucky Strike cigarettes, Camel cigarettes, Scott Tissue toilet paper, and many other brand name items. Source: Very simple table shows average hours and earnings for all production workers in manufacturing for each year from 1919-1960. Source: Shows lawyers' incomes instates and regions, by size of community served, by the age of the lawyer, number of years in practice, etc. These were the underground attitudes Frank Keeney absorbed as he entered manhood as a coal miner. The 1920 Montgomery Ward mail order catalog showed the price of. Shows the average weekly and hourly wages of different occupations in the Missouri shoe industry between 1913-1922. 525. It is not yet available to read online; check your local library for a printed copy. Source: BLS. of Agriculture report. Shows the hourly, daily, and biannual earnings of different occupations in the Missouri coal industry between 1890-1922. Describes the labor policy of Mexico in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. (Click image for detail), Marie Concannon, Government Information Librarian For best detail, see the full chapters on. Wage rates by occupation in foreign countries (sometimes just to a certain city in the foreign country), assembled for easy comparison to U.S. wage rates for the same occupations. Data gathered by the National Industrial Conference Board (a group of industry associations) which used European government publications for information. Trump blames his predecessors environmentalism for the loss of jobs in Appalachia, but the reality is a long-running product of market forces, not liberal tree-hugging. Source: BLS. 59-71. Prices and Wages by Decade: 1920-1929 - University of Missouri The region's first coal miners primarily were African Americans, both enslaved and free. Prices are shown in Mexican pesos. Appalachias traditionally small, locally owned mines started merging with larger energy firms in the 1960s, and by 1970 bituminous coal employment had dropped to 140,000 people from its 1923 peak of 740,000. Wages are shown in Dutch guilder. Arthur Lewis. Source: BLS, Shows the earnings over different times for both government employees and manual workers in Hamburg. Workers focused on the pace of work, safety, and wages. Source: Shows the average hourly wage of a variety of jobs both in and outside of Paris. The need to correct these abuses led the UMWA to demand the employment of a check-weigh man whom the miners could trust. Data is separated by sex and age. Boy's: Before the days of electric cars, many boys served as mule drivers. Source: BLS. Source: BLS. Source: Chicago Commission on Race Relations report. Data is broken out byoccupation, sex and district. Unskilled labor hired by cities for construction, repair or cleaning of streets. Wages are shown in Spanish pesetas. Watch the rocks, theyre falling daily, This table covers pages 357-360 in this source. Lists wages paid to auto mechanics, office workers, window cleaners, barbers and hairdressers, bartenders in saloons, domestic servants, people working in social agencies, and more. Discusses household expenditures for electricity, and estimates the number of homes that had various electrical appliances (radios, refrigerators, irons, etc.) He also learned not to scare the miners beloved pigeons or to be afraid of mine rats, because these creatures could sense danger coming before it struck. 523. Email: concannonm@missouri.edu Some picked slate and other debris out of the coal on fast-moving conveyor belts. Survey covered only white families over a certain. Shows wage data by manufacturing categories for 1914, 1919, 1921, and 1923. Wages are shown in French francs. Shows starting salary and increases granted based on marital status and number of children. Source: Missouri State Dept of Agriculture. Taken from the 1921 U.S. Department of Agriculture Yearbook, starting on page 804. Source: Shows wages by occupation in Belfast, Cork, Glasgow, Dundee, Cardiff, London, Manchester and more. Check the, Shows the daily rate of Utah coal mining workers in a variety of jobs and occupations. Other enslaved African Americans escaped from the salt works to Ohio, a free state only 60 miles away. These figures are shown by occupation, sex, and region. Wages are shown in 1931 US dollars. Before the 1920s most miners were independent contractors. Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of various foodstuffs in 10 large German cities. Data was originally published in the Industrial Bulletin of the State Department of Labor. The legislature rejected all proposals for reform, however. The veteran miners, who prided themselves on their toughness, taught the youngest ones how to act like men, how to ignore the pain, and how to laugh away their fears. Also tells pay for court clerks and marshals. Source: Report of the Salary survey commission to the Pennsylvania General assembly, 1929.
