$180 - $5k. Wages are shown in shillings. Covers elementary, junior high, and high school teachers in American cities with populations of 2,500 or more. Wages shown in litas, and US dollars in parentheses. "The sum of $4,000 will buy only a very modest home and even then it will have to be in one of the smaller citiesor in a remote suburb of a large city." Source: BLS, Shows the cost of various foodstuffs in the Riga markets. Coal mining jobs - Hours and earnings, 1919-1933; Coal mining wages by state, 1923 Source: Miners' wages and the cost of coal: an inquiry into the wages system., pp. Beds and mattresses, bedroom furniture, pillows, bedding. Shows firemen salaries for 25 American cities including New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City and more. But you get a certain amount of desperation, where youre willing to believe stuff even though you know in your gut its not true.. But Appalachian coal production peaked in 1918. Source: BLS, Shows the wages of a variety of occupations both in and outside of Copenhagen, Denmark. At dawn, the workers reported to the payroll clerk in the company office, where they were handed numbered brass checks to attach to each coal car they loaded. 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. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (July 1930). Coal powered industrial America. Immigrants in southern West Virginia comprised some 25 nationalities, including Italians, Hungarians, Poles, Austrians and Russians. Processing plants called breaker buildings were symbols of pride for mine communities. This was the room and pillar method of mining common in the Appalachian bituminous coalfields. Prices are shown in Spanish pesetas. This answer is: Study guides. Lists single-unit prices for barbital, benzoyl peroxide, benzocaine, aspirin, quinoline, and more, showing proprietary and coined drug names. The industry has been in slow decline ever since, compounded along the way by the rise of steam engines, mechanized extraction methods, and competition from oil and natural gas, and now renewable energy. Source: Teachers' salaries and salary trends in 1923. By law, judges earned 1,500 per year. Report published in 1923 gives wages for Arkansas women by occupation and race. Wages are shown in both German marks and contemporary U.S. dollars. Source: This short article about wages in Nanking, China reports barbers' earnings in US dollars. Also shows rowboat and pack horse rental rates, cost for guided tours, and transportation fares. To view an issue of interest, select it from the list and click View. Shows wage data by manufacturing categories for 1914, 1919, 1921, and 1923. Wages are shown in Austrian kronen. by STATE All of these mines included a main entry, or portal, and a second tunnel, or monkey drift, which provided workers with ventilationa barely adequate suction through a surface grate created by a coal fire that burned all day. Figures expressed in both foreign currency and in dollars. Manufacturing wages -- SEE box further below. Source: BLS, Shows the minimum hourly wages of various occupations in Brussels. Shows the average weekly hours and hourly wages for workers in the boot and shoe industry. Source: Extensive article provides wage detail by occupation and city. Mostly covers manufacturing industries (tobacco was prominent), but there is some data for women who worked in mercantile stores, 5-and10-cent stores, and in laundries. Shows wages and hours of workers in the cotton industry over a 23 year period. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (June 1931), Shows the average hours and daily wages of various workers in quarries, sawmills, and many other industries throughout Virginia. Use the following hyperlinks to see values for AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY. Discussion covers the history of minimum wage legislation in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Canada, South Africa, Mexico, France, Norway, Argentina, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Uruguay, Hungary, Poland, Italy, and Rumania (Romania) up to 1928. Source: page 13 in. During the 1910s and 1920s, minimum wage laws were adopted by a handful of states and generally applied only to women and children. Includes breakouts for those who lived with the family and those who did not. Prices are shown in contemporary US 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 . Appalachian coal production has been on shaky ground almost since the industrys inception in the mid 19th century. 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. Shows average wages (with and without board) by province. Source: Lists minimum and maximum daily wages for male and female workers. At the far end of the room, the miner lay down on his side and cut under the bottom of the coal face with his pick, inching his way into the cut and hoping the coal was hard enough not to collapse on him. School and office supplies: "In this region, I presume that a fee of $200 would be a pretty fair estimate of the surgeon's charge for operation and the after-treatment there would be between the operation and the death of the patient." Shows expenditures among rural Virginia families for food, housing, clothing, automobiles, health insurance, recreation, personal items and more. Click for more info about the kind of home a family earning less than $2,500 annually could buy in 1928. Wages are shown in Brazilian milreis. Children's: Describes the labor policy of South Africa in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. Use "search in this text" feature to navigate (or contact us for assistance). Covers more than 1,200 cities. Phone (573) 882-0748. Taking a mine car out of turnconstituted another grave offense. Sporting goods: Source: National Education Association of the United States. Source: Shows lawyers' incomes instates and regions, by size of community served, by the age of the lawyer, number of years in practice, etc. Includes clam, lobster, oyster industries and more. 525. Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of various foodstuffs in 10 large German cities. Source: Shows wages, hours and earnings for mechanics, pipe fitters, welders, tinsmiths derrick men, drillers, firemen, engineers and more. One task was to test for the build-up of flammable methane gas. Engineers working for Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Co. used this model to visualize the coal seams and design their mines. The following two tables shows the average daily earnings of industrial and building workers by occupation as well as in Moscow, Leningrad, and the Ural mountain region. He also absorbed the habits and traditions that gave pick and shovel miners a remarkable degree of freedom. The legislature rejected all proposals for reform, however. Milk cost an average 33 per half gallon in 1920. Source: BLS, Shows the wage scale for various occupations for Japanese and Chinese workers in Dairen. Some occupations covered include telephone operators, waitresses, hotel maids, chambermaids, elevator girls, laundry workers, retail clerks, and factory workers in the wood working industry. Source: Covers elementary schools and junior high schools in American cities with populations of 2,500 or more. "A good hotel room costs only $4-5 per day while a hospital charges $6 and $7." Wages are shown in both Chervonetz roubles and contemporary U.S. dollars. During the Great Depression output was nearly halved from 680 million tons to 360 million. 408, Shows the wages of a variety of occupations in the capital of Argentina. Average weekly earnings of male and female workers in the British cotton industry are shown at four periods of time in 1924. Wages shows in 1930 US dollars. The miners called this unpaid labor company work.. Iowa farm houses averaged around 8 rooms and had an average value of $3,043. 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. Coal mining wages - Illinois, 1920. 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. Between 12th and 14th Streets Since money wage rates of foreign countries have little meaning for economists in America, only the real wage rates are given.", Shows the average hourly and weekly wages of various occupations for both skilled and unskilled laborers. Shows the "living wage" per week for different metropolitan areas of Australia. They designed complex ventilation systems with fans and interior doors to keep dangerous gases from causing explosions. Includes wage data for Chicago as well. Source: Shows the daily or monthly wages of 13 occupations in the treaty port. By the 1940s, the United Mine Workers union had established better wages and somewhat safer conditions for miners, though a contentious relationship between workers and bosses persisted. Prices are shown in Mexican pesos. Source: Historical chart shows salaries of members of the U.S. Congress, along with dates of enactment and statutory authority for each pay increase. Wages are based on the average weekly full-time positions from large cities. 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. Coal industry labor strikes were common from the turn of the century up through the 1930s, as were catastrophic workplace injuries and the prevalence of black lung disease. Miners spent their entire shift underground, taking lunch, drinks, and snacks with them. Tables are broken down by occupation, sex, and state. Source: AAUP report. Compares average retail prices for "warehoused" name brand grocery items at independent and chain stores in Cincinnati. Shows the weekly earnings for 9 occupations in Amsterdam, Haarlem, the Hague, and Rotterdam. Shows brand names. Source: BLS, Shows the daily wages and hours of workers in 4 different industries in Madrid. Wages shown in 1931 US dollars. The 1920 Montgomery Ward mail order catalog showed the price of. Shows the hourly, daily, and biannual earnings of different occupations in the Missouri coal industry between 1890-1922. See data considerations for explanation. Wages are shown in 1931 US dollars. HEALTH CARE Wages are shown in contemporary US dollars. Shows wages and prices in kronen, along with the exchange rate to translate into U.S. dollars. 162-207. 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, Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (July 1930), Shows the average wages of multiple occupation in the mining industry. Source: Shows the average hourly wages for various occupation both in and outside of Paris. Source: BLS, Shows the average wage rates for 19 different occupations in Hamburg, Germany. A mail order catalog for the Fall/Winter season, 1920-1921. Fixtures, chamberpots, bathroom soaps, towels, toilet paper. During the first three decades of the 20th century, African Americans comprised about 25 percent of all southern West Virginia miners. Red Ash mine was also the location of a disaster in 1900, which killed forty-six miners. Wages are listed in Mexican currency with exchange rate for calculating amounts in U.S. dollars. A Latvian immigrant and devout member of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Old Believers, Michael Simon wore this cross as he labored in Pennsylvania coal mines. Wages are shown in Latvian rubles. Meanwhile, his wife Mary operated the Nellis boarding house for foreign-born miners. Shows prices by month and year. In 1925, motor vehicles were scrapped at an average age of 6.5 years. Coal miners homemade prosthetic leg, about 1950. The miners world was dark and dangerous. Source: Compares 1922 to1940 wage rates for a variety of RR jobs, pp. Source: Women's Bureau Bulletin #85. Patterns for sewing children's clothes, stockings, union suits, toys, bicycles. how much did coal miners get paid in the 1950s. As former miner Gary Bentley of Kentucky remarked in a recent New York Times article, Its not going to make a comeback. Watch the rocks, theyre falling daily, Work clothes, work shirts, dress shirts, dress pants, trousers, vests, suits, dress gloves, overcoats, winter coats, fur caps and collars, neck ties, belts and suspenders, caps and hats, nightwear, socks, shoes, boots, pocket knives, pocket watches, toupes, razors, smoking pipes. Source: BLS. Starts on p. 44. Table shows average tax by acre for each state in 1929. Wages are shown in Belgian francs. 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. 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. Includes breakouts for adults and. Bathroom: Corn visited coal mines and mountain communities from Virginia to Tennessee, photographing the working and domestic lives of miner families and their struggles with low wages, unsafe working conditions, and black lung disease. Source: BLS. HOUSING, FARMS and UTILITIES Salary data for judges inNY, PA, NJ and CT. Source: American Druggist, January 1923 issue. 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. Shows the daily wages of various common and low-skill occupations like building laborers, canners, and rice mill workers throughout the state. Source: U.S. Bureau of Education. Source: The cost of living in twelve industrial cities, p. 63. But the chorus of foreign languages confirmed managements fears that companies were slipping out of control. Some picked slate and other debris out of the coal on fast-moving conveyor belts. Veteran colliers knew competitive individualism bred greed, hostility, thievery, and a disregard for mine safety. Some stopped the cars by jamming pieces of wood into the spokes. Police department personnel salaries and wages. Prices are shown in Japanese yen. Wages shown in 1930 US dollars. Shows average annual expenditure for food, rent, clothing, and medical care per family member. The strike was officially called to a halt on March the 3rd 1985. Total Pay. Shows police department salaries for cities over 100,000 population. The craftiness and deftness of the best colliers was most evident when they performed the riskiest task of all. Meal time was cold, cramped, and wet. Source:Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily or monthly wages for various occupations in 5 different cities in Brazil. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review, March 1932, The "Service Industries" chapter in this source breaks out wages paid to workers in hospitals, hotels, bowling alleys, theaters, parks, churches, country clubs, athletic clubs and yacht clubs, advertising agencies, banks, laundries, schools/colleges, and restaurants (making no distinction between waiters, cooks or bus boys). In the hand-loading era, an underground miners workplace, usually called a room, was only as high as the coal seam. Every workingman was supposed to have his turn when it came to getting an empty coal car, because each collier deserved an equal opportunity to get his load to the weigh station. Shows average dollar amount spent annually in categories such as food, clothing, maintenance of health, personal goods, furniture and more. Musical instruments: Source: BLS. Data available for additional years inMissouri Farm Census by Counties, Missouri State Dept of Agriculture. Managers worried about competition, costs, and controlling workers who spoke multiple languages and labored out of view. Mentions the wages paid to both skilled and unskilled workers in francs. Data was originally published in the Industrial Bulletin of the State Department of Labor. 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. Women's: Shows the average daily wages Greek workers were receiving in metal mines, lignite mines, smelting and refining plants, and quarries. Retreat mining required the rapid destruction of these pillars, each containing tons of valuable coal, before the mine collapsed. See the. Describes the labor policy of Great Britain in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. When young Frank Keeney walked through a mine portal in 1892, perhaps an older miner, maybe a neighbor, offered him some words of consolation or, at least, instruction as they traveled in and outof the mine on what was known as a man trip. Or he might have heard some words of warning from the older boys who led the mules and coal cars back and forth through the door he tended. Source: BLS, Shows the cost of foodstuffs and other necessities in Greece. 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. Source: BLS. Shows the average weekly wages of various occupations in 8 different industries in Budapest. He later recalled his terror at being lost in a maze of underground rooms when his lamp went out. Source: BLS, Shows the annual earnings of manual and nonmanual workers in Sweden. In 1923, there were about 883,000 coal miners; today there are about 53,000. This bibliography lists reports that show income, budgets, consumer expenditures, etc. $20.00 per week. Lengthy article reports how much educators earned in Illinois' high schools in 1920-1921. This calculator allows you to compare the buying power of wages earned at different points in history. Typewriters, school supplies, office supplies, fountain pens, more fountain pens, books, drawing sets, home office furniture. NOTE: Forhouseholdincome data for 1929, we recommend a1934 Brookings Institution report titled America's Capacity to Consume. Source: the Historian of the U.S. Others opened large wooden doors just before speeding cars passed through. Survey covered only white families over a certain. Source: BLS, The explanation states: "real wage rates have been computed by the Statistical Office on the basis of the official German cost-of-living index. Source: One-page table shows 80 years of average retail prices for bread, milk, eggs and other common food items. Source: BLS Monthly labor review, Apr 1926, Shows the average retail prices of various foodstuffs throughout Switzerland. for rural households in the U.S. and selected foreign countries. Broken out by men's and women's jobs. See table 164 for average annual wage. Still he ventures to be brave. 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. Despite significant danger, miners received little compensation for injuries. A strong, skilled coal loader might fill five or more cars in a day. One statute required operators to print maps of their mines, but it excluded any provisions for enforcing this requirement. Wages are shown in yen. Shows the average monthly wages of multiple occupation in the Alaskan fishing industry. It provided a $1.20-a- day wage increase effective Jan, and an increase of 80 cents a day beginning April 1, 1959. Three decades earlier a boy about the same agea newly emancipated slavehad worked in the same minefield. Constitution Avenue, NW Wages are shown in Finnish marks. 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. Shows data for unskilled male laborers in each of 13 industries, as well as an overall average. Describes the labor policy of Mexico in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century.