Found These in My Basement.... Need Some Info!

$2 per month is utter nonsense. From the Civil War until the turn of the century, here are rates for some typical skilled and unskilled workers. The end of free slave labor upon Emancipation drove wages higher, and wages soared at the beginning of World War I. These are based on 60-hour work weeks, the norm at the time.

Here is the average weekly wage for 60 hours a week:

• Occupation 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890
• blacksmith, 10.68, 18.24, 15.54, 16.26
• carpenter, 10.92, 24.60, 16.56, 19.32
• machinist, 9.48, 15.60, 13.62, 14.58
• laborers, 5.88, 9.36, 8.10, 9.06

and these numbers are within a range confirmed by many sources. See Google. In the 1830s and 1840s, even mill workers earned $1.50 to $1.75 per day. Note there were no sales or income taxes at that time, and even the first income tax circa 1913 barely touched the lower and middle classes.

Regarding 1890 wages, you can see that a carpenter or machinist averaged about 25c to 30c per hour (based on 60 hours), but with a multiplier of 26.33x (cited above), no such tradesman today would work for (say) $6.60 per hour (well below minimum wage), so that number is suspect also. Post Civil War, there was much more variation in wages (by State) than today; as the frontier moved westward, certain skilled trades demanded substantially higher wages to relocate.

 

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Where are the Farm Wages. $30~40 a month was common in the 1930's~40's in the south.

 

Farm wages are hard to calculate, as the job often included room and board. I have pay slips (in a paper memorabilia collection) from 1932, showing wages of 10c per hour, but including a semi-private room, community meals, and "transportation" to church. But for the unskilled and uneducated, farm labor was the only choice, and it was slavery all over again, except you were free to leave (and starve).

Miners were hard-hit too, but they were constrained by debt. Employment agreements generally required miners to buy food, equipment, and other items at the company store, and to ensure compliance, miners were paid in metal scrip, and local merchants were warned not to accept it. Miners quickly descended into debt, and were de facto prisoners in a sense, because Big Coal didn't want experienced miners to leave - it was expensive and time-consuming to train new miners, and they were more likely to avoid restrictive, inhumane contracts.

Railroad workers also had a tough time, as there was little demand for new lines. During the Depression, hundreds of small railroads consolidated into larger lines, or were bought outright by the majors.

 

Thanks for all the information, everybody!

 

Back in the 70's, my former brother-in-law used to dismantle old barns and outbuildings for the wood. From time to time, he would find coins used as washers for nails. Washers may be used with nuts and bolts today, but in the 1800's, many people couldn't afford nuts and bolts, and they didn't have a True Value hardware store in most towns.

Chris