Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review, July 1930. School and office supplies: 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. Shows average wages alongside a cost of living index for Germany between 1929-1942. Cabinets and cookware. Shows data for unskilled male laborers in each of 13 industries, as well as an overall average. Source: BLS. Wages are shown in shillings. Wages are shown in contemporary U.S. dollars. Occupations wages shown in 1930 US dollars. They provided their own equipment and often hired assistants; managers extended credit for supplies like dynamite. The legislature rejected all proposals for reform, however. for rural households in the U.S. and selected foreign countries. 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. 412. Coal mining wages - Illinois, 1920. continue to render these kinds of occupations obsolete. 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 the daily wages of Chilean miners between 1911 and 1924 in both pesos and the U.S. dollar. by SEX There is also a table showing, Shows the value of multiple currencies in US dollars in the years of. Part of a section on Negro women's wages. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin, No. This earlier catastrophe outraged Mother Jones, who spoke of it often on her organizing campaign that year, and it had triggered public pressure to improve the states mine safety laws. Musical instruments: Wages are shown in both US and English currency. This bibliography lists reports that show income, budgets, consumer expenditures, etc. Lists annual pay for individuals occupying administrative and supervisory positions in the executive and judicial branches. Government Documents Department, Ellis Library Men's: One statute required operators to print maps of their mines, but it excluded any provisions for enforcing this requirement. Source: Covers elementary schools and junior high schools in American cities with populations of 2,500 or more. In 1900 almost 2 percent of Americans were coal miners. Shows family expenditures by category. Kitchen: Shows wages and prices in kronen, along with the exchange rate to translate into U.S. dollars. $30.30. Shows data for Washington DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroitand otheradditional cities on pages5-9. Wages are based on the average weekly full-time positions from large cities. Shows the standard wages for different shift at ports in Antwerp, Belgium. In the US, coal mining is a shrinking industry. Before the 1920s most miners were independent contractors. Then, with their lamps casting a dim yellow light on the dark hillside, the men and boys disappeared one by one into the hole, like ants entering a colony. Covers the states of NH, VT, MA, CT, KY, SC, AL, MO, KS, IA and OH. Covers Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Italy and Austria. ), athletic gear, boxing, baseball, & tennis supplies, Prices of articles bought by farmers, 1909-1924, Prices paid by farmers for household items, 1910-1960, Clothing prices paid by farmers, 1910-1960, Women's clothing catalog - B. Altman & Co., Summer 1920. Photographer + writer. In 1927, "$30 per month was taken as the average minimum expenditure for rent in Boston for the [working class] family of four living on the American standard.". For example, a dollar earned in 2020 had the same buying power as 7 in 1928. Bathroom: Prices are shown in contemporary US dollars. Prices are shown in Latvian rubles. See list of the most common occupations for women in 1910 and 1920 (source: Census Bureau). He later recalled his terror at being lost in a maze of underground rooms when his lamp went out. 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. Table 26 shows wages for laborers with board for every year from 1780-1937; the, In the 1920s, people could sell their blood to hospitals for$35-50 perquart. Shows brand names. Mule drivers and trapper boys like Frank Keeney set out at six oclock every morning with the adult miners, who each carried a pick and auger, a can of black blasting powder, fuses, and a tamping rod. Source: Shows lawyers' incomes instates and regions, by size of community served, by the age of the lawyer, number of years in practice, etc. Lengthy article reports how much educators earned in Illinois' high schools in 1920-1921. Source: This table provides average yearly wages per industry or trade type, including transportation, education and agriculture, among others. Taken from the 1921 U.S. Department of Agriculture Yearbook, starting on page 804. Source: BLS, Shows the cost of foodstuffs and other necessities in Greece. At suppertime, youngsters like Frank would sit with the men on a pile of slate and listen as veterans of the mine would sing songs, spin yarns, and tell jokes; they would rib the boys, trick them for laughs, and tell them tall tales of the devilish apparitions that appeared to them down in the hole. Shows salaries for officers, managers, clerks, operators, etc. Source: BLS, Shows the hourly wages for men and women in Finnish unions. 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. 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. Shows data for 12 cities located in NY, OH, PA and MA, including NYC, Boston, Philadelphia and more. Source: BLS, Shows the cost of foodstuffs, clothing, and other necessities in Hungary. Published by the National Industrial Conference Board. When a miner and his helper approached the entry to their room, danger lurked in almost every move they made. Prices are shown in Swiss francs. Occupations included are limited before 1916. 90%. Source: Lists minimum and maximum daily wages for male and female workers. Click for more info about the kind of home a family earning less than $2,500 annually could buy in 1928. Source: BLS Monthly labor review, Oct 1927, Shows the average daily wages for 14 different occupations in the Florence district. "The fees and cost of books, instruments, board, room, laundry and incidentals will hardly be less than $400 per session of thirty-two weeks." Source: The cost of living among wage-earners, Cincinnati OH, pp. 285, Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. Shows the weekly earnings for 9 occupations in Amsterdam, Haarlem, the Hague, and Rotterdam. 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 shown in both contemporary Yen and US dollars. Source: Quote: "I presume that a fee of $200 would be a pretty fair estimate of the surgeon's charge for operation and the after-treatment between the operation and the death of the patient." Source: BLS, Shows the daily wages of masons, carpenters, stonecutters, painters, shoemakers, and tailors in each of the provincial capitals of Spain. Source: BLS Bulletin no. Tables 6-13 show farm land prices by county in IA, MN, ND, ID, OH, KY, NC and TX. Even in a good week, there was unpaid work to perform: propping up newly opened rooms with wooden posts, laying track to his room, and lowering the floor of the main tunnel so loaded coal cars could pass through. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily or monthly wages for various occupations in 5 different cities in Brazil. Source:Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis. In West Virginia, where mineswere cut near the mountaintops, the overburden was looser and more prone to collapse than in the deeper shaft mines of the North. Source: U.S. Dept of Agriculture. In 1923, there were about 883,000 coal miners; today there are about 53,000. Under other circumstances, mine tops fell without warning. When he lit the fuse, the lead miner hollered, Fire in the hole, and scuttled out of the room with his buddy. Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Watterson is back. The deal, brokered by. Wages are shown in Japanese yen. White familiesspent an average $103.71/yearon medical care around 1928-1931. Dollars. Prices on pp. Heed no operators tale! This source lists actual salaries paid to administrators in various lines of business. Miners would lie on their backs and use a pick to undercut the coal. But Appalachian coal production peaked in 1918. Shows data on the number of nursing school graduates from 1880 to 1929 as well as salary information. A strong, skilled coal loader might fill five or more cars in a day. Wages for workers engaged in the manufacture of iron and steel goods, machinery, railway rolling stock, boilers, vehicles, aircraft, electrical apparatus, scientific instruments and more. The struggle between workers and managers in the workplace played out vividly in the Pennsylvania coal mines. Provides detailed breakouts by occupation. Meanwhile, his wife Mary operated the Nellis boarding house for foreign-born miners. 365-372. Self-respecting craftsmen were even known to stop working when a foreman came by to inspect their room. 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. Survey covered only white families over a certain. A good blast could bring down a ton or more of coal from the fractured face. Source: U.S. BLS. Source: BLS. The pit closures the miners had fought so hard to prevent began in earnest. The union was very important to miners. Shows price list of one California retailer. Wages are shown in Finnish marks. Source: Describes the labor policy of Australia in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. One-page table shows average charges for residential electricity each year from 1924-1934, for cities over 50,000 in population. A mail order catalog for the Fall/Winter season, 1920-1921. Shows the daily wages of various common and low-skill occupations like building laborers, canners, and rice mill workers throughout the state. After workers had advanced the mine face to the end of the seam, veterans began the dangerous work of removing the massive coal pillars that stood between the rooms and helped support the mine top. 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. Still he ventures to be brave. Issues of Telephone engineer & management detail rates for telephone service in many states. Wages are shown in contemporary U.S. dollars. Coffee cost an average 47 per pound in 1920. Shows the hourly, daily, and biannual earnings of different occupations in the Missouri coal industry between 1890-1922. Chart shows median wages of women employed in Philadelphia households as chambermaids, cleaners, cooks, waitresses, laundress, seamstress, and children's nurses (nannies.) Shows annual salaries for all school personnel in Texas without breakouts for occupation, years of training, years of experience, etc. 7-8 in: Extensive, 219-page report published in the Bureau of Labor StatisticsBulletin no. Source: U.S. Bureau of Education. Source: BLS. The strike was officially called to a halt on March the 3rd 1985. FromTHE DEVIL HERE IN THESE HILLS(Atlantic Monthly Press), now out in paperback. Board a ship to cross the wave; Managements steam whistle now set the times. College professor salaries, 1928 (Source: AAUP report). Wages are shown in yen. Wages are shown in both Chervonetz roubles and contemporary U.S. dollars. Managers concentrated on business decisions, such as arranging transportation and selling their product. Discusses doctor and hospital fees as well as related expenses such as home nursing care. over the years. There was little prospect then that coal would be in demand as it is today or that the daily wage of miners would be multiplied 8 to 10 times by 1974. 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. Source: Source: Canada Department of Labor report. Details the prices of appliances, furniture, and more household items on pp. Shows average public employee pay for each state. Then the men and boys would gather their tools and trudge down the mountainside to their little cabins to wash off the coal dust that smudged their faces, necks, arms, and hands, and to sit down for an evening meal. Despite significant danger, miners received little compensation for injuries. 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. Also tells pay for court clerks and marshals. Compares 1927 and 1913 earnings. Miners would lie on their backs and use a pick to undercut the coal. Wiki User. 664. As former miner Gary Bentley of Kentucky remarked in a recent New York Times article, Its not going to make a comeback. Boys labored inside, sorting coal by size and removing rock. Wages are shown in Brazilian milreis and contemporary US dollars. Source: U.S. Department of Commerce. Shows the average weekly and hourly wages of different occupations in the Missouri shoe industry between 1913-1922. Coal operators enticed workersmany African Americanto move to West Virginia from Virginia and the Deep South. This answer is: Study guides. Source: U.S. Federal Trade Commission report. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. The mine foreman was legally responsible for safety. But on some weeks, a miner might work only two or three days because the railroad failed to supply enough coal cars, or because the mine needed repairs. Includes breakouts by state, source of income, and more. Describes the labor policy of Canada in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. But you get a certain amount of desperation, where youre willing to believe stuff even though you know in your gut its not true.. Police department personnel salaries and wages. by OCCUPATION Includes breakouts for adults and. Starts on p. 44. Source: BLS Bulletin no. 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. Following legal tradition, companies usually placed blame and responsibility for injuries on the workers. Managers liked immigrants because they worked for low wages. Manufacturing wages -- SEE box further below. The strongest, most efficient men earned the most money at the end of the day. A man sometimes had to get down on his hands and knees, with his left shoulder, well padded, against the car, bracing himself with his toes against the ties and the dirt of the floor, wrote a former miner, while his partner controlled the brakes to keep the car from rolling back on the pusher if he slipped or grew tired. Back injuries, broken legs, and severed feet and fingers were common. After undercutting the face, the collier turned the crank on a five-and-a-half-foot-long breast auger and pushed with all his weight to bore a hole high on the face. 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. Shows expenditures by category with prices per article and amounts needed annually for a family of five. Unskilled labor hired by cities for construction, repair or cleaning of streets. Shows average wages by industry in both rubles and US currency. Includes wage data for Chicago as well. Shows wage rates for engineers, conductors, passenger baggage men, coal passers, firemen, switch tenders, hostlers, signalmen, station agents, telegraphers, machinists, car cleaners, and more. 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. Some occupations covered include telephone operators, waitresses, hotel maids, chambermaids, elevator girls, laundry workers, retail clerks, and factory workers in the wood working industry. Table shows average 1929 and 1931 weekly wages of full-time store employees, managers, and supervisors by kind and size of chain and location. Table shows average tax by acre for each state in 1929. 294-295. See p. 193 of this. 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. Shows average annual expenditure for food, rent, clothing, and medical care per family member. By law, judges earned 1,500 per year. Wages are shown in both Hungarian gold crowns and contemporary U.S. dollars. Source: BLS, Shows prices of dozens of food and grocery items, soap, coal, wood by the cord, matches by the box and, Shows the amount spent by a typical Canadian family on food, laundry, fuel/lighting, and rent over time. Wages of pattern makers, molders, drill press operators, lathe hands, machinists and more. First, the men had topush an empty coal car up wooden rails that they had installed on their own time. Tools and hardware: Source: Hotel rates can often be found within the advertisements throughout the pages of the. Hourly employees were bound to the ten-hour day, but the coal loaders, or tonnage men, often worked fewer hours and sometimes exercised the right to leave the mine without permission. An increase in annual vacation pay was also stipulated.Wage Chronology: Bituminous . Every day his lifes in danger, By 2003 that number had dipped to just 70,000. Source: Federal Power Commission. "75 Years of American Finance: A Graphic Presentation 1861-1935" Includes the states of RI, NJ, OH, DE, OK, MO, GA, TN, AR, KY, SC, AL and MS. Table shows average cost to rent houses by the number of rooms in each of 25 New Zealand cities and towns. Includes a table showing. The laborer's work is often made difficult by the water and rock which are found' in large quantities in coal veins. Between 1880 and 1920, southern West Virginias population grew from 93,000 to 446,000, due almost entirely to the coal industry. Frank Keeney wanted to be a first-class tonnage man because he needed to support his widowed mother and two sisters, along with his new wife, a fair teenager named Bessie Meadows, an Eskdale girl who wanted to become a schoolteacher. In the late 1800s mining was rough physical labor. Wages are shown in Spanish pesetas. Coal diggers gave up some of their hard-earned pay to aid fellow miners when they were sick or injured, and when a mine exploded, they risked their lives to rescue the survivors trapped inside. Miners spent their entire shift underground, taking lunch, drinks, and snacks with them. For best detail, see the full chapters on. Wages are shown in contemporary US dollars. 484. Without a match he walked, hands held in front of his body, until, by chance, someone found him and gave him a light. 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. COST OF LIVING Tells cost of public transportation and railway fares as well. Source: U.S. Dept of Labor, Compares affordability of food and consumer goods from one year to the next and provides price. Source: Appendix in. Shows expenditures among rural Virginia families for food, housing, clothing, automobiles, health insurance, recreation, personal items and more. During the first three decades of the 20th century, African Americans comprised about 25 percent of all southern West Virginia miners. Discussion puts wage data in context with price levels which were definitely affected by the wars. Rompers, night gowns, baby shoes, accessories (diapers, baby bottles, etc. The correct use of explosives depended on the miners skill and knowledge of how to drill, how much powder to use, and how to damp a charge properly. Wages are shown in Greek drachmas. Wages shows in 1930 US dollars. Source: Shows the daily or monthly wages of 13 occupations in the treaty port. Tells cost of public transportation and railway fares as well. Report published in 1925 mainly covers wages in manufacturing industries. 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. Wages are shown in Italian lire. And your eye upon the scale! 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. Source: BLS, Shows the minimum hourly wages of various occupations in Brussels. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review, July 1930. Source: BLS. Source: BLS, Shows the cost of various foodstuffs in the Riga markets. PRICES in FOREIGN COUNTRIES, WAGES -- GENERAL SOURCES (all occupations and worker types), WAGES in AIRPLANE and AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURING, 1920s. Published 1921. Coal mining is a dangerous job requiring skill and judgment. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily wages of day laborers, farm hands, clerks, bookkeepers, government employees, and army members in Lithuania. U.S. coal mining employment change by state Q4 2011-Q4 2016 ; Shows the daily wages for 11 different occupations in Parahyba, Brazil. Shows wages for common and semi-skilled workers in manufacturing and construction industries, in baking, agriculture, metal and printing trades. Shows dollar amount and % of total budget spent on various categories of goods and services, broken out by urban/rural families. Red Ash mine was also the location of a disaster in 1900, which killed forty-six miners. See table 164 for average annual wage. In 1925, motor vehicles were scrapped at an average age of 6.5 years. Gasoline cost an average21.7 per gallon in 1929. Children's: $180 - $5k. Compares average retail prices for grocery items in independent stores and in chain stores. Nothing was the answer, nothing but the miserable life he and his family endured living inrented shanties hard on the railroad tracks. Believed to be the worst coal mine disaster ever, an explosion at the Bnxh mine in Liaoning province killed 1,549 people in 1942. Source: BLS. Source: BLS, Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. The regions first coal miners primarily were African Americans, both enslaved and free. After the Civil War, industrialization meant a nearly limitless demand for anthracite and bituminous coal, and hundreds of thousands of new jobs . 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. 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? 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. Constitution Avenue, NW The miners called this unpaid labor company work.. 59-71. Shows pay for those involved in "1st class New York City productions" including actors of various levels (from chorus to leads) as well as directors, designers, scene painters, stage hands, etc. On one hand, the miners discipline and death-defying courage made them ideal industrial soldiers; on the other hand, the qualities the men forged in underground combat with the elementsbravery, fraternal fealty, and group solidarityhardened them for aboveground combat with their employers. Report published in 1923 tells wages by race and by industry. After the Civil War, industrialization meant a nearly limitless demand for anthracite and bituminous coal, and hundreds of thousands of new jobs spurred a population boom in the region, which stretches from western New York state to Alabama. Shows the changes in wages of united Illinois coal miners following a labor agreement. Data is separated by sex and age. Lists ticket prices in NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland and eight more cities in NY, PA, OH and MA. Shows the "living wage" per week for different metropolitan areas of Australia. 467. To view an issue of interest, select it from the list and click View. Bedroom: Wages are shown in Austrian kronen. Safety sign in eight languages, about 1910. "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." Regardless of what their state government might or might not do to protect them, the miners of West Virginia had to rely on themselves and their buddies, rather than on company fire bosses and state mine inspectors, whose numbers were few and whose visits were infrequent. The lack of market for coal during the depression had stepped in to push aside both miners and operators as principals in collective bargaining. Source: You may download a pdf version of the 1928, Hotel rates are shown in the advertisements in. Source: BLS, Shows the average retail prices of staple foodstuffs in Madrid, Spain. Wages are shown in Spanish pesetas. Fascinating book that shows various imported items (such as kid gloves, bloomers, silk nightgown, men's pipe, electric flatiron, glass lamp, etc.) 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. 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. Source: BLS, Shows the average price of foodstuffs and other common goods in the federal district of Mexico. Appalachian coal production has been on shaky ground almost since the industrys inception in the mid 19th century. Source: This source is entirely about compensation of state and local government employees in New York.