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. Data available for additional years inMissouri Farm Census by Counties, Missouri State Dept of Agriculture. Data was originally published in the Industrial Bulletin of the State Department of Labor. In the hand-loading era, an underground miners workplace, usually called a room, was only as high as the coal seam. Also shows the averagecost to rent farm landor pastures by the acre, by county. for rural households in the U.S. and selected foreign countries. Report published in 1927 includes extensive wage data for women in Tennessee by race, industry, education, and more, circa 1925. Dollars. Source: Teachers' salaries and salary trends in 1923. Acquiring a sense of humor helped mask a workers dread of the mine, but joking was no substitute for learning how to be careful. Source: BLS. Study showed how much a family of five would need to live in Washington DC in 1920. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin #682, chapter 9: "Monthly earnings of professional engineers," pp. Salary data for teachers, principals and school administrators in New York City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago and Kansas City. During the Great Depression output was nearly halved from 680 million tons to 360 million. how much did coal miners get paid in the 1950s. Every workday a panel of miners, ranging from fourteen to twenty-eight men, passed through a main entry and then turneddown a side entry. Shows weekly wages for male and female workers in common industries such as textile manufacture and mining, and also more uncommon like ice cream manufacture and hospitality services. Source: This table provides average yearly wages per industry or trade type, including transportation, education and agriculture, among others. 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. 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, Under other circumstances, mine tops fell without warning. Includes drug items, toilet items, and miscellaneous items. 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. Tools and hardware: Between 12th and 14th Streets 365-372. And your eye upon the scale! Shows the hourly, daily, and biannual earnings of different occupations in the Missouri coal industry between 1890-1922. HOUSING, FARMS and UTILITIES Source: Source: BLS Handbook of Labor Statistics, 1931 edition. Iowa farm houses averaged around 8 rooms and had an average value of $3,043. Managers liked immigrants because they worked for low wages. The laborer's work is often made difficult by the water and rock which are found' in large quantities in coal veins. Dresses, skirts, blouses, suits, patterns for sewing frocks,, dress gloves, shawls, sweaters, silk undergarments, pajamas, union suits, corsets, gowns, stockings, hats, winter coats, fur coats, winter gloves and mittens, shoes, purses and bags, diamond rings, necklaces and jewelry, brooches, perfume, wigs. Source: BLS. Wages shown in 1931 US dollars. 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. Source: BLS, Shows the earnings over different times for both government employees and manual workers in Hamburg. Provides detailed breakouts by occupation. Telephones, radios, cameras, kitchen ranges, home electric appliances, record players, music records, sewing machines, fabrics, clothes washers, laundry supplies, vacuum sweepers. Wages of pattern makers, molders, drill press operators, lathe hands, machinists and more. The regions first coal miners primarily were African Americans, both enslaved and free. 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. 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. In the US, coal mining is a shrinking industry. 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. 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 listed in Mexican currency with exchange rate for calculating amounts in U.S. dollars. Dresses, dresses (in color), coats, bonnets and coats, hats, shoes, girl's toys. See the. As the men removed one pillar after another, the wooden posts used to support the mine top would be strained as the roof started getting heavy. The wood would then creak and groan and then splinter as the miners heard the roof working above their heads and planned their retreat accordingly. Musical instruments: Milk cost an average 33 per half gallon in 1920. Source: 1934 Statistical Abstract of the United States. Starts on p. 44. Knickerbockers, shirts, high school boy's suits, boy's fine suits, overcoats, winter coats, jackets, pajamas, rain coats, caps and hats, shoes. 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 both German marks and contemporary U.S. dollars. Dining room furniture, silverware, dish sets. Typically, workers could get an advance on pay, in company-issued paper currency, called scrip, or tokens to buy goods. Details the price of clothing for men, women, boys and girls on pp. Source: BLS, Shows the daily wages of workers in the glass factories of northern France. Provides foreign wage data in native currency alongside the U.S. dollar equivalent to assist in comparing the rates. But to those who suffered alone in silence, the chorus offered hope and strength: Union miners, stand together! One task was to test for the build-up of flammable methane gas. Meal time was cold, cramped, and wet. This source lists actual salaries paid to administrators in various lines of business. 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). Income statistics of full time professional women were published in study by the Association of Business and Professional Women. by RACE Coal companies also recruited in Europe. Source: AAUP report. The Miners' Strike of 1984 was a turning point in British history. MERCHANDISE Tables are broken down by occupation, sex, and state. Shows expenditures by category with prices per article and amounts needed annually for a family of five. School and office supplies: Keep your hand upon the dollar, Immigrants in southern West Virginia comprised some 25 nationalities, including Italians, Hungarians, Poles, Austrians and Russians. Shows the average daily wages of various occupations in Athens and Piraeus. Shows average value per acre for all real estate with buildings, and the value of land alone, by county, for six states: MA, CT, RI , ME, VT and NH. Also shows rowboat and pack horse rental rates, cost for guided tours, and transportation fares. Engineers used anemometers to measure airflow within mines. See data considerations for explanation. April 26, 1942. Discusses household expenditures for electricity, and estimates the number of homes that had various electrical appliances (radios, refrigerators, irons, etc.) Eventually, his sons and grandsons also worked in the mines. Includes wage data for Chicago as well. Smoke from explosions of black powder,the reek of oil lamps, and the pervading coal dust made breathable air something of an obsession with the miner, one miner recalled. The strongest, most efficient men earned the most money at the end of the day. The deal, brokered by. Source: BLS. $15 - $30. Source: You may download a pdf version of the 1928, Hotel rates are shown in the advertisements in. 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. Literary giants have thoughts on the new edits to Roald Dahl's works. Also tells pay for court clerks and marshals. The wage data is broken out by sex. The coal industry required more labor than southern West Virginia could supply. 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. Article compares the cost of renting versus buying a home in 1928. Under these terms, a hard worker could earn $2.00 for ten to twelve hours of labor, if the work was steady. Chart indicates hourly earnings ranges for piecework at automobile manufacturing companies in Germany. Prices are shown in Mexican pesos. From the Newcomb-Endicott store, Detroit, Michigan. Working in coal mines is dangerous miners have to deal with toxic . Shows breakouts for automobile manufacture, cigar making, boots/shoe making, men's clothing, iron/steel and more. Besides know-how, the miners depended upon instinct and luck. Includes a table showing. Describes the labor policy of Mexico in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. Issues of Telephone engineer & management detail rates for telephone service in many states. Describes the labor policy of Great Britain in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. Shows the changes in wages of united Illinois coal miners following a labor agreement. Expressed in dollars and also as a percentage of the property value. Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of various foodstuffs in 10 large German cities. Source: AAUP report, p. 162. over the years. In 1974, the Environmental Protection Agency commissioned photojournalist Jack Corn to document the plight of the American coal miner in Appalachia. Source: National Education Association of the United States. HEALTH CARE This was the world Frank Keeney entered as a boy. Shows the average monthly wages of multiple occupation in the Alaskan fishing industry. These were the underground attitudes Frank Keeney absorbed as he entered manhood as a coal miner. Kitchen: Source: 1930 Census of Agriculture. Wages are shown in Spanish pesetas. Source: U.S. Dept of Agriculture. Women's and children's clothing - Newcomb, Endicott, and Co. Retail prices for imported merchandise, 1922, Rates charges for hospital services, 1928, Health care costs and expenditures, 1923-1925, Average charges by type of medical complaint, 1929-1930, Public colleges - Tuition by institution, 1921-1922, Private colleges - Tuition by institution, 1921-1922, Howard University School of Medicine - Tuition & expenses, 1920-21, The Undertaker's Trade - Services and Prices, Average funeral cost by state and city, 1927, Cost to mail a letter or postcard, 1863-present, Vacation to Yellowstone National Park - Prices in 1920, Consumption expenditures per capita, 1901-1956, Cost of living increase in U.S. large cities, 1913-1941, Income needed for "minimum subsistence" in cities, 1929, Minimum income needed to live in Washington DC, 1920, Cost of living among wage earners, Detroit, 1921, Lynchburg, VA - Cost of living and expenditures, 1928-1929, Ability to pay and standard of living among farmers, 1926, Farm family expenditures in selected states, 1922-1924, Average annual costs of keeping work horses, 1921, Virginia - Cost of living and expenditures, 1928-1929, Calculator: Present-day purchasing power of a historic dollar amount, Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, Canada - Food and rents by province and city, 1923, Canada - Prices of staple foods, fuel and rent in 1913, 1920-1927, Retail Prices in Czechoslovakia, 1914-1921, Clothing prices - Great Britain, 1914-1921, New Zealand - Food and cigarette retail prices by city, 1921. equal opportunity/access/affirmative action/pro-disabled and veteran employer. They designed complex ventilation systems with fans and interior doors to keep dangerous gases from causing explosions. The craftiness and deftness of the best colliers was most evident when they performed the riskiest task of all. Data is separated by sex and age. Source: For each college, this table shows tuition for residents and non-residents by course of study. Bonus. 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. Wages are shown in Spanish pesetas. Wages are shown in Italian lire. This calculator allows you to compare the buying power of wages earned at different points in history. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (July 1930). It may be necessary to read the chapters pertaining to the country, but you can find the actual minimum wages in the discussion. To view an issue of interest, select it from the list and click View. No. Priced by the single unit. Coal operators often provided services like company stores. Shows salaries for teachers ofkindergarten, elementary school, junior high, high school, vocational school, college, and normal schools (teacher training academies). Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. Former Timeline picture editor. Source: BLS, Shows clothes prices paid by working class families in Great Britain. "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." Covers more than 1,200 cities. A mail order catalog for the Fall/Winter season, 1920-1921. Source: Source: Canada Department of Labor report. ), carriages, cribs, high chairs, etc. Report published in 1923 gives wages for Arkansas women by occupation and race. Source: This calculator can be used to determine the historical purchasing power of currency in the United Kingdom from 1270 to 2017. A room in the Pocahontas seam could be more than 10 feet high, while workplaces in the Kanawha and New River seams often were no taller than four feet. Aboveground, many miners suffered at the hands of the company men who short-weighed tonnage a man had loaded or docked his pay because slate was found mixed in with the coal. Retreat mining was a risky business, but at least the miners engineered these cave-ins. Under these terms, a hard worker could earn $2.00 for ten to twelve hours of labor, if the work was steady. Source: BLS Bulletins. Source: BLS. Miners would lie on their backs and use a pick to undercut the coal. In 1900 almost 2 percent of Americans were coal miners. 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. Prices are shown in Latvian rubles. Total Pay. Children's: Table 41 in this source shows the average salary for all teachers in elementary and secondary schools in New York state, not including NYC. TRANSPORTATION Shows the weekly earnings for 9 occupations in Amsterdam, Haarlem, the Hague, and Rotterdam. Wages are shown in pounds, shillings, and pence. Prices are shown in either contemporary US dollars or Chinese coppers. View object record Miner's hat, about 1930 Many of the reports can be found in. One-page table shows average charges for residential electricity each year from 1924-1934, for cities over 50,000 in population. White familiesspent an average $103.71/yearon medical care around 1928-1931. Wages are shown in Danish ore. Source: BLS, Shows the average retail prices of staple foodstuffs in Madrid, Spain. Wages are shown in German marks. Source: Shows the average hourly wage of a variety of jobs both in and outside of Paris. Miners left their pits to fight the attempt of the Thatcher government to close the collieries, break the miners' union and the labour movement in general, and open the way to a free market economy in which deregulated financial capitalism would be set free by the Big Bang of 1986. It also summarizes the years from 1907-1922. This article reprinted from a January 1923 edition of, This source quotes medians (the mid-point, with 50% falling below the line), first quartiles (25% falling below) and third quartiles (75% falling below). Government Documents Department, Ellis Library Coal miners homemade prosthetic leg, about 1950. 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. Coal mining wages - Illinois, 1920. Ukrainian immigrant Nick Gurski began working in the Boone County coal mines in the 1920s. Conversely, a dollar earned in 1928 had the same buying power as abut $15 in the year 2020. As former miner Gary Bentley of Kentucky remarked in a recent New York Times article, Its not going to make a comeback. Shows average wages (with and without board) by province. Took into account additional sources of income for farm families, such as income derived from animals or investments. 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. Before the 1930s, many boys worked in mines. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. Lists ticket prices in NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland and eight more cities in NY, PA, OH and MA. Management's steam whistle now set the times. It was usually undertaken by women, and sometimes children. In 1984 there were 174 deep coal mines in the UK by 1994 - the year the industry was finally privatized - there were just 15 left. Covers elementary, junior high, and high school teachers in American cities with populations of 2,500 or more. Source: U.S. Department of Commerce. COST OF LIVING 525. Prices are shown in Swiss francs. 285, Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 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. This Farmers' Bulletin, Cost of Using Horses on Corn-Belt Farms, goes into great detail about the costs of keeping work horses, including a. Copy. Source: page 13 in. It provided a $1.20-a- day wage increase effective Jan, and an increase of 80 cents a day beginning April 1, 1959. Infant's: MORE PRICES in the U.S. Source: U.S. Bureau of Education. Source: BLS. Time became important to managers as they changed their labor model. (Click image for detail), Marie Concannon, Government Information Librarian Before the 1920s most miners were independent contractors. 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. Careless miners always fail. Source: BLS. Totals are shown in Canadian dollars. 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. Source: BLS, Shows the daily wages and hours of workers in 4 different industries in Madrid. Source: BLS, Shows the cost of foodstuffs, clothing, and other necessities in Hungary. Source: Women's Bureau Bulletin #25. Source: BLS Source: BLS, See fairly comprehensive coverage of this topic in Appendix 23, "Charges for various kinds of medical services" in, Fee schedules established by the Ohio State Medical Association for. Includes many brand names. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review, July 1930. Board a ship to cross the wave; See list of the most common occupations for women in 1910 and 1920 (source: Census Bureau). Shows wages by occupation grouped by industries, with breakouts for males and females. Prices are shown in Hungarian crowns. Handkerchiefs, slippers, watches, umbrellas, hair brushes and combs, Christmas decorations. The miners world was dark and dangerous. Read more Employment in coal mining industry in the United Kingdom (UK) 1920-2021 . Source: BLS, Shows the average daily wages and hours of a variety of occupations in Madrid. Shows average value of mortgaged homes, average debt remaining on the mortgages and average interest paid on mortgages annually, for 68 cities of 100,000 or more population. Shows average dollar amount spent annually in categories such as food, clothing, maintenance of health, personal goods, furniture and more. Shows average annual expenditure for food, rent, clothing, and medical care per family member. 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 prices by month and year. 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. Wages are shown in both Chervonetz roubles and contemporary U.S. dollars. Mr. Still he ventures to be brave. But Appalachian coal production peaked in 1918. From the Louisiana Department of Labor and Industrial Statistics Biennial Report for 1929-1930. 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. See table 164 for average annual wage. Source: BLS, Shows the average wage rates for 19 different occupations in Hamburg, Germany. Shows wage rates for engineers, conductors, passenger baggage men, coal passers, firemen, switch tenders, hostlers, signalmen, station agents, telegraphers, machinists, car cleaners, and more. This booklet shows prices for hotels and amenities such astelephone, restaurant meals,haircuts, bath house, etc. The struggle between workers and managers in the workplace played out vividly in the Pennsylvania coal mines. Unskilled labor hired by cities for construction, repair or cleaning of streets. Shows the standard wages for different shift at ports in Antwerp, Belgium. Expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence. Shows the average daily wages Greek workers were receiving in metal mines, lignite mines, smelting and refining plants, and quarries. But the chorus of foreign languages confirmed managements fears that companies were slipping out of control. Shows data for Washington DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroitand otheradditional cities on pages5-9. These figures are shown by occupation, sex, and region. Source: Shows the average hourly wages for various occupation both in and outside of Paris. Phone (573) 882-0748. Shows the average weekly and hourly wages of different occupations in the Missouri shoe industry between 1913-1922. During the early 1900s, roof falls in the bituminous coal mines killed an average of 886 workers every year, as compared with the 274 deaths per year caused by explosions and fires. 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. Lists single-unit prices for barbital, benzoyl peroxide, benzocaine, aspirin, quinoline, and more, showing proprietary and coined drug names. 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. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin, no. Owners claimed property rights and managerial entitlements over the workplace. 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. Covers Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Italy and Austria. Shows dollar amount and % of total budget spent on various categories of goods and services, broken out by urban/rural families. 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. He later recalled his terror at being lost in a maze of underground rooms when his lamp went out. Details the prices of appliances, furniture, and more household items on pp. 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. Includes the states of RI, NJ, OH, DE, OK, MO, GA, TN, AR, KY, SC, AL and MS. Wages are shown in contemporary U.S. dollars. This table covers pages 357-360 in this source. Must use "search in this text" feature to navigate. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (September 1932). College professor salaries, 1928 (Source: AAUP report). Shows average public employee pay for each state. West Virginias drift mines were cut into the mountains horizontally and its slope mines descended gradually into the earth. Source: Appendix in. of Agriculture report. Source: Lists prices of typical food items, housing expenses, clothing, fuel, light and more. 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: The cost of living among wage-earners, Cincinnati OH, pp. Wages are shown in Brazilian milreis. by STATE Wages are shown in 1931 US dollars. Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of food and commodities in various cities throughout south Manchuria. Source: Table shows 52 years of time-series prices on individual foods, such as. 45-57. Includes breakouts for those who lived with the family and those who did not. Wages of certain women in the District of Columbia. 664. Links to government documents and primary sources listing retail prices for products and services, as well as wages for common occupations. Table shows average cost to rent houses by the number of rooms in each of 25 New Zealand cities and towns. Typewriters, school supplies, office supplies, fountain pens, more fountain pens, books, drawing sets, home office furniture. Includes breakouts by state, source of income, and more. 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. Prices are shown in German marks. Lists annual pay for individuals occupying administrative and supervisory positions in the executive and judicial branches. Wages are based on the average weekly full-time positions from large cities.