The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1908-06-04
LEADING WAGE-EARNER.
John Hayes Hammond and His
Interesting Salary.

lllOllO'
ellis time is valuable, SIR
"Only for minute or two"
ellis time is worth $5 a minute,
SIR"
"What's that | didn't know il
was so expensive"
eyes, sir, he figures it at that
rate, and~it costs him about 16 cents
TO say Good morning, SO he is
rather careful about receiving visit
ors. The other day he lost 81
listening to joke, and the laughter
amounted to 70 cents.
Gwen, well. | wouldn't care to
rob Mr.. Hammond of his time at
that rate, although | would like to
shake him by the hand 10 cents
worth. It's worth while to shake
hands with the leading proletarian
of the country. He is a wage
Garner, isn't he?"
''That's what they say, sir. He
makes $500 an hour
tfAhIs fancy that his employers
give him half an hour for luncheons
No doubt they DO. His days
wages must amount to about 1866,
and in an hoHr and half he earns
as much as the majority of his
fellow=American working men earn
in q year. Is that right9"
'iYes, sir. They say he gets a
$4,000 bill every Saturday night
when he quits. That's a good
weeks wages to take home to the
wife and kids, for a fact, and it
makes $500, 900 in a year. The boss
thinks a lot Of Mr.. Hammond. He's
just hired him again on a five-year
contract"
This conversation is one that
might have occurred between visit
or and office attendant at a shop in
the Empire Building, No. Fl Broad
way, where John Hayes Ham
mond, the most expensive hired
man in the United States, works
for a living. The president of the
United States gets $4,000 a year.
Mr.. Hammond, the wage.earner,
draws this amount in five weeks of
toll. A few railroad and insurance
presidents find $1oo,oOo in their an
nual pay envelopes. The horny
handed Hammend.realizes as much
in the labor of two months and a
half. Some monarchs of Europe
are supposed to earn more than
the champion breadWinner of Am
erica, but Mr.. Hammond evens il
up with the receipt of Christmas
boxes and returns from-the invest
ment of his modest savings, which
altogether net him as much as his i
regular pay. =
Mr.. Hammond is distinctly of the
class of skilled labor. He is 9
mining engineer, supposedly the
best il the world. His employers,
the Guggenheims, who own mosl
of the mines and smelters on this
continent, have lately re-engaged
him on fve-year contract at $500:
900 a year. He agrees to continue
to oficiate as expert at this wage.
and not to buy or exploit any mines
on his own behalf, except the few
trifiing properties he already owns.
and which net him annually as
much as his salary. The kind Of
work he does is not calculated t.
raise any special sweat beads or
his brow. 1t is rarely that he
leaves his shop to enter his private
car, travel to a gold mine in ths
Rockies and take1a hudred dollars
worth of chances at a pay streak
He leaves most of that to a graded
army of assistants, who enter tht
bowels of the earth, assay, repor
and again report. The last AM
highest report goes to Mr.. Ham
mond, who studies it and briefly
says to his employers eyes, Of
"No." The employers implicit,
trust Mr.. Hammond's affirmative t
mean a fortune and his negative t
spell failure. All miners are said t
be gamblers. Few of Mr.. Ham
mond's forecasts have prove
wrong. The sensational Nipissin
deal, in which the Guggenheims
withdrawing from the enterprise
coolly pocketed losses of perhap
SO, 100000 was an exceptional case
where something or other failed t
connect.
This leading member of the. Am
erican working class has had
picturesque career. Born in Sal
Francisco in 1866, he was graduate
from fhn ChofGafd Crior{iff~ C~hnr