Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1919-01-30

81 - lit itll'c ~ ttlt | utica sjttieS .i!lb
he southern states. particularly during
he period of reconstruction which fol-
owed The civil war NS6l-5). was not
iiAaimiiar nom what We may expect
lpon Il iarg scale as wo pass through
me period of econsiluction upon which
the world is NOW entering. we have
thought that tlrc following letter. pre-
pared al lul request, might be interest
'ns to the readers of This paper. The
writer IS q Nirsinian who went west to
seek and lind his fortune in the year
lS72;
Minneapolis. MINI. Dec. ., 19lS-To
the Editor: In response to your re-
quest that should prepare "a ,nemoran-
dum embudyins my recollections of the
conditions existing in this country dur
Ing the period of readjustImcnt follow
ihS the civil war, for comparison with
he conditions existing today. | submit:
You understand. of course. as well as
i do. that conditions then were very
much worse and. therefore,. much less
favorable than they are at the present
time. AT the end of the civil war the
whole south, comprising as it did about
one-tl,ird of the population OF the
country, was in almost as pitiable a
- VIZ my wen IIIiuSIIe AUS
tria to be in at this time. Their cur
rency system was annihilated. The lit
tile money that people had, except IN
rare instances, was not worth one cent
on the dollar.
me whole system was revolu-
tioniZed. The livestock i'm the apricul-
tural- section was probably about one
half OF normal. Their lands had gone
without fertilization for five years and
Its fertility had greatly decreased. and
following the civil war, in that section
OF the country at least. it was a strug-
gle indeed for the people to live.
IL Is true. | think, that up TO TO
tnere, as we'll as in the great west. ae-
rlcultural products were bringing bel
Ter than prices prevailing a great por-
t1on or the time from 10 to '9S. I am
not familiar with the prices of labor
prevailing in the northern section of
our country from '65 to 70. but 1 have
a very distinct and vivid recollection
OF the wage scale paid. at least in the
agrlcultura sections of Virginia dur
hS the period between '65 and Febru-
airy. ~. when | came west. In that
secllon or the country. the labor of the
south, when employed. was on as low
a scale. l think, as ever prevailed
anywhere i'm these United States. Farm
labor, when hired by the day, received
a wage. generally, of SO cents a day,
with a weekly ration. maximum. of
three and one-half gallons OF unsifted
corn meal and three and one-half
pounds of sailed side meat, or what
used to be called middlings. A man
could take, II he so desired. a quart of
moiasses IN the place of a pound of
meat. This was the wage that was
PAID able bodied men, who were able
10 DO an honest days work.
ing at sunrise and ending at sunset.
before n after which he was ex-
pected to feed the livestock and see
Una they were properly taken care Of
In the stables and in the barnyarc.
After leaving the south in February.
~. my recollection is not so well fortl-
lied by experience. but for a number
OF years l naturally watched the best
l could the trend Of events and INV
personal recollection is that this daiiy
age scale continued at least until the
beginning of the sos, and SO far as l
know. even longer. Women, when en-
ployed in the field. I think were paid
as high as S5 cents a day. in addition to
fations, the same as issued to men.
When employed by the month, farm
hands were hired at from 81 to IS a
month. for men, and So to $3.50 for
women. Occasionally, men were paid
800 a year. with rations in addition.
rs outlined above. In recent years. be-
ginning about 1900, i'm my memory
serves me right, the wage Garner was
better paid, receiving as high, some
times. as 81 a day. and in some in
n as much as SIS per month. for
men. Women were paid on a rising
scale, as high as SIS to 81 n month. In
q general way. I think this memoranda
s approximately correct as to the wage
sariser In the south during the period
:atlroad. where I continued until the
seginning OF this great world struggle
hat we have just gone through with.
Now, as to the west. as stated above,
I was not familiar with the conditions
existing in this western country Until
I came to North Dakota in February,
S2. where ! sought and was given
employment or the Northern Pacific
railroad, where I continued uutil the
fall Of 70. working in one Of their
engineer Iarties. Common labor. at
that time. in the employment In which
! was occupied, was paid as high as
$40 a month and board. Day labor
was paid. at the maximum. II I am
correct, $2.25 a day with about $3.50
or IS per week taken out for board. In
railroad work. which was the only line
Of employment that l was familiar
with at that time.
In the fall Of '72. OF spring OF 10,
there was n financial crash. brought
about by the failure of. Jay Cooke &
Co. the leading banking house Of its
day, to which large enterprises looked
for their support. Necessarily. there