News reports published in the Sherburne County Star News on May 5, 1901 noted the sale of the
Merchants Hotel in Elk River. Mrs. V. S.
Rubeck sold the property to M. Blanchett for approximately $10,000. A quick search of the internet for conversion
charts, suggested the hotel sold for $269,000 in 2015 money.
Not a bad price for the time, but that led me to
question: What was life like, what was the state of the economy in 1901? What were the average wages in the United
States? I came to the conclusion that
poverty was rampant and life was pretty miserable.
Research presented at the 1901 Pan American Exposition
held in Buffalo, New York, revealed the average annual income was $449.80. Most workers put in 9 hour work days, six
days each week. Doing some quick math,
workers put in 2808 per year on the job.
That averages 16 cents per hour!
In the factories, there were no health benefits. There was no retirement plan. A person would work until they were able to
save enough to stop working, or more likely, they worked until they died.
Many factories required workers to live in factory
controlled housing, creating full blown company towns. Rent was charged on a monthly, or weekly,
basis. Company towns also paid their
workers in script, employees could shop only at the company store. The store would extend credit, but that tied
the worker to the company even further.
Hence the popular song by Tennessee Ernie Ford was based in truth, “I
owe my soul to the company store.”
Low income, no health benefits, no retirement
plans. I can’t help but conclude life
was pretty miserable in 1901.
