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Would you work 6-months without pay?

22 posts in this topic

The world has changed a bit huh? I wonder if jobs were that hard to come by. Those poor workers might not have had many other options. I can't imagine workers now lasting more than a month under any circumstances before walking.

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Don't most Americans work for the first 6 months of a year just to pay their taxes ? Thats kinda like working without pay.

 

Holy cow ! You're right !! Although I don't agree with your use of the word most.

 

That had to be an amazing time in San Fran. Those poor people. They should have been allowed to pass by a coin bin on the way out and just take ONE handful each pay day.

 

Paul

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Don't most Americans work for the first 6 months of a year just to pay their taxes ? Thats kinda like working without pay.

 

Holy cow ! You're right !! Although I don't agree with your use of the word most.

 

That had to be an amazing time in San Fran. Those poor people. They should have been allowed to pass by a coin bin on the way out and just take ONE handful each pay day.

 

Paul

 

lol

 

good point

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Government doesn't work that way. As Roger said they had to wait for Congress to approve an appropriation and even back then deadlock in Congress was common. Nothing getting done, no appropriation, no one gets paid. In the early mint they had similar problems with officers or workers sometimes not getting paid for months.

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Through the 1840s employees were paid quarterly. (If I remember correctly....I'll check my pay stubs.)

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  • Member: Seasoned Veteran

Through the 1840s employees were paid quarterly.

 

That's likely true only for the officers. Laborers and skilled workmen typically were paid weekly on Saturdays, which was standard procedure in America until the advent of the 40-hour work week in the 1930s.

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Through the 1840s employees were paid quarterly.

That's likely true only for the officers. Laborers and skilled

workmen typically were paid weekly on Saturdays, which

was standard procedure in America until the advent of the

40-hour work week in the 1930s.

Yes and no. Until December 1795 workers were paid weekly,

one week late; after that it was monthly. Officers were always

paid quarterly. After 1840 there may have been different rules

for the workmen.

 

 

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Thanks for the correction. The funds were drawn every three months.... There's a lot we still do not fully understand.

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Thanks for the correction. The funds were drawn every three months.... There's a lot we still do not fully understand.

 

You find those pay stubs Roger? :grin:

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Mark Twain also wrote about this situation when he was a newspaper reporter:

 

The San Francisco Daily Morning Call, September 25, 1864

 

THE MINT TROUBLES

 

A report is abroad that the Branch Mint is about to close - that the employes, being no longer able to support themselves and families on the mere prospect of getting the salaries due them paid some day or other, have given notice that unless their accounts are previously squared, they will quit work in a body on the 30th instant. These reports were not without foundation. We are glad to be able to state, however, that the Mint is not going to stop, nor the men be allowed to suffer much longer for the moneys due them. Within two weeks, or at farthest three, all cause of complaint will be removed, and the employes themselves have been satisfied of this fact. We get our information at headquarters.

 

The mint did make some nice coins:

 

post_unitedstates_d20_1864s.jpg

United States $20 1864-S

 

:)

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"You find those pay stubs Roger?"

 

Yep. Found one but it's a bit earlier than for the SF Mint -- it is on a wooden tablet coated in wax. The receipt is in Latin for the amount of 1000 sesterces. It's from Marcus Tullius Cicero for doing research into the coinage of Alexander and then Ptolemy I Soter. The handwriting is presumably that of his private secretary, Tiro, since I recall Cicero not liking accountants and moneylenders very much - he said they reminded him of M. Licinius Crassus.

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I know you're kidding, messydesk, but some might not understand the meaning of "...after the 30th instant, we shall be compelled..." (No, it does not refer to instant coffee versus fresh brewed.)

 

in 18th and 19th century documents "inst." i.e.: "instant" was used to designate the current month. The abbreviation "prox." i.e.: "proximo" indicated the next month; and "ult." i.e.: "ultimo" indicated the previous month.

 

This was helpful at a time when it could take weeks for a letter to reach the recipient and the writer wanted to be clear about when an event occurred or was about to occur.

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This was helpful at a time when it could take weeks for a letter to reach the recipient and the writer wanted to be clear about when an event occurred or was about to occur.

We sort of have the opposite problem today. Someone sends me an e-mail from Germany mentioning a meeting coming up in 90 minutes at 2:00, and before I read it at 6 hours before 2:00, the meeting has already ended.

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