History Knox
Mark Sebastian Jordan authors a column each Saturday reflecting on the history of the community.
MOUNT VERNON — Browsing old newspapers for material, I stumbled across a profile of the 1915 Knox County labor situation in the Sept. 29, 1916, Democratic Banner.
This was, of course, during a time when wages were low, as was the cost of living. But the larger picture of earnings is interesting.
It was during the height of industry in Midwestern communities, so it is no surprise that manufacturing and foundries led the field during the previous year, with a total payroll of $532,131.
In today’s money, that would be over $17 million.
Considering Mount Vernon’s extensive history as a center of the glassmaking industry, it’s no surprise that glass factories employed the second largest number of people, with a total payroll of $367,508.
The third-largest tier was retail employment, but it was still less than a quarter of the glass factories. Today, retail ranks much higher, now that the factory jobs are rare.
Telegraph and telephone companies came fourth on the list, followed by street, road, and sewer contractors. Bringing up the bottom of the list was flour mills and grist mills.
One can bet that housing and construction employed many during this period, but as many of those companies employed less than five employees at a time, they appear not to have been considered.
The article states that in 1915, 36 percent of Knox County’s workers earned less than $12 a week. There were only 145 females employed in the county that year, and 85 percent of them were paid less than $8 per week.
A third of all the female employees were getting paid less than $5 per week. That’s the equivalent of $162/week today. Even the report admitted that this was an excessive figure.
Alas, it’s a problem that is yet to be fixed.
The opposite end of the spectrum was the managers and sales people of the industrial and retail operations. Seven percent of this class were paid more than $35 per week, but the report discreetly avoids quoting any direct figures about top pay.
Considering that those lower-end pay scales don’t amount to that much when you multiply them by 52 weeks per year, it’s a safe guess that the high rollers were living well.