digital collections

Closeup of Workmen at the Commercial National Bank, September 1912. Courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina, Albert Barden Collection, N.53.15.4891

A few weeks ago, I ran across something unexpected in the earliest Annual Reports of the North Carolina Bureau of Labor Statistics (which would become the Bureau of Labor and Printing and, eventually, the North Carolina Department of Labor). WAIT! I know this sounds like a set-up for boredom but don’t click away yet – bear with me. 

From the first report in 1887 through, I believe, the 1906 report, the Bureau printed letters from bona fide workingmen around the state. These letters are extremely candid, with opinions on  how long an average workday should be (1887) to vocal proponents for and objections against immigrant labor (1906). Such opinions direct from the people are rare in my experience of older state publications and even more unexpected in a title I thought would just contain tables of data.

In 1887, the authors seem to be responding to a posed question. Most give their wages and whether they’re paid in scrip or cash, how much time they were out of work, the number of people in their family, and the rent they pay per year. But there are also comments that cluster around a few consistent topics:

Lack of laws or regulations regarding apprentices

Letter writers complained about the competition from less skilled workers hiring themselves out for cheaper wages. Equally as often, the writers expressed concern over the shoddy work performed in their counties. Here’s a comment from a carpenter in Vance county:

We greatly need an apprentice law. It looks now as if a third of the population proposed to be carpenters, and a great many poor workmen are turned out. They are poorly prepared in their trade, but good workmen have to compete with them. The law regulates the fitness of a man who is to be intrusted [sic] with the peace and property of a community, and the man who proposes to deal with the health of the people ; why not require fitness in the man who builds houses wherein we are to risk our lives. I work 10 hours per day and get $3.35 per day. Lost 150 days last year on account of inability to get work. I pay $6 per month rent. Have four in family. Have accumulated nothing the past year. (p.46)

The pernicious effects of liquor

This topic continues to come up in letters through 1906, from both business owners and the workingmen.  The following is from a Bertie county coach-workman from 1886:

If every one would go to work and stop loafing around the streets it would be better for them. It would be a good thing if these loafers had something to do and were compelled to do it. If they were, the industrious women would be greatly benefited. If we could get whiskey out of our community the poor women would stand a better showing : the men would then study more about home and its comforts. Whiskey is the great curse in this community. (p.33)

Need for compulsory education

Something I also hadn’t thought of as tied to labor concerns was the cry for compulsory education for workers’ children. Here’s an example from a contractor in Iredell county (with a complaint about liquor traffic thrown in).

The need of the times is education, and the suppression of the liquor traffic. Until this is done, we shall not have education. The free schools are not properly conducted. The teacher that will teach the longest time for the money on hand gets the job, regardless of qualification. We need compulsory education. Work 10 hours per day at $2.50 per day, in cash. Am paid weekly. Pay $75 rent per year. Have four in family. (p. 39)

Regulation of the length of the working day

Finally, I leave you with this comment because if you’re an “average worker” around the world, you’re better off than this laborer from Beaufort county (see infographic at right). Letters in 1887 often asked for a decrease in the length of the workday, with most working 6 days per week.

I think there should be a law making 10 hours a day’s work. There would be more work done in the 10 hours than is now done in 12…. Work 13 hours at 50 cents per day. Live in my own house. Have 8 in family and 4 at school. Am paid weekly in merchandise. (p. 33)

I appreciate the fact that for almost 20 years the Bureau asked for input and, on top of that, received considered responses. And this from someone like the last author above, who worked over 70 hours per week and made what now would be about $12 per day. These letters are like 19th century  ”man on the street” interviews, and I’m glad to have found them and introduced them to you here.