Edit: interesting Help Wanted ad on the second link: “U. S. Department of Labor U. S. Employment Service: JOIN THE INDUSTRIAL ARMY Be a patriotic worker, aid the government to build the $50,000,000 plant started at Nitro (near Charleston) , West Virginia. Laborers $4.40 per day. 10 hours’ work 11 hours’ pay. Double time on Sunday. Free railroad fare. Meals free en route. Room rent free and board at commissaries, cafeteria style at about $1.00 per day. Medical attention and amusements free.”
According to inflation calculator … $4.40 a day converts to $91.88 a day in 2024 … minus $1 a day for food ($20.88 in 2024) … equals $71.00 a day … (all US dollars of course)
I found a couple examples from November 18, 1918. But comics syndication worked different back then, and it might have been a reprint:
Edit: interesting Help Wanted ad on the second link: “U. S. Department of Labor U. S. Employment Service: JOIN THE INDUSTRIAL ARMY Be a patriotic worker, aid the government to build the $50,000,000 plant started at Nitro (near Charleston) , West Virginia. Laborers $4.40 per day. 10 hours’ work 11 hours’ pay. Double time on Sunday. Free railroad fare. Meals free en route. Room rent free and board at commissaries, cafeteria style at about $1.00 per day. Medical attention and amusements free.”
Oh yeah, see [email protected] for more of Everett True’s doings.
According to inflation calculator … $4.40 a day converts to $91.88 a day in 2024 … minus $1 a day for food ($20.88 in 2024) … equals $71.00 a day … (all US dollars of course)
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
More significantly is all the freebies. room, board (food), medical and amusement. That at least doubles it so over 3k a month.