The Good Old Days
- 1908 were panic days, no money - using scrip
- Good wages for a ten hour day in hard cash - fifty cents per day
- 1920 burning corn for fuel; chicken eggs five cents per dozen
- 1929 potatoes 85 cents per bushel, and a good used car $25 to $50
- 1933-1939 WPA (Works Progress Administration .. part of the 'New Deal' employing unskilled workers to build public works .. roads, buildings, etc.); a cattle at Sioux City (Iowa) cost $9.50
- and a comic strip dialog titled, 'I See' ... that went like this:
Wife "Wake up there's a burglar in the house
eating the rest of the pie we had for dinner."
Hubby "Go back to sleep, I'll bury him in the
morning."
7 comments:
wow, thats pretty cool. Why did she write that? A sort of time capsule?
Thanks honey, this worked fine. It was so interesting seeing all the old prices of things. Boy, those were truly the good old days...I look back on the 40's,
50's and 60's and realize we had it pretty good then too. Especially, after WWII. Everyone pulled together and respected one another. Hopefully, we can have times like that again. Mom
Though I've heard of it, I'm not sure what exactly script is. Can you share that? BTW, I love your new header. You've decorated the room so lovely!
Laurie .. Scrip(t) was paper (non treasury) money issued sometimes in lieu of payroll, or to be used in place of money at certain stores. Disneyland has or had at one time something called 'Disney Dollars' .. you paid for them with cash .. and could only spend the DD at Disneyland. I remember working at The Broadway Dept. store in the 1970's and they would often issue scrip in lieu of cash for returns without a receipt. Broadway scrip was like cash only able to be spent at the Broadway. I assume scrip used at the turn of the last century was similar.
Wendy .. people used to keep very detailed notes (at least in my family) of everyday trivia, farming practices, planting calendars, etc. This was before the dawn of computers :)
Hey Mrs. Mac, Love the pictures and the look back into history. Can you believe cars priced $50.00? I would love to buy one at the price now, new :-)
Families in history always documented everything. Unlike families today, it's a shame we don't.
Hi Mrs. Mac! Wow, this is VERY interesting! How precious to still have a handwritten note from your grandmother. That 50 cent wage for a day's work makes me feel better about hubby's low wages in retail since his job loss. But I mean, YOWSER - times were rough back then!
Loving some of the recipes I've found here. So glad to stop by for a 'visit.'
hugs from Atlanta,
Vicki
Post a Comment