A mason working on a Kansas university building has found an 88-year-old handwritten note that gives a glimpse into the lives of laborers in 1928.
The Manhattan Mercury reports that the mason found the note in a tobacco can he encountered in December while restoring and replacing stones at Kansas State University’s East Memorial Stadium in Manhattan, nearly 60 miles west of Topeka.
A Facebook post from the Kansas State Historical Preservation Office says the five authors dated the note Feb. 2, 1928, and wrote that they hope the letter is found someday in the future, perhaps after they’ve died. The letter is signed with the names C.K. Bell, Geo H. Bell, W. Sowell, Jim Kelley and Ray Disney.
The nearly 100-word message explains that masons made $10 per day and that laborers made $3.20 per day. It also expresses hope that “things will be better” for the working man in the future.
University archivist Cliff Hight says the document will be sent to a conservator for cleaning and protective covering. Hight says there aren’t plans to display the document currently, but that it could potentially be displayed in the stadium’s Welcome Center when the project is completed.
“(There’s) a possibility it will be either exhibited as the original item or it will be digitized and we can put a copy out so the light doesn’t cause the letters to fade worse,” Hight said.
Kansas State project manager Jeremy Sharp says that the stadium was built in 1922, and the eastern wall was constructed in 1928.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
$10 a day in 1928 was pretty good wages. Bread was five cents, gas was around 22 cents a gallon, a new Ford was about $650, so, what is the complaint?
Spot On. One could get a new car for 2 months wages. Good luck with that in February 2016.
– – if Fords only cost $650, one could still be bought with two months´ wages – .
The disparity that exists should not. It would be far better if all those that want to be educated could be — including those that want to be educated as tradesmen — should have that right. But those that have keep for themselves. new under the sun, right?
It didn’t take my edits. Let me rephrase that without editing, What I was stating was that all those that want to be educated should have the right to be — so that the disparities would not exist except between those that choose not to improve themselves.with specialized education. This is how people are kept near the bottom while those with power keep it to themselves, their families and their friends. Today, colleges are more invested in indoctrinating thir students than educating them and, thus, many wind up owing for an education which they never received. These are interesting times, indeed.
Did anyone try to track the men that wrote the note and/or their families? Might be interesting to see what their families have to say.
I was wondering if Ray Disney is Walt’s brother.
$10 was 1/2 ounce of gold we work for way less than that now. In the 30s and 40s my grand father supported a wife and 5 kids on his 1 income in construction you can’t do that today. The numbers are bigger but the value of the money is way less. Today for a 1/2 ounce of gold a day and no income tax a working man would have a good living
I was a general contractor for many many years and we left lots of messages in walls of new buildings. Time lines of construction, stick men with notes of who did what on the building construction. Great fun. Once while removing and replacing a stone structural wall on a three or four story building at the college in Baldwin, KS we found in the corner stone a letter from Abe Lincoln, stating that the federal government was donating $100.00 to the construction of the original building.
Tim’s comment that the numbers are bigger, but the value is down raises the issue of “inflation”. It doesnt exist…except as a word. The printing of money that is released into the system is the factor that depreciates the value of money. over say a 10 year period, they say a house doubles in value (“inflates” by 100% ). In reality, what has happened is that there is twice as much ‘money’ printed and added to circulation, so you need twice as much ‘money’ to buy anything each 10 years. Over time, there is a ‘jet lag’ in the relative value of what we call ‘money.’ Once you understand this simple fact, you can take a different view on ‘investing.’ Buying a house for $300,000 and then selling it for $600,000 in the 10th year does not mean we can expect to buy two!
Every time I see an old building being torn down I wonder what things may have been hidden in the building with the hope they would be discovered. I always hope any time capsule or hidden treasures are found before they are destroyed.