One way to request a pay increase
RogerB
Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
Did this contrite request for a pay increase get results? How would you have asked for more money in 1839?
"Philadelphia
January 15, 1839
To: Dr. R. M. Patterson, Adam Eckfeldt, Esq., and Franklin Peale, Esq.
Gentlemen,
Influenced by the utmost sincerity of respectful feelings of respect towards you individually, as well as officially, we are constrained to take this method of asking an increase to our monthly wages; we are men of families and entirely dependent upon our earnings for their support, and form the present exorbitant prices of the means of living, after exercising the strictest economy, our present means are insufficient for our necessary expenses. Should you be pleased to grant this our request by adding what may appear in your judgement sufficient to meet the present oppressing times, we shall be truly thankful.
With Sentiments of Respect,
We are, sirs, your Obedient Servants
[Signatures of 13 Mint employees]"
[Those comfortable with language of the period will immediately notice the awkward language used by the petitioners - as if they were trying to communicate upward to the education level of Dr. Patterson and the others. This was commonplace in 1839 and remains so today.]
Comments
Way cool!
Butt kissing has not changed much in 200 years.
Terrific slice of a bygone time Roger ! Please keep them coming.
R.I.P. Bear
never a fan of expressing one's needs as a means to obtain a pay increase.
However, that is an excellent find. Thanks for sharing.
Excellent letter considering most couldn't write.
I wonder if you will find a document showing that they actually did or did not receive the pay increase.
Very cool. I agree, keep them coming.
Another thing - I was talking with my son who was just hired at a local bank about a month ago. He never learned how to write cursive in school because our district chose not to teach it. It was taken out of the curriculum as part of the common core standards. He told me that he really struggled at first being able to read checks because all the "old people" were writing out the check in cursive. Another example, how the core curriculum has failed our children in my opinion. Most people say this skill is not needed but my son's recent employment is a perfect example showing otherwise.
Your letters made me think of this as I read your post.
I've been looking but so far a response from the Mint Director has not been found.
Well written....as everything of that era was.
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Per the Secretary of the Treasury's report (December 1839) the appropriation for laborers in the Philadelphia Mint for the year 1840 was $23,000. The September 1837 report indicates an expense of $24,000 for laborers.
Sounds like they actually took a pay cut
Of course without knowing the total number employed one can not say for sure.
Reports are online at FRASER (https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/194) and Newman Portal (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/510257).
indeed
Using the sob story. I see nothing has changed in 175 years.
@rogerb where did you get all of these mint documents?
The "stories" of "I need a pay raise" always interested me, and most of them never involved their work, but outside factors (rent had gone up, other people were getting more), etc.
When I had to submit pay changes, I had a chart, with hundreds of people on it, showing where they ranked in performance versus what they were paid, and a line. If you were below the line (ranked high, paid low) there was an increase, sometimes pretty big, if you were above the line (pay was higher than where you were ranked), no pay raise as you were getting more than you "merited" on a daily basis. Some people got 20% or more raises, others got none. On average, 80% of my budget for raises went to 25% or less of the people. Bottom 15% were put on notice, and if they were still bottom 15% the next year, they were dismissed. Supervisors had to show on a potential new hire why they would be ranked in the top 40%, as I would not approve a new hire that would be ranked in annual review in the bottom 50%.
That is why I could not have worked for a company, or government, where pay is based on how long you have had your job, and everyone gets the same raise % year on year.
Interesting historical document indeed!
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Well...just goes to show ya...you will never get something if you don't ask for it.
Cool document! Lots of commas instead of periods in the letter...for the period.
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That is the most eloquent sniveling I have ever seen!
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
You also forgot pay raises for additional diplomas or certifications that may or may not result in actual job performance increases.
These and thousands of others were collected as part of research in the National Archives, Library of Congress and other archival document holdings. I copy anything that looks interesting or might be useful, even if it does not relate to a current project. Researchers also freely share documents that might help others. A large quantity recently were uploaded to the Newman Numismatic Portal by a noted researcher, and can be accessed by anyone - free.
Even back then, government employees rarely got pay increases. Hermon Melville ("Moby Dick") spent his working life in the Customs Bureau of Treasury, and never received any pay increase.
In reality there was inflation and wages did not keep up with it. Inflation at that time did not relate to specie, but to the availability of goods, services and technological change. As all of these increased, the real cost of living increased, while most wages did not until after about 1880. Mint employee wages increased about 3x between 1800 and 1870, but some workers got raises and other categories saw reductions or stagnate income. The government generally paid (and still does) less for the same skills and experience than private industry. Of course, some government jobs have limited private equivalencies.
I wonder how Hetty Green would have responded to it?
If we look at Hetty Green's finance approach, and her personal activities, it is likely she would have tried to understand the reasons for the employees' request. Green was largely into secured debt, and often provided short-term relief for mortgagees - so long as they were truthful with her. Her only major speculative investment was to buy US currency at a deep discount during the Civil War, then redeem it for gold when it hit par.