Nostalgia for an era of low prices
Burt remembers hard work for little pay at a sawmill, but he also remembers that his money went a long way. "It was a better time then," he muses.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Thomas Burt, February 6, 1979. Interview H-0194-2. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
I had a pretty rough time gettin' up about twenty-five, thirty
years old. I done some hard, hard work. I tell the old lady lots of
times, I'm lucky to walk. I walked four miles for about
eighteen months; eight miles a day I walked and sawmilled,
workin' then ten hours a day. Me and a second cousin of mine,
we'd get up in the mornin' and walk some four
miles, work all day, and walk 'em back at night. I bet you
can't guess what we'd get in a day.
- GLENN HINSON:
-
How much?
- THOMAS BURT:
-
Started at 75¢. I worked at 75¢ a day, then they
give us a raise to a dollar. I worked many a
day at the sawmill for 75¢ a day, and board with myself. When
he commenced givin' us a dollar, five days - five
dollars—a dollar a day We thought we had
somethin'. It look like I got along with that $5 as
good as I do here now. What you got didn't cost you
nothin' much. Pack of cigarettes didn't cost but
10¢; sugar 2¢ and 3¢ a pound. I bought
many a pair of overhauls 75¢ a pair; now they're
$11, $12, $15 a pair. When I sit down and
study about it, it ain't too much difference. After they went
on up to $1.50, $2.00 a day I believe you made more
clear money than you make right now. The very best grade of every day
shoes, $2.50; a nice shirt 75¢, about a dollar for
Sunday shirts. You weren't spendin' that much. Now
a shirt costs you $4 and $5 a piece, overhauls
anywhere from $11, $12, $15 a piece, shoes
$25 and $30 a pair. So if you turn around and look at
it, I believe it was a better time then. You get a good suit now,
it'll cost you $20, $25. I get to
thinkin' about it sometime, I just naturally believe just to
think about how it is now and how it was then, it was better times
then.