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by bumby 2483 days ago
Fair enough on the hours. But it's not wholly accurate to count the $5/day as a wage. About half of it was a 'bonus' if you met the "socialization" criteria like abstaining from drinking. They would literally perform home inspections. Men would have to give up the bonus if their wives worked. I think people look at this with some revisionist history; it wasn't as altruistic and I (personally) don't think it's an improvement over today.

Not to belabor the point, but it's not a simple one-to-one comparison like the OP was trying to demonstrate. I don't think the wages are nearly as bad as they made it out to be.