Most Common Jobs in Illinois and the U.S. 150 Years Ago-- Part 1

From the April 4, 2022, Stacker.  From U.S. Census Bureau.

First number is Illinois and second number is national.  That would make it 1872 so from the 1870 census.

1.  Farmers and Planters  

240, 256  //  2,977,711

2.  Agricultural laborers'

133,649 //  2,885,996

3.  Laborers (not specified)

63,130 //  1,031.666

4.  Domestic servants

44,903  //  975,734

5.  Carpenters and joiners

23,040 //  344,596

6.  Employees of railroad companies (nor clerks)

14,946 //  154,027

7.  Clerks in stores

13,980 //  222,504

--Cooter

Chicago Race Riot of 1919-- Part 5: The Results and Reasons

When the rioting ended five days later, 38 were dead (23 Black and 15 White), 520 injured (2/3 Black) and some 1,000 black residents had had their homes torched by Whites.

Chicago became a popular destination for Southern Blacks during the Great Migration and World War I.  Jobs were plentiful and opportunity abounding.  The black population of Chicago grew quickly.

Part of the problem was that of jobs.  Blacks were getting jobs that Whites had previously held.  And then there were all the white soldiers returning from World War I and looking for jobs.  Racial tensions grew until exploding in the most violent week in Chicago history (even more violent than present-day Chicago's woes).

It was among a string of nationwide outbreaks of racial and labor conflicts collectively known today as "Red Summer."

There is now a tour of some major sites pertaining to the riot.

So, What Happened to My Paperboy?-- Part 2

Actually, I've never had a newspaperboy or girl.  It has always been adult-delivered from a car.

Anyway, these were entry-level, low-skilled jobs for America's teens.  US Labor Bureau statistics show that on average by the age 27, men who worked in high school earned an average of a dollar more an hour than those who didn't.  (Hey,  I worked at Burger King in high school.  Must be why I'm so doggone rich.) 

A young Benjamin Franklin delivered the Boston Gazette, Thomas Edison sold papers at age 12 and Warren Buffett delivered the Washington Post.  See, mess with papers, get rich.

At least one US daily newspaper still employs an all-youth carrier force, the Times News near Allentown, Pennsylvania, with 14,000 subscriptions.  Kids get paid 12 to15 cents per delivery.

The paper's publisher of 41 years, Fred Masenheimer, said his carriers still sling canvas bags and risk the occasional dog bite.  he was also a teen carrier, delivering the Hanover Evening News.  "They used to tell us it was the last 2 cent newspaper in America.  So you can imagine how much money we made in a week."  Nobody's getting rich as a carrier, "but nobody's getting rich as a journalist these days either."

And there I was, cub reporter for the Palatine High School Cutlass student paper in Palatine, Illinois, and then sports editor my senior year.  Another profession I could have gone into and not made much money.

Where's My Paperboy?  --Cooter

So, What Happened to My Paperboy?-- Part 1

From the Feb. 14, 2011, Time Magazine "Money: Paper Trail" by Tom Vanderbilt.

The old paperboy of days gone by hardly exists anymore . In 1990, they delivered nearly 70% of newspapers.  In 2008, just 13%.

One reason for their demise is cost-conscious with a shift to large distribution centers which deliver larger bundles of papers across a wider area, where adults in vehicle fill the delivery role.  "Instead of a kid throwing your paper on your porch (or in the bushes), an adult in a car puts it in your roadside mailbox or drops it at the end of your driveway." 

We get the Chicago Tribune adult-delivered at the end of our driveway here in Spring Grove.  I don't believe we've ever had one delivered by a paperboy (or girl) even when we lived in Round Lake Beach.

Culture is also part of it.  Many kids have stopped delivering papers for the same reasons many have stopped walking to school (walkers have shrunk from 50% in the late 60s to 16% in 2001).  Part of this is the "Stranger Danger" fears and even bigger is that the movement from suburbs to exurbs has made it too far to walk or bike to school.

I'll have to write about the current way kids get to and from school in another blog.

A By-Gone Thing?  --Cooter