A Tale of Detasseling in DeKalb County in 1968: $1.25 an Hour Pay

From the July 25, 2018, MidWeek  (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

1968, 50 Years Ago.

"A sort of 'children's crusade' will hit the cornfields in DeKalb County the next three weeks as the DeKalb Agricultural Association begins its annual summer corn detasseling campaign.

"The operation employs about 1,00 youngsters age14 and older.  With its 26 plants throughout the nation, the DeKalb Agricultural Association is probably the largest employer of children in the country.

"The youngsters get $1.25 an hour to pass up and down the rows of corn and pull the tassel off selected corn.  Close to 9,000 acres are involved in Waterman and Esmond."

Hot, Hard Work for $1.25.  But a McDonald's Hamburger Cost 15 Cents.  --Cooter

A Happy Birthday to Shorpy

From the Shorpy site.  The site features some of the neatest old pictures from back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and even better, they allow you to blow these up so they can be examined in great detail.

The site was named after Shorpy Higginbotham, who was born Dec. 23, 1896.

At age 14, he was a "greaser" on the tipple at the Bessie Mine, Alabama or at the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Co.  The photo was taken in 1910 and he is covered in black.

His job was to carry two heavy pails of grease to be used on coal car tracks.

Shorpy died 17 years after the photo at the age of 31 in a mining accident.

And kids today think they have it rough.

Check out the site at www.shorpy.com

I Sure Didn't Have It That Hard.  --DaCoot