As reported on December 8, 1898 in the East Aurora Advertiser, “Last Saturday evening, the Roycroft Shop distributed 4 hundred dollars in cash, as Christmas presents among its employees. The “Shop” has paid out for wages an average of $1,200 a month since last July, and before another Christmas comes this amt. will doubtless be much increased.”
In 1898, the number of Roycroft staff would have been about 50, so if the bonus was distributed equally, it would have amounted to 8 dollars each. That is $228.56 in today’s dollars. A tidy sum in the days when few businesses gave bonuses.
- Sue
Recent Comments