You learn some amazing stuff reading old texts:
According to A History of Ontario County, New York, 1911, (
A history of Ontario County, New ... - Google Books), the 1901 incorporation papers of Geneva Cutlery Company listed 150 manufacturing employees at a total average company expense of $1900 per week.
Given the average, at the time, of 6 10-hour work days per week, the average wage for the folks turning out those razors was a bit over 21 cents an hour.
That same person today makes $8.65/hour. (
Factory Worker Salary in Geneva, NY | Indeed.com)
It took the 1901 Genco employee a bit over 7 hours to buy a Genco President at $1.50, full retail. (Sorry I don't have a link to this pricing, $1.50 is actually stamped on the tang! :) )
If the closest thing approximating that razor today is, I suppose, a middle of the line Dovo, for about $120, our worker in the 21st Century will work almost 14 hours to earn the money to pay for it. (If you think that perhaps a better comparison would be an "entry"-level Dovo at about 89 bucks then the figure is still over 10 working hours.)
I thought about posting this in "The Conversation", except I don't really have a
point to make with this, I just found it notable that a worker today has to work almost twice as long to be able to afford something his great grandfather bought back when the times, the wages, and the general working conditions were what many today would consider intolerable.
Just food for thought on a lazy Sunday afternoon...