[BIGLOOK]

During haying, we were paid $2/hour and fed lunch by the farmer. The minimum wage at that time was $1.15 if working in gas station or super market.

[cripplecreek]

I made $5 an hour and got lunch for working on the farm when minimum wage was $3.35 an hour. If it was particularly hot, the farmer paid us $7 an hour. Its was good money under the table in 1984. Back then, the farmer's pre teen sons were driving the tractors while we baled hay or picked rocks. They were too young for the physical labor but they were already safe machinery operators.

"It is not my intention to do away with government," President Reagan once said. "It is rather, to make it work-work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it."

More bad news for U.S. workers, businesses from OSHA

[and so?]

During haying, we were paid $2/hour and fed lunch by the farmer. The minimum wage at that time was $1.15 if working in gas station or super market.

I got a penny a bale (and lunch)...'course, I might be older than you, but it was reasonable at the time...1000 bales a day was the expected minimum...