The Birth Of The Minimum Wage In America

Woman Hangs a Nation Recovery Act Poster in a restaurant window.

In 1895, legislators in New York state decided to improve working conditions in what at the time could be a deadly profession: baking bread.

"Bakeries are actually extremely dangerous places to work," says Eric Rauchway, a historian at the University of California, Davis. "Because flour is such a fine particulate, if it gets to hang in the air it can catch fire and the whole room can go up in a sheet of flame."

New York passed a law called the Bakeshop Act. It didn't set a minimum wage — the minimum wage didn't exist yet in the U.S. — but it limited working hours and required that bakeries be kept clean.

The Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional. Bakers and their employers had the right to make any agreements they wanted about work hours, the court found. The Bakeshop Act, according to the court, interfered with individuals' right to enter into a contract.

The ruling suggested there was no way the Supreme Court of the time would allow anything like a minimum wage.

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The rest here.

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