Remember Cliffside

Odds & Ends

Cliffside Mills pay envelope

These were what we all waited for. In those days the amounts were small, but a little went a long way.

From his home about a mile north of Trinity Church, Byron Bailey walked the five or so miles to Cliffside to apply for a job. He was hired and the next week, on August 22, 1936, he received his first paycheck, shown at left. Note the deduction categories for Preacher and House Rent. Times were hard in the Depression years, some weeks employees would get only a day or two of work. The rest of the week the mill would “stand” (idle).

An envelope would contain money, not a check. The only tools the payroll department had, apparently, were adding machines and a date stamp that made the impression at the top of the envelope.

The back of the pay envelope stipulated a number of safety rules the employees must follow. They are copied below for ease of reading.

Caution!

    All employees are forbidden to clear or repair any machine or machinery while it is in motion.

Beware of Moving Gears!

       Shafting and pulleys in motion may be cleaned only by long handle brushes or brooms or clamps or hooks, in the manner prescribed by an overseer or foreman.
       All employees while working at or while near any machine or machinery in motion are cautioned against talking with any person except an overseer or foreman.
       All employees are forbidden to touch any machine or machinery which they have not been ordered to operate or work upon by an overseer or foreman.
       All employees except the authorized elevator hands are forbidden to ride on any elevator or touch it in any way.
       All employees are forbidden to be in any part of the works where they are not at work or necessity does not require them to be.
       All employees while in the mill are cautioned against wearing loose sacks or loose flowing sleeves, and all female employees are cautioned against wearing neckties or aprons having long ends or strings, or wearing their hair flowing or in hanging braids or in long curls.
       Smoking or carrying loose matches in the mill or mill yards is positively forbidden.
       Running, wrestling, scuffling or any kind of play in any part of the works is dangerous and is forbidden.
       No person employed by this Company has any authority whatever to dispense with or modify the above rules.

CLIFFSIDE MILLS