I Owe My Soul to the Company Store

Tennessee Ernie Ford recorded a song called “Sixteen Tons” in 1946 and again in 1955. These are the lyrics:

Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol' mama lion
Cain't no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

If you see me comin', better step aside
A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't a-get you
Then the left one will

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

The song reflects the life of a coal miner in times past. It was not uncommon for companies such as coal producers not to pay their employees in money but in vouchers that could only be redeemed at “company stores” that the company owned. Thus the line, “I owe my soul to the company store.” The living expenses were higher than their wages so the continually fell behind financial becoming virtual indentured servants having a debt bondage to their companies. These folk also lived in company housing make them more dependent upon their employers.

Merle Travis is supposed to have written the song, but George Davis said he wrote a song “Nine –to-ten tone” in the 30’s. Nevertheless if falls in the folk song genre that speaks about social issues and inequities of a time.

It was a bad idea that in the long run did not develop great productivity and obviously was injurious to the folk who did the work for these companies.

I wonder if we are going down the same road today, with large corporations who pay their employees less than living wages all in the name of cheap products. Walmart is the poster child/company of this style of operation. They pay their employees on average $8.80/hour, which makes it necessary for the workers to use food stamps to survive. Or in other words they have to be subsidized by the government, our taxes, to survive.

It is also bad economics. The largest employer in the country, Walmart (the company store) has lost sales during the last three quarters. The CEO of Walmart, William S. Simon seems to understand what is going on. He says about Walmart customers, “their income is going down while food costs are not. Gas and energy prices, while they’re abating, I think they’re still eating up a big piece of the customer’s budget.”

Henry Ford had a brilliant idea that his fellow industrialists just didn’t understand. Ford thought he would pay his employees a much larger wage than was prevalent in industry; three times larger. Why did he do that? He thought if his employees had more money then they would be new customers for the product he was making, cars. He was right. As a result the entire economy benefited by this long-term thinking entrepreneur.

Just think what would happen if Walmart started paying their workers an average of $26.40/hour (you can include benefits.) This would force other similar employers such as MacDonalds, Target, and the like to raise their wages as well. It would have a huge ripple affect across the economy that would be very good.

I seems to me could move from the debtor lifestyle, which we have. The average credit card debt in this country is $8,220.  – “we owe our souls to the company store.” If workers were paid in accordance to the economic growth of our country the medias wage for a family would be about $92,000 about $40,000 more than today’s median income. If our wealth was not concentrated at the top 1% such as the owners of Walmart, our economy would be much better off and we could afford to maintain our infrastructure, have good social welfare programs, cheaper and better schools, etc.

In the meantime conservatives try to keep the minimum wage at a current incredibly low level, which is counterproductive for our society.

An obvious conclusion here it seems to me is that would should support unions for all types of workers. We understood that at one time in this country. We understood the necessity of collective bargaining to combat corporate greed. Not everyone was as enlightened as Henry Ford.