Giving Money to Uncle Sam
CF&I employees purchased bonds throughout the War to finance the effort. In February of 1942, just a couple of months after the United States entered the war, Charlotte Riley, a secretary in CF&I’s Denver office, was photographed holding an honor banner noting 100% employee participation, or 9,859 persons buying bonds. Similar banners hung in lunchrooms, offices and work areas around the Minnequa Steelworks in Pueblo and the company’s mines. In 1942, the average price of a bond purchased was $9.42 per worker, quite a sum considering CF&I laborers earned an average of $1.47 per hour. Women especially were urged to purchase war bonds using any extra money from monthly household and food budgets. Women were also encouraged to volunteer to sell bonds at community gathering places such as movie theaters, soda fountains, and retail shops.
