using the calculator at
http://www.measuringworth.com/uscomp...ativevalue.php it looks like it would be about $9 today according to their straight commodities algorithm. But that was half a day's wage for unskilled labor back then. Their labor value algorithm puts the 50 cents comp at $60. But their Economic Power comp, which measures the relative influence 50 cents had in the economy, equates it to the economic influence of $1000 today... If I am reading their site correctly.