Shay loses credibility for something said by sailors? Truly, pc run wild.

What on earth are you talking about?

The sailors aren't saying anything, it's Shay who is. He has reproduced Whall's printed version of the song, not something directly from sailors. That is fine, except for the fact that others would say, based on lyrics in evidence, that the Blacks were complaining their wages were lower. In other situations, I think it's reasonable to say that whoever was singing might complain about their wages in general (not in comparison to another). But there is no evidence to suggest or IMO reason to believe Whites were complaining about lower wages than Blacks, is there? Shay did not know this to be a fact, nor is it even in the text; he is stating his imagination as fact.

In many versions he complained bitterly that he received but a dollar a day while the Negro roustabouts with whom he worked were paid a dollar and a half a day.

What "many versions"? The versions he read in books? He's talking out of his ass. "PC" has nothing to do with my criticism.