Discussion on the floor before the bill was passed (1938) clearly defined what a "minimum wage" would be... enough for a family of four to stay out of poverty (with one parent at home). It was supposed to be raised to that minimum in perpetuity.

You could "flip hamburgers" and feed your wife and two kids.

Now, the minimum wage isn't enough to feed yourself, let alone a pet. Unless that pet is a rat. One of the many infesting your squalid apartment. Which is actually a shed in someone's back yard.