COST OF LIVING DOUBLED
Cost of Living Doubled THE UNITED States Bureau of labor statistics reports that a wage of $1,500 a year will only provide "the minimum standard of comfort." In other words, this governmental...
...By 1911 this had risen to $430 and in 1917 it cost $716...
...During 1917 the cost of the same commodities was $1,401...
...In other words, this governmental agency desires that if a worker does not receive $5 a day for 300 working days in the year he cannot support a family in the most restricted kind of comfort...
...The average of 24 American cities is that the minimum amount necessary for a reasonable standard of health and comfort in those 24 American cities is $1,650, of which $660 is spent for food...
...Rent had advanced 59 per cent...
...In 24 principal American cities the lowest annual wage should be $1,650...
...Clothing doubled rising from $106 to $210...
...Figures just made public show that the average cost in 1900 was $769...
...Most of the advance in these items occurred between 1914 and 1917...
...Fuel and lighting show a similar advance, rising from $40 to $82...
...The minimum standard of comfort today requires a wage of approximately $1,500 per year...
...The 1917 figures, the bureau says, are already outdated because of subsequent advances...
...Investigation by the department of health in New York city fixed the figure for that city at $1,682...
...Food alone in 1917 cost only $63 less than all items combined in 1900...
...The above figures do not include increases in the cost of such things as amusements, charity, insurance, taxes, books, newspapers, or expenses incident to sickness and death...
...327 represented the expenditure for food of the average working man's family in 1900...
...The cost of maintaining a family in this country has doubled since 1900, according to the United States bureau of labor statistics...
Vol. 10 • May 1918 • No. 5
