The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-11-29
HOW VIRGINIA
PEOPLE LIVE
4 Families Studied and Compared
With Those OF Nortl,
Carolina.
MAKES HIS ANNUAL REPORT
5s ----------------.
Discusses Cost OF Living in Con-
nection Will, Size OF
Family Income.
MAKES HIS ANNUAL REPORT
,rrom Our Regular correspondent)

fJ@rom Our Regular correspondents
WASHINGTON, D. c., November 2s.-
rhe eighteenth annual report OF mo
n commissioner Of Labor, Colonel Carroll
.; Wright, which is just out contains
number of interesting things concerning
The cost Of living In the United STATES
and that cost, when studied IN cohnecl'oh
with the size Of the family income, the
size Of the family, and the section OF
country in which the family Is located.
For instance, $50 families were studied
fdr an average in Virginia. OF this num-
Der. the head OF 374 were natives OF the
United States two were from Eng!ono,
seven from Germany, eight from ireland.
on efrom Italy and one from Wales. ~
the $50 heads of families, 34o were at
work, including all the foreigners save
one of the Englishmen; S5 OF the wives
out of n total OF 2S1, for five Of the heaus
Of families, were widowers, were at work,
and all these were the wives of native
born husbands. The heads of 2 of the
families were widows. OF the native
born husbands only 977s per cent. were
al work; all the foreign husbands were
working Incidentally, 1t may be stated
that IN the majority Of the States all
h the husbands were at work. The num-
hc1. of wives at work was $40, which Is
a high average.
In North Carolina the number Of faWi-
lies taken was los and the percentage
of wives at work was only 3.66. OF the
total OF North Carolina families studied,
the heads of only three were OF foreign
birth. England. Netherlands and Scot
land furnished the foreig nllusbands. The
commissioner took the nationality of the
husband only. Only one Of the husbands
IN ThrcC
OF the families were without husbands,
ans four without wives.
Number of Children.
CT the Virginia families studied. ninety,
including two English and one German.
had 173 children contributing to the
family income.
The total number of children, including
forty families in which there We're no
hopefuls was 1850 Of these. 176 were at
work. i3s at school, and 40 at home. with
six at school and at work
The las families studied In North Caro-
lima possessed 5o7 children. an average
Of o.9s to the family. while the average
TO Virginia family was 306 Ninety-five
of the families from North Carolina had
1el children at school, 2+0 at home, and
none al school and at work, too The
number of childrc ma twork, representing
this number, nine males and sixteen fe-
males were between ten and sixteen
years OF age; twenty males and twenty
females between sixteen and twenty-one
years old and four males and six fe-
males had passed their majority.
4. The number Of children at work In
Virginia was IFS. representing 30 families;
81 males and IS females, between 10 and
j years OF age. were at work; AZ males
and a. females. between Is and p. and
e males and 81 females over Il were
wage earners. ~
Tie tables show that $50 Virginia fam
;liss had AZ dependents; 1o4 Of the 1856
households .ooK In 104 boarders. and
that three OF the entire number OF fami-
lies had one servant each. e.
Z OF the.19S North Carolina families. Fl
had one servant each. is had is depend
ents. SO had SO boarders.
Size Of Families.
Tho average size OF each OF the 1856
Virginia families is given as $40. The
number OF families having incomes from
the occupation Of the husbands was 356,
from the wives 35. and from the children
IS. while hoardeI5 and dodgers furnished
4 the income for ~ and from other sources,
/. 81. Tho averageas1z, ot.each of the 1873
North Carolna% families was 3d. includ-
ing husband and wiHa. q
or the $50 Virginia families, 27s lived
.n rented houses, and los in their own
houses. OF the latter, eIghty-tive were
llnencumbered and tWenty-three were
1nortgaged And right here comes nys-
ferrous thing. The tables show that one
OF the 3s6 families does not spend any
money for clothing, The reader cannot
help wondering whether this family wears
clothes, All of the 1913 North Carolina
7 families are shown to have been wear
Z Ing clothing. l22 rent and own their
y places OF abode.
i, The average total family income among
the VirgnIans was t7li.7s. OF which
amount sl00S.7a went for rent; Sl2S22
for principal on the mortgage, not in
Guiding payments made by six families
in which principal and intcres, were COM
bined, $2775 for interest s29.77 for fuel
ss.73 for lighting, sl0O3so0 for clothing,
s273.6o for food. and sl29.39 for other
purposes. making the total expenditure,
per family. s6394o; oiT or the families
had an average surplus of sl47.72 at the
end of the year, aud 81 an average de-
felt of s42,22.
The average income of the Jos North
Carolina families was $500; the average
income of the husband was $3.50; OF the
wife. s74.ll: OF the children, 1892. 80. OF the
totA income, $500 was paid out for rent;
sl.o50 went towards dissipatng the prn-
Y Clpdl OF INC mortgage, anu al''oo LOT NJ
aerest; $34.7s for fuel. sS.67 for lighting.
sei,75 for clothing, s247o5 for food, and
4 s12l.l2 for other purposes, making the
total family expenditures s5G057, or but
little more than s. left at The end of the
year. S,ill, liz families had an average
surplus OF sl2s 10, while 26 had an average
deficit of SAC.
ThIrty-six Virginia families spen,
money during the year for fresh beef. and
IS for salt beef 80 lived off of fresh and
salt hog products during the year. q
Ave don other meat also, 36 ate chicken
during the year, "a ate fish, 81 ate eggs,
a 20 families used milk, sc used butter. 81
ate cheese. 80 used lard 26 drank tea, So
drank coffee. &c used sugar, 20 sopped