The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1907-09-09
BY gibson GARDNER
Special Correspondence TO The Press

WASHINGTON, ID. c., Sept. g.
Here Is the story of a family of 6
who live on the salary of the father,
a dry goods clerk in Washington,
who makes s12 a week.
The name and the address are
withheld for obvious reasons. but
the facts are actual and may be
verified by application to the
bureau of labor, by whose experts
the data were collected.
These are times of great pros
perity, and remember, 40 per cent
higher prices which fall hard upon
this little household.
The family consists of the hus-
band, the wife and children of
the following ages: 10, 8, 6 and
3 years. The husband is of middle
age. The food consuming power of
this couple, with their children, is
equivalent to about adults.
The family occupies a 2-story
brick dwelling, fairly well located.
The house has rooms, water in
the kitchen, no bath tub-but is
sanitary. Gas is supplied to the
house, but is regulated by a slot
machine meter. A quarter of
dollar is dropped in the slot, and a
certain amount of gas is metered
out, when it is automatically shut
off. The rent of this house is $14
month
1t should be noted here that this
rent is considerably more than a
quarter of the mans salary; which
for the poor is ruinous proportion
But, although the mans income Is
about that of a good ditch-digger,
he is a clerk, and he wants to live
decently. Fourteen dollars is about
as we'll as he can do. But he is
behind on his rent.
How does this family fare in the
way of food? A glance at the Item
lied account of a weeks expenses
will help to show.
Take the accounts for the second
week in October. The first item
is bakers bread-a loaf a day-with
an extra supply on Saturday,
amounting for the week to SO cents.
The next item is meat. The fam
lily ate no meat all the week, but
on Saturday bought so cents worth
of beef for stewing, and 10 cents
worth of sausage. Total for meat,
60 cents.
There is baby in the family, so
the next item is milk cents a day
Except Friday when it was 4
cents)-making a total of So cents
week for milk.
On Monday there was an item of
As cents for baby food.
For cOffe s cents went on MC"
day and IS cents on Tuesday. Total,
&c cents.
On Thursday 8 cents went for
doughnuts, 10 cents for syrup and
25 cents for sugar.
That was all the money spent
during the week for food.
On Saturday II cents was spent
for necktie and 10 cents for
pair of stockings.
For fuel and lighting during the
week 25 cents went for basket of
coal. 25 cents into the gas meter
and IL cents for kerosene.
On Saturday rs cents went to the
man collecting on the rug which
had been bought on the installment
plan. Also $1.02 to the man collect
ing on the insurance policies.
Four times during the week ice
was bought, cents worth at a
time. Total, 20 cents
Under miscellaneous expenses
| were medicine 10 cents, a nipple for
the babys bottle cents, polish 10
cents, laundry Is cents and washing
soda / cent. Total expenses for
the week, $6.43-of which $4.92 was
| for food.
And this was not an exceptional
| week for this family.
Take the item of meat and see
how it looks in other weeks. The
! week before the I recorded above
it came to 81 cents; the week fol
lowing II came to Ga cents; the
next AZ, and so on. Not very much
| nourishment in that!
For this poor clerks family the
bread bill was actually larger than
the meat bill, the former amounting