The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-02
THE STANDARD OF LIVING
What it Costs New York Workingman to Support His Wife and Family and Four Children in Decency -= Two Years Study of 39l Families

Ing type among workingmeu. Weekly payments of 10 to 2a cents in most cases are paid on policies of $100 for adults and $50 for children. The money received from the companies usually goes to pay funeral expenses, so it may be more accurately described as burial insurance. In exact figures 191 out of SIS families with incomes between $69O and $1. 100. or 60 per cent, pay for life insurance. and 143, or 45 per cent. pay TOT insurance on property. Fraternal oreanizations take the place of insur- ance companies to large extent. Even among the 25 poorest families, with incomes below $500, most of them over-crov-ded and under-fed. 6 report ican families with but from $500 to s7O0 to spend, contrive to pay $25 or $30 year for policies.
 In spite of imprudence and genera, lack of foresight in many matters of expenditure. most of the families visit ed will apparently go without home comforts in order to keep up their in surance. And when it comes to re- creation and amusement it is Surpris- ing how little is spent The average fer the $500 families is $3.79: for the $500 families $S.44, for the $1 GOO fami- lies $14.76. and if we look at the fami- lies with incomes between $1.1O0 and H 500 we find an average of only s22 29.
 Some families report no expense for recreation. Here are some of the ex- tracts from the visitors reports. "Nev-
 
 woman's parents who live across the way '"The only recreation is the dis play of their furniture" "In the even ing they sit in front of the house, Twelve of these 8 families report the use of parks or some other form of recreation involving no expense, but in 20 eases no mention is made of any form of recreation. Tobacco is so gen. erally used that the tabulators have included it as an established part of expenditures. $40 is the average cost of smoking for the $500 man and $1616 for the man earning S1,OO0 to s1,1OO. This means about 20 cents a week in the first case and something under 30 cents in the latter. The drink bill is often hidden away under spending money" but from returns received $18.06 is the average expenditure for $500 to $900 families. $24.68 for the $500 to $89e families and $39.63 for the s, 100 to 31.199 families.
 Savings are reported by 15 per cent. of the $500 families, 20 per cent. of the $70o families, 38 per cent. of those with incomes between $500 and $900. 23 per cent. of those in the $900 group, and 45 per cent. of the $1, 900 families.
 And now the problem again. Can a New York working man support his wife and four children on $500 a year? The report states that a normal stan dard of living cannot be maintained on this account. It even says that $90O, while sufficient to maintain physical standard. to keep body and soul to- Rether, to supply @ decent amount of clothing. and to provide a roof over quote from the reports conclusions: Tt may be said that the failure to maintain a normal standard may be due to causes quite outside of the capacity of the individual breadwin- ner. or of the economic forces that determine the rate of wages. Two of these outside considerations are the presence of too many mouths to be fed and the inability to make wise use of the money earned Over-popu- lation on the ,one hand. improvidence, extravagance, and vice on the other, are alleged to explain why so many families make so poor a showing on $500 or $700 a year. The results of the investigation indicate that. while the personal factor does operate in the case of every family. both as regards the habits of the father and the man. aging ability of the mother, the limits within which it may affect the actual make up the living of the family are set by social forces. These social forces find expression. on the one side, in the income which the family re- ceives-thN is. in the rate of wages received by the father and others who are at work: the other side. they are expressed in the prices that have to be paid to get housing. food, and actual standard that prevails is set primarily. therefore, by the wages paid and the prices charged
 The report has just been issued by the Russel Sage Foundation. part of its work with the ten million dollar endowment given by Mrs. Sage. It was compiled by Robert c. Chapin. professor of political economy in Beloit College. The hook is sent postpaid at g by Charities Publication Committee, 105 F.. 22nd St.. New York.
 In a new watch for the blind the fig ures are replaced by knobs, each of which sinks during the hour which it represents The minute hand is in the usual form, but heavier, to with