Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1912-01-04
20 Per Cent Spent for Food.

The Interstate Grocer of ST. Louis
has taken steps to prove that 20 per
cent of the wage earner's money is
spent for groceries and meats, and that
the remainder is spent for the other
necessities of life and Injuries. We
quote the following in this connection:
" Although the investigation being
made by the Interstate Grocer into the
relative proportion that money spent
for groceries by the average wage
Garner bears to his salary has been
under way but a short time, the partial
returns which have been made show
that only POI per cent of the monthly
income is spent on the table; 1919 per
cent goes for other things. What have
the eliminate-the-mi advocates
to say to that9 If they want an an
swer to their argument that the retail
grocer is robbing the public, let them
study the figures gwen on page 1 this
week.
"There it is shown that out of eight
families in Columbia, Mo-, the average
amount of monthly income spent for
food is POI per cent of the money
earned. These eight families spend.
during the month, a total of $10s.3O
The total income is 1896 monthly 1t
costs each of the 80 just 1922 month
to eat or a fraction over II cents a
day, or little more than 5 cents a
meal. Think of It'll
GA further study of the figures pre-
sented reveals that the salesman who
makes $40 a month and members of
whose family contribute $50 more. a
total of 800, feeds nine persons for
$2S month, which includes groceries
and meatsl The highest percentage
shows in the case of a laborer who
makes $45 month, has three in the
family and gets from them $40 each
month, total income of $s5. The per
centage of this spent for keeping up
the table is 34.7. This is high and
could undoubtedly be cut if efforts
were made to do so.
The other extreme is the teacher
whose family numbers four, whose total
monthly income is $3.50 and who spends
but $685. for groceries and 81 for
meats, total of $17.35, or Just a little
more than IL per cent of his income.
These are facts They show true
conditions, and even in other localities
the families ought to show the same
relative amount of money spent and
earned. The trouble with the public
- tna1 they eat three times a dav.
ROOD naturally rises before them at
every turn. They never stop to figure
out things for themselves, but take
the rant of politicians and notorietv
seekers for the Gospel truth. Ask any
man now much he spends a year for
clothing, amusements, taxes. charity.
etc, and he can't tell you to save his
ire, for he never stops to count the
cost OF these things. He buys two or
three suits year, pays unnecessary
prices for them to get style and cut
ana goes on his way perfectly satisfied.
his wife will do the same with
dresses, hats, etc. But the minnie tbe
money! begins to run short thew howl
about how much it costs to live. LET
us stop this talk by producing facts
ana hgures. All of you who are inter
ested in doing this should follow the
example of Mr.. Lyon of Columbia. and
send in data. Have it accurate and
truthful. Don't worry if the relative
percentages are high. We are confident
tnat, taken as a whole, the entire conn
Try VIII show no higher AVERAGE than
~ per cent of salaries spent for food
Take high and low AVERAGES tooetber
and tell the TRUTH ,,