The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-13
Typical Men of Two Forces Are Asked to Tell Real
 Facts About Living
 Situation CHILDREN CANNOT GO TO THE MOVIES
 SAYS ONE FIREMAN One Policeman Says He Is Barely Able to Support Family, Though He Owns Cow and Home

If you think that the high cost of living has struck you pretty hard, and if you think you are feeling the brunt of the advanced price of everything; and if you don't see how things could possibly be any worse, why
 Cheer up!
 You might be a firemans wife.
 And a firemans wife-weH, at least she doesn't have much pleasure. Eighty dollars month, you know, and out of that to come uniforms, and house rent, and coal. and, flour. and meal, and lard, and the children's shoes. and books, and
 Well, it dosent take an especially acute mind to grasp the fact that there isn't much left for luxuries and recreation. In fact, moving pictures are unknown quantities among the families of B1r- mingham firemen, according to their own statements, and butter and eggs are a luxury. And clothes? Well, how many clothes do you think you could buy with a $40 a month grocery bill and $2o a month spent for house rent, and flour selling at around $11 barrel?
 SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
 But let the firemen speak for them selves. A few of them were caught on the fly yesterday, and asked about the high cost of living. These aren't picked men. They were just taken promiscu- ously out of the entire department, and are said to pretty well represent ccndi- tions among all families of the depart ment
 There's Capt. J. A. Browning at No. |. My children are practically grown and they hardly know what it is to have dessert for dinner" he said. For dinner today l had bread and two fried eggs (Which came out of the yard) and q piece of fried white meat
 That is from a captain who makes $975o a month. The privates only make sS0.
 Of course l manage to get along with my wife and two children" said Captain Browning But we do not even have the necessities of fife. When we have sickness in the family or are out of work a day it knocks us flat. All the clothes we have to have We buy on credit. But this money has to be paid in time and we know it. Therefore, we don't buy many clothes.
 PAY DAY ACTUALLY PAINFUL
 Do you know it is rather amusing in way to watch the boys of the depart ment,n said Captain Browning. It's a strange thing, but pay days painful ordeal to them.
 T always hate to see payday come around, because it's a sad day in our camp. You'll see all the boys get off in corner, by themselves, and begin to figure on how they can make the sS0 they get now go as far as $SO used to go when groceries and clothes were half as high as they are now"
 A. Brown, one of the "privates" Of the department, bought himself a suit of citizens clothes in 1907. He wore those same clothes till last year, when he got another suit at a sale.
 SUBMITS SOME FIGURES
 ''Why, I can't even buy clothes for my family, much less for myself" he said And he submitted figures to show it. 'I pay $20 for house rent, $40 is the average grocery bill, $2.50 for lights, s3 for gas. $3 for insurance, s4 for laundry and there you can see that the $S0 has pretty nearly eaten itself up, and there's nothing left for clothes, or anything else.
 There's one thing I won't do, and that's to let my wife do her own wash ing. Just as long as I've got cent. I'm going to have washing done for her and the kids. But when sickness comes-well, we just can't get sick, that's all. We just naturally can't af- ford such luxuries. And butter and eggs! The way things are selling now a man making $50 month can't afford to spend his money for such luxuries."
 And how about the children, don't they ever get to go to moving picture shows?" he was asked
 ITO moving picture shows?' he eX- claimed. 'fWhy. if my children would say moving picture shows to me- I'd whip them
 LOVE THEIR WORK
 ''Of course we are not kicking on the work. We love our work, and we love the department, but the time has iust come when we can't live on what we make and be married. And many or us were married when we went into the department"
 MT. Brown has been with the fire department since 1902, with the ex- ception of short period when he was driving a beer truck
 "They took that away from me- he bemoaned, "so what's a fellow to do? I'd like for some one to put me wise. I've figured it out every possible way there is to figure and l can't come out"
 w. R. Buckley, another of the reg
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