The Washington times., 1918-08-18
COST OF LIVING
2.
BEATS WAGES RISE

NEW YORK, Aug. 1s.-To ascertain
whether wages have increased gen
orally in proportion to the increased
cost Of living, the home economic
committee Of the New York Charity
Organization Society recently obtain
ed reports from 377 families living In
four blocks in Manhattan One block
was on the lower West Side in the
neighborhood OF Greenwich Village;
one was on the middle West Side near
Hartley House, and the two others
were on the upper East Side near Un-
ion Settlement and on the lower East
Side near University Settlement
The report Of the committee mas
been published In pamphlet form un-
der the title NY Money Won't
Reach"
or the ET4 individual workers IN
these, families who were employed
both during January. 1911 and jan
uary. 1918, 81. per cent were earning
the same amoant a. last year. IL per
leent were earning. less and only Sl
mar cent had received . wage increase
Living Costs Increase 70 Per Cent
During this same year an inVesu-
CATION by the United States Bureau OF
Labor Statistics into the cost OF Nv
| inc amon0 eos families In the New
Work ahIpbuildIng district showed the
foIIowina increases in living costs:
Clothing, 90 per cent: furniture ana
Furnishings, % per cent; food "a
per cent; housing, 3 per cent; fuel ana
light, s per cent: general living eosts'
26 per cent
Fourteen nationalities and many
occupations were represented in the
families visited by the committee
inyestIKators. OF the 345 men who
were in the same type Of employment
last year and this, only ten were day
Iaborers and . few, were longshore-
men. Seventy were skilled workers
In thirty different trades; eight were
foremen or business managers; three
postmen and a postal clerk were In
cluded; two detectives, policeman
and two street cleaners, eere listed
with truekmen. clerks and office en-
pIoyes, chauffeyrs, hotel and restau-
rant employss, porters. and elevator
men--aItogether about as representa-
tive a group as could be desired for
a fair test. Thirty OF the men owned
small businesses, and the majority OF
these reported radical decreases in
income
skilled workers Get Increase.
| Certain skilled workers, especially
machihists. fron workets7And plumb
ers, reported wage increases with
considerable uniformity. In the case
Of office employees. factory workers
and truckmen, those reporting In
creases about equaled in number
those who reported no increase. Only
about 10 per cent OF the men changed
their occupation during the year. and Of
these only one-third obtained higher
wages by making the change.
| In the 81 families there were 103 wo-
men who were engaged in wage-earning
occupations in January. 1911 In Janu-
ary, 1918 there were Is women workers.
Last year there was only one working
woman in every four families In this
group; this year there Is one in every
three families.
Reports of the investigators showed a
splendid spirit among the people visited.
Complaints were few and many ex-
pressed their willingness to make any
sacrifice to assist in winning the war.
One woman said. What you can't get
you Just do without The only thing
that's hard Is knowing what you can
best leave out"
willing To Dear Sacrifices
A man reported: WED like to have
some Of the things we used to have. but
everybody ought 10 be willing to make
some sacrifices to win the war"
In nearly all of the families visited the
problem Of obtaining adequate clothing