The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-08-05
IS
CONCENTRATED ON
LIVING COST ISSUE
President, Bureau and Con-
greSSiOnal Committees All
Trying to Solve Question Of
Waves and Costs.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

NSpSS'si correspondent OF The News l
Sclmitar.l
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6.-The whole
government, from President Wilson and
me committees of congress to the va
IIous bureaus whose activities even re-
.noleiy touch the cost Of living. is
e VI, . ! noday to the problem OF wages
du9 tlNlhg expenses.
true enough, the railroad shopmen
q brought the issue TO a crisis by
d strike, and there is all sorts OF talk
AZ 70 the "hold-up' of congress by
amor Just as in 1916, when the railroad
ysoti'ernoous compelled congress to put
we ~Adahison eight-hour law on the
statute books, but, nevertheless, be-
neath II al, is a realization at last,
lhat me laboH question can be lodged
no longer.
There are two schools Of Thought
concessions to labor have emholdenCd
ne latter and indirectly brought about
the nigh scale Of living, and those who
argue that the allied purchases at al
most any price that was asked, RC-
eoihpahied by the abnormal wages paid
py manufacturers to get labor In the
munition plants, started the bah rolling
before the United States entered the
war, and Il has been kept UP ever since
largely because our own participation
m the war prevented REIMBURSEMENT.
Facts in Situation.
But, regardless of where the responal-
pity for present conditions lies, there
are some "indisputahle facts staring leg
islators in the face. These facts are
that many workmen in America are
underpaid and the cost of living is not
checked, No, everybody in Washington
believes the solution lies in an increased
wage. Royal Meeker, United States
commissioner Of labor statistics, has
nus timely comment to make in the
Monthly Labor Review:
'Family food budgets are now be-
ing analyzed. We can say with conf
dence that 1t requires today an eXpendi-
tnre OF from so to GO cents per man
per day for food to secure q well
balanced diet. This means that Ameri-
can families consisting of husband, wife
anu thre children below the age OF 10
years living in large and medlum-s sized
lcltles must spend about $50 per annum
for food to keep themselves properly
1nourished.
This expenditure for food goes with
incomes from 1900 to 1880, SO we
may say that American families on the
average are not fully nourished until
their yearly income reaches 81 500,
These figures do not indicate that our
peole are today suffering from eating
too much meat or even too much Of
other foods not so expensive. The aver
age income and the model income both
fall well below $1,000, The model Is
$l,35O and the average not greatly
higher.
Conclusions must not be too hastily
drawn. They do not mean that our
working population Is dying of slow
starvation. But they do indicate that
1.-The workers Of America are obliged to
live on a diet too restricted and monot-
Tonous for maintenance Of as high a de-
gree Of efficiency and health as ought
to be maintained as a reasonable mini
mum,
II am Of the opinion that the most
efficacious remedy Is not higher wages,
but rather improved systems for dis
tributing and marketing foodstuffs and
kthe education of housekeepers In the
art of keeping house, with emphasis on
diets. Housekeeping is not exactly a
lost art. 1t is one Of the arts that has
not yet been completely found"
Discussing clothing from Statistical
and other viewpoints, Commissioner
Meeker says:
that the working classes should dress
in a way to set them apart from the
more well-to-do. Few men and women
among the workers in ti;is country are
willing to appear In pubic unless they
can dress near enough to the mode OF
the standard of fashion 80 as not to
attract ltical attention. 1t Is very
clear, then, that the clothing Of the
workers family should not consist
merely of material to protect them from
the icy blasts Of winter, the blazing rays
Of the sun, and the deluges Of heaven,
but should possess something Of that
subtle something called style style
Is expensive. Also there is no standard
of style. There are not even
Of dress fabrics. However, we do not
need exact standards TO know that 800
per adult male per nnu Is not too
much for clothes in the varied climate
| Of the United States.
Clothing Question.
at Is interesting to note that wives
spend less for clothes than husbands
until we reach the higher incomes
about 81 500 per year, 1t Is also OF In
terest that when economies are neces-
sary they are made largely at the ex-
pense of the wife's wardrobe,
THE first baby MAKES a cut In the
mothers clothes money, and every adj
dHion to the family cuts deeper into
this item, 1t Is scarcely fair to say
that American wives prefer clothes and
upholstered parlor furniture to chill
dren. 1t costs money, pain and sacri-
flee to bear and rear children, how
ever, and the bureau Of labor statistics
study shows with startling vividness the
extent to which the mother is Obliged
to sacrifice her house and her personal
| adornment to her children"
Commissioner Meeker presents inter-
esting figures to show how the Ameri-
can family lives and the cost Of hous-
ing, insurance, health, fuel and amuse-
ments. His conclusions are:
From this very brief analysts Of the
data thus far worked Ut from the cost
Of living schedules. 1t is apparent that
there Is no such thing as the Ameri-
can standard of living In the sense Of
Il very superior standard giving all the