Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-12-29
COST OF LIVING !,
SHOWS INCREASE
Of 30 PER CENT.
10Y aonAIao JOURNAL. sPselAl leAsso wlar,

10y MORNING JOURNAL. SPECIAL LEASED wtaEl
| Boston, Dec. 2S.-An increase of sc
per cent TO SO per cent in TIE cost Of
living for American wage earners be-
tween July, 1914, and November, 1918.
is shown in statement issued today
by the national Industrial conference
board, based on its most recent inves-
tigation of this subject. A complete
report will be made public III the
course Of few weeks. This increase
represents an advance of 1914 per cent
since November, 1918, and 1906 per
cent since March. 1919, following the
signing of the armistice. The increase
since last July was SIS per cent.
The total increase between July,
1914, and November, 1919, for each
of the five major items in the family
budget was;
All Items. 80, ....S2.2 Pet.
Food ........ ...,-......... 81 Pet.
Shelter ,...........,..... SS Pet.
Clothing ,....,-......,... ..135 Pc.
Fuel light and heat ..u..... As Pct.
Sundries ..............s rs Pet.
Increases since July, 1919. were as
follows:
All items, 5.S Pet.
Food .,,,.... ............... Pet
Shelter .................. rs Pet,
Clothing ....,.....t........ .15 Pct.
Fuel, heat and light ..a...... Pet
Sundries ...-....e.,t,t..,. Pet.
To obtain from the Increase in the
prices of the separate items the per
centage of Increase for the budget as
q whole, each item was weighted ac-
cording to its importance in the budg
ct. The distribution Of expenditures
of a large number of families studied
by the United States bureau of labor
statistics and other agencies was taken
as basis for this. Averages of the ex-
penditures of these families show that
before the war, food required ap-
proximately As per cent of the budget;
shelter, Is per cent; clothing, Is per
cent; fuel heat and light, 8 per cent;
and sundries, 20 per cent. Individual
families vary somewhat in their allo-
cation of expenditures to the separate
budget items. but with any reasonable
distribution based on pre-War stand
ards, and the same percentages of in
crease, the results wuuld be very SIM
liar. *
The boards estimates Of the in
crease in the total budget are. there
fore, broadly representative. 1t should
be emphasized, however, that local
conditions may in some instances cause
the increase for any given locality to
be higher or lower than this figure.
The item of rent in particular. varies
widely both as to the proportion it
requires Of the total family budget
and as to the percentage Of increase
in different communities
Information on which the above es-
Inmates of the rise in the cost of living
are based were secured from large
number of retail clothing and fuel
dealers, real estate brokers and civic
organizations closely in touch with To-
cal conditions as they affect the cost
of living in all sections of the country:
as in previous reports by the board,
changes in the retail price of food
were secured from the United states
bureau of labor statistics.
Attention is called to the fact that
in estimating changes in the cost or
livlngs retail quotations, properly
weighted, and not wholesale, should
always be used, since the latter, al
though adequately picturing market
offer but little evidence re-
garding prices to the ultimate consum-
err. General commodity price index
numbers may give an exceedingly mis-
leading idea Of changes in the cost OF
IiVinp. n