The Washington herald., 1920-01-10
Family Budget Estimate
Shows Some Are Cruci6ed
On Gross Of Self d Denial
CONTINUED IRON PAGE ONE.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE
vacations never figure in their drabi
existence7
sixty-four families In washington
were canvassed by Investigators for
the Bureau OF Labor Statistics in
order TO actually discover how the
common people" live. Expenditures
for Insurance. religion. tobacco.
liquor and practically everything
which figures outside Of actual es-
sentials were Jotted down and an
average for the year was struck. In
order to get comparative figures the
outlay for 1916 and for the year end
ing July 81. 1913. was taken. but as
In many cases the comparison was
Incomplete. only the figures for 1913
period will be used. These are:
Life insurance. $S.S; property IN
surance, H.0I; charity. s14.22; religion,
s25.S; labor orranizations. s10.0S;
other organizations. Ss.3s; furniture
and utensils, 50 32: books. news
papers. etc, $40; amusements. s1ss5;
vacation. 1880: liquors, 81; tobacco.
1855; sickness. ssO.57; funeral ex-
penses. sl.ss; other purposes. sls5.se.
The total comes to s572.20. The Ques-
ton naturally arises whether or not
such items as insurance. furniture
and sickness should be considered es-
sentiRL Theoretically they are. but
actually. in the subsistence budget,
they are not.
Spent more Than They MADE.
Certain items are lower in the
budget assigned to a family by the
Bureau OF Labor Statistics but all
lowing for everything which is
covered in the original estimates
the actual average expenditures of
these siXty-four families were
! s3I2.3O more than provided for in
the health and comfort level. As
these were families with average in
comes, in fact much below the neces-
sity level. where did they get the
money to spend7
The government Investigators have
not answered this question. and
private inquirers only partially so
The one thing which. however. has
been made clear is that Uncle Sam
does not pay the difference.
| 1t was found through personal re-
search that a few government en-
ployes own their homes. This has
been made possible through inherit
ance or financial aid from relatives
loan associations and friends. Some
skimp in certain directions in order
/ to be able to make more of a front
in others.
started with @Combined Ne,t-egg.'
A number, when they started
housekeeping. had enough Of a
combined nest-egg'' laid by to tide
them over times Of extraordinary
AVt. has
been found TO he small. Families
with ordinary government incomes
after few years OF married life
are always face to face with a bare
subsistence level II any of the
icomfOrts are to figure in their daily
Lives they must be obtained with
earnings or incoRes outside OF gov
eminent pay. This has been dis
lputed in Congress. where figures
are frequently twisted to suit po'
litical exigencies. Calling for tbs
daily bills from the housewife
would settle this question once fol-
all. The Reconsideration Commits
sion is expected to do so.
In the extras" enumerated one
concerns liquor. with the consti'
ltutional amendment going into ef'
feet tkis item may now be scratches
from the expenditures. Amonl
families using liquor the number
ldropped from eighteen in 1915 q
four in 1919. Three OF the families
had apparently put in stock fol
future use as the purchases rea'
s2S. S25, SO and IS. The average
in 1916 was S3.17.
Tobacco Is n Necessity.
Tobacco has been regarded as
necessity by certain economists anS
social workers. For that reason j
is not considered that SlS-Se is eN
lcessive. The average in 1916 wa
s1O.97 but this sum really pur
chased more than the bigger sun
did in 1919.
In the published table il is show
= that items amounting to Sl5I.Os coul'
be classed as non-essentials provides
that society figured that II would b
to its advantage to have the famil!
cut off from every outside activity
social. religious and Intellectual Tn
remaining expenses would then cove
the bare necessities OF family thu
j.fnterned." An income which woul'
offset this would be considered lv
ing wage. However Objectionable thi
,point of view the government fail
to take this into consideration. Tn
statutes are silent on everything tina