The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-01-06

were studying foreign wage scales in relation to the United States.
 Tt was desired to know," says the report, "how much "a Euro pean worker would need to ex- pend if his general standard oi living were to be approximately equivalent to that of his Detroit counterpart" An approximation is as near as the report could come because of the differences in tastes and customs among work men in the various cities.
 These differences were mani- fold, the report shows. Without specific mention of wine and beer, 1t Is pointed out, in the realm of food and drink "the influence of national custom plays the larg- est part" and comparison is most difficult.
 To compare clothing prices, samples of clothing bought in De- troit were sent on tour through the fourteen cities. and their De- troit prices compared with the prices of similar or equivalent articles in the stores there. Here. again, differences of local customs was encountered. .l-,.-. '.-
 ''The cut of American women's clothes" the report says, was frequently different than that of the usual European clothes, '-- possibly referring to the low prices at which stylishly cut dress es are reproduced in this country.
 It was difiicult to match chill dren's clothing sent from America in many European stores, because the clothing of more continentnal workmen's children Is made at home.
 The most curious difference, however, came when in investigat- ing comparative prices of housing, the matter of bathrooms came up. While not significant in itself. 1t may be regarded as an index of the mechanical aspect of the stand ard of living in Europe.
 Particular difficulty," says the report, twas also experienced with regard to bathrooms, since in many European towns 1t Is not usual to find bathrooms installed in working class dwellings,. Similar difficulties were met with regard ing the other details of the Amer ican dwelling" :.
 "Workers in Antwerp, Belgium pared to spend any extra money for the advantage of possessing a bathroom in their homes. This applies probably to many other cities, and workers. if they were allowed some extra income for the purpose of having dwell ings equipped with bathrooms would not occupy such dwellings, but would prefer to spend these sums in a different way"
 The predominant type" of home of Detroit workers is de- scribed in the report as "a de- tached house, occupied exclusive ly by the family, and equipped with electricity, gas, central heat. ing and a bathroom. In most Of the European towns included in this inquiry, houses of such a type rarely exist" The conditions of in regard to the number of rooms per family is said to- be somewhat balanced by the fact that rooms there are larger.
 In comparing prices paid for various articles by workers here and abroad, 1t is noticeable that the report does not take into con- for the European cit- les, many articles of convenience and luxury listed among the pur- chases of Detroit workers.
 Of 100 families of employees Of the Ford Motor company in De- troit, whose cost of living was 47 owned automobiles; s6 had radios; 90, sewing machines; 21, vacuum cleaners; 45. phono- graphs; 49, electric washing ma chimes; and sS, electric irons.
 None of these items have a place in the calculation of budg- ,ts for the European cities.