Evening star., 1937-06-23
D. c. LIVING COSTS
ARE HIGHEST IN 59
CITIES SURVEYED
Four.Person Family Must
Spend $1,414 Annually
in Capital.
RENTALS ARE BLAMED
BY FEDERAL EXPERT
Baltimore Has $1,000 Standard.
Small Variance Reported in
Food-Mobile Is Cheapest.

Largely because of. high rents. It
costs more for four-person family
to live in Washington than in any
one Of. So other selected cities in the
United States.
This was disclosed today by DR..
Howard Meyers, director of the divi-
sion of social research Of the Works
Progress Administration, in set Of
new figures from survey conducted
throughout the country in 1885.
For the four-person family the cost
Of living here topped all others in
the list, with total Of $l,4l454 a
year: $ll788 a month and S27.2O a
week
This compares with the basic main
tenance standard of living for a four
person manual workers family for the
entire SO cities of $l,26O per year or
s2424 per week
Washington stood at the top Of the
list, with its 1920 a week. Mobile,
Ala, was low, with s2l73 week.
In more than half of the SO cities
the annual cost of living was between
$1,000 and $1,000. In Baltimore it
was sl,300.65 year, Slo8.39 month
and S25 OIL a week.
The average civil service Govern
ment employees income stands at
Sl,678, according to the Department
OF Commences latest estimate, in
1884. This is only 1858 higher than
the surveys cost of living for the
family of four, so the findings of the
w. P. A. are in line with a large
number of Government incomes in
this city.
Congress Interested in Survey.
Members of Congress already have
| shown keen interest in the w. P. A.
survey, and want to know why the
cost of living here is so high. Par
| ticularly they have been interested
| IN knowing why it costs so much
more to live in Washington than in
! nearby Baltimore. This came out in
hearings on the Ellenbogen textile
| bill by a House labor subcommittee
headed by Representative Keller of
Illinois.
Why" asked Representative Welch
OF California, is the cost of living in
the District of Columbia higher than
In most other cities in the United
States?"
The most important single factor.
replied DR.. Myers. SIS rent. Rent is
higher In the District than elsewhere !"
Why should the cost Of living be
higher In the District than it is in
Baltimore, for instance" asked Welch.
I presume said DR.. Myers, that
Is primarily on account of the in
crease in population of the District
IN the last several years, which has
been very rapid"
Declaring that he did not think the
cost OF household commodities is par
tlcularly higher in Washington, DR..
| Myers said the items are higher in
| Washington than in Baltimore, except
IN the miscellaneous groups. which
lnclue a wide variety of things, medi-
cal care, movies, newspapers, and so
| forth"
| Food Per Cent Higher.
Asked by WEIGH why food was
higher. DR.. Myers replied that it is
about per cent higher than in Balti-
more. Frankly" he said, Il cannot
answer that question in detail"
Representative Ramspeck of Georgia
wanted to know about higher rents,
1or business houses, apartments and
| dwellings, here. DR.. Myers declared
the major difference between Balti-
| more and Washington is in rents. For
every $100 one spends In Washington.
one spends only s67 in Baltimore. The
other items differ but few cents on
the dollar
Pressed by Welch for direct answer
TO the reason why there should be
such difference in rental rates be-
tween Washington and Baltimore, !"
DR.. Myers replied:
Il think 1t is primarily a question
OF the amount Of housing available
at any given time. There has been
a very rapid increase in population
IN the District of Columbia in the
last few years, that has created
relative shortage OF housing, COM
pared to Baltimore"
The lower cost of living in other
cities is shown as follows: Phila-
delphia, s1,2976s a year, s1osl4 a
month and $24s6 a week; Richmond
va, Sl,268.06 year, $10567 month
ana $24.39 week; Pittsburgh, $3.50
year; Norfolk, s1,251 year.
1he figures, DR.. Myers explained.
are for low-income group of wage
earners. and low-salaried clerical
workers, and do not provide what
may be considered a satisfactory
American standard of living"
Better Standards Needed.
"Nor does its cost measure what
families in this country would have
to spend to secure such a living. /"
ne said. Better housing, furnishing
and equipment, more varied diet
and more adequate medical care would
be desirable. There should be greater
opportunities for education and
recreation and provision for social
security through savings"
The average budget of $1,260.62
was broken up into various items, such
as 35.6 per cent for food, It's per cent
for housing, including water; 146 per
cent for clothing, upkeep, personal
care and others.
The w. P. A. also has just pub
lished series of tables, in which
Washington is given a ranking of 100
per cent, for the purpose of COM
parison with the So other cities in
the list.
Eormer p a+o;rs 1870 Hror4