MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 129 



IV. COST OF LIVING. 



If the conohision is that wages have risen rather as a result of high 

 prices thau as a cause, the next question is, what lias been the effect 

 upon the wage earner? This brings me to the subject of cost of living 

 and purchasing power of wages. At least three investigations of this 

 general phase of the matter are Avorth mentioning: that by the United 

 States Jiureau of Labor on retail prices of food, 1890-1907;^ the more 

 recent one made by the New York Bureau of Labor;- and the index 

 numbers of retail prices i>ublished currently l)y the New Jersey Bureau 

 of Labor. 



The results obtained by the national bureau of labor for 1907 show a 

 rise in full-time weekly earnings to 122.4 and a rise in the weighted aver- 

 age of retail prices of food to 12U.C. Taking the average for 1890-99 as 

 100 this means a relative purchasing power of 101. .5. That is, average 

 weeklv earnings will buy 1..5% more food in 1907 than on the average 

 for tlie decade 1890-1899; about the same as in 1898 and 1899; 1.5% 

 less than in 1900, and 9% less than 1900. This comparison is inade- 

 quate, of course, in that food alone is considered. When we remember 

 that the wholesale prices published by the bureau indicate an even 

 greater rise in cotton, furniture, metals and implements, lumber and 

 luiilding materials, and such miscellaneous commodities as rubber, 

 rope, and malt, the situation is scarcely one for optimism. 



Nor is this all. It is obvious that no allowance is made for pro- 

 gress, — for an advance in standards of living. This procedure runs 

 counter to the spirit of American economic theoiy and would be ac- 

 cepted by few. To be sure it is impossible to make any exact allowance 

 for this element, but when purchasing power of average earnings re- 

 mains as loAV or lower at the end of a decade as at the beginning, 

 there is ground for some degree of pessimism. 



The figures^ obtained by the New York bureau appear more satis- 

 factory, yet the statistician points to the omission of the standard of 

 living element and is not at all optimistic in his tone. 



Briefly the results are these, 1907 being compared with 1897: 



Betail Prices (1899—01=100) Income. 



Food 128 Wages rate (union) 122.9 



Rent 124 Average Quarterly 



Fuel 115 Earnings . ...*.. 131 .2 



Light 84 



(Nothing 120 



Furniture and rten- 



sils 119 



Average 122 



The New Jersey Bureau compiles for various representative localities 

 •statistics of the retail prices of table supplies, all those articles of food 

 most commonly used by families of average means being included. 

 Taking the average of the years 1899-1901 as 100 and reducing the costs 



^No. 77. 



22.5th Report, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Chapter V. 



^Retail prices obtained from representative Arms and averaged, being weighted accord- 

 ing to the method used by the Ignited States Bureau. 



17 



