10 STATISTICS OF EXPENDITURE AND 
“ Now let us see how the cost of food, as computed from the 
working men’s returns, compares with its cost in the schools and 
colleges and public institutions. At the average of summer and 
winter returns in these, it is $44.17 (per cap.); at the prison’s 
rate it is $35.51 ; at the asylum rate it is $47.12; at the infantry 
school rate it is $54.75 ; at the college winter rate it is $59. 
The working man’s average, $47.67 per cap., is therefore 
something more thana probable one; it is well verified by sta- 
tistics gathered from other sources, and I.am dlsposed to think 
that the cost of living is better known and more accurately 
gauged in the families of the working classes than in the families 
of any other class in the community.” 
We are justified, therefore, in accepting the average budget 
based on these returns as representative of the actual expendi- 
ture of some hundreds of working men throughout Ontario. It 
is true, no doubt, that men capable of intelligently making such 
returns are likely to spend their incomes more rationally than 
others of their class; but the extravagances and waste of the less 
prudent and thrifty in part offset each other, and must for the 
rest be neelected. We may assume, therefore, that in the Prov- 
ince of Ontario 39.0 per cent. is expended on food, 18.0 per cent. 
on clothing, 8.1 per cent. on fuel, and 17 per cent. on rent ; or if 
we take the average of the 4 year averages of the five important 
towns as our standard, 47.8 per cent. on food, 17 per cent. on 
clothing, 18.4 per cent. on rent, and 8.3 per cent. on fuel. 
These percentages are not without meaning even as an indi- 
cation of absolute well-being. The smaller the percentage 
expended ’on food and subsistence the larger the total provision 
for the wants of our nature. Here and there an individual may 
be found who stints himself of the imperious necessities of life 
to obtain some coveted comfort or luxury ; but the great majority 
satisfy the lower wants first and rise to the higher if sufficient 
provision is made. Consequently, the smaller percentage in 
Canada expended on food is an indication of a higher well-being. 
But it is necessary to investigate still further to find the degree 
of well-being and to present quantities rather than percentages. 
