4 STATISTICS OF EXPENDITURE AND 
due to protection, the government may realize little or no 
reve.\ue; while in so far as it is spent on education or on better 
house accommodation, the government would gain nothing what- 
ever to make up for the revenue from the taxes on beer and 
spirits. No doubt, there would be increased expenditure on 
clothing ; but the percentage of income spent in Canada is but 
17 ; and the tax is already as heavy as it can be to be productive 
of revenue, Probably seventy-five per cent. of the changed con- 
sumption would yield no revenue whatever. 
The investigation of expenditures has been carried so far that 
certain empirical laws have been established. Jt may seem to 
some that the forms of expenditure are so much a matter of indi- 
vidual taste and caprice that no general conclusion can be 
established ; but, after all, the differences among men are not. 
very great. The fundamental necessities of life are the same for 
all, and caprice does not enter in till the dominant wants have 
been satisfied ; and by taking a large number of instances, the 
effects of individual caprice may be eliminated and an average 
set down. The first fairly complete investigation in this sphere 
was made by Engel, and subsequent investigation has served to 
establish his conclusions more firmly. 
These are:—That the greater the income, the smaller the 
relative percentage of outlay for subsistence ; 
That the percentage of outlay for clothing is approximately 
the same, whatever the income ; 
That the percentage of the outlay for rent and for fuel and 
light is invariably the same, whatever the income; 
That as the income increases in amount, the percentage of 
outlay for sundries becomes greater. 
We are fortunately able to present results for Canada, which 
may be compared with the statistical data brought forward by 
Engel and other investigators. The Ontario Bureau of Statisties 
during several years presented statistics on the expenditure of 
the working classes in certain cities of Ontario; and in countries 
