76 FARMERS'tUNION AND FEDERATION 



was $769. During 1917 the cost for the same commodities was $1,401. 

 Food alone in 1917 cost only $53 less than all items combined in 1900, 

 when $327 represented the expenditures for food in the average working- 

 man's family. By 1911 it had swelled to $430, and in 1917 increased to 

 $716. The landlord's toll has gone up 59 per cent and clothing has 

 doubled, rising from $108 to $210. Fuel and lighting have increased 

 from $40 to $82. The largest advance in these items occurred between 

 1914 and 1917. The 1917 figures, the report shows, are already in- 

 correct, because of the continuous advances. The minimum standard 

 of comfort today, the bureau shows, requires a wage approximately 

 of $1,500 a year. The average of twenty-four American cities is that 

 the minimum amount necessary for a reasonable standard of health 

 and comfort is $1,650, of which $660 is spent for food. Investigation 

 made by the department of health in New York City fixed the figures for 

 that city at $1,682. In compiling the figures the bureau omits the costs 

 of such things as amusements, charity, books, insurance, taxes and ex- 

 penses incidental to sickness." 



Wheat Raisers Not Getting a Living Wage. 



I shall now introduce statistics giving the yield, price per 

 bushel and value per acre of wheat in the United States, and 

 in Kansas separately, for the last fifty years preceding 1916, 

 to show that the price of wheat should be greatly increased 

 to give the grower wages equal to skilled union wages and 

 adequate interest on investments, which he should have to 

 be on equal footing with city labor : 



