14 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 



Mr. Mann, with Mr. Ilowntree's help, sought to find the 

 minimum standard of cost of food, cost of rent, and cost of 

 clothing and household sundries in the village of Ridgmount, 

 12 miles from Bedford, in the autumn of 1903. As a result he 

 gives the following table : 



These figures approach so nearly to those given by Rown- 

 tree that the author decided to adopt his standard of the 

 necessary minimum cost of food for the maintenance of 

 physical health : 



Similar detailed calculations as to the cost of household 

 sundries, due allowance being made for the fact that a 

 certain amount of firewood and fuel could be picked up, 

 led to the compilation of the following table, which reprc- 



