14 
BULLETIN 1382, XT. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 
ing, and scales have been set up by means of which the needs of in- 
dividuals of different sex and age can be measured in terms of this 
unit. This unit is termed a w * cost-consumption unit." The number 
of units which represent the needs of a household in respect to food, 
clothing, or other goods is called the " household-size index " for 
that item; and the total expenditure for that item, divided by its 
household-size index, gives the cost per consumption unit, for the 
respective item. The sum of the costs per cost-consumption unit for 
all groups of goods gives the figure by means of which different 
households may be compared. 
The cost-consumption unit and household-size index revised in 
some respects through analysis of the larger number of records 
available are used in this study. The expenditure for goods con- 
sumed by the adult male for any group of goods is taken as unity 
or 1. Expenditures for goods consumed by other members of the 
family are weighted relatively against this 1 in terms of additional 
cost of the additional goods used. For all groups of goods other 
than food and personal, the adult female, the home maker, has been 
considered as consuming the same amounts of goods (in terms of 
costs) as the adult male, the operator. The average cost of clothing 
is about the same for each. Probably both share use of the house, 
furniture and furnishings, operating goods, and health and ad- 
vancement facilities about equally. 
The age groupings for sons and daughters for this study are con- 
sidered from the physiological and the sociological standpoints. 
Points of division between years are of course arbitrary and might 
be placed between other years, but the preschool age, 5 years or less, 
the grade-school age, 6 to 11 years, the grammar-school age, 12 to 
14 years, the high-school age, 15 to 18 years, and the college and 
" choice of occupation " age, 19 years or over, are deemed prefer- 
able. The scales of units adopted for use in this study are given 
below : 
Cost-Consumption Units for Reducing Expenditures for the Different Groups of Goods Used 
to Terms of an Adult Male 
First in- 
dividual 
in age 
and sex 
group 
Each ad- 
ditional 
indi- 
vidual 
in age 
and sex 
group 
MALE 
1.0 
.8 
.9 
.7 
.6 
.4 
.3 
0.9 
.7 
FEMALE 
.8 
.6 
MALE OR FEMALE 
.5 
.3 
.2 
Hired helpers and others boarded are included. 
