20 BULLETIN 1214, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
A similar scale more closely adapted to variations in physiological — 
requirements is still used by the United States Bureau of Labor © 
| Statistics in its studies of the cost of living. ; 
No scales representing the varying individual needs in terms of — 
cost have been generally ndoptedt f6r any other group of household — 
expenditures. One part of the present study has therefore consisted ~ 
in the attempt to devise reasonable units of comparison for the 
more important groups of needs. For this purpose it has been 
assumed that the expenditures of these families are equivalent to 
their needs for food, clothing, and the other items. The require- 
ments of the adult male have been taken as the unit for a given 
Bacup of needs; and, from careful study of the records, scales have 
een set up by means of which the needs of individuals of different 
sex and age can be measured in terms of this adult male. Such a 
unit is here termed a cost-consumption unit. The sum of these 
units which represents 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 house- 
hold-size index, gives the cost per cost-consumption unit, the figure 
by means of which different fivathdlds may be compared. For 
example, if for three groups of families the average expenditures for 
clothing were $200, $250, and $300, and the household-size indexes 
for clothing were 3, 5, and 4, their clothing costs per cost-consumption 
unit would be $66.67, $50, and $75, respectively. 
FOOD. 
The scale used in determining the household-size index for cost 
consumption of food was adapted from the commonly used scale of 
dietary factors set up by the United States Department of Agri- 
culture.* These factors represent an attempt to state in terms of a 
common unit the nutritive needs of individuals differing in age, sex, 
and muscular activity. They are based both on studies of many 
typical family diets and on laboratory and clinical knowledge of 
physiological requirements; they are designed to be applied to the 
energy supplied by the food material in the diet; and they are 
held subject to revision as more accurate information accumulates. 
An adult male, at moderate muscular work, whose energy consump- 
tion is assumed to be between 3,000 and 3,300 calories of energy per 
aay is taken as unity, against which the demands of individuals of 
different sex, age, and activity are at present weighted as follows: 
Man or boy over 12 years of age at severe muscular work..........-. 1:2 
Man or boy over 12 years of age at moderate muscular work......... 1.0 
Man or boy over 12 years of age at light muscular work............. ; 
Woman or girl over 12 years of age at severe muscular work ........ 1.0 
Woman or girl over 12 years of age at moderate muscular work..... .8 
Woman or girl over 12 years of age at light muscular work. ........ re 
Child’ 10 to a2 veersni ageii: . ash - Hasewi beg - toda di -Ge- dag 6 
Child. 1p: Ogveamn Ol O66. 3. dace Sty: erent are ee rie eee 6 
tid 2 £01 YEROF BEE. . on. cn. Sos ee pad ass tee ee ce see Eee 4 
It can not be assumed that the cost of food may be accurately 
measured in these same terms, because the prey charged is no indi- 
cation of the nutrients and energy supplied by a given food. More- 
19 Principles of Nutrition and Nutritive Value of Food. W. O. Atwater. U.S. Dept. Agr., Farmers’ 
Bul. 142. Revised, 1910. 
Good Proportions in the Diet. C. L. Hunt. U.S. Dept. Agr., Farmers’ Bul. 1313. 1923. 
