Introduction 
The decade from 1913 to 1923, inclusive, which is the period covered 
in this study, was characterized by an unprecedented increase in wages, 
the prices of commodities, and the general cost of living. The index 
numbers of the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, disclosing the com- 
parative wholesale prices of 404 commodities, including farm products, 
food, clothing, fuel, light, metal products, building materials, chemicals, 
drugs, household goods, and other miscellaneous articles necessary for 
and entering into the support of the average family, as shown in the 
following table, indicates that, for the whole period, the increase in the 
general cost of living was 53.7 per cent, that the most marked increase 
was in 1916 and 1917 and the most conspicuous decline in 1921, and 
that the same commodities which cost $100 in 1913 cost $226.20 in 1920, 
the peak year, and $153.70 in 1923. During the same period, wages 
in the principal industries increased 99 per cent, the most perceptible 
advances being in 1918, 1919, and 1920, and the only recession in 1922. 
An inspection of the table discloses that the most conspicuous advance 
in wages came in 1918, while the first sharp advance in the cost of 
living was in 1916; that while the peak prices prevailed in 1920, 
wages did not reach the high level till 1923; and that industrial laborers 
who received $10 per week in 1913 were receiving $19.90 per week in 
1923. Farm wages during the same period advanced from $21.38 to 
$33.18 per month, or 55.1 per cent, reaching the highest level in 1920. 
To this general upward tendency in the prices of commodities and 
the income of wage-earners, the cost of federal, state, and local gov- 
ernments affords no exception. During the 11 fiscal years beginning 
October 1 , 1912, and ending September 30, 1923, the amount of revenue 
disbursed by the state increased from $9,125,634.52 to $30,578,475.87, 
representing an aggregate increase of $21,452,841.35 or 235.1 per cent. 
The table following shows the disbursements of the state government, 
functionally allocated, for the years 1913 and 1923, respectively, and 
the total increase for each of the purposes therein set forth. 
