somewhat better standard.

The Board has already made several broad surveys of changes in the cost of living in American wage-earning communities since the outbreak of the World War in July, 1914. These cover the entire country and are designed to bring out the extent of change during the periods studied, not the actual cost of living. The results of the present investigation in Fall River, made independently of these broader surveys, throw an interesting sidelight on the wider studies and also permit of a valuable check on them.

It is intended to make similar intensive studies from time to time in other representative industrial communities.

The Cost of Living Among Wage-Earners

Fall River, Massachusetts

October, 1919

Purpose of the Investigation

The following report summarizes the results of a study undertaken to determine the cost of maintaining a minimum American standard of living in Fall River, Massachusetts, in October, 1919, and also the cost of maintaining a somewhat more liberal standard. At the same time, an attempt was made to ascertain the increase in the cost of living at identical standards during the five-year period beginning with October, 1914.

Method

For the purpose of this study, the cost of living was estimated with reference to the needs of a man, his wife and three children under fourteen years of age. No attempt was made to secure family budgets from representative wage-earners. Instead, the amount of food, clothing, fuel, heat, light and other items needed to meet the requirements of a decent standard of living was carefully estimated on the basis of several budget studies made by other authorities, and prices of these various items were obtained. Thus, while the final estimate of the money cost of maintaining a definite standard of living is not based on actual family expenditures, but rather is a hypothetical budget designed to maintain a hypothetical family at a specified standard, it should closely approximate the true conditions. In practice, expenditures for the different items in the budget may and undoubtedly will vary considerably to meet the needs or tastes of individual families, but although the sums allowed for the total cost of living may be distributed in a large variety of ways, the averages given are as nearly representative as any that can be reached. It should always be borne in mind, however, that the figures are averages, even though they include a large variety of data.

The investigation covered a period of one week in October, 1919. A study was made of available statistical data relating to Fall River, and various sections or "villages" of the city were visited to obtain a picture of the home surroundings of the people. The latter were observed on the street, as purchasers in stores, at work in the mills, at a dance for women wage-earners, and, in several instances, in their own homes.

Visits were made to the headquarters of the various social and community agencies of the city, from which much valuable information on the cost and standard of living was secured.¹ To obtain the cost of the various items entering into the family budget and the increases in cost over a five-year period, figures were collected from retail food and clothing stores, coal dealers, and other corporations, associations and individuals in close touch with the local situation.

Fall River and its People

The population of Fall River in 1915 was approximately 125,000, of whom 75,000 were native born and 50,000 foreign born. A large percentage of the native born are of foreign parentage. French Canadians and Portuguese are the leading foreign nationalities and are represented in approximately equal numbers. Together they comprise over half the foreign-born population. The English are next most important in numbers, approximately 10,000. Over 4,000 were born in Ireland, over 3,000 are Poles and some 2,000 are Russians, the majority of the latter undoubtedly Jews.

The people originally settled in neighborhood groups of a single nationality rather than around the particular mills in which they were employed. There are, in fact, ten different villages, so called, into which Fall River outside of the center may be said to be divided. The nationalistic character of these villages, however, is now to some extent breaking up, owing to decreased immigration, the Americanizing effect of the war, and the efforts of the Immigrant Aid Committee and other local social agencies, so that French, Portuguese, Irish and other foreign nationalities are coming in closer contact one with another.

Families in Fall River often are large; the French Canadian and Portuguese not infrequently have eight or more children, and sometimes 12 or 15. This means that in many families there is inevitably a period of poverty before the children become old enough to work; this is often partially relieved by the employment of the mother. When, however, the children begin to go into the mills, a considerable increase in income takes place very rapidly.

The most important industry in Fall River is the manufacture of cotton cloth. There are in the city 111 cotton mills and an additional number of industries directly allied to cotton manufacturing. Retail selling is confined, with the exception of two or three large food stores and three or four department stores, largely to small neighborhood stores, the proprietors of which are of the same nationality as the people to whose trade they cater, or, in the case of specialty clothing stores, Jews.

Cost of Living in October, 1919

Food.  To obtain the average cost of food, several budgets including articles sufficient for a week's supply for a family of man, wife and three children were used as a basis. From these were constructed food budgets designed to meet the requirements of a minimum standard and of one slightly above the minimum. Prices were collected from four of the large down-town stores, from branches of two different chain stores, one of them represented by 21 separate branches, and from various neighborhood grocery stores: one Polish, one Portuguese and two French. When there was more than one quality of an article the price used was the lowest consistent with what appeared to be good value. The quotations collected for each article were averaged and are given in Tables 1 and 2.

TABLE 1: MINIMUM FOOD BUDGET FOR A WEEK FOR A MAN, WIFE AND THREE CHILDREN UNDER FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE, FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS, OCTOBER, 1919

(National Industrial Conference Board)