commercial school. These schools are maintained chiefly by the French and Irish. The French parochial schools require a payment of 50 cents per month per child and the child furnishes his own books. The Irish Roman Catholic schools on the other hand are supported through contributions to the church itself and tuition and books are free to any child in the parish. While of course public schools are provided in the city, about one-third of the children attend the parochial schools.

It is practically impossible to estimate the amount spent for each separate item in the sundries group, but in Table 4 is given an approximation of expenses in this division of the budget. Since expenditures for sundries vary widely as between different families, the total allowed may be spent in a large variety of ways. It is believed, however, that $5.10 per week, or $265.20 per year, for the minimum budget is sufficient; the more liberal allowance is $6.80 per week or $353.60 per year.

TABLE 4: AVERAGE COST OF SUNDRIES IN FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS, OCTOBER, 1919

(National Industrial Conference Board)

The complete budget. In Table 5 have been combined the figures given for the cost of a year's allowance of each of the separate items entering into the average family budget. From this it appears that at least $1,267.76 per year is necessary to maintain a family of five persons at an American standard of living in Fall River, Massachusetts, on the basis of prices prevailing in October, 1919. This would require an income of $24.38 per week the year round.

In order to maintain life at a somewhat more comfortable standard, through allowing for slightly more liberal expenditures, $1,573.90 per year will be necessary, or a steady income of $30.27 per week.

In neither of these estimates is any provision made for savings other than insurance. It should be noted, however, that while allowance has been made in the budget for medical care, recreation and insurance, these are to a certain extent provided free if operatives care to avail themselves of the facilities offered. Thus, life insurance premiums are paid by many of the mills; social activities are supported by a few and a nursing service by some. Although allowance for parochial schools is included in the budget, there are good public schools available in the city without cost. Taking these circumstances into account the estimates of the sums needed to maintain an American standard of living in Fall River in October, 1919, are as representative as any which can be reached.

These sums provide for the maintenance of a family of five at an American standard of living, where the father is the sole wage-earner. It should be recognized, however, that the foreign families are frequently larger and that in many of them there are several wage-earners. Their standard of living, on the other hand, is intrinsically lower.

These averages may be compared with the results of an investigation made by a totally different method by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics in Fall River in 1918 when the average cost of living of 158 families earning roughly from $900 to $2,500 per year was found to be $1,320.84.³ For 12 of these families, yearly expenses averaged $826.23; for 56, they were $1,058.30; for 48, they were $1,292.54. Thus, nearly three-quarters of the families were spending about the same amount or less than that determined by the National Industrial Conference Board to represent the minimum cost of living. Making allowance for increases in cost since the Bureau's study was made, the results of the two investigations are seen to be in substantial agreement.

TABLE 5: AVERAGE COST OF LIVING FOR A MAN, WIFE AND THREE CHILDREN UNDER FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE IN FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS, OCTOBER, 1919

(National Industrial Conference Board)