397 budgets collected. In 1884, nineteen fresh budgets were obtained and a comparison made with sixteen gathered in Great Britain in 1883. Last year the Illinois Bureau made a similar investigation in that State; while this Bureau now publishes the annual (1884-5) accounts of receipts and expenditures from 319 families in New Jersey. The difficulty in obtaining accurate consumption-statistics is well known to those who have attempted this work. It is rare to find a workingman who notes down the little daily items of outlay. Many have their "pass books," but even these do not show all the food expenditures, which, to a great extent, must be estimated. For these and other reasons, it has been found impracticable, in our present effort, to obtain the quantity of food consumed-something which should always accompany the price, and without which the budget is to that extent incomplete.* The amount paid out for rent, clothing, fuel and light, on the other hand, generally can be stated pretty fairly. Our own tables in detail are published at the close of this chapter, in connection with the Massachusetts and English budgets lately collected, as well as some German accounts obtained from a valuable work recently issued. These tables are summarized in the follow ing pages. *What kind of blank should be prepared and how far it should go into detailed inquiries has not yet been settled. In 1853 the Brussels International Congress, mentioned above, recommended a scheme, which is given in Engel's Rechnungsbuch der Hausfrau, referred to above. The following schedule for a blank to obtain "the daily ration of food of working people in different sections of the country" was prepared by Mr. Edward Atkinson for the consideration of the Chiefs of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics: † Ballin: "Haushalt der Arbeitenden Klassen," Luckhardt, Berlin. NEW JERSEY.-AVERAGE EXPENDITURE FOR RENT.* Total.. 390 1,952 5.00 $19 79 *These averages are somewhat different from those in succeeding tables, which include the "lodging" expenditures of many who own their houses, as interest, &c. For details, see below. 2,701 00 78 00 650 17 20 143 $8 15 $1 65 Carpenters Machinists Silk workers........... 262 4.8 2.2 2.6 1.45 $607 34 $324 74 $99 99 $101 63 $37 60 $43 38 594 75 316 59 101 88, 98 08 37 61 40 59 176 5.02 2.2 2.8 1.45 647 26 332 09 106 96 115 06 39 36 53 78 86 4.61 2.14 2.47 1.52 487 30 284 86 79 87 74 92 34 04 13 61 $86 00 |