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In the following table the 3,215 budgets of the American-British (Northern) group of families are summarized somewhat in detail, the families being classified according to the weekly family income:

SUMMARY OF BUDGETS OF AMERICAN-BRITISH (NORTHERN) GROUP.

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It should be noted that in the foregoing table and in all of the tables of food expenditure and food consumption the family--that is, all persons sharing in the family food irrespective of the age of its members-has been taken as the unit. The composition of the family in every group tends to vary greatly with the income and the supplementary earnings of the children, and occasionally the other sources of income assume large proportions in the higher income classes.

The following table shows for the same group of families the details of weekly expenditure per family for food, the families, as before, being classified according to the weekly family income:

WEEKLY EXPENDITURE PER FAMILY ON FOOD IN AMERICAN-BRITISH (NORTHERN) GROUP.

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1 Including boarders and relatives sharing the family food. The total number of these was 466, of whom about one-third were sons or daughters of the family. Children whose weekly payments for board and lodging and not their weekly wages-were furnished, were counted as boarders."

Attention is called in the report to the fact that in an even more striking degree than in the case of the European investigations by the Board of Trade the higher incomes are due not so much to increased earnings of the husband as to the contributions of children of wageearning age. This is mainly because of the actual amounts of the supplementary earnings and not because of the different proportions in which these stand to the total family income. This is made clear in the following table:

COMPOSITION OF FAMILY INCOMES IN AMERICAN-BRITISH (NORTHERN) GROUP.

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The proportion of the weekly income of the family supplied by the children begins to be important in the incomes between $19.47 and $24.33, when it reaches 12 per cent of the total, rising in the next class to nearly 17 per cent, and passing from 30 to 33 per cent, until in the highest class it accounts for 47.7 per cent of the total family income. It is noticeable that the average earnings of the wife are never very large and vary but little.

In the income classes "$24.33 and under $29.20" and "$29.20 and under $34.07," the earnings of the husband are practically the same, and since there is a falling off in the relatively unimportant earnings of the wife while other income shows an increase of only 58 cents, the position of the families with incomes of between $29.20 and $34.07 weekly is seen to be almost entirely due to greatly increased earnings of the children.

The following table shows for those articles for which figures were obtained the average quantity of each consumed. All children living at home, of whatever age, and all other persons sharing the family food have been included.

WEEKLY CONSUMPTION PER FAMILY OF CERTAIN ARTICLES OF FOOD IN AMERICANBRITISH (NORTHERN) Group.

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The following paragraphs contain comments on the consumption of various articles of food, as set out in the above table.

The particulars given will be found to refer either to the budget group as a whole, or to the three components of the group-American, British-born or Canadian; or to the various income classes as set out in the above table. Occasionally reference will be made to certain subgroups formed on the basis of nationality and town into which a large number of the budgets fall. These subgroups, 37 in number, have been formed whenever in any single town either of the components furnished not less than 25 budgets.

The consumption of bought wheat bread, although affording no criterion of the well-being of the family, does in fact rise more or less steadily with income, from 1.3 pounds per capita in the lowest income class to 1.8 pounds per capita in the highest. The average per capita consumption for the whole group is 1.7 pounds weekly.

The components of the group show the following differences: The / Americans average rather more than 1.7 pounds per capita weekly, the British-born 1.6 pounds, and the Canadians 1.4 pounds. The smallest quantity of bread per capita, accompanying a high consumption of flour, is found in the lowest income class of the British budgets (0.66 pound) and the largest among the Canadians with incomes between £7 and £8 ($34.07 and $38.93), viz, 2.6 pounds per capita weekly. The bread consumption of the lowest income class among the Candians is also relatively high (2.3 pounds).

The consumption of rye bread purchased at the bakers is small and somewhat irregular, not averaging on the whole quite 1 pound per family weekly, and of this 80 per cent is consumed by the Americanborn families. The per capita weekly consumption for the components of the group is as follows: American, 0.21 pound; Britishborn, 0.13 pound; Canadian, 0.03 pound. The relatively high figure of the American consumption may probably be explained by the presence among them of families of German or eastern European descent. Rye bread in this group, as in others, appears to be purchased by families with incomes of every range and its consumption to be entirely a matter of inherited or acquired taste.

The average consumption of wheat flour per family is 10.4 pounds weekly, or 2.1 pounds per capita. The range is very small, from 2.5 pounds per capita in the lowest income class to 2.2 pounds in the highest. The differences in the flour consumption of the components of the group are also small. The American returns average 2.1 pounds per capita weekly, those of the British-born 2.2 pounds, and of the Canadian 1.8 pounds.

The consumption of rye and buckwheat flour is almost insignificant. Adding together the weights of flour and bread of all kinds as given in the budgets, the figure for the whole group is 4.1 pounds per capita weekly; for the Americans, 4.2 pounds; for the British-born, 4 pounds; and for the Canadians, 3.4 pounds; in the last case nearly three-fourth pound below the average of the group. The consumption of both bread and flour shown in the Canadian returns is lower than that of either of the other components.

With regard to bread substitutes, the difference in the movement of the per capita expenditure is very marked as compared with that of bread, the latter rising only from 3.57d. (7.2 cents) per capita in the lowest income class to 4.97d. (10.1 cents) in the highest; while the former shows a corresponding movement of from 1.78d. (3.6 cents) per capita to 4.93d. (10 cents).

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