Three important problems of workmen's compensation, by Carl Hookstadt.111–121 of committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost of the New workmen's compensation law of New South Wales..... .123-143 145 Accidents on steam and electric railroads in the United States in 1916...146, 147 Sixth congress of the national safety council.. Social insurance: ..147, 148 Social insurance commissions appointed in five States in 1917..........149, 150 Housing and welfare work: Rest and recreation rooms and rest periods for employees, by Anice L. Labor provisions of the Mexican constitution of 1917.. Labor laws of the State of Coahuila, Mexico...... Arbitration and conciliation: ..163-166 .167-171 ..171-178 Conciliation work of the Department of Labor, Aug. 16 to Sept. 15, 1917..179, 180 OF THE U. S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS VOL. V-NO. 4 WASHINGTON OCTOBER, 1917 COST OF LIVING IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. On December 20, 1916, the following joint resolution authorizing and directing the Department of Labor to make an inquiry into the cost of living in the District of Columbia and to report thereon to Congress as early as practicable was passed at the second session of the Sixty-fourth Congress: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Department of Labor be, and hereby is, authorized and directed to make an inquiry into the cost of living of wage earners in the District of Columbia, and to report thereon to Congress as early as practicable; and that there be appropriated for this purpose the sum of $6,000. SEC. 2. That the special agents and clerks employed under this appropriation shall be selected from among the persons eligible on any civil service register. Approved, December 20, 1916. The Bureau of Labor Statistics began the cost of living study in January, 1917, and completed the field work in June. Incomes and expenditures for the calendar year 1916 were obtained and some facts as to increasing cost of living in 1917. The tabulations were necessarily confined to 1916, so as to show expenses and incomes of all families for the same period. The inquiry was divided into two parts-first, cost of living of families, and second, cost of living of wage-earning women. To get the incomes and expenditures of families special agents were sent out to interview housewives in their homes. To insure a fair representation of the working population of Washington, including Government clerks, the city was divided into districts and a fair proportion of schedules was obtained from each district. The different income groups up to $2,000 are believed to be fairly proportioned also, although no information exists as to the total number of families in each specified income group. The newspapers of Washington aided greatly in the study by making known to the people of the city the purposes of the study and by enlisting their hearty cooperation. The housewives generally welcomed the agents and gave them, as accurately as possible, all information asked. Individual statements could not, of course, in most instances be made with bookkeeping accuracy. Of necessity much of the information was given from memory although some few families were found that kept correct book accounts of income and expenditure, while many kept partial accounts, and many more had store books. Often accounts kept by families could be used only as a general guide, owing to lack of uniformity in the keeping of family accounts and to different lumping of items of expenditure. An agent was able to check errors, however, with the assistance of the housekeeper, by careful questioning, by comparing statements of expenditure with prevailing prices, including rents, with store books and accounts, with income received, and with surplus or deficit. A list of prevailing prices of staple articles of food for the year 1916 was given the agents, thus enabling them to verify to a certain extent the statements as to prices paid. Some families were so much interested that they kept accurate itemized accounts of income and outgo for a month or more on sheets furnished by the bureau. These accounts served as an additional check. In these various ways the schedules were either corrected when possible, or rejected if too inaccurate to admit of correction. The number of families scheduled was large enough to permit of trustworthy averages and deductions. Only in the lowest and highest income groups are the numbers so small as to make generalizations doubtful. Schedules were obtained from 1,481 white families and from 629 colored families, making a total of 2,110 families. Only those families were scheduled whose principal breadwinner worked for wages or, if paid a salary, received not more than $1,800 a year. Families with incomes from sources other than the earnings of the head of the house were included, however, even though the total income exceeded $1,800. No families were taken which had not resided in the District of Columbia for all of 1916, and families with vacations covering a period of more than two months or eight weeks were omitted. The term "family," as used in this investigation and report, means any group of persons living together in one establishment as a home. It includes households in which there were boarders or lodgers, or both (working children contributing only part of their wages being classed as boarders and lodgers), if such persons were living in close association with the family proper; but boarding houses were excluded. No effort was made to limit the study to families of any minimum size, as one of the important objects was to obtain a clear view of all varieties of family life in the District. As a result some of the families scheduled were of very small size, including a few |