re
secured from the same agencies which supplied current prices of
shelter. From these, it appears that, in general, rents of the better
houses had increased most. Since about 1,500 of the very poorest
tenements were reported to be vacant, it has been rather difficult to
raise the rents of this class of property. The Real Estate Owners'
Association voted to increase all rents 20% beginning in August, 1919,
and the secretary of the association reported that landlords had very
generally put this increase into effect. One owner controlling a large
amount of tenement property, who was consulted, had not done so.
Another, however, reported increases in rents for his property of
somewhat more than 20% in the five-year period ending October, 1919.
Individual instances were given of increases in rents up to 40% in
some cases. A renting agency set the advance at from 10% to 30%, the
larger increase being for the better property.

From these various estimates, it would appear that an increase of 15%
would be a fair allowance for the advance in rent of a tenement
previously renting for $1.50 or $2 a week, and 20% for a tenement
renting for over $2. The tendency of rents in Fall River is distinctly
upward at the present time.

_Clothing._ For men's and women's clothing, prices were collected for
the various articles of the budget which had been selling at a
specified price in October, 1914. The October, 1919, quotations from
the various stores were averaged and the total cost of all items was
then compared with the cost of the same articles in 1914. This
comparison shows an increase of 103% for men's clothing and 100% for
women's. These increases were found to be applicable to children's
clothing also. It may be said, therefore, that the cost of ready-made
clothing in Fall River increased 102% between October, 1914, and
October, 1919. When clothing is made at home, however, the increase
has undoubtedly been greater, owing to the fact that prices of yard
goods have advanced more than prices of made up garments, although as
already indicated, the absolute cost is less. To allow for this, the
increase in cost of the minimum clothing budget has been placed at
125%.

_Fuel, heat and light._ The same method of averaging prices of
chestnut and stove coal by dealers was followed for October, 1914, as
for October, 1919. The resultant figures show the average cost of
three tons of coal at the earlier date to have been $26. The present
c