| 73% | 74%
----------------------+----------+---------------

_The complete budget._ In Table 6 are summarized the percentages of
increase between October, 1914, and October, 1919, for the separate
budget items and for all items combined, for a family of man, wife and
three children under fourteen years of age.[6] From this it appears
that the cost of living at a minimum standard increased 73% between
1914 and 1919. The more liberal budget was 74% higher in 1919 than in
1914.[7]

[6] The allocations of budget items in Fall River in 1914, as
determined by the Board's investigation, do not differ greatly
from the standard adopted for the Board's study of changes in
the cost of living for the country as a whole, as is shown in
the tabulation below. Such differences as occurred may be
accounted for by the fact that rents in Fall River are lower
than the average for the country as a whole. The differences in
allocations in 1919 are accounted for by the differences in
percentages of increase of the various budget items. In any
locality at any time, a minimum budget would show a larger
proportion of the income spent for food and a smaller proportion
for sundries, than would a somewhat more liberal budget.

TABLE 7: COMPARISON OF DISTRIBUTION OF EXPENDITURES FOR THE
SEPARATE BUDGET ITEMS IN FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS, IN 1914 AND
1919, WITH THE AVERAGE DISTRIBUTION IN THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE IN
1914

(National Industrial Conference Board)

---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
| Average distribution
| Average | of the budget,
|distribution | Fall River
| of the |------------------+------------------
Budget items | budget, | 1914 | 1919
| country |------------------+------------------
| as a whole, | | More | | More
| 1914 | Minimum | liberal| Minimum | liberal
| | budget | budget | budget | budget
-------------------+-------------+---------+--------+----------+-------
Food | 43.1% | 44.1% | 38.6% | 45.1% | 39.8%
Shelter | 17.7 | 13.9 | 14.4