estimates as to the prices of a "decent living" in various parts of
the country. Home-economics experts will furnish us with figures which
may be used as a basis for apportioning this amount among departments
of household expenses. That the figures offered by these experts
differ more or less widely need not disturb us. It is perhaps too
early in such work for final authoritative estimates.

The following apportionment is taken from Chapin's _The Standard of
Living among Workingmen's Families in New York City_ and has to do
with the minimum income required for normal living for a family of
father, mother, and three children on Manhattan Island:

Food $359.00
Housing 168.00
Fuel and light 41.00
Clothing 113.00
Carfare 16.00
Health 22.00
Insurance 18.00
Sundry items 74.00
-------
$811.00

"Families having from $900 to $1,000 a year," concludes Dr. Chapin,
"are able, in general, to get food enough to keep body and soul
together, and clothing and shelter enough to meet the most urgent
demands of decency." Regarding incomes below $900, he says, "Whether
an income between $800 and $900 can be made to suffice is a question
to which our data do not warrant a dogmatic answer."