[In the British Board of Trade Report (April, 1911), the following comparison of wages and of the two main items in the cost of living shows the "large town" in an unexpectedly favorable light. The question occurs whether there are not other elements of income direct and indirect, psychic or material, which enter into the balance of advantages in living in largo or small towns, and thus into the "real wages" (p. xxxvii).]

Relation of wages to rents and retail food prices. In the two following tables the mean index numbers for the wages of skilled men in the building, engineering and printing trades, and for rents, food prices and rents and food prices combined, have, for convenience, been brought together for the various geographical divisions and population groups that have been already considered:

. . . By combining the mean index numbers of the two main divisions of the tables - industrial conditions as illustrated by selected wages groups and social conditions as illustrated by selected food prices and rents - it is possible to derive an index number that, so far as this is determined by the element of charges for rent and food, may be said roughly to indicate "real wages," i.e., the relative purchasing power of work people in the different areas and groups. Taking New York as 100 and working out the percentage ratios of the mean index numbers for wages to those of the mean index numbers for rents and food prices combined, the result is shown in the table on page 185.

Wages In American Towns

Mean index numbers.

Wages (skilled men). Rents and food prices.

In the population groups the order as determined by the wages index numbers is maintained throughout in the "real wages" column, although the differences from the New York standard are always diminished, the range being from 89 to 100 instead of 83 to 100, and for the two largest groups of towns showing, as thus measured, no appreciable difference from New York.

In the geographical divisions the position as shown is somewhat different, the rather advantageous price levels of the towns of the Middle West combined with a high level of wages, especially in the building trades, giving an index number for "real wages," as calculated, 4 points higher than for New York itself. On the other hand, the high prices of the New England group of towns combined with a lower level of wages in the selected trades give a level of "real wages" 15 per cent lower than that of New York, and 7 points lower than the Southern group of towns - the group which ranks next above that of New England in the order of purchasing power as calculated in the table. Apart from these two groups the difference from the New York standard does not exceed 5 points. It would be unwise to press the comparisons shown unduly, but the difference of 19 points shown as between the New England group and the towns of the Middle "West is considerable, and may probably be taken as an indication of real differences that exist between a center of industry, such as that of New England, that is now somewhere removed from the main centers of development, and one, such as that of the towns of the Middle West, that is comparatively new and able to benefit more immediately from the great natural resources of the country.

1 In the construction of this index number food prices have been given a weight of three and rents of one.