[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 | 9.3 | 11.6 Clothing | 13.2 | 14.7 | 17.7 | 19.2 | 20.5 Fuel, heat & light | 5.6 | 6.6 | 6.8 | 5.5 | 5.3 Sundries | 20.4 | 20.7 | 22.5 | 20.9 | 22.5 All items | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 -------------------+-------------+---------+--------+---------+-------