The families chosen for study are considered typical, though probably on the whole having somewhat better than average conditions. This necessity for making an arbitrary choice is, of course, the one uncertain point in the study. As the investigators, however, had taken part in the larger investigation of the cotton mill industry made by the Federal Bureau of Labor, reliance can probably be placed upon their judgment as to what families were representative. Moreover the report states that the names of the families working in one of the three mills were furnished by a mill official as representative families, and in another they were frankly avowed by the mill officials to be among the best. It may therefore be assumed that while there is really no “typical family” and while there are wide variations in circumstances, the stories of these twenty-one families give an accurate picture of the home life of cotton mill employes. In view of the discussion of the effects of the work of young children in cotton mills it is interesting to note that of the twenty-one families studied not one was wholly dependent on the wages of the man. The average number of wage earners in these families was 3.6 and the average number of individuals 8.5. Practically all the families live in company houses for which they pay a low rent, usually $.75 to $1 a room per month. A typical house is “a one-story frame, built upon brick piers instead of a solid foundation. It is rectangular in form and divided into four rooms. The rooms are about fourteen by sixteen or sixteen by sixteen feet, and they are ceiled instead of plastered. Two rooms have fireplaces or grates, a third is arranged for a cooking stove, and the fourth has no means of heating. The flooring is of a single thickness and, as it is seldom carpeted, furnishes little protection against the cold.” Most of the homes are but meagerly furnished and only partly heated. In the discussion of food, the menus and daily expenditures of many families are given and repay careful study. As a standard for judging the adequacy of the food supply, the dietary for the federal prison in Georgia is used (20.5 cents per man per day). Eleven of the twenty-one families fell below even this meagre diet. “Corn bread, biscuit, pork and coffee form a large part of the diet of all families.” In the matter of clothing the study is detailed and brings out some interesting points as to the different standards of dress for various members of the same family. The daughter who works in the mills spends many times as much on clothes as does the mother who works at home. In some cases, at least, the mother wears the cast-off clothing of the daughter. One such mother spent $1.98 for clothing in an entire year, while her daughter of twenty-one who was married that year spent $113.84; another daughter of nineteen spent $77, and a third girl of sixteen spent $86.