CHAPTER V
INDEX NUMBERS OF THE COST OF LIVING
COMPARED
N THE chapters immediately preceding, the more im-
I portant index numbers of the cost of living in the United
States have been described in some detail. These include
two series for the country as a whole and one for an entire
state. The numbers constructed by various local organi-
zations have not been described here, because, while of
significance locally, they are compiled for the most part in
the same way as the numbers already discussed, and the
trend in the price level shown by them is so nearly compar-
able with those pictured here that further details add little
to the knowledge already available.
A comparison of the three principal series of cost of living
index numbers shows that the trend of all has been practi-
cally identical, with prices mounting slowly until 1917,
reaching a peak in 1918, retarded in 1919, and climbing to
their highest point in the summer of 1920, after which they
dropped to low levels in 1922, only to rise again until at the
end of 1925 they were about where they were early in 1921.
While the trends have been so similar as to be nearly
identical, the degrees of change shown by these three series
have at times differed considerably. Since 1919, with the
exception of a very few months, the Massachusetts series has
run slightly lower than the National Industrial Conference
Board numbers, whereas the Bureau of Labor Statistics
series since 1918 has run consistently higher. Attention has
alreadv been called to the fact® that certain administrative
1 The number compiled by an important manufacturing concern in Peoria, IIL,
was discontinued in May, 1921, because the results were so closely in accord with
the series compiled by the National Industrial Conference Board and the United
States Bureau of Labor Statistics that it was thought local surveys were no longer
necessary.
2 The Bureau of Labor Statistics series, so far as is known, is higher than any
other which has been constructed in this country.
3 See p. 87 of this volume.
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