15 
average consumption in each country. It follows from these 
remarks that in drawing conclusions from the figures generalisa- 
tions should be avoided, and that the results of the calculations 
must not be considered too rigorously. 
Subject to these reserves, however, the figures given in the 
table, and represented in the diagrams, undoubtedly possess 
real indicative value. They show the wide, and sometimes 
enormous, differences between the purchasing powers of workers 
belonging to the same occupations in different countries. 
Taking the general average for all budgets (average basket of 
provisions) for the whole period under review, we find, for 
example, that the purchasing power of a worker in Philadelphia 
is approximately twice that of a worker in London or Copen- 
hagen, three times that of a worker in Paris or Berlin, and 
four times that of a worker in Rome, Milan, Vienna, Tallinn, 
Riga, Warsaw, Lodz, etc. 
III. Workers’ Family Budgets. 
The enquiries carried out in various countries on workers’ 
family budgets provide a useful complement to the above data. 
They give some indication as to how the expenditure of wage- 
earners’ households is distributed over the principal categories 
of ordinary needs, and also in most cases give some idea of 
how the structure of the budget itself is affected by the income. 
The enquiries which it has been possible to use in the present 
study * relate to the following countries: Argentina, Belgium, 
Czechoslovakia, Esthonia, Finland, India, Ireland, Italy, 
Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, the 
United States. All these enquiries were carried out by official 
bodies. The majority of them were made comparatively re- 
cently (since the war); a certain number, however, date back 
to more or less distant periods. 
The dates of the enquiries the results of which have been 
utilised are as follows: 
Argentina, 1925; Belgium, 1853, 1921? ; Esthonia, Oct.- 
. ! Various enquiries covering both workers and officials, without making any distine- 
tion in the statistics between these two classes, have not been taken into account. 
? The Belgian enquiry of 1891 has not been utilised, owing to the objections raised to 
the conditions under which it was carried out. (Cf. Dr. Ernst ENGEL: Die Lebenskosten 
belgischer Arbeiterfamilien früher und jetzt.)