CHAPTER VI 
CHANGES IN THE COST OF LIVING, 1914 TO 1926 
N THE earlier chapters it was shown that, considering 
the wide diversity of bases and methods in making up 
the more important American index numbers of the cost 
of living, there is a striking similarity in results when they 
are reduced to a common basis. Although in some cases the 
samples taken are small, the broad coverage of the National 
Industrial Conference Board’s investigations affords a pic- 
ture of relative conditions the country over, based on pre- 
war standards and taking into account large and small com- 
munities in all parts of the country, with a wide variety of 
industrial characteristics. The more limited index number 
of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, based on 
costs in 32 large cities, gives a picture of urban conditions 
which to some extent still reflect the abnormal industrial 
expansion during the war period and immediately there- 
after. The index number of the Massachusetts Commission 
on the Necessaries of Life also reflects conditions which are 
predominantly urban, but which were perhaps not so greatly 
affected by the war inflation because of the commission’s 
restraining influence on prices. 
In Chapter II the make-up of the index numbers of the 
National Industrial Conference Board was described in 
detail; in Chapter V these numbers were compared with 
the index numbers of the cost of living of the United States 
Bureau of Labor Statistics and it was shown that as a measure 
of conditions the country over the National Industrial Con- 
ference Board numbers were very fairly representative of 
the movement of the retail price level based on the main- 
tenance of pre-war standards, especially as related to the 
purchases of working class families. In the present chapter, 
the changes in the cost of living since July, 1914 will be 
measured by the National Industrial Conference Board’s 
indexes. with reference particularly to their component ele- 
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