bitrary. The number of eggs consumed (about 12 per household per week) is based on summer records and is no doubt higher than the average for the year.
The resulting index numbers were as in Table II:—
Table II.
Index numbers of retail food prices in United Kingdom. (London only prior to 1914.) Average for year unless otherwise stated.
| 1903 | 92 |
| 1904 | 92 |
| 1905 | 92 |
| 1906 | 92 |
| 1907 | 94 |
| 1908 | 96 |
| 1909 | 96 |
| 1910 | 98 |
| 1911 | 98 |
| 1912 | 103 |
| 1913 | 103 |
| 1914 (Jan. to July) | 100 |
| 1914 (Aug. to Dec.) | 112 |
| 1915 | 131 |
| 1916 | 160 |
| 1917 | 198 |
| 1918 | 215 |
| 1919 | 219 |
| 1920 | 256 |
| 1921 (Jan. to April) | 257 |
| May | 232 |
| June | 218 |
For the monthly figures from Aug. 1914, see the article Prices.
During the war the validity of these figures was much weakened by the failure of the supplies necessary for the budget to be realized. In 1918 a committee on the cost of living (Cd.6980) collected 1,400 budgets from the urban working-class of a kind comparable with the standard budget already named. Among the differences found were the following (Table III):—
Table III.
Weekly Consumption of a Standard Family.
| 1914 | 1918 | ||
| Bread and flour | lb. | 33.5 | 34.5 |
| Meat | lb. | 6.8 | 4.4 |
| Bacon | lb. | 1.2 | 2.55 |
| Eggs (number) | 13.0 | 9.1 | |
| Cheese | lb. | .84 | .41 |
| Butter | lb. | 1.7 | .79 |
| Margarine | lb. | .42 | .91 |
| Sugar | lb. | 5.9 | 2.83 |
| Potatoes | lb. | 15.6 | 20.0 |
The consumption in 1918 practically exhausted the supply, and the calculation of what the 1914 budget would have cost if the quantities had been available at the prices of 1918 was purely theoretical. The committee found that in fact expenditure on food was 90% higher than in 1914 at a date when the above index number showed an increase of 108%. The committee estimated that the nutritive value (measured in calories) of the 1918 budget was only 3% lower than that of 1914. Similarly a committee on the financial results of the occupation of agricultural land and the cost of living of rural workers (Cmd.76 of 1919) reported (p. 43) that the expenditure on food of agricultural labourers had increased 84% since 1914 at a date when the index numbers showed an increase of 108%, and that the nutritive value had fallen 3% as in the towns. Possible methods of measuring the change of the cost of living under such circumstances have been discussed above; here it is only necessary to say that the official index number is not valid.
After the Armistice supplies tended to return to their pre-war level except in the cases of sugar, eggs, butter and cheese; margarine of an improved quality took the place of butter to a considerable extent. The increase of prices over 1914, however, varied greatly from commodity to commodity; thus in March 1921 British beef and mutton were respectively about 161 and 176%, while imported beef and mutton were only about 109 and 100% above the level of 1914; sugar had risen 310%, butter 145%, eggs 200%, tea only 74% and margarine 67%. With this variation it is certain that an unchanged standard would not be composed of unchanged constituents and that (as argued above) the cost of living had risen less than the index numbers show, unless expensive substitutes had taken the place (e.g.) of sugar. There had been no information obtained, however, as to new arrangement of consumption up to the summer of 1921.
(b) Other Commodities.—Next in importance to food comes rent. The figure included in the index number allows for such increases for rates, repairs, etc., as are legally permissible and is accurate for persons who by remaining in the same house since 1914 have the benefit of the Rents Restriction Acts; the increase for those who have moved must have been very variable and for it no estimate is available.
The cost of clothing, which ranks next to rent in expenditure, is always very difficult to measure owing to the difficulty of defining the garments or stuffs purchased, and of assigning their relative importance in the budget, and also there was great variability in the qualities in the shops during 1914 to 1921. The difficulties can be understood by comparing the estimates and method of the Cost of Living Committee (loc. cit., pp. 21-3) with those of the official index number described in the Labour Gazette, April 1921, pp. 178-9; the former found an increase of 96% between July 1914 and the summer of 1918, the latter reaches increases of 210% in June and 240% in Sept. 1918. The differences are partly attributable to the great variability of the increases among the articles in consequence of which the relative importance given to each has great effect, and in this respect the committee's measurement is the more systematic; and partly due to the difficulty of obtaining quotations for the same qualities of goods or in allowing for substitution. The question is too intricate to discuss here; it can only be suggested that the results have little precision, and that the process of obtaining an estimate based on a new budget in which modifications of custom are allowed for is even more necessary than in the case of food.
Fuel and Light present little difficulty when a general average for the country is in question since the retail prices of coal and of gas are ascertainable. The variation from north to south in price and consumption and that between winter and summer is not very important, since where coal is dear, gas is used for cooking, and in working-class households one fire is necessary throughout the year for cooking and this also provides heat.
The official index number allows only one-twelfth of the weekly expenditure for all items not already included, or about 1s. 6d. per household in 1914. This sum is exhausted by cleansing materials with a very small margin for tobacco, newspapers, household replacements, and fares. Insurance and trade-union subscriptions are not included, nor is alcohol.
The five classes of expenditure now named are combined in the following proportions, stated for clearness on the basis of a pre-war urban weekly expenditure of 37s. 6d. Food 22s. 6d., rent (including rates) 6s., clothing 4s. 6d., fuel and light 3s., sundries 1s. 6d. Here the proportions on food, rent and light rest on good evidence; that on clothing, for which the expenditure varies greatly according to the income and personnel of the family and for which there has never been a satisfactory investigation, is little more than a guess based on vague estimates; that on sundries is the residuum when other expenses are met and is probably too low.
The results are tabulated in Table IV:—
Table IV.
Official Measurement of Cost of Living in the United Kingdom.
| Food | Rent | Clothing | Fuel & Light |
Sundries | All combined | |
| Relative importances |
60 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 100 |
| July 1914 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Dec. 1914 | 116 | * | * | * | * | 110 (approx.) |
| June 1915 | 132 | * | 125 | * | * | 125 |
| Dec. 1915 | 144 | * | 135 | * | * | 135 |
| June 1916 | 159 | * | 155 | * | * | 145 |
| Dec. 1916 | 184 | * | 180 | * | * | 165 |
| June 1917 | 202 | * | 200 | * | * | 180 |
| Dec. 1917 | 205 | * | 240 | * | * | 185 |
| June 1918 | 208 | * | 310 | * | * | 200 |
| Dec. 1918 | 229 | * | 360 | * | * | 220 |
| June 1919 | 204 | 105 | 360 | * | * | 205 |
| Dec. 1919 | 234 | 117 | 370 | 185 | * | 225 |
| June 1920 | 255 | 117 | 325 | 230 | 220 | 250 |
| Dec. 1920 | 282 | 142 | 305 | 240 | 230 | 269 |
| June 1921 | 278 | 145 | 300 | 255 | 210 | 219 |
The statistics are for the beginning of each month.
*Not stated separately at these dates.
