REVIEWS 269
three children not of earning age. Two other very important parts of the work by Dr. Chapin are his critique of "Workingman's Budgets in Statistical Literature," and the Bibliography.
Among the more important final conclusions reached by the author are the following :
1. "An income under eight hundred dollars is not enough to permit the maintenance of the normal standard" (p. 245). This is worded as though it were universal but it should probably be ex- panded by adding, "for a workingman's family of father, mother, and three children not of earning age in New York City, according to prices obtaining in 1907." If the validity of the original entries is accepted this proposition is conclusively supported.
2. "An income of nine hundred dollars or more probably permits the maintenance of the normal standard, at least so far as physical man is concerned" (p. 246). The phrase "or more" in this propo- sition should be either omitted or given some limitation.
3. "It seems probable that on eight hundred dollars to nine hundred dollars, the standard prevailing among Bohemians, Rus- sians, Austrians, and Italians may be maintained, but that is the exception rather than the rule when more expensive standards of the Americans and kindred nationalities are maintained on this ainount" (p. 247).
There are many half-way houses on the road to these final con- clusions such as the propositions concerning the proportional dis- tribution of the expenditures among items of rent, fuel and light, food, clothing,, insurance, health and sundries, and those on the variations of this distribution with the variations in income. But important though they are in themselves and as stages in the journey, they are too numerous to recount in this brief review.
Dr. Underbill finds "that in general when less than twenty-two cents per man per day is spent for food the nourishment derived is insufficient, and when more than twenty-two cents per man per day is expended the family is well nourished." Scientific accuracy is not claimed for this, however. This was Dr. Underbill's finding on one hundred of the budgets collected in New York City in 1907, whereas he found a slightly lower figure for Buffalo in 1908 — due partly, however, to a slight difference in the schedules used in the two cities.
The vaule of Dr. Chapin's book can hardly be overestimated. It is probably the best study that has been published on this subject.
