FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN COMPARED.

A comparison of the predominant range of weekly rents in England and Wales with the predominant range in France for tenements of two, three, and four rooms is presented in the table following:

PREDOMINANT RANGE OF WEEKLY RENTS IN ENGLAND AND WALES AND IN FRANCE COMPARED.

a

$0.73-$0.85
.91- 1. 10

1. 10- 1.34

$0.57-$0.69
.71- 1.01
.85-1.05

Apparently excluding Paris; see prefatory note to table on p. 68.

282

79

86

78

From the above table it will be seen that the rents paid by the French tenant are only from 78 to 86 per cent of the corresponding rents in England and Wales. If the mean of the index numbers in the last column might be taken as representing roughly the rent level in France as compared with that in England, we should find the French rent level to be in the ratio of 81 to 100. A comparison on these lines is, however, liable to be somewhat misleading, for the reason that rents of two, three, and four room tenements were not obtained from all the towns investigated in each case. It is necessary, therefore, to adopt some more exact method of comparison less open to possible bias. This has been done by reworking all the rent index numbers for the French towns to the basis used for Great Britain, viz, comparing the mean predominant rents of the types of tenements shown for each town in France with the mean predominant rents shown for tenements of the same size in the middle zone of London, and using as the index number in each case the average of the percentages so obtained. The resulting index numbers for the towns investigated, shown in the table below, are accordingly directly comparable with the index numbers for the English towns shown in the report for the United Kingdom and with those shown for the German towns in the report for the German Empire.

RELATIVE RENT LEVEL OF SPECIFIED FRENCH TOWNS AS COMPARED WITH THE MIDDLE ZONE OF LONDON AS THE BASE.

The lowness of the French rents is indicated by the fact that, while the rents in half the English towns investigated lie within a central range of 50 to 59 per cent of London rents, only 2 of the French towns investigated show index numbers higher than 59, and 21 show numbers lower than 50.

The ratio of the arithmetic mean of the index numbers for France to that for England is 80 to 100; and this ratio, or the index number 80, is taken as representing approximately the rent level in France as compared with the rent level in England. The corresponding index number for the German Empire was 101, so that the French rents are lower than the German, as well as the English.

It is estimated that approximately 18 per cent of the rent paid by the British workman goes for local taxation. This makes the French rents bear to English rents the ratio of 80 to 82, which is equivalent

to 98 to 100.

RETAIL PRICES.

FRANCE.

Information as to the prices commonly paid by the French working classes for food commodities, for fuel, and for paraffin oil, was obtained from a large number of shopkeepers in each of the towns. investigated and also from the cooperative societies where these existed. It must be remembered that the prices shown are not necessarily the minimum prices at which the commodities could be obtained, but simply the prices which the working classes did in fact usually pay in the month of October, 1905; and where a range of prices is given it is because they appear to be of equal popularity. The differences between one town and another, accordingly, represent often not so much difference in the cost of identical commodities as variations in local tastes, and sometimes in local standards of comfort.

The following table presents the predominant range of retail prices commonly paid by the working classes for certain commodities, for France as a whole (including Paris):

PREDOMINANT RANGE OF RETAIL PRICES OF COMMODITIES IN TOWNS OF FRANCE (INCLUDING PARIS), OCTOBER, 1905.

In the following table is shown the predominant range of retail prices of the principal commodities in 12 towns of France, selected as to certain geographical districts:

PREDOMINANT RANGE OF RETAIL PRICES OF COMMODITIES IN 12 SELECTED TOWNS OF FRANCE, OCTOBER, 1905.

PREDOMINANT RANGE OF RETAIL PRICES OF COMMODITIES IN 12 SELECTED TOWNS OF FRANCE, OCTOBER, 1905-Concluded.

In order to obtain an indication of the level of prices for each town as compared with other towns, index numbers have been constructed, the level of prices in Paris being taken as the base (100). In the construction of the index numbers, in order to allow for the varying importance of the prices of different articles, as judged by the normal weekly expenditure of a working-class family, recourse was had to "weighting." For this purpose average quantities estimated from 5,605 family budgets giving weekly cost and quantity of certain articles of food consumed by workmen's families in French towns, in 1907-8, were utilized.

In the following table these 5,605 families have been grouped according to the aggregate weekly income of the family (not of the principal wage-earner only); also there is shown for each group the average family income and the average number of children at home. for a representative week in 1907-8:

NUMBER AND AVERAGE INCOME OF URBAN WORKMEN'S FAMILIES REPORTING IN EACH CLASSIFIED INCOME GROUP AND AVERAGE NUMBER OF CHILDREN LIVING AT HOME, FOR A REPRESENTATIVE WEEK, 1907-8.

With regard to the statistics of families with the higher ranges of income, it must be remembered that the amount of the family income is often due to the supplementary earnings of the wife or of children living at home, rather than to the high earnings of the head of the family. This is particularly the case where the income amounts to $9.73 or more per week. As will be seen from the table, the average number of children living at home was, in the families of this class, higher than the average number for all the families from which budgets were obtained.

The tables following give the average expenditures for food of the 5,605 workmen's families to which the returns relate and the quantities consumed by them of the various articles of food in a representative week in 1907-8. All children living at home, irrespective of age, have been included, but returns in which lodgers appeared have been excluded.