Explore "The People of the Abyss" by Jack London on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
When I learned that in Lesser London there were 1,292,737 people who received twenty-one shillings or less a week per family, I became interested as to how the wages could best be spent in order to maintain the physical efficiency of such families. Families of six, seven, eight or ten being beyond consideration, I have based the following table upon a family of five-a father, mother, and three children; while I have made twenty-one shillings equivalent to $5.25, though actually, twenty-one shillings are equivalent to about $5.11.
Rent $1.50 or 6/0 / Bread 1.00 " 4/0 / Meat O.87.5 " 3/6 / Vegetables O.62.5 " 2/6 / Coals 0.25 " 1/0 / Tea 0.18 " 0/9 / Oil 0.16 " 0/8 / Sugar 0.18 " 0/9 / Milk 0.12 " 0/6 / Soap 0.08 " 0/4 / Butter 0.20 " 0/10 / Firewood 0.08 " 0/4 / Total $5.25 21/2 Table