---
title: 'Cost of living 1918, 1944: Home Front Pledge'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cost-of-living-1918-1944-1944/
description: 'Price-control poster comparing two shopping baskets labelled ''Cost of living'': in 1918 a woman reaches up to a basket on a tall black column.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Cost of living 1918, 1944: Home Front Pledge

[![Cost of living 1918, 1944: Home Front Pledge, 1944 US poster: Price-control poster comparing two shopping baskets labelled](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/cost-of-living-1918-1944-1944.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/cost-of-living-1918-1944-1944.jpg)

# Cost of living 1918, 1944: Home Front Pledge

Price-control poster comparing two shopping baskets labelled 'Cost of living': in 1918 a woman reaches up to a basket on a tall black column, 64.6 per cent rise in the 53rd month of World War I; in 1944 a woman picks from a basket on a short column, 25.9 per cent rise in the 53rd month of World War II. The text credits price control and ends with a Home Front Pledge to pay ceiling prices and ration points in full.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
1918
64.6% RISE IN COST OF LIVING 53RD MONTH WORLD WAR I
1944
Price Control Began Here
Before Price Control
RISE IN COST OF LIVING 53RD MONTH WORLD WAR II 25.9%
COST OF LIVING
Here's a war job all America may be proud of.
The rise in the wartime cost of living today
is less than half the World War I increase...
only the patriotic cooperation of the public
and businessmen with the government's price
control program made this record possible...
let's keep up the good work by keeping the
Home Front Pledge:
"I pay no more than ceiling prices..
..I pay my ration points in full."
UNITED STATES OFFICE OF PRICE ADMINISTRATION
[imprint:] ☆ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944—O—580381
```

[← Correct pick-up, avoid hernia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/correct-pick-up-avoid-hernia-1944/) [Cost of living in two wars: Keep up the good work, keep down living costs →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cost-of-living-in-two-wars-1944/)

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