xlv 
On the other hand the average German working man coming to 
England would not find his expenditure on food, &c., reduced in anything like 
so high a ratio as 118 :100 if he retained his accustomed habits. For he 
purchases, to take only two items that affect the question, 26 lbs. of potatoes 
against the Englishman’s 17 lbs. and 6J quarts of milk against the Englishman’s 
5 quarts, and both potatoes and milk are dearer in this country than in 
Germany. Using in fact the approximate quantities of the average German 
budget, as employed for the comparison of the price levels in German towns, 
we obtain the figures of the Table below :— 
Cost of the average German Working-man's Budget (excluding Tea and Coffee) 
at the Predominant Prices paid hy the Working Classes of (1) England 
and Wales, (2) Germany, in October, 1905. 
Commodity. 
Quantity 
in average 
German 
Budget. 
Sugar 
Bacon 
Cheese 
Butter 
Potatoes 
Flour (wheaten) 
Bread (wheaten in 
England). 
Bread (wheat and 
rye in Germany) 
Milk 
Beef 
Pork 
Coal 
Total cost of the 
above ... 
i 
Index number ... 
2 lb. 
¿ : 
25 „ 
6# qts. 
2* lb. 
H » 
14 cwt. 
Predominant Prices at October, 1905, in 
England and Wales. 
2d. per lb. 
Id. to 9r?. per lb. 
7d. per lb. 
Is. 1 \d. per lb. 
2\d. to B\d. per 7 lb. 
Sd. to 10c?. „ 
4#¿?. to 5#í?. per 4 lb 
3d. to 4d. per qt. 
j6#d. per lb. 
7\d. to 8^c?. per lb. 
9\d. to Is. per cwt. 
Germany. 
24c?., 2\d. per lb. 
8|d to 11c?. „ 
5c?. to 6#t?. „ 
Is. lc?. to Is. 2|c?. „ 
21c?. to 3c?. per 7 lb. 
ll#i?.tols.lM „ 
4|c?. to 6#é?. per 4 lb. 
2&C?., 2#c?. per qt. 
7fc?. to 8fc?. per lb. 
81c?. to lie?. „ 
lOf c?. to Is. 4c?. per cwt. 
Cost in pence 
of quantity in 
Col. 2 in 
England 
and 
Wales. 
22# 
14# 
12# 
16 
141# 
100 
Germany 
; 
■a 
35# 
17 
3 
20 
152 
108 
The average German emigrant to England would accordingly only decrease 
his expenditure in approximately the ratio of 108 :100. In this comparison, 
as in the preceding, tea and coffee are excluded. If we exclude bread as well, 
on the ground that the qualities are not the same in the two countries, bread 
being an item on which the German’s expenditure would be decreased by over 
10 per cent, in spite of his substitution of white bread for grey, the ratio for the 
remaining commodities is only 106 :100. The Englishman, however, is 
hardly much concerned with this aspect of the matter. For him the rise in 
expenditure on food, &c., would be about 18 per cent, if he should go to 
Germany, in so far as he could purchase the same commodities at all. 
Before concluding this section on the comparative prices of England and 
Germany, it should be pointed out that the average working-class budgets of 
the two Reports, while sufficient for the purposes for which they were used, do 
not form a satisfactory basis for comparison of the prices paid, apart altogether 
from the relative unreliability of the data as compared with prices obtained 
directly from dealers doing a large working-class trade. In the first place the 
budgets were not collected at the same period in the two countries. The 
British budgets were collected during the years 1903-04, the German during 
the years 1906-07. Further, while the German budgets were drawn from all 
the towns of the present investigation, and from no others, the British budgets 
collected at an earlier date did not cover nearly so extensive a field as the 
subsequent inquiry into the conditions of the working classes in industrial 
towns.