Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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XXll Inasmuch as the sausage is largely composed of pork, it will be seen that the three forms of pork together constitute about 58 per cent, of the total meat consumption, and beef another 30 per cent. ; the other kinds of meat are therefore of relatively small importance. The proportions, as shown by the budgets, vary, however, considerably from town to town. Thus the highest consumption of Beef is shown by Munich, where it is 53 per cent, of the total weekly consumption ; it is lowest at Brunswick, only 19 per cent. The proportion of Pork is greatest at Bochum, where it amounts to nearly 32 per cent. ; at Düsseldorf, which is lowest but one in the list, it is nearly 11 per cent, and then drops to 5 per cent, at Barmen. Sausage, of which a very large number of varieties are sold, ranges from 41 per cent, at Stassfurt to 12^ per cent, at Aachen. Bacon is 29 per cent, at Königshütte, but then drops sharply to 19^ per cent, at Aachen, and declines to 1^ per cent, at Nuremberg, I ^ per cent, at Munich, and 0'3 per cent, at Aschaffenburg. It may be remarked that " bacon ” in Germany is of two kinds, one consisting wholly of fat, and the other “ streaky ” ; the former is used almost solely for frying purposes. What are regarded in England as the best cuts — from the back—are not sold ; the fat is removed entirely from the back and ribs, and the remainder of those parts is sold as pork chops ; " streaky bacon ” therefore consists solely of cuts from the belly. Veal forms 11^ per cent, of the total consumption at Munich, and 9^ per cent, at Stuttgart ; the proportion gradually falls to 0*7 pei cent, at Bremen. Mutton, against which there appears to be a marked prejudice in certain parts of Germany, is 9 per cent, at Stettin and 8 per cent, at Berlin, but in 19 of the towns it forms less than 3 per cent, of the budget meat consumption. “ Other kinds (including fish) ” are most important at Elberfeld, where they constitute no less than 17 per cent, of the whole amount ; the next town in order is Königsberg, where they form only 6 per cent., and in 19 towns they are less than 2 per cent. Under this heading many items are included—such as various kinds of smoked or otherwise preserved meat, minced meat, game, liver, horseflesh, &c. The fish consists very largely of smoked or fresh herrings. The consumption of the various kinds of meat in each town is of course affected by geographical situation, by local agricultural conditions and by local tastes and customs. Reference has already been made to the prejudice which appears to exist in some parts of Germany against mutton ; the consumption reaches its lowest point in the towns of the South Germany group, where it is only 1 per cent, of the total meat consumption shown by the budgets for the towns as a whole ; in both the Rhine!and-Westphalia groups it is only about 2 per cent., and in Silesia 3 per cent. ; its maximum for any “ geographical group” is 8 per cent, in Berlin. South Germany again has a remarkably low figure for bacon—2i per cent. ; in the other geographical groups the range is from 6^ per cent, in Berlin to 17 per cent, in Silesia. On the other hand South Germany takes the highest place for beef, with 43 per cent. ; elsewhere the range is from 35^ per cent, in the textile towns of Rhineland-Westphalia to 22^- per cent, in Silesia. The proportion of sausage is abnormally high among the geographical groups in Central Germany, where it reaches 37 per cent. ; at Berlin it is 29 per cent., and for the other groups the range is a narrow one, from 24 to 26^ per cent. South Germany is again highest in regard to veal 8 per cent. ; and Central Germany lowest, with 4 per cent. Finally, the proportion of pork to the total meat consumption is lowest—14 per cent. in the Rhineland-Westphalia textile towns (where beef consumption is high), and highest in the Baltic Ports and Silesia (25^ and 26^ per cent, respectively), where the beef consumption is lower than in any other geographical group with the exception of Central Germany. In this connexion it is proper to point out that the average consumption of meat per head of population, as calculated by the municipal authorities from their slaughter-house returns, will be found in many of the town reports to be much higher than that shown by the budgets. This discrepancy is mainly due first to the conspicuous fact that the consumption of meat amongst the German middle classes is very great, and secondly to the fact that the proportion of children in the budget families is clearly likely to be very much greater than in the population as a whole, since family budgets were sought for.

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