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

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

ZWICKAU. 489 Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in October, 1905, and October, 1906. Predominant Price. Commodity. Coffee ... ... ... Sugar (White granulated) Bacon :— Fat Streaky Eggs Cheese (Limburg) Butter ... Potatoes Flour :— Wheat Bye ... ... Bread, Rye Milk Coal Paraffin Oil per lb. per Is. per lb. per 7 lbs. per 4 lbs. per qt. per cwt. per gallon October. 1905. 11 d. 2d. lid. lid. 17 4|d. Is. 2\d. 2#. 11 \d. to Is. 31d. 11 \d. 5jd. 2#. lOfd. lOd. October, 1906. lid. 2d., 2\d. lid. lid. 17 5 \d. Is. 2#. 2\d. 11#. to Is. 3# 11# 5jd. 2§d. ll|d. lOd. The coffee most generally bought by workpeople is the cheapest sort labelled " Santos,” “ Guatemala,” or “ Campinas,” or else a mixture of “ Cam pinas ” and " Caracas.” Partly for economy and partly as a matter of taste the coffee, before being brewed, is mixed with malted barley, or some other substitute purchasable at about one-fourth the price of the real article. With regard to bacon, what has been stated of other German towns (e.g., Dresden, Barmen, Königsberg) is also true of Zwickau ; only flank or belly pieces are made into bacon. What is known in England as “ back of bacon ” is not sold, the fat being cut from the back and disposed of separately (either smoked or green) as “ fetter speck.” In this form (of pure fat) it fetches the same price (lid. per lb.) as streaky bacon, and is used for giving body to various dishes of cooked vegetables, such as cabbage, beans, &c., or to soup. The lean portion of the back is sold fresh as pork chops. Butter is a somewhat important item in the family budget of the working classes in Zwickau, as in Saxony generally. Returns furnished for the purposes of the present inquiry by 76 typical workmen’s families in Zwickau showed an average weekly consumption of about 2-£ lbs. of butter and 1 lb. of margarine, the former costing about Is. 2^d., and the latter about Sd. per lb. The price of fresh milk in Zwickau was 20 pfennige the litre, or 2Jd. per quart, as shown in the table. Skimmed milk was sold for 8 pfennige the litre, or about Id. per quart, and the fact that the average cost of the milk consumed by the 76 families referred to above was 13§ pfennige per litre, or about lfd. per quart, would suggest that the cheapness of skimmed milk induces the working- class wife to use a fair proportion of it. Coal is cheap in Zwickau, yet not so cheap as might be expected having regard to the fact that it is produced on the spot. The cost retail was iOfd. per cwt. in October, 1905, and llfd. in October, 1906. For the families of coal-miners it is much less, for they obtain it at pit-mouth price. Meat. The meat consumed in Zwickau consists entirely of German produce, and its increasing dearness, which is a subject of loud complaint amongst all classes of the population, is reflected in the declining consumption. The total amount of meat eaten in Zwickau in 1905 was 3,679 tons, or 121 lbs. per head of population, a decline of 5 J per cent, as compared with the previous year, when the per capita consumption amounted to 128 lbs. The staple flesh food is pork, which in one form or another represented more than one-half (53 per cent.) of all the meat 3 Q 29088

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