DRESDEN. 
201 
Retail Prices. 
In dealing with the subject of retail prices of food in Dresden special 
mention has to be made of two facts which are calculated to influence those 
prices in some measure. One is, that a considerable portion of the retail trade 
in provisions (other than butchers’ meat) .is in the hands of a few large under 
takings having between them about 70 branch shops in and about Dresden. 
The most important of these is the Consum-Ver ein “ Vorwärts,” one of the 
largest of the purely working-class co-operative distributive societies of a local 
character in Germany. Its membership on 30th June, 1905, was 23,092 (which 
may be taken to correspond to a working-class population of at least 100,000), 
and its sales during the year ended on that date amounted to £350,000 in 35 
branch shops. A second undertaking of a somewhat similar character and 
doing business in the same class of goods is the Görlitzer Waareneinkaufsverein, 
formerly a co-operative association, but now registered as a joint-stock society 
owning 16 branch shops with a considerable working-class custom. A third 
large undertaking of the “ multiple ” order is engaged in dairying and has 20 
branch shops selling butter, eggs, cheese and milk. In all the shops belonging 
to any one of these concerns the same article is sold at the same price, and as 
they are to be found in every locality where the working-class element is well 
represented, the possibility of any considerable local, variations in the prices 
charged by individual provision dealers is somewhat limited. 
The second fact to be noticed is the existence of a municipal tax on certain 
articles of food brought into the town, the tendency of which would be to 
increase the prices of those articles in comparison with towns where no such tax 
is imposed. The rates are, however, inconsiderable, as may be seen from the 
following table :— 
Rates of Octroi Duty levied by the Dresden Municipality on certain Articles of 
Food brought into the Town. 
(Beer, Venison and Game are also subject to this Tax.) 
Article. 
Wheaten flour ... 
Bread thereof ... ... ... 
Rye flour ... 
Bread thereof ... 
Wild rabbits 
Fish and lobsters 
Butter, meat extract, &c. 
Margarine 
Fresh meat, fat, &c. 
Salted and smoked meats 
Sausages 
Oxen, steers, cows 
Other horned cattle exceeding 3 cwt. in weight 
Calves over 14Ü lbs. and up to 3 cwt. in weight 
Calves weighing 140 lbs. or under ... 
Pigs 
Sheep 
Coats ... ... ... ... 
Unit. 
cwt. 
each 
lb. 
each 
Rate of Tax. 
S. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
10 
' 8 
2 
1 
2 
0 
0 
d. 
2-1 
11 
6-1 
5 5 
0-6 
0-2 
1-1 
0-2 
0-2 
03 
0'5 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
6 
18 
It is evident from the above that the rates of the Municipal Tax are too 
small to have any appreciable influence in the direction of increasing the cost of 
articles lately consumed by the working classes. I rom another standpoint, 
however, the existence of the tax is of some importance, lor incidentally it 
furnishes useful data for ascertaining the consumption of certain articles of food 
in the town, a subject in which, as well as in the retail prices of food, the 
Municipal Statistical 0#ce has taken great interest for many years. 
In order to obtain trustworthy material for observing the course of retail 
piicesof provisions, an ofhcer of the Municipal Statistical Service has to visit a 
2 C 
29088