MAGDEBURG. 
323 
gathered from the fact that the sale at the Society’s shops in 1906 amounted 
to £241,000, or an average of £17 4a. per member, of which about two-thirds 
represented groceries (including coal, wood and other kinds of fuel), and 
one-third bread, produced in the Society’s bakery, which is one of the largest 
and most up-to-date establishments of its kind in Germany. The Society paid 
its members a bonus of 9 per cent, on their purchases in 1906. Besides the 
co-operative stores, the shops of certain “ multiple ” firms, some of which make 
a speciality of coffee and others of flour, are largely dealt with by working-class 
families, while the customers of the " universal provider ” establishments are for 
the most part people of the middle classes. 
Groceries and other Commodities. 
In order to ascertain the prices usually paid by the working classes for 
some of the principal household provisions other than butchers’ meat, returns 
have been obtained from a number of private dealers in such articles established 
in different parts of the town, and having among their customers a considerable 
proportion of people belonging to the working classes. Returns have also been 
furnished by the Co-operative Society, Consumverein Neustadt (which has 
uniform prices at its 30 branch shops), from a similar society composed of men 
employed at one of the principal engineering firms, and from two “ multiple ” 
firms, one for coffee and the other for flour. The price quoted by any establish 
ment for a given article has reference to the quality of that article most 
generally bought by working-class customers. From the data obtained in this 
way it has been possible to deduce for each of the articles enumerated in the 
following table the predominant price paid in October, 1905, and December, 
1906 :— 
Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in October, 1905, and 
December, 1906. 
Commodity. 
Predominant Prices. 
October, 1905. 
December, 1906. 
Coffee (“ Campinas ’ 
“ Santos ”). 
Sugar :— 
Loaf ... ... 
White granulated 
Bacon :— 
Fat 
Streaky 
Eggs, foreign 
Cheese :— 
Limburg 
Tilsit 
Swiss ... 
Butter 
Margarine ... 
Potatoes 
Flour :— 
Wheaten 
Rye 
Bread, of rye 
Milk, fresh 
Coal ... ... ... 
Paraffin oil 
or 
per lb. 
No. per Is. 
per lb. 
per 7 lbs. 
per 4 lbs. 
per quart. 
per cwt. 
per gallon. 
lid. 
2\d. 
2fd. 
9# 
11 d. 
11 to 14 
51 d. to 6^d. 
8# 
Is. to Is. Id. 
Is. 2%d. 
7§d. to 8fd. 
d. to 3d. 
10|d. to Is. 0£d. 
lOd. 
4\d. to 4§d. 
2\d. to 21d. 
10^d. to lid. 
94d. 
lid. 
2\d. to 2|d. 
2^d. to 2|d. 
9|d. 
9|d. to lid. 
11 to 14 
5|d. to 6Id. 
8§d. 
Is. to Is. Id. 
Is. 2\d. 
7|d. to 8fd. 
2|d. to 3d. 
10|d. to Is. Ofd. 
lOd. 
4\d. to 4|d. 
21d. to 2|d. 
10|d. to lid. 
9 id. 
It would appear from the above that prices were generally the same at the 
two dates compared, the only exceptions being bacon and sugar, the former 
exhibiting a downward, and the latter an upward tendency. 
Certain of the articles mentioned in the table call for some comment. 
While the coffee most generally used by workpeople is the cheapest procurable, 
costing about lid. per lb. retail, the product from which a great part of the 
domestic “ coffee ” is brewed costs much less than this. In many cases the 
early morning and afternoon drink is made from " malt coffee,” which costs 
about 3\d. per lb. or from coffee with an admixture of some such substitute as 
2 s 2 
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