BERLIN.
33
and the fish trade is almost wholly carried on there, but the markets are more particularly
used for vegetables, fruit, and farm produce. There is no approach to
uniformity in prices, the general rule being that the prices prevalent in each
market correspond to the social character of the population served, though it
follows that the quality of a given commodity is proportionate to the price charged.
There are also stores of the “ multiple ” type, and every working-class street has
an abundance of small grocery shops, often located in the basements, and
conducted by women, whose husbands follow independent callings.
There are many co-operative societies, whose trade is predominantly a
working-class trade. The largest in turnover if not in membership is
the “ Co-operative Society for Berlin and Neighbourhood.” This society
had 4,947 members in 1905, and its 16 shops had a sale of £33,290.
The " Berlin ” Co-operative Society had in 1906 a membership of 6,000, and
its 1 5 shops in the city and suburbs had a turn-over of £29,000. The Charlottenburg
Co-operative Society, with a membership of 1,265, had, in the same
year, a turn-over at its three shops of £8,500. The other societies are not
strong. The bulk of the business done by the co-operative stores is in
groceries and food stuffs generally, and kitchen necessaries ; but, in addition,
they carry on what are called “ contract businesses,” that is, they arrange for
companies or private traders to supply to their members on reduced terms commodities
which they cannot conveniently stock, such as boots and shoes, coal,
fresh meat, drugs, kitchen utensils, clothing, &c. The members of the co-operative
societies are not so attached to their stores as is the case in English
towns, and the relatively small turnover would appear to indicate that membership
is in many cases quite nominal, and that the shareholders prefer to trade
elsewhere. The “ Co-operative Society for Berlin ” had a turnover in direct
trade of only £6 14s. per head in 1905, and that of the “ Berlin ” Co-operative
Society was still less.
The progress made by the co-operative societies has, however, led to an extensive
discount system on the part of private traders, and especially those who
depend for the most part on working-class patronage. Thus butchers often allow a
discount of 5 per cent., bakers 5 or 10 per cent., and other tradespeople give less
or more according to the class of goods. The discount generally takes the
form of a check in the first instance, and the checks are changed for money or
goods when they have accumulated to a stipulated sum.
A large part of the bread consumed by the working classes is baked at
co-operative bakeries, and the fact is not without influence upon the prices of
private bakers. The staple loaf is a grey mixed rye loaf costing 6d. ; and the cost
of a 4-lb. loaf in October, 1905, was 5\d. “ Black ” bread, heavier in substance
and without mixture of wheat, cost 4¿97. Wheaten bread is only sold in the form
of rolls, which are eaten with coffee at breakfast. These rolls are delivered by
the bakers in the early morning hours to their middle-class customers in baskets
and nets left outside the kitchen door overnight.
Weights taken regularly by the Statistical Office from a large number of
shops show that the 6d. rye loaf has varied as follows during the last 11 years,
the equivalent prices per 4-lb being given side by side : —
1X96
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
Weight of
6d. Loaf in
English lb.
5 26
493
438
4-55
4-60
4-44
4 55
Price
per 4lb.
1
1
1903.. .
1904.. .
1905.. .
1906.. .
1907.. .
Dec. 1, 1907
Weight of
6d. Loaf in
English lb.
4 60
4-66
4 53
402
3 60
325
Price
per 41b.
d.
I
ÿ
6|
It is also interesting to follow the fluctuations of corn and bread prices at
identical periods. The following table shows the rise and fall of the prices of
wheat and rye, and also of wheaten and rye bread, in percentages year by year
