204

DRESDEN.

bull  beef  has  risen  by  no  less  than  24’5  per  cent.,  fifth-grade  cow  beef  by  20  per
cent.,  and  second-grade  pork  by  14*9  per  cent,  in  the  eight  years  covered  by
the  Table.
The  manner  in  which  the  consumption  of  meat  has  been  affected  by  this
rise  in  the  price  may  be  seen  from  the  following  Table,  showing  the  per  capita
consumption  of  meat  in  Dresden  estimated  from  the  Municipal  slaughterhouse
returns  in  each  of  the  10  years  1896-1905  :—

Year.

1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905

Beef.

lbs.
46-  97
47-  61
48-  05
47-59
47-08
45  96
4501
40-55
40-30
38-08

Veal.

lbs.
17-58
17-07
16-87
16-24
1654
16  54
1525
1324
1373
3232

Mutton
and  Goatsflesh.


lbs.
7-04
6-97
6-78
6-84
6-69
6-91
6-51
5-19
4-71
4-97

Pork
and
Bacon.

lbs.
68-11
66-40
6371
65  93
68-66
64-46
57-95
5652
60-65
5392

Horseflesh. ­


lbs.
1-03
1-01
1-17
125
128
1-36
1-34
108
1-01
1-06

Game  Prepared
and  Meats,  &c.,J
Poultry.  I  Imported.  [

lbs.
9  24
9-15
8-65
8-58
6-56
6-71
6-  42
7-  74
10-34
8-  91

lbs.
3-19
330
376
3  85
3-50
330
3-26
2-53
2-62
2-88

Total.

lbs.
153-16
151-51
148-99
150-28
150-31
145-24
135-74
126-85
13336
122-14

Thus,  taking  meat  of  all  kinds,  the  consumption  per  head  has  fallen  in
9  years  from  153  lbs.  to  122  lbs.,  or  no  less  than  20  per  cent.  The  consumption ­
  of  beef  has  fallen  from  47  lbs.  to  38  lbs.,  or  19  per  cent.,  and  that  of  pork
and  bacon  from  68  lbs.  to  54  lbs.,  or  6  per  cent.  Exactly  three-fourths  of  all
the  meat  consumed  comes  under  one  or  other  of  these  kinds  (which  also  include
sausages  composed  largely  of  beef  or  pork),  and  so  far  as  veal,  mutton,  game  and
poultry  are  concerned,  the  working-class  consumption  is  practically  negligible.
The  only  kind  of  meat  of  which  the  consumption  has  not  regularly  decreased  is
horseflesh,  though  the  per  capita  figure  for  1905,  viz.,  1*06  lbs.,  was  considerably
below  those  recorded  in  the  years  of  depression,  1900-1902,  when  the  consumption ­
  amounted  on  the  average  to  132  lbs.  per  head  of  population  per
annum.

There  are  16  establishments  in  Dresden  where  nothing  but  horseflesh
(occasionally  also  dogflesh)  is  sold.  Comparatively  little  horseflesh  is  eaten  in
summer.  The  leading  dealer  in  this  article  in  Dresden  informed  the  writer  that
he  slaughters  on  the  average  only  25  horses  per  week  in  the  summer  as  compared ­
  with  60  in  the  winter  months.  The  retail  price  of  this  description  of
meat  is  4d.  per  pound  all  over  Dresden,  irrespective  of  the  cut,  except  in  the
case  of  the  fillet,  which  costs  a  penny  more.  Horse  fat  is  sold  at  5\d.  per
pound.  The  commoner  kinds  of  sausage  (i.e.,  imitation  “  Blutwurst,”  “  Leberwurst,” ­
  and  “Knoblauchwurst”),  made  of  horseflesh,  and  frankly  sold  as
.such,  cost  4cl.  per  pound,  horse  sausage  made  in  imitation  of  “  Metwurst,”
however,  costs  5\d.  per  pound,  while  imitation  “  Cervelatwurst  ”  sells  for  as
much  as  8Jc/.  per  pound—about  half  the  price  of  the  genuine  article,  which  is
supposed  to  be  made  of  venison.  The  amount  of  dogflesh  eaten  in  Dresden  is
very  small.  The  total  consumption  in  1902  was  only  16  cwt.,  and  in  1903,
31  cwt.  Ko  later  figures  have  been  published,  but  the  quantity  of  this  kind  of
meat  eaten  is  stated  to  be  increasing.  The  retail  price  is  4d.  per  pound.
Turning  again  to  the  question  of  the  aggregate  meat  consumption,  it  might
seem  that  the  figure  for  1905,  viz.,  122  pounds  per  head  of  population,  though
greatly  reduced  in  comparison  with  ten  years  ago,  is  still  high  enough  %
prove  that  the  complaints  of  meat  scarcity  which  are  to  be  heard  on  all  sides  in
Dresden  are  exaggerated.  It  has  to  be  remembered,  however,  that  in  the  above
figure  the  difference  in  the  quantities  consumed  by  rich  and  poor,  respectively,
is  disregarded.  But  nobody  who  has  had  an  opportunity  of  observing  the
habits  of  the  middle  and  well-to-do  classes  in  Germany  can  avoid  the  conclusion
that  they  are  very  large  meat  eaters.  Dresden  contains  more  than  the  average
proportion  of  such  persons,  and  these  account  for  a  large  share  of  the  total  meat
-consumption.  The  annual  per  capita  consumption  of  meat  among  the  working
classes  is  less  than  that  shown  above  for  the  whole  population.  This  fact  was