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 Goats- 
flesh. 
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 
Horse 
flesh. 
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 consump 
tion 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 con 
sumption 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 com 
pared 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,” “ Leber 
wurst,” 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