KÖNIGSHÜTTE.
297
From the above it would appear that except for eggs and potatoes, the
supplies of which are affected by seasonal causes, the retail prices were the same
at the two dates.
With regard to some of the articles enumerated in the foregoing Table the
following points may be noted.
Sugar.—This article is almost invariably bought in the form of lumps, of
irregular shape and size, such as might result from the breaking up of the loaf
with a hammer. Sugar in the form of cubes or of granules is little used by the
working classes.
Bacon.—A great part of the bacon bought by workpeople consists of solid
fat (speck), sold in slabs from three to four inches thick, cut from the back of
a large and coarse breed of pig brought across the frontier from Russia. It is
most frequently served in the popular Polish soup called Sur (Zur). This is
made by mixing rye hour with sauer kraut water, allowing the mixture to
ferment and then adding further water according to the quantity of soup
required. This liquid, to which are added lumps of bacon fat, or else sausage,
is eaten with potatoes and constitutes one of the most popular working-class
dinners in Königshütte and throughout the Upper Silesian industrial district.
Cheese.—This is little eaten except on Fridays and other Church days of
abstinence from meat. The kinds eaten are the German product known as
Harzkäse and the Austrian, known as Olmiitzer, both sold in small pats, the
former at the rate of 3, and the latter at the rate of 6 for 10 pfennige
(about 1 \d.). Samples of these cheeses weighed in the writer’s presence
showed that if bought by weight they would cost 5\d. and 8§d. respectively
per pound avoirdupois. Local taste requires that these cheeses should have
reached a very high degree of " ripeness ” before being eaten.
Potatoes.—These are usually bought by the centner of 110 lbs. and never
in quantities of less than a reputed Viertel, which amounts to about 24^ lbs.
English. Stocks are generally laid in in October, when they are cheapest.
This would account for the differences in the prices shown in the Table for
October, 1905, and August, 1906, respectively.
Flour and Bread.—Flour is bought by the Viertel Centner, or quarter of a
hundredweight at a time, and is chiefly used for making bread. According to
the senior master of the Bakers’ Guild, about one-half of the population of
Königshütte prepare their bread at home and get it baked in the bakery. The
loaf most generally eaten contains about 90 per cent, of rye and 10 per cent, of
wheat.
Coal is bought by the ton, even by working-class families, the kind most
generally consumed being that described as “ nuts.” There is also considerable
demand for a quality described as Klein Kohlen (or small coal) which is sold at
about 8a. per ton, and also for Staub Kohlen (or dust coal) at 3s. 6d. per ton.
It has to be remembered, however, that most of the working-class families in
Königshütte pay nothing for their coal, as most of the workmen in the town are
employed at the collieries and iron and steel works, which supply them with
free coal in quantities amounting on the average to five tons per annum each.
Meat.
As regards the supply of meat, the position of Königshütte and the other
towns of the Upper Silesian Black Country is exceptional among the industrial
towns of Germany inasmuch as a large proportion of the staple flesh food
consumed, viz., pork, is foreign produce ; for, in respect of this part of the
German frontier, the provisions of the law prohibiting imports of foreign live
stock are relaxed and a certain maximum weekly number of live pigs are
allowed to be brought from over the Russian frontier by rail to the public
slaughterhouses of each of seven of the Upper Silesian industrial towns.
Königshütte requires, on an average, 600 pigs per week and is permitted to
import up to 480 per week from Russia. The Russian pig, it may be observed,
is about three times the size of the home-bred animal and yields a much larger
proportion of fat. No other kind of live stock may be imported from Russia
29088 2 P
