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64 
ASCHAFFENBURG. 
index number for coal is 115, and this has the effect of raising the general 
prices index number for Aschaffenburg to 101. The index number for rent and 
prices combined is 94. 
The working classes of Aschaffenburg in October, 1905, bought most 
of their coffee at the almost national price of 11 d. per lb., though as much 
as Is. Id. is frequently paid ; while loaf sugar cost 2\d., and white granu 
lated about the same. Fresh country butter cost from lio?. to Is. per lb., and 
artificial butter under the name of “ Palmin ” was sold to a limited extent at 
Id. per lb. The cheese mostly eaten was a “ Limburg ” variety, costing 
5^6?. per lb., and Swiss cheese at 116?. was eaten to a small extent. The 
general price of bacon was 9\d. per lb., and that of ham 11c?. Two kinds of 
bread are consumed by the working classes. One is “ black ” bread or “ Korn- 
brod,” made of rye, and costing in October, 1905, 4£c?. for the English 4 lb. 
The other kind is “mixed white,” consisting of two-thirds wheat and one-third 
rye, and costing 5§d. for the English 4 lb. The former bread is most eaten. 
The Guild of Bakers adjusts the price from time to time according to the price 
of corn, and the bread can only be sold in loaves of 5 lb. and 2^ lb. The best 
quality wheaten flour cost about Is. per 7 lb. English. There are 43 bakers’ 
shops in the town, and the grocers sell little bread. Milk was sold at the rate of 
about 2\d. per quart. 
The town has a large covered market, in which vegetables, fruit, 
poultry and game, bakery, and to a small extent meat are exposed for sale 
on Wednesday and Saturday, when the spacious halls and the street below 
present a very busy scene. The chief business is done from 7 a.m. to 12 
o’clock, after which the country people may be seen yoking up the cattle to their 
drays and carts preparatory to the journey home to the surrounding villages. 
In the fruit season the neighbouring country sends unlimited supplies of apples, 
pears, and plums to the market, and, at the date of this investigation, good 
dessert apples were selling retail at a little over 1 \d. per lb., pears at from l\d. 
to 2d., and cooking plums at 16?. 
Coal was sold to working-class houses in sacks of a cwt. at a price in 
October, 1905, of Is. 4fd. for nuts of second quality, mostly Ruhr coal ; while 
coke cost Is. per cwt. The usual price of paraffin is 10^6?. per gallon, the 
better American kind being chiefly in demand. 
The following Table shows the predominant prices of various commodities 
in Aschaffenburg in October, 1905, and also at the date at which the town was 
visited for the purposes of this enquiry :— 
Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in October, 1905, and 
September, 1906. 
Predominant Price. 
Commodity. 
October, 1905. 
September, 1906. 
Coffee 
Sugar :— 
Loaf ... ... 
White granulated 
Bacon :— 
Fat 
Streaky ... 
Eggs 
Cheese :— 
Limburg 
Swiss 
Butter 
Palmin (Margarine) 
Potatoes 
Flour (Household)... 
Bread :— 
“ Mixed White ”... 
Black 
Milk ... 
Coal ... 
Coke ... 
Paraffin oil 
per lb. 
» 
per Is. 
per lb. 
» 
per 7 lb. 
per 4 lb. 
per quart 
per cwt. 
per gallon 
1 Id. to Is. Id. 
2\d. 
2\d. 
9§d. 
9#d. 
14 
5\d. 
lid. 
lid. to Is. 
Id. 
l|d. 
Is. O^d. 
Is. Id. 
2&d. 
2|d. 
lid. 
lid. 
15 
5d. to 5Id. 
lid. 
lid. to Is. Id. 
Id. 
2ld. 
Is. Ofd. 
5|d. 
4# 
2&d. 
Is. 4fd. 
Is. 
lO^d. 
6d. 
5 Id. 
2%d. 
Is. 4\d. 
Is. 
10\d.