PLAUEN. 
413 
The amount of meat consumed per head of population in Plauen in that year as 
compared with the three years immediately preceding is shown below :— 
1902. 
Per Capita Consumption. 
1903. ' 1901. 
1905. 
Pork ' 
Boot ... ... ... 
V eal ... ... ... 
Mutton and Goatflesh 
Horseflesh 
Total 
lbs. 
503 
45-9 
9*4 
6-0 
15 
119-1 
lbs. 
634) 
47 5 
93 
56 
17 
127-1 
lbs. 
04-9 
43-6 
9.9 
53 
1-5 
124-5 
lbs. 
54-0 
42 6 
8-9 
5-7 
1-5 
112-7 
It will be seen that, beside pork and beef, the other kinds of meat are 
unimportant, and that the decline in meat consumption of all kinds from 
124’5 lbs. per head in 1904 to 112*7 lbs. in 1905 was almost entirely due to the 
decline in the consumption of the staple flesh food—pork. 
With regard to the above figures it has to be remembered that they relate 
to the whole population of the town including the well-to-do classes, who, as in 
Germany generally, are large meat eaters. Among the working-classes the 
consumption of meat is undoubtedly very much smaller. Returns specially 
supplied for the purpose of the present inquiry by 44 typical working-class 
families, with various grades of income, and consisting of 195 persons, showed 
a weekly consumption of 21J ounces per head, which is at the rate of 
approximately 70 lbs. a year. Sausage amounted to 30 per cent, of this total, 
beef to 30 per cent, also, and pork and bacon to 27 per cent. 
In this connection it may be mentioned that there are three establish 
ments in Plauen where horseflesh alone is sold, the animals being for the most 
part imported from Russia via Dantzig. Among the most prominent of the 
articles exhibited in these shops are various kinds of sausage composed 01 
horseflesh, and named after such well-known delicacies as “ Salami,” “ Cerve- 
latwurst,” “ Knoblauchwurst,” and “ Leberwurst.” The last-named variety ot 
sausage, when made with horseflesh, is the cheapest form of flesh food procurable, 
and costs 24 pfennige per German pound (about 2J<f. per pound avoirdupois). 
The prices per English pound of the other varieties of horse butchers’ wares 
are as follows :— 
Per lb. 
Rumpsteak ; tongue (raw) ; liver 3fd. 
Minced meat ; filet steak ... ... ... ... 4\d. 
“ Knoblauchwurst ” (sausage) ... ... ... od. 
Tongue (boiled) ; smoked horse (called " Schinken ”) ; 
" Salami ” (sausage) ... ... ... ... 5\d. 
Fresh “ Cervelatwurst ” (sausage) ... ... ... 6J0?. 
Hard ditto ... ... ... ... ... ... 
For those whose means are insufficient to enable them to pay the prices 
charged for meat at the ordinary butchers’ shops, and who dislike the idea of 
eating horseflesh, there exists the Freibank, or municipal meat stall, where the 
flesh of animals which have failed to satisfy the standard of soundness required by 
the meat inspectors, is sold at a low price, after being subjected to treatment 
intended to render it safe for human consumption. The demand for such meat 
is very brisk, especially when (as during the busy season for the building trades) 
there are large numbers of Bohemian and Italian labourers in the town. The 
prices charged for meat at the Freibank at the time of the writer’s visit 
(September, 1906) were :— 
Per lb. 
I or beef, raw ... ... ... ... ... 
„ „ boiled (with a portion of the soup) 
pork, raw... 
,, boiled ... ... ... ... 
3£d. to 0 
4 iß- 
5 Ja 7 , to 6¿é¿,