The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-04-25 00:00:00

THE STAFF OF LIFE.

The Liverpool Daily Alb ion, in concluding a series of
articles upon the corn trade of the port, gives the following
Interesting and suggestive sketch of the change which hag
been effected in the class of food consumed by the working
classes, and in their social habits

"it will appear a singular anomaly, after the
figures which we have given respecting the grain trade
of the port, to state that during the past 10 years there
has been a remarkable falling off in the consumption
of bread in Liverpool, and, we suppose, in most other
towns as well. In evidence we shall take a particular
district, but any locality of the town would suit
our purpose. Mill-street is the principal shopping
street in Toxteth-park, and has a large working-
class population in its vicinity. Curiously enough,
however, the number of bread shops in Mill-
street is the same as 15 years ago, while in the
same period the number of butchers' shops has in-
creased from seven to 30. Nor is this all, for the trade
of the bakers' shops has declined, while in some of the
butchers' shops the quantity and quality of the meat
shown are equal to the displays made in the foremost
shops of the town 10 or 15 years ago. Then, in Upper
Hill-street, between the end. of Mill-street and Windsor-
street, there were three bakers' shops a few years ago;
now there is not a single bread shop, three butchers'
shops having taken their place. We have, in fact, to
a great extent outlived the truth of the saying that
' bread is the staff of life.' It certainly seems singular
that the use of bread should have fallen off so largely,
as bakers of great experience inform us it has done, while
the consumption of butchers' meat has enormously
increased, when the fact is taken into consideration
that, relatively to other necessaries of life, bread
never Nas so cheap and beef never SO dear as now. The
secret of the matter, no doubt lies mainly in the great
increase of the wages of the working men within the
past few years, which enables them, with their families,
to obtain butchers' meat and vegetables, in place of the
bread and tea and herring of former times. No doubt
the change has tended to material comfort, and it will
be well if the prosperity of the country remains ever
such that the toiling millions of our population may
never be compelled to return to the homely fare which
they have forsaken for the enjoyment of comparative
luxuries. The abundance and cheapness of vegetables
has also, no doubt, something to do with the lessened
consumption of bread among the working classes. Now-
a-days our markets are abundantly supplied all the year
round with vegetables, either of our own growth or
brought by fast sailing steamers fresh from the gardens
and fields of the Continent. And where is the uian
who prefers bread and a herring to a juicy steak, with
potatoes and other vegetables? The hardship, too, of
the working man being unable to go home during the
dinner hour is got over to a large extent by increased
omnibus and other accommodation. For instance, a
gentleman got into one of the dock omnibuses some
little time ago and found that nine out of ten other
persons who were passengers were carrying hot dinners.
When the omnibus stopped he had the curiosity to
follow two of these people into a public-house. One of
them opened the tin which she carried, and it proved
to be divided into three compartments, one of which
contained meat and gravy, the two others vegetables.
She next went to the counter, and obtained a pint of
beer for twopence, and then placed before her waiting
husband as comfortable a dinner as she could have given
him at his home. Altogether, in this public-house,
on the occasion referred to, there were 17 working
men enjoying hot dinners which had been brought to
them by wife or child, and there did not appear to be
a couple of ounces of bread among them. Ten years
ago the same men would have dined on bread, with
some little relish added, but now they are enabled by
better wages not only to pay for a meat dinner, but
can afford the omnibus fare of the carrier. In the same
way, the bakers complain that the retail trade in flour
has fallen off, while oatmeal is scarcely ever sought.
One large firm in this town, of 25 years standing, dur-
ing the first seven or nine years of their business, dis-
posed of from 1,500 to 2,000 loads of oatmeal a week,
but during the last three years they have scarcely had
a load for sale, there being no demand,"