The record-union., 1894-02-10
EIGHT MILLIONS FOR TURKEYS
ristmas Expenditures in Americt
q Formidable Figure.

Christmas Expenditures in America
q Formidable Figure.
America spends more on Christmas
than any other country. says writer IN
the New Y ork Press.
This was the gist of what veteran
market man told me-a very Carroll u.
Wright when it came to statistics about
game, provisions and the capacity of the
American people to consume these and
other things. First he started in with
turkeys. There being over 10000. 900
in the United States, the number of fam
lilies might be set down at near to TO-
900, 900. Allowing that One-half these
families had turkey, the number
would be 100000 turkeys consumed
not an extravagant estimate. Some
of these will be large, some small, but
eight pounds per turkey will be good
enough average, and that makes S0,-
OOO. 900 pounds of turkey, or more
than a pound for each man, woman
and child in the United States,
providing it was all eaten at one meal,
and not kept on hand and picked at for a
couple of days. Ten cents pound, say,
and good turkey will bring more, and
Won SEQ that the turkey will foot up
IS. OOO, 900. My informant said that turkey
was the biggest item in the Christmas
bill. for the reason that Americans who
do not care much for turkey eat it as a
duty at Christmas time. Of course, a
good many eat chickens, and large
minority can afford game. The man of
figures put the outlay in this way down
at S2,000,O00, ana SAID that the ngures
were low.
"Cran berries you want to figure on,
toon said my statistician, land you're
safe to figure on pound for each family.
Some of them will take good many
pounds and some of them none. Figure
lem at cents pound"
did and footed up S1,600,000 as the
cranberry outlay.
Then there's the mlnce ple," the stat
istician went on. Everyone doesn't
have mince pie, but I'll venture anything
that 10000, 600 of them will be baked.
They are not so popular in the city, but
in the country districts they make shelves
upon shelves of them. That's where the
10. 900 come in. If you bought these
pies in the city you would have to pay
twenty cents and more apiece for them.
Made in farmhouse, with homemade
cider and cheap labor, put 'em down at
say eight cents pie and you get SS0O,0O
for mince pies.'
I figured on 10000, 900 trees at fifty cents
and the bill for Christmas ran up to
S5. GOO. 600 more. 1t looked big. The tree
merchant remarked that 1t was not and
that this was a big country. He went on
to say that the other green's, holly, ivy,
mistietoe and all that sort of thing would
foot up million or two more. l put
down 81, 100000 and gazed once more in
awe at the swelling total of Christmas
cost.
The head of mammoth toy house pom
dered when he was asked what the
Christmas toy trade amounted to in the
whole.
"Well, you might put it down at about
81 family on the average. Some spend
500 and some ten cents, so it is hard to
estimate the amount of the total expend-
iture."
/ did not put the figure at 81 family.
I put it at fifty cents. 1t looked more
modest, and even at that l got total OF
some S10,00O,000.
Next saw some big dealers in jewelry
and novelties, such as are in vogue as
Christmas presents, and again the figures
were astonishing. Putting the various
estimates-the smallest one at that to-
gether, and then adding them, could not
get the total below S10,000,000.