Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-01-03
COST OF CHRISTMAS.
AMERICA SPENDS MORE THAN
ANY OTHER COUNTRY.
Presents. Trees. Dinners and Other
Things TotaIsd UP. In All About
$40 600 600.


Presents. Trees. Dinners and Other
Things TotaIsd UP. In All About
SO. 900. 900.
America spends more on Christmas
than any other country.
This. says Foster Coates, was the
gist Of what veteran market man
told me--a very Carroll ID. Wright
when IL came to statistics about
game, provisions and the capacity of
the American people to consume
these and other things. What is
more, he figured out results that
made me open my eyes, to say the
least. ] had no idea that the Ameri-
can people had such an appetite,
even at Christmas.
First he started in with turkeys,
There being over 10000, 600 people
in the United States, the number Of
families might be set down at near to
10000, 600. Allowing that one-half
of these families had turkey, the
number would be 10, 600, 600 turkeys
consumed-not an extravaganza esti-
mate. Some of these will be large,
some small, but eight pounds per
turkey will be good enough aver
age, and that makes $4,000 900
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 turkeys will bring
more, and you see that the turkey
will foot up $S,000,000.
My informant said that turkey
was the biggest item in the Christ
mas bill, for the reason that Ameri-
cans who do not care much for turkey
eat it as duty at Christmas time.
OF course, good many eat chickens
and great minority can afford game.
The man Of figures puts the outlay
in this way down at ", 900, 900, and
said the figures were low.
'Cranberries you want to figure
on, too" said my statistician, 'and
you're safe to figure on a pound for
each family. Some of them will
take good many pounds and some
of them none. Figure 'em at eight
cents pound"
l did and footed up $1,000, 600 as
the cranberry outlay. Verify figures
were mounting up and / wondered
how all this was to be accomplished
in the way of eating when money is
so high.
"Then there's the mince pie, the
statistician went on. Every one
doesn't eat mince pie, but I'll VEN
ture anything that 100000 of
them will be baked They are not
so popular in this city, but in the
country districts they make shelves
upon shelves Of them. That's where
the 100000 come in. If you
bought these pies in the city you
would have to pay twenty cents and
more apiece for them. Made in q
farmhouse, with cheap labor, put 'em
down at say eight cents pie, and
you get $500, 600 for mince pies.
l figured on 10, 900, 600 trees at fifty
cents and the bill for Christmas trees
ran up to S., 900, 600 more. 1t looked
too big. The tree merchant remarked
that it was not and that this was a
big country. He went on to say that
the other green's, holly, ivy, mistle-
toe and all that sort of thing would
foot up million or two more. put
down 81, 600, 600 and gazed once more
in awe at the swelling total of Christ
mas cost.
Christmas toys! To be sure they
must not be forgotten. Ten million
at least of little ones figured in this.
The head of q mammoth toy house
pondered when he was asked what
the Christmas toy trade amounted to
in the whole.
well, you might put it down at
about dollar family on the aver
age. Some spend 500 and some ten
cents, so it is hard to estimate the
of the total expenditure"
l did not put the figure at dollar
a family. / put it at fifty cents. 1t
looked more modest, and even at that
I got total of some $40, 600, 900.
Next saw some big dealers in jew
elry and novelties, such as are in
vogue as Christmas presents, and
again the figures were astonishing.
Putting the various estimates the
smallest ones at that-together, and
then adding them, / could not get the
total below $40, 900, 900.