New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-05-11
TIE CONSUMPTION OF WHEAT.


An elaborate investigation. for the purpose OF
d,ermining the actual consumption OF -four by
the people has developed results which Brad
streets" has printed with much fulncss OF de-
tail They purport to show that the consump-
ton is about 53S7 bushels for each inhabi-
tant instead Of about 4 2-3 bushels as the Ag-
rcultural Department has for many years reck-
oned Certainly this Information would be OF
the utmost Importance II fully entitled TO credit
Unfortunately the mode pursued seems to make
II quite Impossible to place confidence In the
conclusion Inquiries were sent TO about o,OOO
persons scattered all through the country.
about n third in cities. and two-thrds In
smaller towns and villages. asking the actual
quantity OF -four consumed In each family or
establishment during the month OF March. In
Guiding the number Of pounds consumed In the
form of bread crackers pastry and wheat
breakfast food. II does not appear that the re-
plies received. and included In the estimate
were In division between city and country AT
aIl proportional to the actual division OF the
population This alone would render the return
open to doubt.
II seems strange that any one should nave
overlooked the obvious fact that consumption
in such families as could definitely and ntell-
gently report after this fashion would GER
tainly exceed the average consumption In all
families lust as two New-York hotels which
fed 800 and 80 people. reported consumption
Of 4S and 53 pounds per head. against lo'
pounds per head throughout the country. Inc
actual consumption on the farms, where nearly
half the people live, would naturally De much
smaller than In the city hotels or boarding.
houses for the obvious reason that all sorts OF
vegetables. fruits milk. corn. oats and rye. are
freely and commonly used on farms. as they
cannot be on account OF relative cost IN cities
and towns But II is stlll more strange that
the month OF March was supposed by anybody
70 afford n fair test of the consumption in each
month throughout the year In that month
supplies of fruits and vegetables are about as
low and the cost is apt to be as high as In
any part OF the year. and the consumption OF
these. instead OF bread would naturally be as
small In March as at any time. But in the
summer and fall months 1t would naturally be
larger and even in the carly winter months
considerably larger than In March.
or course, II Is a matter OF pure conjecture
whether the consumption OF flour Is for such
reasons a fifth smaller In the summer and fall
than in March. but the supposition does not
seem unreasonable One other error curl
Gus one for a statistlcan to make. also affects
the accuracy OF the result, because all children
under one year OF age are omitted In dividing
the quantity Of -four used. so that the consump-
ton is made too high by emitting about 3 per
cent of the entire population This alone would
reduce the consumption per capita to amout
3 22J bushels, and an allowance of NTH less
-four for eight months of the year than In
March would then reduce the consumption per
capita to 432S bushels for the year. Thus
without any allowance for the fact that the con-
sumption in families which keep exact records
is apt to differ from the average consumption
OF all families, II appears that TIE entire diTer-
ence between the result now reported. and the
genera ally accepted estimate, can be accounted
for II only two obvious errors are corrected.
The actual consumption was determined with
far more accuracy by comparison OF quantities
produced and exported during the years when
the official reports Of production were reliable
Before the farmers organizations undertook TO
manufacture crop statistics in order to innu-
ence the markets, and made 1t politically peril
Gus for any State county official to tell the
exact truth the returns did for many years
correspond surprisingly with other trustworthy
data From such evidence 1t was found that
the actual consumption pc capita probably
rose from about four bushels before and during
the Civil War to about 4.6 bushels In the period
prior to 1890 Since that year official state
ments of the yield of wheat have been entirely
unreliable.