THE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK. 587 



But as abstract conclusions in economic as well as in all other discus- 

 sions are best substantiated and comprehended through practical exam- 

 ples, to examples let us turn. And first as to certain notable instances 

 derived from recent experiences, showing how remarkably and rapidly 

 increase of consumption has followed reduction of prices, even in cases 

 where the reduction has been comparatively slight, and a marked in- 

 crease of consumption could not have been reasonably anticipated. 



Among the staple food articles that have greatly declined in price 

 during recent years is sugar, and this decline has been attended with 

 a large increase in consumption ; the decline in the average price of 

 fair refining sugar in the United States (in bond) having been from 

 475 cents per pound in 1882 to 2*92 cents in 1886 ; while the average 

 consumption per capita, which was 39 pounds for the five years from 

 1877 to 1882, was 498 pounds for the five years from 1882 to 1887. 

 Comparing 1885 with 1887, the consumption of sugar in the United 

 States increased over 11 per cent, or largely in excess of any concur- 

 rent growth of population. Converting, now, so much of this larger 

 consumption as was due to diminished price (probably more than one 

 hundred million pounds) into terms of acres and labor employed 

 in its production ; into the ships and men required for its transporta- 

 tion ; into the products, agricultural and manufactured, and the labor 

 they represent, that were given in exchange for it, and we can form 

 some idea of the greater opportunities for labor through larger vol- 

 ume of exchanges, and the increased comfort for those who labor, 

 that follows every reduction in the cost necessary to procure desirable 

 things. 



In 1887, with an import price of about 16 cents per pound, the im- 

 portation of coffee into the United States was 331,000,000 pounds. In 

 1885, with an average import price of eight cents, the importation was 

 572,000,000 pounds. Between 1873 and 1885 the coffee product of the 

 world that went to market, concurrently with this large decline in its 

 price, increased to the extent of 52 per cent. 



The gi'eat reduction in recent years in the price of copper, consequent 

 upon its increased product and a surplus offering upon the world's mar- 

 kets, led to such an extraordinary increase in the demand for manufact- 

 ures of copper and brass, and such a general extension of the uses of 

 the metal, as to finally not only absorb any surplus stock, but also to 

 create ajiprehension of an inadequacy of supply. For the year 1886 

 the authorities of the United States Geological Survey estimate that 

 the increase in the consumption of copper by the leading American 

 manufactories of copper and brass was in excess of 24 per cent ; and 

 that a very nearly equal increase was experienced in the pi'eceding 

 year (1885) ; all of which indicates a large if not a fully proportional 

 increase for the periods mentioned in the opportunity for labor, at com- 

 paratively high wages, in these departments of industry. On the other 

 hand, with a large advance in the price of copper during the latter 



