CONSUMPTION IN CANADA DAVIDSON. 23 



mates have been made of the consumption of wheat and potatoes ; 

 but too much reliance should not be placed upon them. The 

 consumption of meat might be approximately estimated after an 

 elaborate calculation, taking into account exports and imports 

 and annual mortality among farm stock ; but to give the esti- 

 mate even a semblance of accuracy we require to have at least as 

 complete an enumeration of the stock in the country during 

 successive years as we have for the isolated census years. Of 

 the consumption of fish and game, of butter and eggs, and milk 

 and cheese and vegetables, we have no means whatever of form- 

 ing an estimate ; and it is doubtful whether such an estimate 

 can be formed so long as 45 per cent, of the population are 

 engaged in, or dependent on, agriculture. The only accurate 

 statistics we have of the consumption of food are those relating 

 to articles not produced in Canada at all, or produced under such 

 conditions that the whole industry is under the constant super- 

 vision of the government. We can tell how much tea and sugar 

 and coffee, how much beer and spirits and tobacco, how much wine 

 and dried fruit is consumed in Canada ; and it is fortunate that 

 these are the articles, the large consumption of which indicates 

 prosperity. We are not concerned with the ethical question 

 whether the consumption of spirits is right or wrong. As a 

 matter of fact, and many a Finance Minister has had to confess 

 it with chastened sorrow, an increased consumption of intoxi- 

 cants is a sign of increasing prosperity. 



Bread stuffs and meats are for English speaking people 

 necessities, and a diminution in the quantity would indicate, or 

 at least might indicate, increasing prosperity. The poorer a 

 nation or a family is the larger the proportion of its income it 

 spends on bread and potatoes.* This is one of the established 



'Prof. Lexis, in his article on Consumption, Schonberg's Handbuch I., 697 n. quotes 

 the following estimate of the distribution of expenditure on food by various classes : 



Expenditure on Food. Bread. Potatoes. Meat. 



(6 persons) 2,175 marks 14.9 4.1 26.5 



4 persons) 1.285 " 10.6 2.4 290 



688 " 31.3 ' 4.8 17.0 



403 " 38.7 10.3 11.6 



395 " 39.4 15.9 3.5 



