22 BULLETIN 1443, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
which the tendency to trade with meat dealers over five years was 
most pronounced were the Finnish group in which 37.2 per cent of 
the housewives replied that this was the case, the French group with 
a percentage of 30, the German group with 44.1 per cent, and the 
Polish with 30.6 per cent. 
The combined replies by cities of the middle and well-to-do classes 
of the American white group indicated that approximately 40 per 
cent of the housewives in Birmingham, Grand Forks, Jacksonville, 
and New Orleans had traded with their present meat dealers 12 
months or less. (Table 25.) About 40 per cent of the housewives 
of the same group and classes in Baltimore and Binghamton had 
bought meat from the same dealers for over five years. 
Question 12. — (h) Why do you buy from your meat dealer in preference to others? 
(Table 26.) 
Of special interest to retailers are the factors which influence cus- 
tomers to trade with them. Forty-four and two-tenths per cent of 
the 2,709 housewives of the American white group stressed the fact 
that preference for the quality of meat handled by their dealers was 
the principal reason for trading with them, while 25.5 per cent stated 
that convenience of location was a reason of first importance in their 
choosing to trade with their present dealers. These two factors alone 
included almost 70 per cent of the total number of replies. 
Housewives of the poor class emphasized convenience of location 
and economical prices to greater extent than was found in the other 
three classes of this group. Both of these factors lost importance as 
the standard of living of the groups increased. Housewives of the 
wealthy class emphasized quality of meat and good service more than 
the housewives of the other three classes. The increases in the 
demand for quality of meat and for more satisfactory service with 
improved standards of living were also evident. 
In the colored group, housewives of both the poor and the middle 
classes stressed convenience of location and economical prices to a 
greater extent than was found in the replies of the housewives of the 
same classes in the American white group. Quality was also of 
importance, but not to the extent present in the poor and middle 
classes of the American white group. 
In the foreign groups, English, Finnish, German, and Jewish house- 
wives placed particular emphasis on the quality of meat handled as 
the reason for trading with their present dealers. Convenience of 
location was of importance to Finnish, French, German, Italian, Pol- 
ish, Russian, and Scandinavian housewives. Economical prices were 
pointed out as the most important reason for trading with their pres- 
ent dealers by 15 per cent of the Polish housewives. Good service 
seemed to appeal particularly to the English, Italian, and Jewish 
housewives. Business and social connections were of most impor- 
tance in the French and Russian groups of housewives. Habit or cus- 
tom was the strongest among the Jewish housewives in determining 
choice of meat dealers. 
Question 12. — (i) Have you ever stopped trading with a meat dealer because 
of dissatisfaction? 
(j ) If so, what was the reason? ( Table 27.) 
Of the housewives in the American white group, 74 per cent stated 
that they had never stopped trading with a meat dealer because of 
