20 BULLETIN 1443, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Question 12. — (d) Does your meat dealer extend a charge service? 
(e) Do you ordinarily have your meat charged? (Table 22.) 
In compiling the replies to these questions only those questionnaires 
on which both questions were answered were used. Comparison was 
thus made possible between both questions for the same group of 
housewives. 
In the American white group, 66 per cent of the 374 housewives of 
the poor class stated that they traded at shops where credit was 
granted to customers, but only 29.4 per cent of the group had their 
purchases charged. Of the 383 housewives of the middle class, 66.3 
per cent stated that their meat dealers extended credit service, but 
only 27.7 per cent of the group had their meat charged. In the well- 
to-do class, 74.8 per cent of the 413 housewives said that their dealers 
offered credit service, and 54.5 per cent of the group availed them- 
selves of this service. In the wealthy group, 84.5 per cent of the 440 
housewives stated that their dealers extended credit, and 73.4 per cent 
of the group had their meat charged. 
Credit was not so commonly offered in the markets patronized by 
the colored group, according to the replies of the 238 housewives of 
this group. In the poor class, 41.2 per cent of the housewives traded 
at stores where credit was offered and 15.1 per cent had their meat 
charged. The results in the middle class were similar, 48.7 per cent 
of the replies indicating that trading was done at stores extending 
credit, and only 21 per cent of the housewives having meat charged. 
In the foreign group, 61.5 per cent of the English housewives traded 
at credit stores and 23.1 per cent charged their purchases. About 
83.3 per cent of the French patronized the credit store and 63.3 per 
cent had meat charged ordinarily, 86.4 per cent of the German group 
went to credit stores but only 33.9 per cent had an account, 76.4 per 
cent of the Italian group traded at stores where credit was offered and 
45.5 per cent availed themselves of this service, 97.8 per cent of the 
Russians traded at credit stores and 65.2 per cent had a charge 
account, and 70.6 per cent of the Scandinavian group purchased 
meat at credit stores but only 23.5 per cent had their purchases 
charged. 
The results of this question are not to be taken as indicative of 
the preferences of the various groups for credit or for cash stores. 
Neither are the extents to which various groups availed themselves of 
credit service to be taken as measures of their desires for the service. 
The desirability of certain groups or portions of groups as credit risks 
varies greatly, and it is this factor which was probably of greatest influ- 
ence in bringing about the differences noted among the groups in the 
use of credit service. 
Question 12. — (/) What quality of meat does your dealer handle? (Table 23.) 
In the American white group, 1,748 housewives living in 10 cities 
answered this question. Their answers were found to be grouped, 
in six major classes. These answers and the percentage of the total 
number of housewives whose answers fell in each each class were: 
Best, 34.6 per cent; very good, 13.9 per cent; good, 43.1 per cent; 
fair, 7.3 per cent; ordinary, 0.9 per cent; and poor, 0.2 per cent. 
It was observed that housewives' knowledge of grades of meat was 
usually very slight. This conclusion was based on a comparison of 
the percentages indicative of the replies of the housewives with the 
