CONSUMER PREFERENCES IN PURCHASE OP MEAT 19 
white group, but in the well-to-do and wealthy classes a very large 
proportion of each group traveled six blocks and more to the meat 
markets which they patronized. These differences were more pro- 
nounced when the percentages indicative of replies were grouped on 
the basis of those trading at markets within a distance of two blocks 
or less and those patronizing markets at distance of six blocks and 
over. It was then found that 54.5 per cent of the housewives of the 
poor class of the American white group patronized a meat shop two 
blocks or less from where they lived. In the middle class, 47.8 per 
cent of the housewives, 30.4 per cent of the well-to-do class, and 10.6 
per cent of the wealthy class traded at shops within two blocks of 
their homes. In the poor class 22.7 per cent of the housewives trad- 
ed at markets six blocks and more distant, while 31.9 per cent of the 
middle class, 48.3 per cent of the well-to-do class, and 69.1 per cent 
of the wealthy class traveled similar distances. 
At least three factors contributed to the results noted: (1) The 
use of the automobile by the well-to-do classes made easier the travel- 
ing of greater distances to markets, (2) the occurrence of markets 
in the residential areas in which the well-to-do and wealthy classes 
lived was not so general as in the poorer areas of the cities, as in 
these better residential areas there is observed a tendency toward a 
greater restriction of markets to relatively limited business areas, 
and (3) the employment of delivery services of dealers. 
In the colored group, 62.5 per cent of the housewives of the poor 
class stated that they patronized meat markets within a two-block 
distance of their homes, but in the middle class only 46.3 per cent 
of the housewives went a similar distance. It was also found that 
33.1 per cent of the middle class went distances of six blocks and 
over which was in close agreement with the similar percentage of 
31.9 per cent for the middle-class groups of the American white class. 
The housewives of the foreign groups for the most part traded at 
stores within two blocks of their homes. The exceptions were the 
French and Scandinavian groups. 
Question 12. — (c) How many meat dealers are nearer than your dealer's shop? 
(Table 21.) 
The replies to this question indicated that while housewives did 
not always trade at the meat market nearest their homes, yet very 
definite tendencies to do so were exhibited in most groups. 
In the American white group, nearly one-half of the housewives of 
the poor class replying to the question patronized the nearest dealer. 
More than one-third of the housewives of the middle and well-to-do 
classes, and about one-fourth of the housewives of the wealthy group 
traded at the market closest at hand. The tendency on the. part of 
the well-to-do and wealthy classes to trade at markets at some dis- 
tance from their homes was again indicated by the larger numbers of 
the housewives of these groups who passed five or more markets in 
going to their dealers' markets. 
In the colored and foreign groups, 50 per cent and over of the 
housewives stated that they did not pass more than one meat market 
in going to their dealers' shops, the one exception being the Scandi- 
navian group in which the percentage of housewives passing not 
more than one shop was 49.6 per cent. 
