8 BULLETIN 1443, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
nationalities were arrayed in order by size of household, the Russians 
were found to be first, with an average of 6.2 persons. 
Question 2. — What is the cost of the meat consumed per week in your household? 
(Table 3.) 
The average cost of the meat used per week in 2,479 American 
white homes was $3.49. For the poor-class households of this group 
the cost averaged $2.73. The middle-class household's average of 
$3.13 was somewhat higher. The well-to-do class household aver- 
aged $3.50 and the average cost in the wealthy group of households 
was $5.03. 
The cost of the meat consumed per week per household in American 
white homes showed a definite relation to the standard-of-living 
groups established since the cost per week increased as the standard 
of living increased. 
In the colored group the poor class averaged $0.32 less than the 
poor-class household of the American white group, but the middle 
class of the colored group had an average cost per household which 
was $0.25 per week greater than the corresponding class of households 
in the American wmite group. 
In the foreign group, meat consumption when measured by house- 
hold expenditures per week varied greatly. The Russian families 
spent a weekly average per family of $3.96 for meat. The Polish and 
German group averages were practically the same, $3.25 for the Pol- 
ish and $3.24 for the German. The Finnish group expenditure aver- 
aged $2.40, the Scandinavian $2.31, and the Italian $2.16. 
The cost figures presented in Table 3 were secured as estimates 
from the housewives interviewed. Since most of the housewives 
were unable to answer this question immediately, it was necessary to 
use some method by which this information could be determined. 
The week preceding the time of the interview w T as selected as a basis. 
The housewife was asked to give the quantities and cost of the vari- 
ous kinds of meat used during this period of time. Thus there were 
secured the quantities of beefsteaks and other cuts of beef, lamb 
chops and other cuts of lamb, pork, veal, smoked and cured meats, 
and other kinds of meat not previously included. Each interviewer 
was instructed to be sufficiently familiar with local prices to check 
the housewife's statement of the cost based on the quantities 
consumed. 
Question 3. — (a) Do you think your family eats too much meat? Just enough? 
Not enough? 
(b) If too much or not enough, why? 
The questions relating to the housewife's opinion regarding whether 
the family or household as a unit consumed too much, just enough, 
or not enough meat were asked in an effort to secure direct state- 
ments indicative of the housewife's attitude toward the quantities of 
meat consumed by the household. Variations among the groups were 
slight. Accordingly the data are not presented in table form. 
The majority of all housewives answering the question stated that 
they thought their families ate just enough meat. In the American 
wmite group, 85.4 per cent of the housewives thought that just 
enough meat was consumed in their households, 13 per cent thought 
too much meat was consumed, and 1.6 per cent were of the opinion 
that too little meat was used. The percentage distribution of the 
