22 BULLETIN 1317, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
less than one-fourth of the total in the rural districts, the number of 
straight meat markets in the entire country may be estimated as 
approximately 30,000. Since a considerable number of those who sell 
both meats and groceries are primarily meat dealers, it may be esti- 
mated that approximately 50,000 retail concerns in the entire country 
are primarily meat markets. 
In view of* the fact that among the cities canvassed the ratio of 
the number of meat stores to population was found in some instances 
to be twice or even three times as great as in other cities of sub- 
stantially the same size, it will be understood that the foregoing esti- 
mates, based *tvpon the number of retailing concerns in cities includ- 
ing 5.30 per cent of the total urban population and in rural districts 
including 0.35 per cent of the total rural population, should be^ 
regarded as merely a rough approximation. However, a comparison 
of the results of the canvass with data as to occupations from the 
census of 1920, furnishes some evidence of the accuracy of these 
estimates. For the census of 1920 the total number in the entire 
country reported as " butchers and meat dealers " was 122,105 and as 
" meat cutters " 22,884. Since for the census each person was classi- 
fied under his principal occupation as reported by him, many per- 
sons selling fresh meats along with other merchandise were enumer- 
ated as retail dealers in "groceries," "produce and provisions," or 
" general stores." On the other hand, many of those reported as 
butchers and meat dealers were merely employees of dealers or were 
engaged in slaughtering rather than in selling at retail. 
In the eight large cities canvassed the number o: straight meat 
markets was approximately 25 per cent and the total number of con- 
cerns selling fresh meat at retail, both meat markets and combi- 
nation stores, was approximately TO per cent of the number of persons 
reporting their occupation to the census as butchers and meat dealers. 
(See Table 9.) In smaller cities the number of concerns selling 
fresh meats doubtless bears a higher percentage relation to the num- 
ber reporting their occupation as butchers or meat dealers, since 
with smaller retail establishments there are not so many empk^ees. 
If for the country as a whole the number of concerns selling fresh 
meats at retail be estimated as 80 per cent of the number reporting 
their occupation to the census as butchers and meat dealers, the 
total number of concerns selling fresh meats at retail is approxi- 
mately 100,000, the total estimated on the basis of the canvass of 
representative districts. 
Among cities of more than 100,000 population, Birmingham, Ala., 
Hartford, Conn., Des Moines, Iowa, and Lowell, Mass., with 482, 
633, 655, and 696 inhabitants per store respectively, have the largest 
number of stores relative to population, whereas Portland, Oreg., 
and St. Paul, Minn., with 1,443 and 1,297 inhabitants per store, 
respectively, have the smallest number. Among some of the smaller 
places the contrast is even greater. The wide disparity is largely 
explainable by the comparative prevalence of straight meat markets 
and combination stores. Since the volume of meat sales for combina- 
tion meat and grocery stores is comparatively low, it is not sur- 
prising that cities with a high percentage of establishments of this 
type retailing fresh meats have a larger number of stores relative to 
population than cities where straight meat markets and stalls in 
public markets prevail. (See Tables 1 and 8.) 
