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Rh The consumption of phosphate rock, and of fertilizers into which phosphate rock enters, diminished seriously. The consumption of sulphur in brimstone increased greatly while that of sulphur in pyrites decreased. Well known industrial conditions caused a substitution of the sulphur of brimstone for the sulphur of pyrites. Combining the two forms of sulphur consumption, the figures are 18 for 1912-14 and 21.9 for 1920-22. This implies an increased consumption of chemical products. The increased consumption of salt implies the same thing. Brimstone is used extensively in the manufacture of wood pulp, the consumption of which increased. This means increased enjoyment of newspapers, increase in newspaper advertising, etc., all of which is rather a difficult subject to analyze.

In general, this statistical study of the consumption of commodities in the United States bears out the previous conjecture, or deduction from other data, that on the whole the people of the United States were not in the enjoyment of so good a scale of living in 1922 as they had in 1913. The manner in which these data coincide with other data of totally different character, but of economic nature, is impressive.

The consumption of building materials shows a decrease. The building of houses and other structures expressed in terms of square feet of construction shows the same thing. We may see it also in the data for pig iron. The decreased use of that metal, together with the decrease in other building materials, matches with the decrease in the building of railways and municipal tramways, the equipment thereof and the deterioration of upkeep. This is shown in the statistics for railway construction and for locomotive and car building.