XVI

Numerous  efforts  have  been  made  in  Germany  for  the  improvement  of  the
housing  conditions  of  the  working  classes,  and  some  account  of  them  will  be
found  in  the  separate  town  reports.  They  fall  into  three  main  groups  :—
(i)  Municipal  Action.—So  far  as  the  actual  supply  of  housing  accommodation ­
  is  concerned  the  German  municipal  authorities,  where  they  have  done
anything  at  all,  have  as  a  rule,  limited  their  action  to  the  provision  of  dwellings
for  some  of  their  officials  and  workpeople,  though  at  Mülhausen  and  Elberfeld
they  have  gone  further  than  this.  In  a  number  of  cases,  as  at  Stuttgart
and  Mannheim,  they  have  made  advances  at  rates  of  interest  lower  than  the
market  rates,  to  societies  formed  for  the  erection  of  improved  working-class
dwellings  ;  and  it  may  be  remarked  here  that  advances  to  such  societies  are
frequently  made  from  the  funds  of  the  compulsory  schemes  for  insurance  against
old  age  and  invalidity.  Other  forms  of  municipal  action  in  regard  to  housing
are  improvement  schemes  (as  at  Hamburg)  ;  the  acquisition  of  land  (the  «
municipalities  of  Breslau,  Stettin,  Aachen,  Dortmund,  Leipzig  and  Mannheim,
for  example,  are  large  landowners)  for  the  systematic  planning  of  town
development  in  the  interest  of  slum  prevention  and  transit  facilities,  and  the
subsequent  sale  of  part  thereof  for  building  purposes,  subject  to  conditions
imposed  by  the  municipality  ;  the  organisation  (as,  for  instance,  in  Hamburg,
Stuttgart,  Nuremberg,  Mannheim,  Solingen,  Düsseldorf,  Essen  and  Dortmund)
of  a  systematic  inspection  of  dwellings  ;  the  enactment  of  more  or>  less  stringent
building  byelaws  and  housing  regulations  ;  and  the  enforcement  of  regulations
as  to  lodgers,  particularly  where,  as  in  the  great  Rhineland-Westphalia  coal  and
iron  area,  the  recent  rapid  industrial  development  has  brought  a  large  influx  of
unmarried  workmen  from  other  parts  of  Germany.  Examples  of  these  various
activities  are  described  in  the  reports  on  the  separate  towns.
(ii)  Housing  by  Employers.—In  a  large  number  of  instances  employers
have  thought  it  necessary  or  desirable  to  provide  housing  accommodation  for
their  workpeople.  This  has  been  so  particularly  in  the  Rhineland-Westphalia
district,  where  the  very  rapid  growth  of  the  industrial  population  in  recent  years
has  put  a  great  strain  upon  the  supply  of  housing,  but  it  has  also  been  the  case
elsewhere.  The  most  conspicuous  example  of  this  kind  of  housing  enterprise  is
furnished  by  the  large  workmen’s  colonies  established  by  the  Krupp  firm  in
Essen,  but  much  has  also  been  done  by  colliery  proprietors  in  and  around  Essen,
Bochum  and  Dortmund,  and  at  Königshütte  and  Zwickau  ;  by  the  proprietors
of  iron  and  steel  works  at  the  same  three  western  towns  and  in  Aachen  and
Düsseldorf  ;  and  by  various  firms  elsewhere,  for  instance  in  the  suburbs  of
Berlin,  at  Mülhausen,  Mannheim,  and  Stassfurt.  At  Munich  and  Nuremberg
the  Bavarian  State  Railway  Administration  has  provided  housing  for  some  of
its  employees  ;  the  Baden  State  Railways  have  done  the  same  at  Mannheim  ;
employees  of  the  Prussian  State  Salt  Mines  are  housed  at  Stassfurt,  and,  as
already  mentioned,  some  of  the  municipal  authorities  have  taken  similar  action.
(hi)  Housing  by  Building  Societies  and  Semi-Philanthropic  Enterprise.—In
a  large  number  of  the  towns  efforts  towards  the  improvement  of  the  conditions
under  which  the  working  classes  have  to  live  have  taken  the  form  of  building
societies,  formed  to  erect  dwellings  to  be  let  to  persons  belonging  to  the
industrial  classes  on  moderate  terms—generally  on  condition  that  the  tenants
must  be  shareholders  in  the  society  or  must  be  acquiring 1  their  tenements.
Examples  of  such  action  are  to  be  found  in  Berlin,  Nuremberg,  Düsseldorf,
Dortmund,  Mannheim,  Remscheid,  Magdeburg,  Aachen,  Bremen  and
Mülhausen—to  name  only  a  few  examples.  In  other  cases  dwellings  have  been
erected  by  semi-philanthropic  societies  contenting  themselves  with  a  limited
rate  of  profit,  as  at  Berlin,  Munich,  Düsseldorf,  and  Stuttgart  ;  or  by  purely
philanthropic  effort,  as  at  Leipzig,  Dantzig  and  Bremen.  In  many  instances
capital  has  been  obtained  by  the  various  building  societies,  of  both  types,  on
loan  from  the  State  Insurance  Funds  ;  the  Rhineland  Provincial  Insurance
Board  alone  had  by  the  end  of  1904  lent  over  £2,200,000  for  the  erection  of
working-class  dwellings.
Local  Taxation  in  Germany.—It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  rents
quoted  in  this  Report  do  not  include  any  payments  in  respect  of  local  taxes
and  it  appears  desirable  to  give  in  this  place  some  account  of  municipal
taxation  in  Germany,  in  so  far  as  it  affects  the  working  classes.  Inasmuch  as