BERLIN. 3 
.As the working classes are localised residentially, so industry, too, has in 
course of time taken a certain geographical distribution. Thus in the North 
and West are the large engineering and electrical works, though small concerns 
are to be found in other parts of the city. The East has become the special 
centre of the wood and textile industries, and to some extent of the 
paper goods industry and the clothing trade (though the traditional home of 
this trade is the Centre), while on the outskirts in this direction are various 
chemical and dye works. The brass and metal goods, the lamp and button, and 
the bijouterie industries are located in the East and South, and to some extent 
in the Centre. The printing and lithographic works, in so far as they are not 
diffused throughout the business parts of the town, tend to concentrate in 
the South. 
Even in the parts of the city in which the working classes chiefly live, one 
meets with few such outward signs of poverty as are to be seen in any large 
English industrial town. But when from the broad boulevards one turns into 
the courtyards behind the street fronts and ascends to the higher stories where 
the working classes live, one is faced with contrasts hard to reconcile with the 
impressions which have been derived outside. As often as not the dwellings 
will be found to consist of two rooms only—one used as a living and bedroom, 
and thus occupied day and night all the year through, and the other a small 
kitchen, which is likewise made to serve as a bedroom—and here may be 
crowded together a family of four, five, six, or more persons. At the census of 
December, 1900, there were in Berlin 4,086 dwellings consisting only of a 
kitchen, and 11 per cent, of them were inhabited by four persons and upwards, 
while over 24,000 households lived in basement tenements. 
The furniture of a working-class dwelling, even of the better class, is, as 
a rule, but scanty, though it should be observed that " over-furnished ” homes 
are unusual in Germany in any rank of life. Where a room is used both as a 
living and bedroom, a table, several chairs, and a simple wardrobe, with 
the beds, generally exhaust all the available space. It is noteworthy that pianos 
are not met with in wmrking-class dwellings, though the Germans are, as a 
nation, very musical, and Berlin is an important centre of the piano industry. 
Even sewing machines are not common unless used as a means of livelihood. 
The kitchen furniture is confined to a couple of chairs, a crockery rack, and 
the necessary cooking utensils, unless the apartment be used also as a living- 
room. 
It is often remarked that beggars are seldom seen in German towns, and 
Berlin is no exception to the rule. The explanation is not that there is no 
poverty, but that the law does not tolerate open mendicity. During the year 
1905, 8,301 persons were convicted of begging, at the two courts of summary 
jurisdiction, Alexanderplatz and Moabit, and 5,152 of being culpably without a 
place of abode ; the corresponding convictions in 1904 were 10,069 and 3,295. 
A large number of Berlin’s mendicants find their way to an institution at 
Rummelsburg several miles away, known as the " Municipal Workhouse.” 
During the administrative year 1905—6, 1,888 persons (178 of them women) 
were sentenced to detention in this Workhouse. Of the men 47*7 per cent, 
were imprisoned for begging, while 48* 1 ^per cent, were imprisoned for 
wandering about without shelter. Of the women 78*1 per cent, were 
sentenced for professional prostitution, 17*4 per cent, for homelessness, and 
4*5 per cent, for begging. No fewer than 73*3 per cent, of the men and 
68 per cent, of the women had been punished before. It may be noted, also, 
that on an average 2,500 persons enter the municipal and philanthropic shelters 
for the homeless every day in the year. 
The city enjoys admirable means of communication both within the 
municipal area and between this area and the suburbs. The electric tramways 
are almost entirely in private hands, but the powers of control exercised by the 
municipality secure the utmost consideration for the community, which is shown 
by an abundance of travelling facilities and very low fares. The State Metro 
politan and Suburban Railways (Stadt- und Bingbahn) maintain a constant and 
expeditious service of trains, and when the contemplated scheme of electrification 
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