Untersuchungen über das Versicherungswesen in Deutschland

Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1042018391

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-81635

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Untersuchungen über das Versicherungswesen in Deutschland

Place of publication:: München

Publisher:: Verlag von Duncker & Humblot

Year of publication:: 1913

Scope:: V, 362 Seiten

Digitisation:: 2018

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: II. Öffentliche Versicherung

Collection:: Economics Books

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 A 2 29088

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