Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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177 DORTMUND. Dortmund, the largest town of the Prussian Province of Westphalia,, situated amid the Hellweg plain in the north-east of the Rhineland-Westphalian industrial district, is one of the chief centres of the coal and iron industries, and is also famous for its breweries. Its great development began in the middle of last century, since when it has progressed in population and prosperity with extraordinary rapidity. The following Table shows the rate at which the population has increased since 1850, without any great extension of municipal territory :— Year. Population. 1850 1860 1870 1880 1885 1890 1895 1900 1905 11,216 21,477 39,385 66,544 78,435 89,663 111,232 142,733 Decennial Increase per cent. 9149 83 38 68 96 3474 5919 175,571 2301* * In five years. In 1905 there was an excess of males over females of 5,467, viz., 90,519 against 85,052. This phenomenal increase in the population has been due partly to a high birth-rate (the natural rate of increase during the past few years averaging over 22 per thousand per annum), but chiefly to a steady influx of workmen of whom only a small percentage are German, the great majority being Austrians, Italians, and especially Poles from the eastern provinces of Prussia and from beyond the German borders. Some not altogether satisfactory results of this immigration will be noticed subsequently. The following were the birth and death rates, with the infant mortality rates, for the years 1901-1905 :— Year. 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 Birth-rate per 1,000 of Population. 42 9 421 42 0 411 40-7 Death-rate per 1,000 of Population. 19 9 19 5 19-4 19-8 18-2 Infantile Mortality per 1,000 Births 190 159 169 181 184 The town retains a number of memorials of its past history. The walls were abolished soon after 1860, and replaced by broad promenades, but many old buildings still remain, including the ancient Rathaus, now used as a town museum, the old Guildhall, which dates from the commencement of the fifteenth century, and three large mediaeval churches. A certain number of old houses remain in the centre of the town, but they are rapidly giving way before the new buildings and improvements. In the outer districts of the town new streets of houses are rising swiftly to meet the increased needs ; the number of inhabited houses advanced from 7,321 in 1900 to 9,184 in 1905. The result of these changes in the centre, and of developments elsewheie, is that the whole town presents a curiously unfinished and transitional appearance. Ihe municipal authorities have taken the utmost trouble to control this development as much as possible ; they haVe marked out large areas, chiefly in the centre and south, in which factories are not permitted at all, and in the new industrial districts, which are mainly in the north and west, they have shown praiseworthy activitv in the acquisition of land and the planning of streets, often radiating from squares or 11 circuses, ' so as to secure sufficient width and open spaces, and to facilitate the provision of means of transit. z 29088

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