322 
MAGDEBURG. 
annum or about 3s. Id. per week. Where a small lumber room in the attics is 
let with the flat the rent charged is 174 marks or 3s. 4d. per week. 
It has to be noted that beyond the water rate no element of local rates is 
comprised in any of the rents stated. In Magdeburg as in other Prussian (and 
indeed practically all German) towns taxation for local purposes bears no 
relation to the rental value of the dwelling occupied, and is levied mainly in 
the form of a tax on income, supplementary to the State income tax and bearing 
a fixed proportion to the latter. All persons earning over £45 per annum are 
assessed for State income tax and pay an additional income tax to the municipality 
amounting to 140 per cent, of the State income tax. The amount of the former 
payable in Magdeburg on the various income classes, within which the bulk of 
the occupied working classes would fall, is shown below. 
Amount of Local Income Tax. 
8s. 5d. 
12s. 7d. 
16s. 10 d. 
22s. 5d. 
29s. 5d. 
36s. 5fï. 
43s. 5d. 
Annual Income. 
Over £45 to £52 10s. 
„ £52 10s. „ £60 ... 
„ £60 „ £67 10s. 
„ £67 10s. „ £75 ... 
„ £75 „ £82 10s. 
„ £82 10s. ,, £90 ... 
„ £90 „ £105... 
Even at the time when the pressure of the housing question must have 
been greatest—as, for example, in the period 1898-9, when the proportion of all 
dwellings vacant was less than 1 per cent.—no steps for relieving that pressure 
were taken by the local authority. A society was, however, formed about that 
time by a number of working men {Mieter-Bau- und Sparverein) for the 
purpose of “ procuring cheap and healthy dwellings for working-class families 
of small means, and taking charge of the savings of members, at interest.” 
Originally each share was of the value of 30a. (acquired by weekly payments 
of 6<A), but the Society appears to have made no great progress until the value 
of the share was raised to £3, for it was not until this change had been made that 
the Society was able to acquire a suitable building site. Four tenement houses 
have now been erected, containing in all 38 dwellings, which are let to members 
at lower rents than those usually charged in Magdeburg for similar accommo 
dation. Thus two-roomed tenements are let at 120 marks, and three-roomed 
tenements at 135 to 165 marks per annum—i.e., at rents corresponding to 
2s. 4A per week for the former and 2s. Id. to 3a. for the latter. In a certain 
sense the Society may be said to be assisted out of public funds, for, like similar 
societies all over Germany, it obtains loans on mortgage at 3 per cent, from the 
Old Age and Infirmity Insurance Institution. Requirements concerning light 
and air and the provision of separate w.cs. have to be fulfilled in all dwellings 
on which loans are made, and stringent rules have to be observed by tenants 
with regard to the taking of lodgers. 
Retail Prices. 
In Magdeburg, as in many other of the more industrial towns in Germany, 
the general body of retail dealers in household necessaries complain that their 
existence is threatened by competition with large aggregations of capital, as 
represented by the co-operative store, the " universal provider,” and the 
u multiple ” concern. With a view to meeting this competition, and especially 
that of the local co-operative society, the tradespeople have formed an association 
called a Rabattsparverein, the members of which undertake to give a discount 
of 5 per cent, on all cash purchases in the manner described in the reports on 
other German towns (see, e.g., Barmen, Düsseldorf, Plauen, Stuttgart). Owing 
to the representations of this Society the Provincial Governor, acting on the 
instructions of the Prussian Minister of the Interior, has issued an order 
prohibiting persons who hold official positions (including, for example, postmen 
and rail way men) from joining the local co-operative society. That Society, 
which is registered under the title of Consumverein Neustadt, has some 
14,000 members, of whom about 11,000 are workpeople, and carries on the 
sale of groceries, bread, and fuel at 30 branch establishments in different parts 
of the town. That a considerable proportion of the household provisions used 
by working-class families is supplied by the co-operative society may be