404 
PLAUEN. 
(provided at a cost of £18,000 exclusive of the value of the site), which it leases 
to an entrepreneur on such terms as to ensure cheap rates of admission ; and the 
town orchestra to which it contributes 20,000 marks (£ 1,000) per annum. 
The growth of Plauen may be said to date from the time when the first 
embroidering machine was set up in the "town in 1857. In that year the 
population was just under 15,000. By 1871 this figure had grown to 23,355, 
and by 1905 to over 105,000. At no period of the town’s history, however, has 
the population increased so rapidly as during the 10 years from 1896 to 1905. 
This is partly attributable to the incorporation of outlying parishes (in 1899, 
1900, and 1903) and the introduction of a regiment of 1,800 men. 
Year. 
Population at date 
of Census. 
Increase. 
Increase per cent. 
1871 
1875 
1880 
1885 
1890 
1895 
1900 
1905 
23,355 
28,756 
35,078 
42,848 
47,006 
55,191 
73,888 
105,381 
5,401 
6,322 
7,770 
4,158 
8,185 
18,697 
31,493 
231 
220 
222 
9*7 
17 1 
33 9 
426 
The general tendency during recent years has been one of declining 
mortality, combined with a stationary birth-rate. Thus the deaths, which 
represented a rate of 19T per 1,000 inhabitants in the period 1896-1900, fell to 
17 7 per 1,000 in 1901-5, while the births, representing 38*8 per 1,000 
inhabitants in 1896-1900, still stood as high as 38"0 in 1901-5. The decline 
in mortality among infants during the past 10 years has been similar to that 
in the general mortality, for while in 1896-1900 there were on an average 232 
deaths of infants under a year old to every 1,000 births, the corresponding pro 
portion in 1901-5 was only 213. 
The following Table shows the birth-rates, and death-rates, and rates of 
infantile mortality for the five years, 1901-5 :— 
Year. 
Birth-rate per 1,000 
of Population. 
1901 
1902 
1903 
1904 
1905 
39-7 
38-0 
373 
37 6 
37 6 
Death-rate per 1,000 Infantile mortality rate 
of Population. j per 1,000 Ilirths. 
17-6 
17-8 
17*9 
186 
16-9 
198 
211 
224 
230 
204 
The arrival of new settlers has contributed more towards the growth of the 
population since 1896 than the excess of births over deaths. Taking those years 
in which no incorporation of outlying parishes took place, viz., 1896, 1897, 
1898, 1901, 1902, 1904, and 1905, one finds the average natural rate of yearly 
increase to have been 21 per cent., as against 3 3 percent, due to the excess of 
arrivals over departures. 
Occupations, Wages, and Hours of Labour. 
On May 1st, 1906, there were 23,907 workpeople of all ages employed in 
1,842 industrial establishments subject to inspection as factories or workshops in 
Plauen. The accompanying table classifies these establishments and work-