400 
OSCHERSLEBEN. 
The predominant rents paid by the working classes at Oschersleben are 
shown in the following table, based on a classification of nearly 1,000 individual 
rents ; the kitchen is counted as a room in each case :— 
would be low, and the above figures point to the fact that rent at Oschersleben 
is lower than in any other of the 33 towns included in the present inquiry. 
Representing rent at Berlin by 100, the corresponding figure for Oschersleben 
is 28. 
The graduated scale of the State income tax has to be taken by all the 
district and municipal authorities in Prussia as the basis for local taxation, 
which is a percentage of the State tax and varies according to circumstances. 
At Oschersleben the local percentage for the year 1905 was 180. The State 
exempts all annual incomes up to and including £45 from taxation, but the 
municipality assesses all annual incomes exceeding £21. For incomes between 
£21 and £33 the taxation unit is fixed at 2s. 5d., and for incomes between 
£33 and £45 at 4s. 
The following table shows the amounts paid on incomes ranging from £21 
to £120 per annum :— 
keeping a little shop, which is served by his wife. There are only two 
“multiple” concerns in the provision trade, one with three branches and the 
other with four. These, however, are large and well stocked and undoubtedly 
exercise an influence on prices generally. The co-operative society is unable to 
exist independently, and is affiliated to the parent society at Halberstadt, the 
nearest large town. The local membership was only 208 in 1905, for the 
working classes are addicted to the credit system and fight shy of the co 
operative cash principle. In order to protect themselves against the co-operative 
society, local dealers give a discount of 5 per cent, to customers who pay ready 
money, though shopkeepers in working-class districts maintain that this system 
has not greatly encouraged cash trading. 
The coffee usually bought by the working classes costs lid. per lb., but 
malt coffee is also very largely purchased at 3JcZ. per lb. Two kinds of sugar 
are sold, white granulated and lump, the prices being 2\d. and 2\d. for the 
former and 2J<A per lb. for the latter. Very little lump sugar is used in 
working-class households. Only the cheaper and inferior kinds of cheese are 
eaten, Swiss and Dutch cheese being beyond working-class families. The 
Number of Rooms per Tenement. 
Predominant Weekly Rent. 
Two rooms 
Three rooms 
Four rooms 
Is. 2d. 
Is. 9d. to 2s. 5c?. 
2s. 11c/. to 3s. 6c/. 
From the size and situation of Oschersleben it would be expected that rent 
Limits of Income. 
State Income Tax. Local Surtax. 
Total. 
)) U. JJ LU oWlOt? 
„ £105 „ £120 
„ £82 10s. up to £90 
„ £90 up to £105 
„ £45 „ £52l0s. 
„ £52 10s. up to £60 
„ £60 up to £62 10s. 
£62 10s. up to £75 
£75 up to £82 10s. 
£ s. d. 
exempted 
0 6 0 
0 9 0 
0 12 0 
0 16 0 
110 
16 0 
111 0 
1 16 0 
£ s. d. 
0 4 3 
0 7 2 
0 10 10 
0 16 2 
117 
1 8 10 
1 17 10 
2 6 10 
2 15 10 
3 4 10 
£ s. d. 
0 4 3 
0 7 2 
0 16 10 
15 2 
1 13 7 
2 4 10 
2 18 10 
3 12 10 
4 6 10 
5 0 10 
Retail Prices. 
Groceries and other Commodities. 
The working classes of Oschersleben purchase their provisions mainly from 
small tradespeople. Indeed many a workman seeks to add to his earnings by 
kind almost universally eaten by the latter is made from creamed milk, and is