AACHEN.

49

There  is  no  great  amount  of  professional  house  building  and  owning  at
Aachen.  A  few  large  properties  are  found  in  single  hands,  but  a  marked
feature  of  the  system  of  tenure  is  the  existence  of  a  large  class  of  small  owners,
holding  one  or  more  blocks  of  tenements  (though  seldom  more  than  one)  and
living  on  the  spot.  These  householders  are  locally  known  as  "  four  penny  ”
(“  vier-groschen”)  landlords,  yet  they  have  their  virtues.  In  the  first  place  they
are  their  own  rent  collectors  ;  hence  there  exists  between  landlord  and  tenant  a
direct  personal  tie,  which  in  a  large  town  is  a  consideration  of  importance.  In
the  second  place  they  live  within  reach  of  their  tenants,  and  being  thus  able  to
exercise  continual  oversight  they  exert  a  powerful  influence  favourable  to  order,
cleanliness  and  decorum.  Many  of  these  small  landlords  not  only  take  an
evident  pride  in  keeping  their  property  in  good  condition,  but  they  control  the
habits  of  their  tenants  where  control  is  needed.  Where  the  owner  does  not
live  on  the  spot,  an  agent,  who  occupies  one  of  the  tenements—always  on  the
ground  floor  or  the  first  story—receives  his  rents  and  exercises  the  regulative
functions  of  the  proprietor.  His  usual  remuneration  is  a  rent-free  dwelling,
though  payment  by  commission  is  also  common.  A  less  laudable  arrangement
is  the  letting  of  whole  blocks  of  dwellings  to  local  residents  who  sub-let  them
for  a  profit.  Here  a  tendency  to  force  rents  to  as  high  a  level  as  possible  is
inevitable,  and  where  in  addition  the  tenant-in-chief  is  a  shop-keeper  as  well,
an  indirect  form  of  pressure  can  be  exerted  on  the  tenants  in  the  matter  of
trading.  The  disadvantage  of  this  form  of  sub-letting  is  that  there  is  every
form  of  inducement  on  the  part  of  the  speculator  to  aim  at  rack  rents,  for
he  can  only  recoup  himself'and  protect  himself  against  risks  by  requiring  from
the  tenant  something  over  and  above  what  the  landlord  himself  regards  as  a
legitimate  rent.  These  arrangements  are  made  only  from  month  to  month,
since  the  risk  of  loss  by  vacancies  is  too  great  to  tempt  even  the  most  venturesome ­
  to  take  a  property  on  lease.  As  a  rule  a  whole  “  house  ”  of  ten  or  a  dozen
dwellings  is  rented  in  this  way,  but  two  houses  are  also  frequently  rented,  and
in  one  case  a  large  landlord  has  let  the  whole  of  his  working  class  property,  to
the  extent  of  150  tenements,  in  this  manner.  The  tenant-in-chief  pays  the
water  dues  and  the  cost  of  chimney-sweeping,  and  also  defrays  the  cost  of  all
repairs  below  5s.
Retail  Prices.
Groceries  and  other  Commodities.
The  working  classes  of  Aachen  buy  to  a  very  exceptional  extent  in  the
small  provision  shops  which  are  found  in  abundance  in  the  industrial  quarters.
There  are  no  multiple  undertakings  of  any  consequence,  and  though  there  are
two  Co-operative  Societies  they  do  not  sell  to  the  public  generally.  Co-operation ­
  has  not,  in  fact,  taken  firm  root  in  the  town,  and  the  explanation  is  due  to
three  things—to  a  certain  conservatism  which  characterises  the  population  in
all  matters  of  custom  and  use,  a  disinclination  to  associate  for  the  furtherance  of
common  ends,  and  perhaps  even  more  the  preference  of  a  large  section  of  the
working  classes  for  credit,  which  is  against  the  principles  of  orthodox
co-operation.
The  favourite  domestic  beverage  is  coffee,  which  is  drunk  in  all  degrees  of
strength,  and  both  “  black”  and  "white"  (i.e.,  with  milk)  according  to  taste  ;  the
prevalent  price  in  October,  1905,  was  11  d.  per  pound.  Tea  is  not  drunk  by  the
working  classes,  and  to  no  great  extent  by  others,  though  its  use  would
appear  to  be  increasing.  The  working  class  grocer  only  “  stocks  ”  two  kinds
of  sugar,  lump  (or  “  cube  ”)  sugar  for  coffee  and  white  granulated  for  general
cooking  purposes.  The  former  costs  from  2^d.  to  3d.  and  the  latter  about
2±d.  per  lb.  The  favourite  cheese  is  Limburg,  which  was  sold  in  pats  of
about  11  lb.  at  a  price  of  about  5d.  per  lb.  Dutch  cheese  at  8|d.  to  ILL  per  lb.
was  also  largely  eaten,  Swiss  cheese  at  11  d.  to  Is.  Id.  per  lb.  to  a  smaller
extent,  and  a  host  of  special  and  fancy  cheeses  are  offered  in  the  better  shops,
but  they  are  delicacies  beyond  the  reach  of  the  working  classes.  On  the
whole  quite  as  much  fresh  butter  as  margarine  is  eaten,  save  by  poorer
families,  though  for  cooking  margarine  is  universally  bought.  Much  of  the
butter  is  imported  from  Switzerland  and  Holland  and  is  known  technically
as  “sweet  cream  butter.”  The  prevalent  price  in  1905  was  Is.  Id.  to  Is.  2|d.
per  lb.  The  usual  domestic  loaf,  the  only  one  standardised  by  the  Bakers’
Gr

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