67

BARMEN.

Barmen  is  one  of  the  principal  industrial  towns  of  the  Rhineland,  and  with
its  sister  town  Elberfeld,  from  which  it  is  geographically  inseparable,  is  situated
in  the  Wupper  Valley,  one  of  the  larger  depressions  of  what  is  known  as  the
Berg  country,  stretching  roughly  from  the  river  Ruhr  on  the  north  to  the  Sieg
on  the  south.  The  town  may  be  said  to  devote  the  whole  of  its  energies  to
manufacturing,  in  which  respect  (as  well  as  in  others)  it  differs  from  Elberfeld,
a  part  of  whose  attention  is  absorbed  in  the  business  of  exporting  not  only  its
own  manufactures  but  also  those  of  Barmen.  Of  the  two  towns,  the  latter
has  grown  the  less  rapidly  in  the  last  25  years.  Its  population  at  the  end  of
1905  was  156,000  as  compared  with  96,000  in  1880—an  increase  of  62^  per
cent,  while  in  Elberfeld  the  population  has  grown  by  72^  per  cent,  during  the
same  period.

The  population  of  Barmen  at  the  last  six  censuses,  and  the  increase  in
population  during  each  intercensal  period,  is  shown  in  the  following  Table  :—

Year  of  Census.

Population.

1880
1885
1890
1895
1900
1905

95,951
103,068
116,141
126,992
141,944
156,080

Increase.

Increase
per  cent.

7,117
13,073
10,851
14,952
14,136

74
12  7
93
11-8
10-0

The  mean  population,  the  birth-rate,  death-rate,  rate  of  natural  increase,
and  rate  of  infant  mortality  of  Barmen,  for  each  of  the  last  live  years  for  which
the  figures  are  available,  were  as  follows  :—

Death-rate

Year.

Mean  Population.

I  Rate  of  Natural
Increase

Infant
Mortalityrate

per  1,000
Births.

1901  ...
1902  ...
1903  :..
1904  ...
1905  ...

Birth-rate

per  1.000  of  Mean  Population.

33-4

142,650

16-4

17-0

138

316

16-2

146,421

154

129

31-0

14-2

16-8

149,671

111

153,800

31-0

144

16-6

137

30-2

14-9

155,500

15-3

143

The  death-rate  of  Barmen  is  one  of  the  lowest  recorded  in  any  German
town  ;  and  this  is  also  true  of  the  infant  mortality-rate  in  spite  of  the  fact  that
many  married  women  are  employed  in  the  local  factories.
In  outward  appearance  Barmen  conveys  an  impression  of  greater  prosperitv
than  its  neighbour,  Elberfeld.  Narrow,  tortuous  streets  are  the  exception.
rather  than  the  rule.  Steep  gradients  are  not  wanting  (one  of  these  is
ascended  by  an  electric  tramway  on  the  cogged  line  principle)  but,  owing  to
the  valley  of  the  Wupper  being  wider  here  than  at  Elberfeld,  the  town  is  less
hemmed  in  and  the  slopes  are  not  disfigured  by  tier  upon  tier  of  tall  tenement
29038  T  o