BOCHUM.
79
as the custom was,they suggest in their obscurity rather the “back houses” of
congested towns than the historical type of domestic architecture in this part of
Westphalia. In general there is little crowding of buildings in Bochum. There
is still abundant space and it is liberally used ; narrow courtyards are unusual.
Bochum is smoky and grimy and untidy, not from fault of government but as
the result of its industrial character and environment. Brick faced with plaster is
the usual building material, and when finished the surface is painted in yellow,
light green, red, grey, even white, but these colours are speedily effaced
by the all-pervading smoke. The houses have monotonous fronts, with
little or no ornament or at best a modest attempt at relief in stucco or
a course of coloured tiles. The town has grown to its present form and
proportions without conformity to deliberate plan. The business streets are
narrow, even to the exclusion by police ordinance of cyclists, and the
tramway system, which is not yet municipalised, works here with a single
line. The best of the streets "are paved with setts, but many streets are
not paved at all, and in the less improved districts the causeways are not
flagged. Several lines of railway transect the town, with the result of level
crossings which seriously inconvenience traffic. There are signs that the
municipality is struggling with a heavy task, and the recent incorporation
of several undeveloped suburbs has enormously added to its administrative
obligations. A complete system of sewerage remains yet an object of desire,
for in the past the value of sanitation has been inadequately recognised.
In the industrial and poorer parts of the town open gullies, obstructed drains,
noisome cesspools, and accumulations of unregarded refuse offend the senses,
though neglected areas like these are counterbalanced by many well-kept
thoroughfares in parts of the town more exposed to public gaze.
The undertakings carried on by the town include the gasworks, waterworks,
electric light and power works, abattoir, a people’s library and reading-room, a
swimming and bathing establishment, arid a savings bank ; it also subsidises the
drama and music to the extent of £400 per annum. At the end of the
financial year 1904 -1905 the town owned real estate to the value of £850,000,
and property of all kinds to the value of £1,070,000, against loans to the
amount of £860,000, leaving a credit balance of £210,000.
The working population of Bochum and district contains a strong foreign
element, and a far stronger admixture of Polish labour, drawn to Westphalia on
the one hand by attractive earning facilities and on the other by the desire to
escape the stagnant life of rural East Prussia. Perhaps it is this diverse
constitution of the working class that accounts for the large number of
ill-dressed adults and neglected children who are seen on the streets, and for
the very noticeable absence of comfort in many of the dwellings. The best homes
are equal to the best anywhere else, but the normal condition does not favourably
impress the observer.
It is the boast of the largest industrial company in the Bochum district
that during a career of several decades there has been no strike amongst its
workmen. ^ Even to-day, when labour organisation is so general and so vigorous,
the misunderstandings which inevitably arise from time to time are still found
capable of amicable adjustment. “Blue Monday” is a continual source of
complaint in the engineering trade, and the 1 played shifts ^ (^c/efeierte Schichten')
are the despair of some of the collieries in busy times. By way of illustration,
in one large mine 8'52 per cent, of an aggregate of nearly 500,000 shifts
absence the great majority
The loss in wages was nearly £10,000.
The cost of poor relief, exclusive of administration, in Bochum was in 1904
3s. o-hl per head of the population, a higher figure than had been reached since
1886, when it was 3s. 9d. " From 1899 forward there has been a gradual yearly
increase from 2s. 5&7. per head. On the other hand the proportion of the entire
communal taxation expended in this way has decreased since 1901. The
municipal savings bank does a good deal to promote thrift amongst the
