328

MANNHEIM.

The  following  Table  gives  the  birth  and  death  rates  and  the  infantile
mortality  rate  for  a  period  of  five  years  :—

Year.

Birth-rate  per
1,000  of  Population.

Death-rate  per
1,000  of  Population.

Infantile  Mortality
per  1,000  Births.

1901
1902
1903
1904
1905

43  9
42  6
414
403
38  7

23'2
20-1
213
20  6
19-0

248
230
238
238
218

It  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  older  part  of  the  town  that  its  streets  are  laid  out
in  regular  squares,  so  that  they  present  the  appearance  of  a  chess-board.  These
squares  (Quadrate)  bear  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  from  A  to  U,  and  the
houses  in  each  block  are  numbered  from  1  forward  round  the  four  sides.
Thus  a  stranger  wishful  to  make  a  call  is  directed  to  A.8,  L.20,  or  U.35,
as  the  case  may  be.  The  arrangement  suggests  a  modern  origin,  yet  it  has
been  in  vogue  for  200  years,  and  there  is  no  disposition  to  abandon  it.  When
the  co-ordination  of  the  squares  has  been  learned  there  is  no  difficulty  in  finding
one’s  way  about  the  town,  and  the  street  directory  is  superfluous  within  the
area  of  the  squares,  for,  though  many  small  “  cross-streets  ”  (  Querstrassen)
intersect  the  main  thoroughfares,  these,  too,  are  numbered.  The  blocks  are
of  unequal  frontage,  varying  from  90  to  180  feet.  Outside  the  old  town  the
streets  are  named  in  the  conventional  way,  yet  even  there  the  block  system  of
building  is  followed.  It  is  in  the  original  area  of  squares  that  the  oldest  and
worst  property  is  found  and  the  congestion  of  population  is  greatest.  Many  of
the  buildings  in  the  by-streets  are  let  off  as  workshops  and  warehouses.  Brick
is  the  usual  building  material  ;  but  sandstone,  with  granite  for  the  lower
courses,  is  often  used  for  buildings  of  a  better  class.
During  the  past  generation  the  economic  life  of  the  town  has  undergone  a
striking  change.  More  and  more  Mannheim  has  ceased  to  be  a  trading  town,
and  industry  is  now  pre-eminent.  The  transformation  has  largely  altered  the
character  of  the  population.  When  industry  placed  its  impress  more  distinctly
on  the  town,  workpeople  were  drawn  to  it  from  all  parts  of  the  Empire  by
abundant  facilities  for  employment  at  wages  higher  than  could  be  earned  in  less
progressive  places.  There  was  a  great  influx  in  the  years  1885-1890,  bringing  over
13,000  strangers  to  the  town,  over  and  above  the  loss  by  removals,  with  the
result  that  for  every  100  additions  to  the  population  by  excess  of  births  over
deaths  276  resulted  from  immigration.  Mannheim’s  importance  as  a  trading
centre  for  corn,  timber,  petroleum,  tobacco,  coal,  and  colonial  produce,  which
come  and  go  by  water  and  rail,  continues  unimpaired,  but  it  is  now  the  home
of  many  and  important  industries  as  well.  Though  situated  on  the  other  side  of
the  river  in  Bavarian  territory,  the  extensive  works  of  the  Baden  Aniline  and
Soda  Company,  employing  7,000  workpeople  in  480  factory  buildings,  belong  by
origin  to  Mannheim,  though  Mannheim  now  only  receives  their  ill-odours  and  the
smoke  of  their  fifty  chimneys  when  the  wind  is  in  a  particular  direction.  There  are
many  large  engineering  works,  one  with  3,000  workmen,  at  which  machinery  in
great  variety  is  produced  ;  there  are  gas  motor  and  motor  car  works,  cable
works,  rubber  and  celluloid  factories,  paper  and  paper-pulp  factories,  large
plate-glass  works,  a  jute  spinning  factory  ;  and  on  both  banks  of  the  river
are  corn  mills,  oil  factories,  and  extensive  timber-yards,  which  supply  many
saw-mills  with  their  raw  material.  On  every  side  of  the  town  are  evidences
of  industrial  expansion.  The  road  to  Rheinau  is  lined  for  several  miles  with
factories  and  workshops,  while  the  incorporated  Waldhof  district  across  the
Neckar  is  being  developed  entirely  on  industrial  lines.  How  susceptible
Mannheim  is  to  the  fluctuations  of  industry  and  trade  is  illustrated  by  the
percentage  of  empty  dwellings  at  various  times.  In  1900,  when  the  last  wave
of  prosperity  was  at  its  highest,  only  1'40  per  cent,  of  the  dwellings  were
vacant  ;  in  1901  the  percentage  was  5T2,  in  1902,  6*76,  in  1903,  6*61,
and  since  then  there  has  been  a  fall  to  4*24  per  cent,  in  1904,  2  71  in  1905,.
and  107  in  November,  1906.  In  the  years  of  high  percentage  the  great
majority  of  the  empty  dwellings  were  such  as  are  tenanted  by  the  working
classes.