SOLINGEN. 
The town of Solingen, situated in the Prussian province of Rhineland, 
13 miles east of Düsseldorf and near the river Wupper, has been for centuries 
the chief home of the German cutlery and fine steel-goods industry ; the history 
of its sword manufacture goes back, to the time of the .Crusades. During the 
last 20 years it has developed rapidly. The population, which was 17,778 in 
1885, had increased to 50,209 in December, 1905, the increase for the 20 years 
being equal to 182*4 per cent. The growth during the last four inter-censal 
periods has been as follows :— 
Census Year. 
Population. 
Increase. 
Inter-censal Increase 
per cent. 
1885 
1890 
1895 
1900 
1905 
17,778 
36,510 
40,813 
45,260 
50,209 
18,762 
4,303 
4,417 
4,949 
105 5 
11-8 
10 8 
10 9 
The large increase between 1885 and 1890 was mainly due to the 
incorporation of several suburbs in 1888. The area of the township is 
5,437 acres. 
The town had a birth-rate in 1906 of 28'2 per 1,000 of the population and 
a death-rate of 15*1, giving a natural increase of 13*1 per 1,000. Both birth 
and death rates have fallen of late years, the former more than the latter, and 
the natural increase of population was in 1906 3*5 per 1,000 less than in 1901. 
The following table shows the birth and death rates, and also the rate of 
infant mortality for a period of six 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 
1901 
1905 
1906 
345 
32*3 
29*6 
30*6 
30*0 
28 2 
17*9 
15 1 
15*5 
14 6 
16-3 
151 
170 
146 
170 
148 
136 
121 
Solingen is, however, only the centre of a group of towns engaged in 
similar industries, with products grouped under the same general head of 
“ Solingen goods.” These towns are Grafrath (population 8,706) ; Hohscheid 
(population 15,382) ; Wald (population 22,909) ; and Ohligs (population 
23,200). The first three of these are not separated from Solingen in fact ; the 
municipal boundary in some places runs down the centre of streets which have 
buildings on both sides ; and it is contended in Solingen that it would be 
distinctly advantageous, both on financial and other grounds, if these first three 
towns could be brought under a single administration with Solingen. Of that, 
however, there seems no immediate prospect. The towns are linked together 
partly by the railway (Ohligs is an important junction), and partly by a good 
system of tramways provided by the municipality of Solingen (but leased) and 
by the authorities of the rural circle (i.e. area for rural local government, from 
which Solingen is excluded). 
Solingen itself is an ancient town, and in the centre retains many of its old 
characteristic features. The streets there are narrow and somewhat hilly (they 
occupy the site of the old stronghold, which stood on rising ground), and many 
of the houses are a couple of centuries old. These houses are of the type long 
peculiar to the Berg Country (i.e., the old duchy of Berg, more or less independent 
till 1814, when it was definitely included in Prussia, to which the town and