3 1822 00639 6758
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ■ 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALifORNIA, SAN DIEGO 
 LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. SAN DIEGO 
 
 3 1822 00639 6758 

 
 BOOKS BY FREDERIC C. HOWE 
 
 Published by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 European Cities at Work. 12ino. net, SI. 75 
 
 Wisconsin: An Experiment in Democ- 
 racy. 12mo net, $1.25 
 
 Privilege and Democracy in America. 
 
 12mo net, $1.50 
 
 Tlie British City: The Beginning of De- 
 mocracy. 12mo . . . net, $1.50 
 
 The City: The Hope of Democracy. 12mo 
 
 net, $1.50
 
 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK
 
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 EUROPEAN CITIES 
 AT WORK 
 
 BY 
 
 FREDERIC C. HOWE, Ph.D. 
 
 AX7THOB OF "THE CITY: THE HOPE OF DEMOCRACY," " THE BBITISH CITT: THB 
 BBQINNINQS OF DEMOCRACY," "PRIVILEGE AND DEMOCRACY IN 
 
 AMERICA," "Wisconsin: an experiment 
 IN democracy" 
 
 NEW YORK 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1913
 
 COPTBIOHT. 1913, BT 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 Published May. 1913
 
 TO 
 
 NEWTON D. BAKER 
 
 A MAYOR WITH VISION 
 
 THIS BOOK 
 
 IB AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Some years ago I wrote a book which bore the 
 title "The City: The Hope of Democracy." The 
 subtitle was received with protest by some, with 
 incredulity by others. 
 
 There was little to justify hope at that time. Our 
 cities were under the searchlight, and the evils dis- 
 closed seemed inherent in great industrial aggre- 
 gations of people. How could the city govern itself 
 honestly and efficiently under democratic forms; how 
 could it assimilate great masses of untrained foreign- 
 born people; how could it relieve poverty, vice, and 
 disease? The city seemed to many to be the behe- 
 moth of civilization. 
 
 Since then there have been house-cleanings all over 
 the land. A new feeling of confidence has arisen, in 
 which democracy is the dominant note. Reform has 
 brought with it the commission form of government, 
 simple, direct primaries, the short ballot, and the 
 abolition of the party emblem on the one hand, and 
 on the other the ownership or control of public-service 
 corporations, the protection of human health and 
 life, the play-ground, and, more recently, the com- 
 prehensive planning and building of cities. Reform
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 is both political and social. It is already beginning 
 to change the face of our cities. 
 
 As yet there are but few commanding achieve- 
 ments. We do not think in big community terms. 
 We have not begun to plan and build with a vision 
 of the whole. We do not appreciate the possibilities 
 of city life. But there are cities that justify hope; 
 cities that are administered by trained officials; 
 cities that are built by far-seeing statesmen, and that 
 consciously promote comfort, convenience, happi- 
 ness, life. Such cities are to be found in Germany, 
 and in a less developed degree in the other countries 
 of Europe as well. 
 
 And this is a study of these old-world cities as 
 they appear to an American; it is a study gained 
 from contact with burgomasters, officials, and busi- 
 ness men in Berlin, Frankfort, Hamburg, Diisseldorf, 
 Dresden, Munich, Vienna, and Brussels; with the 
 mayors and councilmen of Glasgow, Manchester, 
 Liverpool, and London. It is the result of many 
 visits to Europe, one of which was to make a mu- 
 nicipal investigation for the United States Govern- 
 ment ; another was made as a member of the Boston 
 Chamber of Commerce Party in 1911, which went 
 to Europe to study city conditions. It is a study of 
 the things that distinguish the European cities from 
 our own. 
 
 And the German city is an experiment-station for 
 all of us. It is SLfreistadt, a little republic, with power
 
 PREFACE ix 
 
 to do almost anything for the welfare of the people. 
 The city is sovereign, and it uses its sovereignty to 
 build in a conscious, intelligent way. It can mould 
 its destiny as did the cities of ancient Greece. It 
 controls property as well as people. It acts with a 
 vision of the future; not alone of the city, but of the 
 lives and comfort of the people as well. The Ger- 
 man city is being built something as Pericles built 
 Athens, as Louis XIV planned Versailles, as the two 
 Napoleons rebuilt Paris. 
 
 Twenty years ago the phrase "municipal house- 
 keeping" was common in Germany. This expressed 
 the current ideals of city administration. Thought 
 has progressed since then. Men now talk about 
 "conmiunity living." Officials seem to realize that 
 the city involves vicarious costs that can and should 
 be shifted from those who suffer from city conditions 
 onto those who profit by them. 
 
 And already the cities of Germany, and to a con- 
 siderable extent those of Great Britain and the Con- 
 tinent, have demonstrated that many of the sac- 
 rifices of the modern industrial city can be avoided. 
 Poverty can be reduced, and the life of the people 
 be enriched in countless ways not possible under 
 rural conditions. Cities realize that many activities 
 are so closely related to the life of the people that 
 they cannot with safety be left in private hands. 
 There must be provision for play, for leisure, as well 
 as for education. The land-owner and the house-
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAOB 
 
 Preface ▼" 
 
 CHAPTEB 
 
 I. The Birth of the German City 3 
 
 II. Impressions of European Cities 11 
 
 III. DtJSSELDORF and MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 37 
 
 IV. Frankfort-on-the-Main — An Example of Busi- 
 ness Administration 68 
 
 V. Town Planning and City Building 86 
 
 VI. Cities for People Ill 
 
 VII. Protectinq the Worker 125 
 
 VIII. The Vision of the German Citt 143 
 
 IX. The Housing Problem in Germany 156 
 
 X. Socializing the Means of Transit 177 
 
 XI. New Sources of Revenue; The Unearned In- 
 crement Taxes 189 
 
 XII. The Budget of the German City 208 
 
 XIII. How the German City is Governed 219 
 
 XIV. The Business Men Who Rule the German City 
 
 AND Their Ideals 243 
 
 XV. The Explanation of the German City .... 252 
 
 XVI. Impressions of the British City 271 
 
 XVII. How the British City is Governed 293 
 
 xiii
 
 XIV CONTENTS 
 
 CHAFTEB PAOa 
 
 XVIII. The Explanation op thk British City .... 309 
 
 XIX. Municipal Ownership op the Gas Supply . . . 328 
 
 XX. Municipal Transit in Great Britain 334 
 
 XXI. The American and European City — A Compari- 
 son 346 
 
 Index 363
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Letchworth Garden City Frontispiece 
 
 TACINa 
 PAGE 
 
 German Railway Stations 12 
 
 Town Planning Suburban Allotment, Dusseldorp ... 44 
 Frankfort-on-the-Main. Municipal Theatre and R6- 
 
 MERBERG 70 
 
 Streets: Charlottenburg and Frankfort-on-the-Main . 94 
 
 Elevated Railway Station, Berlin, and River Embank- 
 ment, DUSSELDORF 106 
 
 Palm Garden, Frankfort, and Exposition Park, Munich 148 
 
 Berlin Model Apartments. Essen Altenhof. Work- 
 men's Colony 166 
 
 The Elevated Railway in Berlin 184 
 
 City Halls, Dresden and Munich 258 
 
 Port Sunlight, Garden City, Residence Street .... 288 
 
 Port Sunlight Back Gardens 306
 
 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK
 
 CHAPTER I 
 THE BIRTH OF THE GERMAN CITY 
 
 I KNOW of no cities in the modem world which 
 compare with those which have arisen in Germany 
 during the past twenty years. There are none in 
 Great Britain, from which comitiy official delega- 
 tions constantly cross the North Sea to study the 
 achievements of the German city. There are none 
 in France, in which country the building of cities 
 has made but httle progress since the planning 
 projects of Baron Haussmann made Paris the beau- 
 tiful city that it is. 
 
 There have been three great periods in which the 
 building of cities inspired the dreams of men. In the 
 age of the Antonines the Roman people gave them- 
 selves with enthusiasm to the embelhshment of their 
 capital. The public structures, temples, amphithe- 
 atres, and palaces then erected still remain the won- 
 der of subsequent centuries. Durmg the later Mid- 
 dle Ages the cities of Italy, France, Germany, and 
 the Netherlands erected similar monuments expres- 
 sive of the pride awakened by their freedom. Now 
 again in the twentieth centuiy the German people 
 are expressing their love of the fatherland in monu- 
 ments of the same permanent character and artistic
 
 4 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 splendor. Capital cities like Berlin, Munich, and 
 Dresden, as well as more commercial cities like Diis- 
 seldorf, Mannheim, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Cologne, 
 Leipsic, and Stuttgart, are vying with one another 
 in the beautiful, the orderly, and the serviceable. 
 
 Important as are the honesty and the efficiency of 
 the German city, it is the bigness of vision, boldness 
 of execution, and far-sighted outlook on the future 
 that are most amazing. Germany is building her 
 cities as Bismarck perfected the army before Sa- 
 dowa and Sedan; as the empire is building its war- 
 ships and merchantmen ; as she develops her water- 
 ways and educational systems. The engineer and 
 the architect, the artist and the expert in hygiene 
 are alike called upon to contribute to the city's mak- 
 ing. The German cities are thinking of to-morrow 
 as well as of to-day, of the generations to follow as 
 well as the generation that is now upon the stage. 
 Germany almost alone among the civilized nations 
 sees the city as the permanent centre of the civ- 
 ilization of the future, and Germany almost alone 
 is building her cities to make them contribute to the 
 happiness, health, and well-being of the people. This 
 seems to be the primar}^ consideration with officials 
 and citizens. It is this that distinguishes the cities 
 of this country from the other cities of the world. 
 
 Far-sightedness characterizes Germany in all 
 things. The Kaiser seems to see the eagle of the 
 Hohenzollerns not only at the head of his battahons
 
 THE BIRTH OF THE GERMAN CITY 5 
 
 and flying at the mast-head of his dreadnoughts; he 
 sees not only the merchant marine challenging the 
 supremacy of Great Britain and the German factory- 
 burrowing its way into the ports of the world; he 
 sees as well that his people are being drawn from 
 the countryside and into the cities. Already 49 per 
 cent, of the people are living in towns, while the per- 
 centage living in cities of over 100,000 has increased 
 50 per cent, in ten years' time. Further than this, 
 the reports of ministers disclose the fact that poverty 
 has come in with the city; that something like 80 per 
 cent, of the population of the larger towns is living 
 in cellars, garrets, or under unsanitar}^ surroundings. 
 And, far-sighted statesman that he is, the Kaiser sees 
 that his regiments and his battle-ships, no less than 
 the mills and the factories, must be manned by strong 
 and well-educated men. These the city is imperil- 
 ling. It is sapping the Hfe of the people. And the 
 Kaiser and his ministers are studying the city as 
 they do their engines of warfare; they are thinking 
 of human beings as well as of rifles; of protecting 
 men as well as of destroying them. 
 
 All Germany, in fact, seems organized with the 
 definite ambition of becoming the dominant force in 
 the world. This is a conscious purpose, not of the 
 Kaiser alone, not of his ministers, but of councillors, 
 business men, and citizens. The army and navy are 
 but parts of this programme. The university and 
 the technical schools, the colleges of commerce, the
 
 6 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 classical and the scientific academies, even the com- 
 mon schools themselves, are part of a national engine 
 designed to produce the highest possible efficiency in 
 65,000,000 people. Health is studied. Education 
 is adjusted to new conditions. The children are 
 watched over and cared for. There are insurance, 
 pensions, and hundreds of agencies to protect the 
 worker from accidents, disease, and even the in- 
 termittent nature of his work. 
 
 The railways are owned by the state and are 
 used as an agency to promote the empire. Rates and 
 charges are adjusted to bring fuel and raw materials 
 to the manufacturer and to give him in turn prefer- 
 ential rates to the markets of the world. The rivers 
 Rhine and Elbe are deepened almost to their sources 
 to cheapen transportation and develop new centres 
 of industiy, while canals mtersect the country in 
 every direction. At Hamburg, Bremen, Kiel, great 
 ocean harbors have been constructed in the face of 
 natural obstacles that would have discouraged other 
 peoples, while along the Rhine practically every city 
 has developed docks and harbors, almost any one of 
 them superior to the ocean docks of an American 
 city. Through these harbors cities have been con- 
 nected with the sea, while round about them indus- 
 trial areas have been opened up with cheap manu- 
 facturing sites and the best of water and railway 
 transportation. There is no conflict between the 
 railways and the water-ways, no struggle to strangle
 
 THE BIRTH OF THE GERMAN CITY 7 
 
 the canals or to prevent competition. Transporta- 
 tion is open to all on equal terms, irrespective of 
 the size of the undertaking. 
 
 In this imperial movement the cities have become 
 one of the chief agencies in the industrial develop- 
 ment of the country. They compete with one an- 
 other, but never against the empire. The business 
 men who rule them seem to think in social rather 
 than in individual terms. They have a sense of team- 
 play, of co-roperative effort, of being willing to sacri- 
 fice their immediate individual interests to the wel- 
 fare of the community. Cities co-operate with the 
 state, they spend generously for education, they make 
 provision for hospitals, for recreation, for housing the 
 people. The city partakes of the spirit of the em- 
 pire. It inspires a kind of loyalty I have never seen 
 in any other country in the world. Germany is 
 treating the new behemoth of civilization, the mod- 
 ern industrial city, as a creature to be controlled, 
 and made to serve rather than to impair or destroy 
 humanity. She is doing this through city planning, 
 the new art of city building; through education; 
 through sanitation and hygiene; by uniting the ex- 
 pert with the administrator, and by making science 
 the handmaiden of politics. 
 
 The German city, like our own, is the product of 
 the last generation. Only its location, its traditions, 
 its royal palaces, and its beauty are old. Diisseldorf 
 had but 70,000 people in 1871; it now has 356,000.
 
 8 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 Frankfort-on-the-Main has grown from 80,000 in 
 1871 to 411,000 in 1910. Berlin was a capital city 
 of but 800,000 in 1870; to-day it contains 2,064,153 
 people. There are thirty-three cities in Germany 
 whose combined population is over 12,000,000 peo- 
 ple. This is 20 per cent, of the whole, while the total 
 urban population equals 49 per cent, of the total. 
 
 We are accustomed to think that the American 
 city is anomalous in its growth. But the American 
 city is typical of the industrial world, whether it be 
 in Germany, England, France, Belgium, or Italy. 
 The city is a product of the nineteenth century; it 
 is a by-product of steam, electricity, and transpor- 
 tation. Civilized life has become urban, and to an 
 increasing extent metropolitan. And in all proba- 
 bility the city will continue to contain an increasing 
 percentage of the people in all civilized countries. 
 It is the official recognition of this fact and the 
 organized effort to control the urban problem that 
 makes the German city unique among the cities of 
 the world. 
 
 The German city has sprung into existence during 
 the past thirty years. There were but few industries 
 of any importance prior to the formation of the em- 
 pire in 1871. In 1816 less than 2 per cent, of the 
 population of Prussia lived in cities of over 100,000 
 population. By the middle of the century the per- 
 centage had crept to only 4 per cent. This was the 
 era of immigration to the United States. Only after
 
 THE BIRTH OF THE GERMAN CITY 9 
 
 the war with France did Germany respond to the 
 industrial revolution which began in England in the 
 latter part of the eighteenth century. The awaken- 
 ing came with the formation of the empire and the 
 French indemnity paid on the close of the Franco- 
 Prussian War. At that time 68 per cent, of the pop- 
 ulation was engaged in agriculture. By 1907 the 
 percentage had fallen to 28 per cent. In the latter 
 year the percentage engaged in industry amounted 
 to 43 per cent, of the total. Almost the whole in- 
 crease in population in the last generation, or about 
 24,000,000, has been added to the cities. In 1871 
 only 25 per cent, of the people lived in towns of 
 more than 5,000 people, at which time there were but 
 nine cities of over 100,000 population. There are 
 now forty-seven. 
 
 According to the census of 1910 there were seven 
 cities in Germany with more than half a million 
 people. They are Berlin (without including the 
 suburbs), 2,064,153; Hamburg, 936,000; Munich, 
 593,053; Leipsic, 585,743; Dresden, 546,882; Co- 
 logne, 511,042; and Breslau, 510,929. There are 
 four cities with more than 300,000 people. They are 
 Frankfort-on-the-Main, with 414,406; Diisseldorf, 
 with 356,733; Nuremberg, with 332,539; and Char- 
 lottenburg (a suburb of Berlin), with 304,280. 
 Twelve other cities have more than 200,000 and 
 twenty-four others have from 100,000 to 200,000 
 people.
 
 10 
 
 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
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 CHAPTER II 
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 
 
 No Baedeker is needed to advise the traveller he 
 has entered a new countiy as he crosses the boun- 
 daries of Holland, Belgium, or France into Germany. 
 If he enters at Cologne, Diisseldorf, or Frankfort, as 
 many travellers do, he comes at once to the most 
 finished cities of the modern world. Here in south 
 Germany, cities have grown with the rapidity of our 
 own; here is industiy like that of Cleveland, Detroit, 
 or Pittsburgh; like that of Sheffield, Birmingham, or 
 Manchester. Here are iron and steel mills, machine 
 shops, silk, woollen, and chemical industries that 
 have made "made in Germany" a nightmare to Eng- 
 land. Here along the Rhine are cities that might be 
 like our own factory towns. They might be "schlecht 
 und billig,^' ragged and unkempt, in need of a survey 
 to arouse the people to the dangers of their slums, 
 the backwardness of their schools, the poverty of 
 parks and playgrounds, the lack of beauty and charm. 
 These cities might be like Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, 
 Buffalo, Cleveland, or a score of other American 
 cities which have assumed metropolitan proportions 
 
 during the last twenty years. 
 
 11
 
 12 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 But these German industrial cities are not mean 
 and tawdry. They are not like the manufacturing 
 cities of America or the mill towns of the north of 
 England. Their factory owners do not hasten to 
 Berlin or Paris to escape the dirt and smoke which 
 their mills create. They remain at home and devote 
 themselves to the improvement of their cities, to 
 making them attractive and livable. And in this 
 they have succeeded. For the cities of south Ger- 
 many are the best examples in the world of what 
 can be done with this problem that has become 
 our despair. They do more for their people than 
 any cities I know, and they do it honestly, efficiently, 
 and well. That seems to be the ambition of city 
 officials and business men. That seems to be the 
 ambition of the people, who have a wonderful pub- 
 lic spirit. 
 
 The railway station is a symbol of the whole. It 
 is like the portal of a cathedral or the towering gate 
 of a mediaeval town. It is conmiodious and com- 
 manding. There is ever}-- provision for comfort and 
 safety. Frankfort, a city of 415,000, has a station 
 costing $10,000,000. It was built when the city had 
 only half of its present population. The stations of 
 Cologne, Diisseldorf, Hamburg, Bremen are all of 
 the same architectural splendor. The German city 
 would be ashamed to have its gateway anything else. 
 In front of the station is the station-place, the bahn- 
 hofplatz. In the foreground is a formal flower-garden
 
 
 
 in 
 
 
 ■Hiifl 
 
 Frankfort Railway Station. 
 
 Dresden Railway Station. 
 
 Railway stations are of splendid proportions. Tracks rarely disfigure 
 the city and are built for permanence and beauty".
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 13 
 
 surrounded with clean, well-paved roadways for traf- 
 fic. Here the street railways converge. There are 
 places for carriages and pedestrians. Round about 
 the bahnhofplatz are hotels, restaurants, and shops of 
 uniform height and in harmony with the station itself. 
 The open space is usually a half circle, and is care- 
 fully designed for use and beauty. Broad streets 
 radiate out from the bahnhofplatz, like the ribs of a 
 fan, to different parts of the city. They are usually 
 the retail business streets. 
 
 The railway station is but one of several city cen- 
 tres carefully planned as such. There is no dirt 
 or smoke and little noise and confusion. There is 
 dignity, comfort, convenience. Obviously the city's 
 gateway is under public control. It is the twentieth- 
 century adaptation of the mediaeval city gate that 
 has been so carefully preserved in Munich, Cologne, 
 Diisseldorf, and elsewhere. 
 
 We have made a beginning of building gateways 
 to our cities. The Union Station at Washington is 
 of commanding size and classic design. It opens 
 into a spacious plaza which at night is brilliantly il- 
 luminated. In the distance the Senate building and 
 Capitol rise on Capitol Hill. The intervening space 
 has been razed of buildings so as not to obstruct the 
 vista. From this centre the street railways radiate. 
 The gateway of Washington is probably the most 
 monumental in the world. It is worthy of the cap- 
 ital of the nation.
 
 14 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 The new Pennsylvania and New York Central 
 stations in New York are also of magnificent pro- 
 portions. There is nothing in Europe to compare 
 with them. But with few exceptions our cities have 
 been compelled to shift, as best they can, with un- 
 sightly, inconvenient, and inadequate stations. 
 
 The new Hohenzollern bridge across the Rhine at 
 Cologne has commanded something of the thought 
 that inspired the architects who spent centuries on 
 the building of the Cologne cathedral. It is tj'pi- 
 cal of the care shown railway and passenger bridges 
 all over Europe. The approaches are adorned with 
 massive towers and statuary, while the lines of the 
 bridge add greatly to the beauty of the city. The 
 same concern is manifested in the railway approaches. 
 The railway is an incident. It does not ravage whole 
 sections of the city, its water-fronts and dwelling 
 areas. There are no grade crossings. The overhead 
 work is inconspicuous and is designed for beauty. 
 The sides of the tracks are sodded with grass. There 
 is every possible protection against danger. 
 
 We are in the habit of speaking of the superior 
 railway service in America, but we overlook the ugly 
 trail the railway makes. It gives us speed, but at a 
 terrible cost to human life. It ignores the rights of 
 the community to cleanliness and beauty, and im- 
 poses a heavy cost on all of us in the way it dis- 
 figures the community. 
 
 There is no protracted warfare in Germany for the
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 15 
 
 possession of streets like that waged for years to 
 force the New York Central off Eleventh Avenue in 
 New York. There is no coercion to compel a city 
 to give up property worth millions as a considera- 
 tion for the building of a railway station. There is 
 no prolonged htigation over water-fronts like that 
 which has exhausted many of our cities. There are 
 no dirty, incommodious stations. In Germany the 
 railway is an integral part of the community. It 
 exists to serve. It is owned and operated by the 
 state. 
 
 As one leaves the station at Cologne the great 
 Gothic cathedral rises high above the bahnhofplatz. 
 A few minutes' walk along a shaded river embank- 
 ment brings one to a broad parkway which encircles 
 the older part of the city. It is the Ring Strasse, 
 built on the site of the old fortifications which pro- 
 tected the Rhine cities from their warring neighbors. 
 As the city outgrew its mediaeval shell, population 
 leaped over the fortifications and spread out into 
 the country. Cologne acquired the fortifications 
 from the nation at a cost of $2,950,000, and converted 
 the encircling belt into an octagonal parkway which 
 separates the old city from the new. It was laid 
 out by experts and adorned with gardens and flow- 
 ering plants. Upon it were erected fine residences 
 and public structures. The ring strassen of Vienna, 
 Frankfort, Bremen, and others of the older cities 
 have been treated in the same way. They have
 
 16 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 been laid out with great care and are the most com- 
 manding streets in Europe. 
 
 Cologne is a city of 511,042 population. The 
 official projects for its suburban development are like 
 those of most German towns. Uniformity has been 
 discarded and the streets have been made as uncon- 
 ventional as possible. The main traffic thorough- 
 fares are broad and spacious, but the side streets are 
 designed to discourage traffic so as to be cozy, quiet, 
 and restful. The}^ are planned for variety. The 
 checker-board street so universal in America is rarely 
 used in Germany. It is too monotonous. It affords 
 no vistas of house fronts. It is bad for traffic. 
 Many of these suburban streets are designed to be 
 narrow and crooked. Some of them come to a dead 
 end. There are numerous small parks and play- 
 grounds. Streets are planned by artists and are 
 treated with almost reverential consideration. 
 
 Even the near-by iron and steel centre of Essen 
 reflects the German idea of what a city should be. 
 Essen is the Pittsburgh of Germany. Here are the 
 iron and steel mills of the Krupp Company. From 
 Essen come the engines of destruction for the armies 
 and navies of the world. Essen has a population of 
 294,629. It is almost exclusively a mill town, most 
 of the workingmen being employed by the Krupp 
 Company. The city has few natural advantages, 
 and does not compare in beauty with Diisseldorf or 
 Cologne. Yet it is clean, wholesome, and free from
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 17 
 
 the dirt and ugliness that characterize Pittsburgh, 
 parts of Cleveland, Chicago, and Milwaukee, wher- 
 ever the furnace and the foundry have made their 
 home. There are parks and trees. Many thou- 
 sands of workingmen are comfortably housed by 
 the Krupp Company or the municipality in beauti- 
 ful detached cottages or in model tenements sur- 
 rounded by gardens. 
 
 Rents in Essen, as in other German towns, have 
 risen with great rapidity in recent years, thus caus- 
 ing congestion and overcrowding. In the private 
 apartments workingmen 's rooms rent for thirty dol- 
 lars a year. In contrast with this the one-family 
 houses of the Krupp Colony rent for from forty-nine 
 dollars to fifty-five dollars a year. The Krupps de- 
 scribe their plan of housing as ''one of enlightened 
 selfishness, serving in the first place to attract work- 
 ers and foster a filial loyalty, as shown by the small 
 number of strikes at the works. By being a land- 
 lord itself it heightens the competition among the other 
 landlords^' This is the motive of cities and co- 
 operative building societies. By building houses 
 they check the rise of rents and the greed of private 
 landlords. 
 
 Around the city of Essen are garden colonies like 
 the garden villages of England, one of them, Alten- 
 hof, being inhabited only by retired and infirm work- 
 men, who occupy the cottages rent free. There are 
 wonderful hospitals, sanatoriums, and convalescent
 
 18 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 homes. Even in Essen the spirit of the fatherland, 
 that holds human Hfe in such high regard, prevails 
 in the minds of city officials and employers. 
 
 As one sails up the river Rhine, city after city 
 presents the same finished appearance. The river 
 banks are not disfigured with factories, warehouses, 
 and private docks such as line the water-fronts of our 
 cities. Nor are they appropriated by the railroads. 
 In Bonn, Coblenz, Mainz, and Wiesbaden the em- 
 bankments are clean, orderly, and beautiful. Land- 
 ing stages are provided for passenger boats and 
 freight craft; there are wonderful harbors with hy- 
 draulic and electrical cranes for the economical hand- 
 ling of freight; there are pubHc bath-houses and en- 
 closed basins for pleasure-boats. The embankment 
 is a promenade-way and is lined with trees. There is 
 provision for the widest possible use of the water- 
 ways for business and pleasure. The water-fronts of 
 rivers, canals, lakes, or inland water-ways are almost 
 always in public rather than in private hands. 
 
 Hamburg, Bremen, and Liibeck are city states. 
 They are the only free cities which remain of the old 
 Hanseatic League. They occupy a position in the 
 empire similar to that of Prussia, Bavaria, Baden, 
 or any one of the twenty-five states that compose it. 
 They have about the same status as would an Amer- 
 ican state and city combined. And they are as 
 proud of their independence as were the Romans, 
 the Florentines, or the Genoese of earher days. For
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 19 
 
 centuries they were members of the Hanseatic League 
 of towns; for centuries they maintained their liber- 
 ties against the encroachments of surrounding pow- 
 ers. They had fleets and armies of their own; they 
 made war and treaties. They became rich in wealth 
 and in commerce; they developed a life of their own 
 and created among their people a local pride that 
 continues to distinguish these cities even to-day. It 
 is a greater honor in Hamburg to be one of its sena- 
 tors or burgomasters than to occupy a seat in the 
 Imperial Reichstag. 
 
 Hamburg and Bremen are more like American 
 cities than any in Germany. Officials think in terms 
 of business, of commerce, of the promotion of over- 
 seas shipping. The street railways of Hamburg are 
 in private hands, and if one comes from Diisseldorf 
 or Frankfort, where public ownership prevails, the 
 difference in service, in the courtesy of employees, 
 and in the many provisions for comfort, that seem to 
 follow in England and Germany as a matter of course 
 on pubhc operation, is at once manifest. Nor is 
 there that concern for the welfare of the people, for 
 recreation and beauty, that one finds in the south 
 German towns, where the business men have risen 
 above a limited commercial point of view. The im- 
 pression one gets of Hamburg is of a city that is 
 run for business. 
 
 Hamburg is situated on the river Elbe, seventy 
 miles from the sea. Its harbor is its life. The har-
 
 20 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 bors of Boston, New York, and many other seaport 
 towns in America have far greater natural advan- 
 tages, but Hamburg has developed its limited op- 
 portunities until it has become the greatest seaport 
 on the continent and, along with Bremen, is the 
 point of clearance for the trade of Germany, Aus- 
 tria, and Russia. Its chief competitor is Antwerp. 
 The foreign trade of the city is colossal. The 
 harbor and the docks are owTied by the city and 
 are equipped ^ith railway tracks, warehouses, and 
 wharves to facilitate the handlmg of vast quantities 
 of freight in the most economic and speedy way 
 possible. This is characteristic of German harbors. 
 The docks and warehouses and machinery for trans- 
 shipping freight from vessel to vessel or from water 
 to land are all mider public control and are operated 
 as a unit. 
 
 But the thing that distinguishes the harbor of 
 Hamburg is its free port, which is a survival of the 
 old free city. Inside the main harbor is a free har- 
 bor into which ships can come, load and unload, 
 ship and transship cargoes wdthout the payment of 
 tariff duties. Customs dues are only paid when 
 goods enter the country. "When Hamburg became 
 part of the empire it abandoned its free-trade pol- 
 icy but retained a free harbor to protect its trade 
 and commerce. Goods may be brought into the free 
 port and reshipped to other vessels or stored in ware- 
 houses without visitation from the customs authori-
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 21 
 
 ties. Under this arrangement vessels from the Ori- 
 ent and the Occident, from North and South Amer- 
 ica, from England and Africa can transship their 
 cargoes and leave for other parts as freely as in an 
 English port. The free harbor is a clearing-house 
 or counter through and across which individuals and 
 nations do their bartering on a large scale. 
 
 Experience has shown that commerce will travel 
 many miles to avoid a tariff wall. For commerce 
 hates customs barriers, and Germany has lured the 
 vessels of the world to the North Sea by this simple 
 device for avoiding the disasters which everywhere 
 follow the imposition of customs taxes. 
 
 In the heart of Hamburg is the Alster, which con- 
 sists of two lakes which form the recreational cen- 
 tre of the city. Years ago the Alster was low-lying 
 marsh-land of little value. Some of the land be- 
 longed to the city, some of it was acquired by pur- 
 chase. The land was then deepened and reclaimed 
 as a water park. Surrounding it on three sides is 
 the residential part of the city, so that Hamburg 
 somewhat resembles Geneva. The shores are laid 
 out in parks and driveways with frequent gardens. 
 In the business section the water-front has been con- 
 verted into a wide esplanade with cafes and restau- 
 rants. In other sections are public bath-houses, 
 while the Alster itself is covered with innumerable 
 motor-craft and sail-boats. Small power-boats do 
 a thriving business to the many caf^s which sur-
 
 22 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 round the lake, where the population gathers in the 
 evenings and on hoHdays. Navigable canals run in 
 many directions upon which a large part of the 
 local traffic is carried on. With the exception of 
 Venice, probably no city in the world possesses as 
 thoroughly developed and as intensively used sys- 
 tem of inland water-ways as does Hamburg. 
 
 The buildings which surround the Alster are of 
 harmonious architecture. Their height and distance 
 from the roadways are fixed by the city in order that 
 the entire territory shall resemble a parkway. 
 
 The Alster is probably the most beautiful piece of 
 inland water in any city in the world. Charles River 
 Basin, in Boston, is the only water-way that compares 
 with it in this countr}^ It is almost the only at- 
 tempt made by our cities to conserve our wonderful 
 advantages in this respect. 
 
 Berlin, like Boston, is a city within a circle of cit- 
 ies. Its population (1910) was 2,064,153. To the 
 casual traveller the charm of Berlin is a manufact- 
 ured charm, much as is its architecture, its parks, 
 its art. It is pre-eminently a new city which the 
 present Emperor has determined should vie with 
 Paris in its splendor. But Unter den Linden fails to 
 be a second Champs Elys^es. It does not compare 
 with the Ring Strasse of Vienna. The commanding 
 group of buildings about the Lustgarten, with the 
 imperial palaces, opera-house, university, cathedral, 
 and museums, is imposing in its splendor. The
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 23 
 
 Sieges-allee in the Tiergarten, with the statues of the 
 Brandenburg rulers, has never commanded the ad- 
 miration of the Berliners, nor has the new Reichstag 
 building at one of its ends on the Konigsplatz. 
 
 Berlin is distinguished for its beautiful suburbs, 
 for the planning projects of the surrounding towns, 
 as well as for its municipal undertakings, hospitals, 
 sanatoriumS; labor bureaus, and care of the poor. Its 
 administration is a model of efficiency and far- 
 sightedness. The city has a big municipal sense and 
 officials seem to think in metropolitan proportions. 
 It is, and for a generation has been, consciously built 
 as the capital of the empire. Now a Greater Ber- 
 lin planning project is being undertaken, for which 
 prizes amounting to $40,000 have been offered, and 
 for which the architects and town-planners of all Ger- 
 many competed. Just as Paris was planned by Louis 
 XIV and the two Napoleons, so Berlin is dreaming 
 of a truly cosmopolitan city, planned from centre to 
 circumference as a capital worthy of the ambitions 
 of the fatherland. 
 
 The system of sewage-disposal is one of the great 
 undertakings of the city. In former times Berlin 
 drained its sewage into the Spree, but with the com- 
 pletion of a new water supply proper drainage was 
 deemed necessar}^, not only for the health of the city, 
 but as a means of keeping pure the rivers and canals 
 which intersect it. After prolonged study the city 
 adopted a system of natural purification by using
 
 24 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 the sewage as fertilizer on the city-owned farms 
 bought for the purpose. To the north and south of 
 the city are municipal sewage-farms, "vv^th a total area 
 of 40,000 acres, purchased as agricultural land many 
 years ago. The city is divided into drainage dis- 
 tricts according to the topography of the land. The 
 sewage from various districts converges at centres 
 from which it is pumped to the sewage-farms on 
 the different sides of the city. Here it is treated 
 and spread out over the land, which, by this proc- 
 ess, has been converted into the richest sort of soil. 
 When acquired, the land of the disposal farms 
 was of Httle value for intensive agriculture. Nearly 
 $4,000,000 was spent in laying out the property, 
 in trenching and preparing it for cultivation, and 
 in equipping it with necessary' improvements. Six 
 thousand acres are leased in small holdings to cul- 
 tivators, while the remainder is cultivated by the 
 city itself. The total cost of the undertaking ex- 
 ceeded $30,000,000, but the indebtedness has become 
 little more than nominal through the increase in the 
 value of the land. The sewage-farms alone could be 
 sold for more than enough to Hquidate the total city 
 debt for all purposes. Aside from this, they are a 
 source of profit. For intensive cultivation upon the 
 enriched soil has made the farms enormously pro- 
 ductive. They have been laid out in orchards and 
 nurseries. Big crops of vegetables are grown on the 
 market-gardens. The whole territorj^ roimd about
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 25 
 
 the farms is clean and wholesome and apparently 
 free from any unhealthy or unpleasant odors such 
 as would be expected from the surface use of the 
 sewage of a city of 2,000,000 people. 
 
 One returns to old Germany as he journeys to 
 the south through Dresden, Nuremberg, and Mu- 
 nich. Especially does the old town of Rothenberg 
 suggest the life of mediaeval Germany. By official 
 decree the city has been protected from invasion by 
 railroads, street railways, and modem innovations. 
 The old walls, the narrow streets, and overhanging 
 structures are carefully preserved, as is the institu- 
 tional life of the city. Rothenberg is a monument 
 of the past, as carefully preserved as are the art 
 treasures of the country's museums. 
 
 More than any other city in Europe, unless it be 
 Paris or Florence, Dresden makes a commercial re- 
 turn from its beauty. It is a residence city par ex- 
 cellence. There is a permanent English, American, 
 and foreign colony that numbers many thousands. 
 Millions are brought annually to the city by trav- 
 ellers and permanent residents. With all its beauty, 
 Dresden is a factory town with a great variety of 
 industries. It has grown with great rapidity and 
 has a present population (1910) of 546,882. But in- 
 dustry has not been permitted to disfigure the city; 
 it has in no way diminished its charm. There is no 
 dirt or smoke, no suggestion of the towering chim- 
 neys of ugly factories, nothing of the pervasive com-
 
 26 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 mercialism of the British and American city. Indus- 
 try is subordinate, no matter how important its 
 claims may be. Nor is there much obvious poverty, 
 although poverty of course exists. 
 
 I do not remember ever to have been oppressed 
 by the factory in any town in Germany, with the 
 possible exception of Essen, Barmen, and Elberfeld, 
 although I spent months with business men in fac- 
 tories and industrial districts. While Germany has 
 devoted her efforts for the promotion of industry, 
 she has not permitted it to become a nuisance to 
 the community. 
 
 Dresden is the capital of Saxony, one of the king- 
 doms of the German Empire. It was planned as a 
 capital city long before city-planning became a rec- 
 ognized art. The palace of the King forms the cen- 
 tre of a group of buildings, including the cathedral, 
 the art gallery, and the new town hall. The Zwinger 
 is an enclosed garden of Renaissance architecture 
 connected with the palace group. There is the most 
 perfect harmony in the architecture of these build- 
 ings, which rise high above the Elbe, still navigable 
 from the sea at Hamburg. The high banks are ter- 
 raced down to the water's edge with a series of em- 
 bankments. Below is a busy river traffic; at inter- 
 vals bridges of splendid design span the river, while 
 the embankment itself is a promenade-way which 
 has earned for itself the name of the "Balcony of 
 Europe." The rulers of Saxony were lovers of the
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 27 
 
 fine arts. They encouraged the opera, built palaces 
 and museums, and gathered together the master- 
 pieces of the world which draw thousands to the 
 city each year. 
 
 Close by Dresden is the garden-city of Hellerau, 
 the most successful garden-city in Germany. It is 
 but a few years old but has led to the promotion of 
 a score of similar projects. 
 
 Housing experts in Germany, as in Great Britain, 
 look upon the garden-city as the most promising of 
 all proposals for the housing of the working-classes. 
 Dresden, too, has just completed what is said to be 
 the most complete slaughter-house in the world. It 
 cost over $4,000,000 and is almost as artistic in its 
 architecture as a world's fair. Here all meat sold 
 in the city must be slaughtered under city supervi- 
 sion and by the most humane methods possible. 
 
 In 1911 an exposition of hygiene was held in Dres- 
 den. It was first suggested by a private individual 
 but was financed by the city and the state. It was 
 planned on an ambitious scale and was designed to 
 teach Germany what is being done all over the world 
 for the prevention of disease and the promotion of 
 health. There were models of hospitals and sana- 
 toriums; there were exhibits of the common diseases 
 so portrayed by photographs and illuminated models 
 as to be easily imderstood even by children. There 
 were kinetoscopic exhibits of class gymnastics and 
 photographs of methods for improving the health
 
 28 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 of school-children, as well as elaborate displays of 
 the value of food products. School apparatus, play- 
 ground equipment, all that Germany is doing in its 
 fight for health, was presented to the tens of thou- 
 sands of adults and children who came to view it 
 from all over the empire. America was almost the 
 only nation not represented, while the meagre ex- 
 hibits of other countries showed by comparison the 
 nation-wide concern of Germany for the health of 
 her people. 
 
 Munich, the capital of Bavaria, has a charm of its 
 own, a charm for many possessed by no other city 
 in Europe. It boasts of its gemuthlichkeit, its com- 
 fort, of the universal sense of community living. 
 The city has been embeUished by extravagant rulers, 
 who bequeathed a heavy indebtedness to Bavaria, 
 but left a heritage of great beauty as well. Yet 
 Munich is a manufacturing city of 593,053 people 
 (1910), while its administration is one of the most 
 enterprising in Germany. Two things especially im- 
 press the visitor and characterize the planning of the 
 city. One is the number of splendid civic centres, 
 each with a group of public buildings and each rep- 
 resenting a function of the city's life. There is the 
 Hofgarten in front of the palace, to which the people 
 drift on summer afternoons to listen to the music in 
 the open-air cafes. Here whole families visit with 
 their friends. The city's art treasures are housed in
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 29 
 
 four classic structures about another centre, while 
 the university buildings form another. The city 
 hall, a splendid piece of Gothic architecture, flanks 
 Marienplatz, which was the old market-place of the 
 city. This is the business centre as it was in medi- 
 aeval times. The towered gates about the city hall 
 have been preserved and the environing architecture 
 has been made to conform to the old. Within the 
 past few years a new centre has been developed on 
 the opposite side of the river about the municipal 
 opera-house. 
 
 Munich, like other German cities, is engaged on a 
 comprehensive planning project which includes the 
 suburbs for many miles around. Recently a com- 
 petition was held which was participated in by 
 engineers and architects. The competitive plans 
 provided for the growth of half a century at least. 
 One of the features of the proposals is the establish- 
 ment of a large number of new centres in the sur- 
 rounding suburbs, about which the municipal build- 
 ings, school-houses, and other public structures will 
 be erected. These centres will tend to the wider 
 distribution of population and the creation of local 
 activities and life in each suburb. 
 
 No other city in Germany has as many splendid 
 vistas as has Munich. This is the second feature 
 which distinguishes its planning. Streets terminate 
 against a public building, terrace, or monument, 
 many of which have no other value than orna-
 
 30 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 mentation. Copies of the triumphal arches of 
 Rome have been reproduced across streets, while 
 museums, galleries, and other structures are located 
 at conspicuous spots, usually across a fine avenue, 
 and designed to harmonize with their surround- 
 ings. 
 
 The city has recently erected a splendid opera- 
 house, to repair its error in refusing to become the 
 patron of Wagner. Musical festivals and an opera 
 season are held each summer to which thousands 
 come from all over Europe. A large subvention 
 is paid to the theatre, as is the custom in many 
 German cities. On the outskirts of the city a 
 group of buildings has been erected as a permanent 
 exposition at a cost of $2,000,000, exclusive of the 
 cost of the land. About the exposition halls is a 
 great garden with restaurants and cafes which is 
 the favorite play-place of the people. Here sym- 
 phony and military band concerts are given daily. 
 In the buildings various kinds of industrial, elec- 
 trical, and art exhibits are held for the promotion 
 of efficiency and the attraction of visitors. Similar 
 permanent exposition halls are being built by other 
 German cities in competition with one another for 
 business. They form part of the big- visioned busi- 
 ness and educational ideas of Germany. They stim- 
 ulate industry and attract travellers and have a direct 
 commercial value to the city. Along with Diissel- 
 dorf, Frankfort-on-the-Main, and Dresden, Munich
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 31 
 
 is one of the best examples of big-visioned municipal 
 life in Europe. 
 
 Vienna vies with Paris in its claims to be the most 
 splendid city in the world, and here, as in Germany, 
 beauty is the result of the most scientific and intel- 
 ligent planning. 
 
 Prior to 1850 Vienna was most congested. Its 
 population was huddled behind the massive fortifi- 
 cations which completely surrounded the town and 
 restrained it within an area of about one square mile. 
 Round about the fortifications was a broad moat 
 outside of which were military and parade grounds 
 which, for military reasons, had never been built 
 upon. The title to the fortifications and parade 
 grounds was in dispute. They were claimed by the 
 Emperor, the nation, and the city. Finally, in 1857, 
 the controversy was settled by the Emperor and an 
 order was issued for the destruction of the fortifica- 
 tions and the comprehensive planning of the whole 
 territory about the old city. A planning commis- 
 sion was created for this purpose with plenary power 
 to control the entire territory, to locate new build- 
 ings, streets, gardens, and open spaces and lay out 
 the surrounding territory. 
 
 No large city in Europe was in greater need of a 
 building programme, for population had grown with 
 great rapidity and the inner town was congested to 
 its limits. The suburbs were inaccessible because
 
 32 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 of inadequate means of transit and the inability to 
 use the undeveloped territory between the fortifi- 
 cations and the surrounding villages. The oppor- 
 tunity for the building of a splendid city was com- 
 mensurate with the needs, while the ownership of 
 the land by the community enabled the planning 
 commissions to carry through the project at rela- 
 tively little cost. The replanning of Paris under 
 Louis Napoleon had necessitated the cutting of ar- 
 terial boulevards through the most congested part 
 of the city at a total cost of $265,000,000. Vienna 
 was saved much of this expense by reason of the 
 public ownership of the land. 
 
 For several years architects and landscape artists 
 were engaged upon plans for the stadterweiterung. 
 A portion of the area demohshed was converted into 
 the Ring Strasse which follows the line of the old 
 fortifications about the inner town. A second part 
 w^as laid out in parks and gardens closely contigu- 
 ous to the Ring Strasse. A third portion was dedi- 
 cated as sites for public buildings, while a fourth 
 portion was set aside for building lots which were 
 sold to private builders and the proceeds used for 
 the erection of many of the public structures and the 
 laying out of the parkways and gardens. The entire 
 arrangement was carried out systematically as a 
 whole, with far-sighted business intelligence and with 
 the utmost concern for the harmony of the project. 
 
 The Ring Strasse is of octagonal form and is bor-
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 33 
 
 dered with trees and promenade-ways. At intervals 
 there are formal gardens and parkways. Four-fifths 
 of the land was retained for public uses, for parks 
 and as sites for pubHc structures. Flanking the 
 Ring Strasse splendid public structures were erected 
 which include the royal palaces, the Parliament 
 building, and the Rathaus. The University, Royal 
 Opera-House, Cathedral, Palace of Justice, the Ar- 
 senal, and the Art Museum were given appropriate 
 locations. All of the details of the building project 
 were laid out nearly fifty years ago, and subsequent 
 building has followed the lines originally projected. 
 About this centre the official and recreative life of 
 the city moves; here the population comes to prom- 
 enade, to listen to concerts, to sit at the cafes and 
 restaurants. There is so much space between the 
 individual buildings that the effect of the Ring 
 Strasse is of a long, continuous garden. Many build- 
 ings are located at the termini of streets so as to 
 secure commanding vistas. 
 
 The one-fifth of the land which remained unused 
 for public purposes was laid out for private busi- 
 ness and residences. Lots were sold under restric- 
 tions as to the kind of buildings that could be erected 
 and the style of architecture that could be followed. 
 The total sum realized from the sale of one-fifth of 
 the land was $80,000,000, which repaid a large part 
 of the cost of the undertaking including the build- 
 ings, for the city secured the full value of the land
 
 34 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 by holding it until the project had been perfected. 
 Purchasers were induced to erect fine buildings by 
 being relieved from taxation for thirty years on all 
 buildings erected during the first five years, and for 
 twenty-five years on buildings erected in the next 
 five years. By these means Vienna was able to carry 
 forward a colossal planning project at a relatively 
 low cost, and to control its development in the inter- 
 est of the whole community. It made Vienna one 
 of the most beautiful cities in the world. 
 
 The beautification of Budapest, the capital of 
 Hungary, was inspired by Vienna. Following the 
 revolution of 1848, through which Hungary acquired 
 a quasi independence, the Hungarians turned to the 
 building of a capital that would vie with Vienna in 
 its splendor. The two towns of Buda and Pest, 
 which occupied opposite sites along the banks of the 
 Danube, were consohdated in 1873. A commission 
 was then created intrusted with the planning of the 
 city. The river was made the central feature of the 
 plan. Great stone quays were erected on either side 
 extending for miles up and down the river. Below 
 are embankments for passenger and freight traffic; 
 a little higher up are roadways for vehicular traffic, 
 while upon the top broad promenades are carried 
 up and down the river. A new parhament house 
 was erected, near which are the National Academy, 
 the city hall, the custom-house, and other build-
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN CITIES 35 
 
 ings. Farther on along the river the quay becomes 
 a broad boulevard devoted to cafes and restaurants 
 frequented by the fashion of the city. On the op- 
 posite side and rising high above the river is the 
 Imperial Palace, up to which great stone terraces 
 rise, while the river itself is crossed by bridges of 
 monumental design. Margareta Island, which lies 
 in the middle of the river, is the city's playground. 
 It is laid out with gardens and filled with restau- 
 rants, bath-houses, and other public structures which 
 are widely used by the pleasure-loving Hungarians. 
 The buildings of Budapest involved colossal expen- 
 diture, but the city has been made one of the most 
 beautiful in the world. 
 
 There are many other cities like those enumer- 
 ated. Mannheim, on the upper Rhine, is the best 
 example of formal city-planning in Germany. It has 
 the largest river harbor of any city in Germany, if 
 not in the world. Diisseldorf and Frankfort-on-the- 
 Main are described in detail in other chapters. Nu- 
 remberg retains its old mediaeval castles, its walls, 
 moats, and passageways, its cathedrals and market- 
 place, much as they were in the sixteenth and seven- 
 teenth centuries. Leipsic is a university and musical 
 centre. It is the seat of the imperial court of ap- 
 peals. The town hall is of massive architecture, with 
 a great dome which commands the whole city. 
 
 In all these cities one is impressed with the solici-
 
 36 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 tude for things that our cities neglect as of no pub- 
 lic concern. There are countless provisions for com- 
 fort and convenience. There is universal beauty 
 and harmony. Ugliness is not tolerated. Business 
 is not permitted to trespass on cleanliness. Com- 
 munities seem to possess a city sense that has not 
 yet arisen in America and that does not exist in 
 Great Britain or in any other country in Europe. 
 The German city has demonstrated to the world 
 that the city need not be the despair of civilization. 
 Rather it is an agency of great possibilities for its up- 
 building.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 
 
 A SHORT ride from the city of Cologne is Diissel- 
 dorf, the "Garden-City" of Germany. It has been 
 officially planned as were the garden-cities of Letch- 
 worth and Hampstead, as are the proprietary gar- 
 den suburbs of Port Sunlight and Bournville, in Eng- 
 land. The city owns more things and does more 
 things for its people than any city I know. Munic- 
 ipal socialism has been carried far beyond the sug- 
 gestions of the most radical in this country, and it 
 has been done with the approval of all classes. Yet the 
 city is not governed by socialists; it is governed by 
 business men — by business men who elect the council, 
 choose the burgomaster and the magistrat, and make 
 the public opinion which approves of these things. 
 
 At the beginning of the nineteenth century Diis- 
 seldorf was a small town with but 20,000 inhabi- 
 tants. For centuries it was a Hauptstadt, the capi- 
 tal residence of the Princes Palatine. The city grew 
 but Httle until the Franco-Prussian War. In 1850 
 it had but 40,000 inhabitants. By 1860 its numbers 
 had grown to 50,000, while in 1875 it had only 80,- 
 695 people. From this time on, however, its growth 
 
 was rapid. In 1885 population had increased to 
 
 37
 
 38 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 116,190, while ten years later it was 175,985. In 
 1900 it had passed the 200,000 mark, and in 1910 
 the population had risen to 356,733. The area of 
 the city is approximately 29,000 acres. It covers a 
 larger territory than any city in Germany. 
 
 Diisseldorf was not rich in the many palaces, gar- 
 dens, and monuments which beautify Munich, Dres- 
 den, and Berlin. There were no traditions of com- 
 mercial eminence like those of Frankfort, Nuremberg, 
 Hamburg, and Bremen. It had its old quarter about 
 the city hall and the market-place. There was the 
 old gate upon the river and a moat about the old 
 town, all of which have been religiously preserved. 
 Diisseldorf was not very different from the average 
 American city a quarter of a century ago. It was 
 ambitious for business and population just as are 
 our own cities. It was in competition with Cologne, 
 Duisburg, Essen, Barmen, and Elberfeld, all of which 
 were struggling for eminence in this busy Rhine 
 region from which a great part of the industrial 
 wealth of Germany has come. Diisseldorf achieved 
 eminence by consciously building a city which lured 
 business, wealth, and travellers to it. In a dozen 
 years it has taken rank beside the older cities in 
 beauty and become one of the leading manufact- 
 uring centres of Germany as well. 
 
 Late in the nineties Diisseldorf cast about for a 
 burgomaster. The city wanted a man with a vision 
 and the experience necessary to carry the vision
 
 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 39 
 
 into execution. The town council selected Dr. Wil- 
 helm Marx for the post from the competitors who 
 offered themselves. He surrounded himself with ten 
 other experts, who comprise the paid members of 
 the magistrat, and with a town council of sixty mem- 
 bers proceeded to build the city in a big-visioned 
 way. He remained as burgomaster for twelve years, 
 and during his administration Diisseldorf carried 
 through more big undertakings than any city I know 
 in an equal length of time. 
 
 The city's centre is the Konigs AUee, a broad 
 parkway which runs through the heart of the city, 
 and terminates at one end in the business district, 
 and at the other in the Hofgarten. It is a miniature 
 Champs Elysees. It is laid out in formal style and 
 is one of the most finished parkways in Europe. It 
 is flanked on both sides by splendid buildings of har- 
 monious architecture, some of which have been built 
 under plans prepared or approved by the city. At 
 one end of the parkway is a hotel owned by the 
 trustees of the municipal art exposition. At another 
 corner is probably the most artistic department- 
 store building in Europe. Its walls are lined with 
 mosaics and adorned with mural paintings. Its ar- 
 chitecture is of the massive perpendicular style 
 which has been developed in such variety in recent 
 years in Germany. The office building of the Ger- 
 man steel trust, the Stahlhof, flanks another corner 
 and is more like a palace than a business edifice.
 
 40 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 Farther on is a group of government provincial 
 buildings carefully arranged in a harmonious setting 
 about the parkway. Through the centre of the 
 Allee runs the old moat, preserved, as is every bit 
 of water-way, by the German city. At frequent 
 intervals it is spanned by stone bridges ornamented 
 with fountains and symboUc figures of commanding 
 size. On one side of the Allee are cafes and shops, 
 all under the watchful eye of the city, to see that 
 they do not disfigure the beauty of the whole, while 
 the opera-house, art gallery, museum, and post- 
 office are in close proximity. 
 
 The Konigs Allee is fixed as one of the city's cen- 
 tres, as was the Forum of Rome. There can be no 
 serious change in realty values; there is no excuse 
 for cheap and transitory buildings. For the city 
 controls its own development and establishes busi- 
 ness, governmental, and other centres, so that values 
 cannot materially depreciate. Nor are "tax-earn- 
 ers," such as disfigure the average American city, 
 permitted. By some means the German city pre- 
 vents the irregular, speculative development so com- 
 mon in this country. To this municipal centre the 
 municipal tram-cars come. Metal signs indicate the 
 routes and destinations of the cars. The Allee is the 
 centre of the city's life, with provision for busi- 
 ness, recreation, and refreshment. To this parkway 
 the people come in the evenings and on holidays for 
 rest and play.
 
 DtJSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 41 
 
 The banks of the Rhine at Dusseldorf were low- 
 Ijdng marsh-land. Retaining-walls were erected for 
 miles along the river front within which land was 
 made for park purposes. A promenade- way extends 
 along the top of the embankment, from which stone 
 steps and driveways lead down to the freight and 
 passenger-boat landings below. There is an en- 
 closed harbor for pleasure-craft. Along the river 
 front are frequent municipal bath-houses, while the 
 river itself is crossed by a splendid bridge whose 
 approaches are ornamented in a commanding way. 
 The central pier carries the gigantic figure of a hon, 
 symbolical of Dusseldorf. Upon the made land, 
 fronting on the river, a group of government build- 
 ings has been erected, while farther along is the per- 
 manent art exposition building in which annual art 
 and industrial exhibits are held. Here the Diissel- 
 dorf school of art is encouraged. Between these 
 buildings and the river front are gardens, tennis- 
 courts and playgrounds, all maintained in harmony 
 with the whole. 
 
 Toward the city, from the art exposition building, 
 the embankment narrows into an esplanade or Rhine 
 Promenade, like that of the Seine at Paris or the 
 Victoria Embankment of London. Steam and street 
 railway tracks have been laid below the upper level 
 for handling light freight from the river. But the 
 commercial uses in no way impair the beauty of the 
 river front for pleasure and recreation.
 
 42 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 Farther along is the new harbor, first opened by 
 the city in 1896, and greatly extended in 1902 by 
 the reclaiming of the foreshore of the river. The 
 original cost of the harbor was $4,500,000. In area 
 the harbor is among the largest on the Rhine. Its 
 turn over increased 300 per cent, in the first ten years 
 after its building and now amounts to 1,100,000 tons 
 per year. Under the Rhine Navigation act, which 
 was passed to encourage the erection of harbors, 
 cities are not permitted to draw profit from their 
 harbor dues, but the indirect effect of their construc- 
 tion has been to stimulate greatly the commerce and 
 industry of the city. 
 
 These docks, as in other German cities, are mar- 
 vels of construction. The most modern hydraulic 
 and electrical machinery has been installed, which is 
 operated in connection with the warehouses and state- 
 owned railways to minimize the cost of transship- 
 ment of freight. There are harbors for lumber, for 
 petrolemn, for coal, and for general merchandise. 
 The grain harbor is connected with elevators into 
 which the boats are unloaded by mechanical means. 
 Similar terminal facilities are provided for other 
 kinds of freight. The whole undertaking is operated 
 in harmonious co-operation \sdth the state-owTied 
 railways.^ The opposite bank of the Rhine was also 
 
 ^ For a description of the type of inland harbor erected along the 
 Rhine, see Chapter IV, Frankfort, an Experiment Station in Business 
 Administration.
 
 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 43 
 
 reclaimed. It was low land covered with unsightly 
 dwellings which were torn down and the long, shelv- 
 ing shore developed into a recreation park. 
 
 All these provisions for commerce, for traffic, for 
 beauty and recreation form part of a well-developed, 
 officially approved plan of city building. Nothing is 
 left to chance or the unregulated license of private 
 business or the land speculator. The city has been 
 built as a unit, much as Gary, Indiana, was planned 
 by the Steel Corporation. Gary was planned for the 
 making of iron and steel; Diisseldorf was planned 
 for people. 
 
 Shortly after my arrival I called upon an old ac- 
 quaintance who was a retired business man. His 
 house was close by the retail business district. He 
 had lived there for many years and desired to end 
 his hfe in his old home. He told me that a few 
 weeks before he had been annoyed by noises in the 
 adjoining house. He notified the municipal authori- 
 ties, who sent an inspector to learn the cause of the 
 disturbance. It was discovered that the premises 
 were being used by a goldsmith and that the noises 
 were those of the tapping and hammering of the ar- 
 tisans on the metals. The noise was not loud and 
 would hardly be considered a nuisance in this coun- 
 try, but the authorities promptly notified the gold- 
 smith that he must remove his shop to another sec- 
 tion of the city. For German cities make special 
 provision for factory districts. They compel shops
 
 44 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 to locate upon the railway tracks, in the suburbs, 
 and on the lee side, away from the prevailing winds, 
 so that dirt and smoke will be driven away from the 
 city. Factories can locate nowhere else. This is the 
 common practice in German cities. It explains in 
 part their cleanliness and the absence of that ob- 
 trusive industrialism that characterizes the cities of 
 America and England. All this is of real advantage 
 to the factory-owners, for it insures them the best 
 of transportation facilities by rail and water as well 
 as proximity to the working-class residence districts. 
 It also protects residence property from depreciation 
 by shops and factories. 
 
 Every part of the city has been planned with the 
 same foresight and care as the railway station, the 
 river embankment, and the Konigs Allee. Undevel- 
 oped land, far out in the suburbs, has been laid out 
 in detail for many years to come. The maps in the 
 city hall show the location of proposed streets and 
 boulevards. They indicate the land to be used for 
 parks, open spaces, and sites for public buildings, all 
 selected in anticipation of the city's growth and 
 purchased at their agricultural value. The width, 
 style, and character of streets are planned with ref- 
 erence to the use to which they are to be put. 
 
 To these plans the owner and the builder must con- 
 form. They are not permitted to destroy the har- 
 mony of the whole or use their property in such a 
 way as to injure their neighbors. Beauty, orderli-
 
 Building Plan of Suburban Allotment, Dusseldorf. 
 
 Showing method of street planning, style of house permitted, and generous 
 allowance for open spaces and boulevards. Streets are from 60 to 135 
 feet -wide. Black building dots indicate that these sites are reserved for 
 houses for one or two families. The other shadings show similar restric- 
 tions, some sites being restricted to houses for one or two families and 
 others for two or three families, as well as indicating the type of building 
 permitted. A large amoiuit of space is required to be left vacant in front 
 of and in rear of buildings.
 
 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 45 
 
 ness, and comfort are the first consideration. Sites 
 for school buildings, for little city centres, have been 
 purchased in advance of their increase in value. 
 Some sections of the surrounding territory are re- 
 served for mills and factories. Neighboring prop- 
 erty is set aside for workingmen's cottages or apart- 
 ments. In other sections the land is dedicated to 
 villas and more expensive residences. 
 
 Everywhere, even in the heart of the city, the 
 height of buildings is limited. Rarely in any Ger- 
 man city may buildings exceed in height the width of 
 the street. The area that can be covered by build- 
 ings is also determined beforehand. Houses must 
 be so located that there will be a certain frontage 
 devoted to gardens, while the houses themselves 
 must be a certain distance apart. Thus the tene- 
 ment and the slum cannot reappear. Nor can the 
 character of the section be changed without the as- 
 sent of the city. In this way values are protected 
 from the selfishness of a single individual who may 
 destroy the value of a whole neighborhood by the 
 erection of factories or buildings which are a nui- 
 sance to the neighborhood. 
 
 The city is like a feudal overlord. It says in ef- 
 fect to the land-owner: "Whatever value your land 
 enjoys is due to the city. We, all of us, have created 
 its value. You in turn must so use your land that 
 it will not injure the community which has enriched 
 you. The city is paramount. Its people are sov-
 
 46 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 ereign. To some extent you must subordinate your 
 private rights to the common welfare just as you do 
 your personal actions." 
 
 In America a man may do what he wills with his 
 land and the courts protect him in his actions. He 
 may erect a dirty factory in the heart of the resi- 
 dence district. He may put up a twenty-story sky- 
 scraper and destroy the light of his neighbor. He 
 may maintain a miserable tax-earner in the midst 
 of a fine business district. He may lay out mean 
 and narrow streets on his allotment, may pave and 
 sewer them as he wills, or use the territory for any- 
 thing that suits his fancy. 
 
 There is no such license in the German city. The 
 city is first in the eye of officials and citizens. And 
 the streets are treated with almost as much rever- 
 ence as a great public building. And streets, parks, 
 and open spaces, the suburbs and the water-fronts, 
 the fixing of building zones and the height of build- 
 ings are all the work of the expert, trained to the 
 calling of town-planning just as is the engineer or 
 the architect. 
 
 Radiating out from the business centre of Diissel- 
 dorf are broad, parklike thoroughfares through which 
 the life of the city moves. They are arranged like 
 the ribs of a fan. The parkway in the centre is 
 planted with trees, flowers, and formal gardens. 
 There are benches where the people gather in the 
 evening. The street-railway tracks are placed on
 
 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 47 
 
 either side of a parkway and are sodded to keep 
 down the diii; and noise. On either side of the 
 tracks are roads for vehicular traffic. These radial 
 avenues are from one hundred and fifty to two hun- 
 dred feet wide and are so arranged that one can 
 traverse almost any section of the town along a 
 beautiful shaded roadway. Round about the city 
 is a circular boulevard like the Ring Strasse of the 
 near-by city of Cologne. 
 
 Out at the extremity of one of these radial thor- 
 oughfares is a city woods which covers the hills on 
 one side of the city. They have been left in their 
 natural condition, and on a holiday or Sunday they 
 suggest fairy-land; with the long, straight-trunked 
 trees, clean of foliage up to twenty or thirty feet, 
 and with pathways running up and down the hill- 
 side filled with people. 
 
 Such municipal forests are common in Germany, 
 and Switzerland. They are not parks in the Amer- 
 ican sense, but are preserved in their natural state 
 and are used for tramping, for picnics, for all kinds 
 of recreation, as well as for the cultivation and sale 
 of timber. In many cases these public forests have 
 been owned for centuries. 
 
 Farther on is the Diisseldorf race-track, where 
 officers of the army and ambitious business men 
 ride their blooded horses several times a year. To 
 these meets, which are social events like the Ascot 
 in England, the wealth of the neighborhood gathers.
 
 48 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 The races are orderly and well conducted, the bet- 
 ting being under government supervision. The Ger- 
 man horse-race is in striking contrast with that of 
 America or England. It partakes of the spirit of 
 the German city, which seems to insist that any- 
 thing that is worth doing should be done in the best 
 way possible. 
 
 While the development of Diisseldorf seems to 
 have been adequately provided for, for a generation 
 to come, its officials are not content with what has 
 been achieved. The growth of the past twenty years 
 suggests the possibility of metropolitan proportions. 
 To anticipate this probable growth, the city invited 
 town-planners to compete for a still more compre- 
 hensive project. And as an aid to the competitors, 
 topographical surveys, maps, studies of land and 
 building values, statistics of traffic, of industry, and 
 the density of population were prepared by the city. 
 A prospectus was issued which announced that the 
 successful plan must provide for the future develop- 
 ment of steam, water, and electric traffic, for health 
 and for beauty. Existing public buildings are to be 
 retained as far as possible. Suggestions are to be 
 made for the extension of existing streets and tram- 
 way Hues as well as of the steam railways. Terri- 
 tory for industrial uses must be designated, with pro- 
 vision for workingmen's dwellings as well as the 
 traffic arrangements with surrounding cities. 
 
 Residential quarters, with plans for dwellings for
 
 DUSSELDORF .\ND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 49 
 
 persons of large means as well as the location and 
 style of workingmen's cottages and apartment houses, 
 are to be included. The city is planning a new city 
 hall which is to form part of the competitive designs. 
 Provision is also to be made for an arts and crafts 
 school building, a museum, concert hall, public gar- 
 den, and a city theatre. Sites and plans for market 
 halls were requested and the best means for the 
 bringing in of food. A new slaughter-house is to be 
 built. Playgrounds, parks, and open spaces were to 
 be included in the plan as well as sites for primary 
 and secondary school buildings. Competitions such 
 as these are common in Germany, those of Berlin, 
 Munich, and Diisseldorf being the most notable.^ 
 
 The officials of Diisseldorf projected their imagi- 
 nation far into the future in calling for this competi- 
 tion, much as did the group of architects who laid 
 out the ground-plan for the World's Fair in Chicago. 
 The day-to-day policy with which American cities 
 are permitted to develop has been superseded by 
 intelligent prevision for the future. 
 
 Municipal administration is a trained profession 
 in Germany, and Diisseldorf has recently opened a 
 college for the education of officials in city adminis- 
 tration and town-planning. The curriculum covers 
 two semesters of three months each, at the end of 
 
 ^ Prizes were awarded to five competitors and a description of 
 their plans with maps and drawings was published by the city, 
 entitled, Sonder-Katalog fiir die Gruppe Stddtebau der Stddteaus- 
 slellung zu Diisseldorf, 1912.
 
 50 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 which time students are required to take a gradu- 
 ating examination. The course covers such topics 
 as municipal law and administration, the labor ques- 
 tion, the relief of the poor, sanitation, and the proper 
 organization of city government. The teachers are 
 for the most part practical men and administrators, 
 university professors and officials connected with city 
 departments. The college is open to those who have 
 had a gymnasium course or who have passed an 
 equivalent examination. A similar college devoted 
 to town-planning has been in operation in Berlin for 
 a number of years. 
 
 Diisseldorf engages in the greatest variety of busi- 
 ness undertakings, and has carried municipal social- 
 ism further than any city in Europe. The gas-works 
 have been owned for many years and involve an in- 
 vestment of $3,750,000. In 1907 the net profits from 
 the plant, above all proper charges, were $304,000. 
 Electric-lighting works were erected in 1890. In 
 1907 they supplied 2,300 consumers. The invest- 
 ment in the plant is approximately $3,000,000, and 
 the net profit for the year 1907 amounted to $140,000. 
 The prices charged for gas and electricity are lower 
 than in most German cities. The water plant has 
 been owned since 1870. The net profit in 1908, after 
 all charges, was $218,000. 
 
 The street railways were the property of a private 
 company up to 1900, when they were acquired by 
 the city. The year before the city took possession
 
 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 51 
 
 the railways carried 10,000,000 passengers. Eight 
 years later the number had increased to 40,000,000. 
 For some years the system was operated at a loss, 
 but in 1907 it turned over a net profit of $51,000. 
 The investment in the plant is $2,500,000. The 
 tracks are laid close to the pavements so that they 
 offer no obstruction to traffic, while the rails are so 
 solidly embedded that there is Httle noise or rattle. 
 Cars are clean and freshly painted, the newer ones 
 being models of beauty and comfort. They are more 
 like the private car of a street-railway magnate than 
 a car for ordinary passengers. The rate of fare is 
 two and a half cents. 
 
 I do not pretend to know all of the enterprises of 
 this thrifty German city. It carries on a wine busi- 
 ness from which it realizes a small profit; it also 
 operates one or more restaurants. As indicative of 
 the way German cities experiment as well as the 
 freedom they enjoy, Diisseldorf appropriated a spe- 
 cial fund of $3,750,000 some years ago to be invested 
 in industrial undertakings of a profitable nature iden- 
 tified with the city. It acquired six-tenths of the 
 shares of stock in the Rhenish Tramway Company, 
 which operates electric lines to surrounding cities 
 and carries on an extensive business in land specu- 
 lation. 
 
 In addition the city itself is a land speculator on 
 a large scale, its realty holdings amounting to nearly 
 2,500 acres. Since 1900 a special fund of $5,750,000
 
 52 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 has been set aside with which to buy and sell real 
 estate just as does a private operator. The purpose 
 of the investment, according to the city's official dec- 
 laration, is "to restrain the unnatural augmentation 
 of the price of land." Through its large land hold- 
 ings the city is able to compete with private specu- 
 lators and keep down the price. It also participates 
 in the "unearned increment" which the growth of 
 the city creates. 
 
 The city operates a municipal mortgage bank, the 
 first of its kind in Prussia, which has advanced more 
 than $5,000,000 on loans for the building of working- 
 men's homes. In addition the council has erected 
 twenty houses for workingmen, with one hundred 
 and forty-one apartments, as well as fifty-one sepa- 
 rate houses for the same purpose. A home for un- 
 married people has recently been added partly out 
 of municipal, partly out of private funds left to the 
 city for that purpose. Here, as elsewhere in Ger- 
 many, private land speculation and the housing 
 problem are controlled in part by municipal com- 
 petition. 
 
 Diisseldorf was a pioneer in a comprehensive hous- 
 ing poHcy. Ten years ago it realized that the rapid 
 growth of the city created a house famine which pri- 
 vate capital was unable or unwilling to satisfy. Its 
 officials were concerned over the question, and in 
 1902 a report was published by Doctor Meydenbauer 
 in which it was stated:
 
 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 53 
 
 "The fact that capitaHsts do not lend much money 
 on mortgages of land and buildings is well known. 
 It had become difficult to obtain credit, especially 
 for a plot of land which had not yet been built upon, 
 in excess of the value of the visible security. 
 
 "As capital could not be obtained, house building 
 had come to a standstill. In this way a house- 
 famine was created here as in other towns, the miti- 
 gation of which the Town Council was compelled to 
 regard as its task. The way was obvious ; the need, 
 created by the disinclination of private persons to 
 advance capital, must be supphed by the credit of 
 the town. 
 
 "The Town Council decided at a meeting on the 
 24th April, 1900, to grant mortgage loans on land in 
 the town district of Diisseldorf, and to appoint a 
 committee to manage the mortgage business in con- 
 formity with instructions given by the Council. A 
 grant of $250,000 was made from the town treasury 
 for the beginning of the reserve fund of the new de- 
 partment. For the purpose of obtaining funds the 
 Council resolved to raise a loan of $5,000,000 at 4 
 per cent, interest for the promotion of the building 
 of dwelling-houses in the town district, by the issue 
 of bonds — the loan to be issued in twenty instal- 
 ments of $250,000 each, according to the amount 
 granted in mortgage loans, and to be repaid, from 
 the sixth year after the issue of each instalment, by 
 payments of half of one per cent, on the capital to 
 a sinking fund, in addition to the interest laid by. 
 The payment would therefore last 57 years." ^ 
 
 Diisseldorf aims at being a model employer. It 
 treats its 4,800 clerks and workmen more generously 
 
 ^ The Improvement of Dwellings and Surroundings of the People: 
 The Example of Germany, T. C. Horsfall, Manchester, England, 
 p. 85.
 
 54 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 than do the private corporations and goes beyond 
 the requirements provided by law in regard to sick- 
 ness, accident, and old-age insurance. It grants all 
 workmen and employees a retiring allowance as well 
 as pensions for widows and orphans. The wages 
 paid rise with the years of service, while the con- 
 ditions of work are determined by municipal regula- 
 tions. 
 
 In addition to the savings-bank and mortgage 
 bank, the city operates a pawn-shop where loans 
 can be secured on easy terms and at relatively low 
 rates of interest. A commercial court and trade 
 court decide disputes between masters and employ- 
 ees and arbitrate other controversies arising out of 
 trade matters. These courts enjoy the confidence of 
 all classes. The procedure is very informal. Law- 
 yers are not encouraged and litigation is disposed of 
 quickly and at an insignificant cost. These indus- 
 trial courts are found all over Europe and are widely 
 used by the working-classes. A few years ago a 
 legal-aid department, where advice is furnished free, 
 was opened. This, too, is maintained by the city. 
 To encourage thrift, the city conducts a municipal 
 savings-bank. 
 
 The city also maintains a labor exchange or em- 
 plojmient bureau which is a clearing-house for em- 
 ployers and employees. During the winter months 
 emergency work is furnished to men out of employ- 
 ment. In 1909 the city offered work to 1,300
 
 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 55 
 
 unemployed men. This is a not uncommon prac- 
 tice among German cities. 
 
 There are but few private charities in Germany, 
 almost all relief work being administered by the city 
 directly. This is the almost universal policy, it 
 being assumed that the care of the poor is a public 
 rather than a private function. Aid is granted 
 almost exclusively in the form of out-door relief 
 according to the Elberfeld system, in-door institu- 
 tional relief being confined to the sick, the infirm, and 
 the homeless. The city defends this policy by saying : 
 
 "The great value of this system is based upon its 
 maintenance of family life and the economic inde- 
 pendence of the persons assisted. The system is 
 administered by persons of both sexes (in Dussel- 
 dorf by about 500 persons in all), who give their 
 services gratuitously, and to each of whom a definite 
 local relief district is allotted. The direction is in 
 the hands of a poor-relief board, the members of 
 which are all unpaid. The chairman is, however, an 
 official, a sort of alderman or assistant mayor by 
 profession, who, with the assistance of a numerous 
 body of clerks, first prepares and then carries out 
 the resolutions of the board. In the year 1907 an 
 average of 10,337 persons per day were relieved, with 
 a total expenditure of 384,762 marks ($96,190) in the 
 year. Further 171,930 marks ($42,980) were dis- 
 bursed for single and special cases of relief, some- 
 times in supplies instead of in money, in which sum 
 is also included the cost of accommodating destitute 
 persons in the six municipal almshouses and in pro- 
 viding for the homeless in the town asylum."
 
 56 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 Orphans and poor children are known as munici- 
 pal "foster children" and are under the constant 
 care of professional nurses and physicians. 
 
 The city maintains a corps of eighteen physicians 
 who give gratuitous service to needy persons, while 
 numerous hospitals, infirmaries, and sanatoriums 
 are provided. The general hospital of the city cost 
 $1,750,000 aside from the land. It is equipped with 
 every resource of medical science, and comprises a 
 group of 25 separate buildings with 914 beds. In 
 connection with the hospital is an academy of prac- 
 tical medicine as well as a society for the rearing of 
 infants. The city also maintains a municipal nursing 
 establishment for convalescent invalids and those 
 who do not require hospital treatment. 
 
 The expenditure for the relief of the poor and of 
 orphans increased by 100 per cent, from 1897 to 
 1907, but the city explains the increase by saying: 
 
 "This great increase is no sign of growing poverty 
 but rather of the increasing eagerness of the town 
 administration in the work of help and charity, and 
 the increase would probably have been still greater 
 had not the German workmen's insurance act in- 
 tervened at the same time to reheve the town." 
 
 Public sanitation and hygiene have been carried 
 to a high degree of perfection by German cities dur- 
 ing the past twenty years. The public health is a 
 matter of universal concern. The city says of its 
 work in this direction:
 
 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 57 
 
 "The eagerness in the work (poor rehef) above 
 referred to has developed still more remarkably in 
 matters of hygiene. The modern German city, in 
 accordance with the social progress of the time, rec- 
 ognizes it as its duty to change its activities in the 
 sphere of hygienic policing, from the almost exclu- 
 sively curative policy to one that is in a still higher 
 degree preventive. 
 
 "The town has established a special institute for 
 testing food and provisions. It maintains a slaugh- 
 ter house to protect the community from objection- 
 able meat. The use of the abattoir is compulsory 
 on all butchers, and no meat can be killed in the 
 city except in the municipal establishment. A new 
 slaughter house was erected some years ago, which, 
 with the adjacent cattle yards, cost approximately 
 $1,000,000. All the meat slaughtered and used in 
 the city is inspected by municipal veterinary sur- 
 geons." 
 
 Constant oversight is maintained of the health of 
 the children. On entering school the child is exam- 
 ined by the school physician to ascertain its physical 
 condition. The examination is usually made in the 
 presence of the parents, who are advised as to the 
 food and other precautions to be taken in the care 
 of the child. The school buildings are equipped with 
 gymnasiums and are surrounded with playgrounds 
 which are provided with all kinds of apparatus. As 
 one travels about the country one sees classes of 
 school-children, from six to fifteen years of age, 
 tramping through the country with their teacher, 
 studying trees, flowers, and nature. Similar classes
 
 58 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 are seen in the zoological and palm gardens as well 
 as in the art galleries and museums. The teaching 
 of swimming is compulsory, and during the summer 
 months the public baths located on the rivers and 
 water-ways are crowded with children under the care 
 of a swimming-master. 
 
 Weak-minded children are taught in separate 
 classes in order to permit of individual treatment. 
 Special courses are held for children who stutter, 
 while for those suffering from curvature of the spine 
 and similar diseases, orthopedic gymnastic exercises 
 have been developed. Special schools are main- 
 tained in the country for subnormal children to 
 which they are sent until they are able to enter the 
 city schools. Poor children receive a hot breakfast 
 in winter, which is served gratuitously, while hohday 
 camps, milk, and saline bath cures are provided for 
 those in need of rest and relaxation. These and 
 many other precautionary measures are taken by the 
 school and health authorities of Diisseldorf to con- 
 serve the child and give it every possible chance to 
 grow up a healthy and efficient member of the com- 
 munity. The administration of Diisseldorf is not 
 dissimilar from that of other cities in these respects. 
 All Germany is engaged in a war on disease. 
 
 The new school buildings erected in recent years 
 are models of architectural beauty. They contain 
 splendid assembly halls. The laboratories are well 
 equipped for the teaching of physics, chemistry,
 
 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 59 
 
 biology, and the sciences. In all of these respects the 
 school administration of Diisseldorf is in keeping 
 with the standards of the empire. 
 
 School attendance is compulsoiy up to the age of 
 sixteen years. The elementary schools contained 
 36,000 pupils in 1908, distributed among 56 schools 
 with 675 classes and about 700 teachers. This was 
 about 50 pupils to the class. The elementary 
 school curriculum includes courses in manual 
 training for the boys and various kinds of domestic 
 science for the girls. The total expenditure for 
 elementary schools in 1907 was $500,000. 
 
 The work of the elementary school is supplemented 
 by from two to three years' additional work in the 
 continuation and technical schools, held mostly in 
 the evening. These schools are designed to train 
 the children in trades, in technical matters, and in 
 domestic science. There are eight such continua- 
 tion schools in the city, three of which are of a com- 
 mercial character, two are technical schools, one is 
 a drawing-school for boys, and one an applied art 
 school for the industrial arts. Provision is made for 
 higher forms of art expression in the Royal Fine Arts 
 Academy, an old and celebrated institution under 
 public control. 
 
 Above the elementary and continuation school sys- 
 tem are a number of high schools or gymnasiums in 
 which the work is specialized rather than general. 
 There is a high school for the training of governesses 
 and a general high school for girls. There is another
 
 60 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 school for those who wish to pursue a professional 
 career^ as well as a lyceum for girls who desire to study 
 domestic and household economics; such as the rear- 
 ing of children, house-keeping, sanitation, and pub- 
 lic work along the lines of charity administration. 
 The course of study in these high schools is adjusted 
 to vocational needs. The high schools for boys con- 
 sist of two g^Timasiums which prepare for the uni- 
 versity, as well as g}^mnasiums for technical training. 
 
 The total cost of the educational system of Diis- 
 seldorf amounts to $1,000,000 a year exclusive of 
 the expenses of administration. This was equiva- 
 lent to a per-capita expenditure of four dollars, 
 which, when the relative salaries and cost of ad- 
 ministration are considered, is considerably above the 
 per-capita expenditure of the average American city. 
 
 The per-capita ex-penditure of several American 
 cities of comparable size to Diisseldorf is as 
 follows: Milwaukee, population 350,852, $3.66 per 
 capita; San Francisco, population 402,836, $4.26 
 per capita; Buffalo, population 405,714, $3.96 per 
 capita; Detroit, population 426,592, $4.00 per 
 capita; Baltimore, population 549,079, $3.32 per 
 capita; Washington, population 321,128, $6.40 per 
 capita. The average expenditure of American cities 
 is below that of progressive German cities, and when 
 the purchasing power of money is considered, the ex- 
 penditure is veiy much less.^ 
 
 ^ See Study of Expenses of City School Systems, United States Bu- 
 reau of Education, Washington, p. 90.
 
 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 61 
 
 The school system of Diisseldorf is supplemented 
 by a number of other agencies which have a distinct 
 educational value. The city owns and maintains a 
 theatre in which high-class operas, dramas, and 
 comedies are produced, which are made available to 
 the poorer classes by cheap tickets and special pro- 
 ductions. During the summer special performances 
 are given by the Rhenish Goethe Society. The city 
 owns a splendid concert hall, known as the Ton- 
 halle, in which a restaurant and wine-handling busi- 
 ness is conducted. Symphony and military concerts 
 are given here several times a week, as well as pro- 
 ductions by the local choral society. The city sup- 
 ports a symphony orchestra of sixty-one players, 
 and provides a musical director who conducts the 
 orchestra and directs the lower Rhine musical 
 festivals which are held every three years. 
 
 Diisseldorf was the first city in Germany to erect 
 a public reading-room in connection with its town 
 library. Popular lectures and classes are held dur- 
 ing the winter months by the joint action of the 
 municipality and the chamber of commerce, which 
 are frequented by clerks and workingmen. A fine 
 arts gallery, a museum of natural science and his- 
 tory, and a zoological garden are maintained, the 
 latter being a favorite recreation centre for the chil- 
 dren. All of these agencies are correlated with the ed- 
 ucational system. Play is given a cultural value. It is 
 difficult to find a German man or woman who has not
 
 62 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 some appreciation of musiC; of the classical dramatic 
 productions, and a critical sense in these matters. 
 
 The budget of Dii&seldorf is several times the 
 budget of an American city of equal size. In 1907 it 
 amounted to $28,250,000; or almost $100 per capita. 
 This is nearly five times the per-capita budget of 
 cities like Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, or Chi- 
 cago. Of the total budget, $21,000,000 was devoted 
 to the operation of the many industrial activities 
 of the city; $1,250,000 was for charges against 
 the debt account, while the balance, or $6,000,000, 
 was expended for municipal administration proper. 
 The total amount collected from taxation was but 
 $2,875,000, or about $10 per capita. Of the latter 
 sum considerably more than one-half is raised by the 
 income tax, which is in the nature of a surtax on the 
 state income tax and is calculated at a certain per- 
 centage of the state rate. The municipal rate varies 
 greatly in different cities, the rate in Diisseldorf being 
 140 per cent., which is below that of any large city 
 in Rhenish-Westphalia, although a few German cities 
 have a lower rate, that of Frankfort being but 90 
 per cent. 
 
 In recent years the policy has been adopted of 
 shifting the burden of taxation from incomes and 
 onto property. Increased taxes are being laid on 
 land and the sales of real estate. In 1907 the land 
 tax yielded approximately $500,000, the tax on the 
 transfer of real estate $250,000, or together about 
 three-tenths of the entire municipal taxes.
 
 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 63 
 
 The indebtedness of Diisseldorf is also of extraor- 
 dinary size. In 1909 it amounted to $29,000,000, 
 almost exactly the same as the budget of the city. 
 This has been incurred in the purchase or construc- 
 tion of the street railways, gas and electric lighting 
 enterprises, in the purchase of land and participa- 
 tion in industrial undertakings, in the building of 
 schools, streets, and other municipal activities. The 
 most extraordinary fact about the indebtedness, as 
 stated by the city, is that "No less than 87.3 per 
 cent, of the habihty is for industrial undertakings, 
 a proportion not obtained by any other German 
 town." "Consequently," the city says, "even this 
 considerable increase of municipal liabilities is noth- 
 ing else than a sign and an attendant phenomenon 
 of a highly prosperous town, the administration of 
 which is constantly pursuing higher aims." 
 
 As against the indebtedness of $29,000,000 the 
 city possesses assets in excess of $40,000,000, which 
 not only earn the interest charges on the cost, but 
 turn into the city treasury a substantial revenue for 
 the relief of taxation. Less than 13 per cent, of the 
 indebtedness is for undertakings and improvements 
 of a non-profitable kind. 
 
 The financial operations of the city for the year 
 1909 were as follows. The figures are in marks, ap- 
 proximately twenty-four cents. The receipts from 
 municipal undertakings indicate the extent to which 
 municipal socialism has been carried by the city.
 
 64 
 
 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
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 DUSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 65 
 
 No. 
 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 15 
 16 
 17 
 18 
 19 
 20 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 Name or Account 
 
 B — Independent Accounts 
 
 Dusseldorf gas-works 
 
 Gerresheim gas-works 
 
 Electrical works 
 
 Water-works, including public 
 baths 
 
 Drainage 
 
 Street tramways 
 
 Docks 
 
 Slaughter-house 
 
 Cattle-yards 
 
 Endowments and other funds . . 
 
 Real-estate funds 
 
 Funds for participating in in- 
 dustrial undertakings 
 
 Allowances and billeting (sold- 
 iers) 
 
 Mortgage admin 
 
 Savings-bank 
 
 Reserve savings-bank fund 
 
 Old-age savings-bank 
 
 Collections 
 
 Pawning establishment 
 
 Observatory 
 
 Town concert hall 
 
 Wine business at above 
 
 Zoological Gardens — endow- 
 ment " Scheidt-Keim " 
 
 Admin, of cemeteries 
 
 Total of independent accounts . . 
 
 Total of town treasury ac- 
 counts 
 
 Total of budget of loan ac- 
 counts (extraordinary) .... 
 
 Total of all municipal accounts 
 
 Revenue 
 
 Expenditure 
 
 Mabks 
 
 Marks 
 
 4,900,000 
 
 4,900,000 
 
 127,000 
 
 127,000 
 
 2,525,000 
 
 2,525,000 
 
 1,990,000 
 
 1,990,000 
 
 1,932,000 
 
 1,932,000 
 
 6,279,883 
 
 6,279,883 
 
 1,568,000 
 
 1,568,000 
 
 690,500 
 
 690,500 
 
 121,000 
 
 121,000 
 
 371,676 
 
 371,676 
 
 4,625,000 
 
 4,625,000 
 
 4,615,000 
 
 4,615,000 
 
 46,200 
 
 46,200 
 
 5,074,000 
 
 5,074,000 
 
 47,240,000 
 
 47,240,000 
 
 376,000 
 
 376,000 
 
 12,500 
 
 12,500 
 
 338,000 
 
 338,000 
 
 1,164,000 
 
 1,164,000 
 
 3,930 
 
 3,930 
 
 248,500 
 
 248,500 
 
 284,000 
 
 284,000 
 
 288,000 
 
 288,000 
 
 348,100 
 
 348,100 
 
 85,168,289 
 
 85,168,289 
 
 23,900,000 
 
 23,900,000 
 
 5,500,000 
 
 5,500,000 
 
 114,568,289 
 
 114,568,289
 
 66 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 In twenty years' time Diisseldorf has grown from 
 144,642 to 356,000 inhabitants. It is now sixth of 
 the Prussian cities in point of population and elev- 
 enth in all Germany. The manufactures of the city 
 include iron and steel products of every variety and 
 description. It is the principal seat of German tube 
 manufacture. Its machine works, tool-shops, artil- 
 lery and projectile factories have a world renown. 
 The textile industry is widely developed, as is the 
 manufacture of glassware, bottles, china, and porce- 
 lain. Upon the Rhine are great lumber yards with 
 which are allied paper mills and furniture factories. 
 Printing and lithographic establishments, applied art 
 work, chemical and dyeing industries have come to 
 the city in great numbers. The Society for the 
 Promotion of the Industrial Interests of the Rhine- 
 land and Westphalia chose Diisseldorf as its head- 
 quarters in preference to other competing cities, as 
 did the German iron and steel manufacturers. The 
 German steel trust erected a monumental building 
 called the Stahlhof, which is one of the finest mer- 
 cantile buildings in Germany. 
 
 Diisseldorf is typical of the sort of city that is 
 being built all over Germany. A kind of Bismarck- 
 ian state socialism animates officials, business men, 
 and citizens, who have united on a bold programme 
 of municipal activities with the greatest willingness 
 and appreciation of the benefits that are to accrue 
 from it. Humanity, business acumen, economy, and 
 
 1
 
 DiJSSELDORF AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM 67 
 
 honesty are not uncommon qualities in the German 
 official, but they seem to have been more highly de- 
 veloped in Diisseldorf than in any other city. For 
 Diisseldorf cares for its people as a parent does for 
 its children. It educates them with an eye to the 
 needs of the child as well as of the community. It 
 watches over their health in every possible way. 
 They are protected from the vicissitudes of hard 
 times, of industrial accident, of old age and invalid- 
 ity. There is provision for pleasure, for recreation, 
 for culture for young and old. The city is the main 
 thing. This has not been done by socialists but by 
 business men, by hard-headed business men, who seem 
 to have seen that this was the best sort of municipal 
 investment that could be made. And it is because 
 of these many activities, it is because of the provi- 
 sion for a happier and more wholesome urban life, 
 that Diisseldorf has become one of the show cities 
 of the world as well as one of the great industrial 
 centres of Germany as well.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN— AN EXAMPLE OF 
 BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the heart of south 
 Germany, not far from Switzerland, vies with Diis- 
 seldorf as an experiment station in municipal life. 
 It, too, suggests the city of to-morrow in its com- 
 munal self-consciousness, in its bigness of vision, in 
 its fine city spirit. For centuries Frankfort was a 
 free city like Hamburg, Bremen, and Nuremberg. 
 It was one of the centres of the rich caravan trade 
 carried on between the East and the West by way 
 of the Danube and the Rhine. Through commerce 
 it became one of the wealthiest cities of Europe, and 
 to-day, with Amsterdam, it shares the reputation of 
 being the richest city per capita in Europe, if not in 
 the world. 
 
 The market-place, under the shadow of the Rat- 
 haus, is still the city centre as it was in earlier times. 
 Round about it are many beautiful old buildings, 
 formerly the homes of the merchant guilds, which 
 have been preserved unaltered by action of the mu- 
 nicipal authorities in the rebuilding operations made 
 
 68 
 
 I
 
 FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN 69 
 
 necessary by sanitary and commercial needs. In the 
 old town the streets are still narrow and irregular, 
 the overhanging upper stories of many houses being 
 so close together that one can almost reach from 
 window to window. In the heart of this district, 
 fronting upon the market-place, is the Romer, now 
 the city hall. Here for centuries the emperors of 
 the Holy Roman Empire were chosen, an empire 
 which Voltaire described as being " neither holy, nor 
 Roman, nor an empire." To the Romer, delegates 
 came from the loosely federated kingdoms, principal- 
 ities, and bishoprics to choose the rulers of an empire 
 which traced its lineage from Charlemagne, an em- 
 pire which persisted for generations after its vitality 
 had passed away because of the hold it had upon 
 the imagination and religious veneration of Europe. 
 But the Holy Roman Empire came to an end and 
 was succeeded by the German federation, which was 
 later fused into a nation by the wars against Aus- 
 tria and France in 1866 and 1870. And because 
 Frankfort sympathized with Austria in the former 
 war, the city lost its independence as a Freistadt. It 
 became a part of Prussia. But Frankfort still clings 
 to its traditions of greatness, and during the last 
 quarter of a century a modem city has been built 
 around the old town that surpasses the splendor of 
 its mediaeval days. 
 
 The Romer is a series of irregular buildings al- 
 most surrounded by the old houses of the merchants
 
 70 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 and guilds, whose fronts are still ornamented with 
 paintings and preserved by the city in their medi- 
 aeval beauty. The banquet-hall of the Romer has 
 been ornamented with mural paintings descriptive of 
 the historical traditions of the empire. The Romer, 
 now the Rathaus, is the centre of the city's life, as 
 it is in most German cities. For the city hall is 
 more than an official building; it is a municipal pal- 
 ace on which vast sums are spent to make it worthy 
 of the city's life. Here banquets, receptions, and 
 public celebrations are held. All over Germany the 
 city hall is built with something of the reverence that 
 animated the cathedral builders in earlier centuries. 
 It is the most commanding structure in the city. 
 Munich, a city of but 593,000 people, has recently 
 erected a Gothic city hall which cost S4,500,000 ex- 
 clusive of the cost of the land. The new city halls 
 of Leipsic and Dresden are of splendid proportions 
 and are built in the massive style which charac- 
 terizes much of the new architecture of Germany. 
 Cities of a quarter of a million inhabitants spend 
 more generously on their town halls than do cities of 
 three times that population in this country. 
 
 Like Diisseldorf, Frankfort has grown with great 
 rapidity. It had but 80,000 people in 1871. Ten 
 years later its population was 137,000. By 1891 its 
 numbers had grown to 179,850, while by the census 
 of 1910 its population was 417,706. The rapid ex- 
 pansion of the city made it necessary to open up the
 
 Frankfort. Municipal Theatre. 
 
 Frankfort. Komerberg and the Old Market Place.
 
 i
 
 FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN 71 
 
 old parts of the town. New streets had to be cut 
 through and old streets widened. Frankfort might 
 have destroyed its charm had the city thought only 
 in short-sighted terms of economy. But Frankfort 
 replanned its business centre so as to preserve the 
 narrow, irregular streets within the old town. It 
 left them much as they were in the past. It pre- 
 served the old houses, the architecture, and the street 
 adornments as monuments of the city's earlier 
 splendor. 
 
 Frankfort is not as large as Cleveland or Detroit, 
 yet it has a $10,000,000 railway station, begun thirty 
 years ago when the population was less than 200,000. 
 This but typifies the attitude of mind of citizen and 
 official, for Frankfort spends in what we should con- 
 sider an extravagant way and for what our cities 
 would consider useless ends. The mass of the people 
 are poor, while the income, business, and real-estate 
 taxes are so levied that the burden is consciously 
 felt by almost all classes. Despite this fact the city 
 borrows and spends with the vision of a railroad 
 president who abolishes curves, makes cuts, and 
 builds his road with an eye to economy and the 
 elimination of waste. More than $50,000,000 has 
 been invested in the last few years in the purchase 
 of real estate alone. The city owns one-half of the 
 total area within its boundaries, or 12,397 acres. 
 The purchase of land is encouraged by the state, 
 which not only advises the towns to hold on to every
 
 72 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 bit of public land but to add to their possessions. 
 Outside of its limits Frankfort owns 3;800 acres more, 
 making its total landed possessions 16,650 acres, 
 which is sixty per cent, of the total area of Cleveland 
 or Pittsburgh, whose areas in 1909 were 26,348 acres 
 and 26,510 acres respectively. One-half of this great 
 estate is the Stadtwald, forest lands acquired from 
 the German emperors at the end of the fourteenth 
 century and now used for the raising of timber for 
 market. 
 
 Like Cologne, Frankfort acquired the fortifications 
 about the old town and laid them out in a splendid 
 Ring Strasse. Part of the land was sold to private 
 persons, but on condition that only one building 
 should be erected on each site, while the remain- 
 der should be used as a garden. A beautiful opera- 
 house as well as many splendid monuments and 
 public structures have been erected upon the Ring 
 Strasse. 
 
 Everything about Frankfort suggests a city of a 
 million inhabitants rather than one of half that num- 
 ber, and the business men justify the big undertak- 
 ings of the city much as they do their own private 
 ventures. It is bad policy, they say, not to go into 
 debt when the indebtedness is for something which 
 pays its way or is of service to the people. There 
 is no talk of bankruptcy or of heavy taxes driving 
 away business. Yet the total city indebtedness is 
 $48,982,000, or $108 per capita. This is more than
 
 FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN 73 
 
 twice the average indebtedness of the American city 
 of the same size. The assets, however, are estimated 
 at $91,500,000. 
 
 And because, rather than in spite of its indebted- 
 ness and the many things the city owns, the income- 
 tax rate is the lowest of any large city in Germany, 
 being but 90 per cent, of the state rate, or 50 per 
 cent, less than many cities. The business man justi- 
 fies municipal socialism by reference to the low tax 
 rate and the rapid growth of the city. As a matter 
 of fact, he accepts the idea of municipal trading as 
 the most natural thing in the world. He does not 
 question it; finds it even difficult to discuss it. He 
 feels about the street railways, electric lighting, and 
 other undertakings much as he feels about the plumb- 
 ing and elevators of his building. They are part of 
 the vital organs of the city, like the sewers and the 
 streets. His mind is not shocked at proposals for 
 new undertakings or a big bond issue that would 
 make officials and business men in America stand 
 aghast. He sees the city as a big collective enter- 
 prise, with assets which comprise all the wealth and 
 property of all the people, and with a definite mis- 
 sion to perform. And Frankfort has become a great 
 city largely through the action of the city itself. It 
 is one of the best examples in Germany of the com- 
 mercial value of conscious city building with an eye 
 to the encouragement of business and the conven- 
 ience of the people.
 
 74 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 The city owns the street railways, which were taken 
 over from a private company in 1898. It also owns 
 its water and electric-lighting undertakings. The 
 gas plant is in private hands. Like other German 
 cities, Frankfort is planned far into the surrounding 
 country, so that succeeding generations will not suf- 
 fer from bad housing or unsanitary slums. It was 
 Frankfort that first developed the Wertzuwachssteuer, 
 or "unearned increment" tax, levied on increasing 
 land values, which since 1904 has spread to nearly 
 every city in Germany and in 1911 was adopted as 
 an imperial tax and applied to land values in all the 
 cities and towns of the empire. 
 
 Frankfort was fortunate in having an Oberburgo- 
 master, Doctor Adickes, who dreamed in big-city 
 terms. He thought of' his city as did his forebears 
 in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. He has been 
 mayor since 1891, and during that time has promoted 
 the greatest number of city undertakings. He saw 
 that the city that served its people most would be 
 served by them in turn; saw that industry and com- 
 merce would follow advantages in transportation and 
 distribution. He saw these things related to the life 
 of the city, saw the role that conscious city building 
 would play in the future, saw also that the city was 
 a great power for social service, greater than either 
 the state or the nation. And seeing these things, 
 he and the business men associated with him pro- 
 ceeded to build a city for business, for all business
 
 FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN 75 
 
 rather than for a few businesses; for all the people 
 rather than for a few people. He realized that the 
 city must think in big terms if it would protect 
 all classes from the privileges and abuses of some 
 classes, and that the rights of the community must 
 be superior to the rights of the individual.^ 
 
 Frankfort lies some distance from the Rhine, on 
 the river Main, which is not a natural water-way 
 for river traffic. This precluded the city from par- 
 ticipating in the advantages of other cities that had 
 water connection with the sea. Its industrial prog- 
 ress suffered in competition with Cologne, Diissel- 
 dorf, and Mannheim. In order to overcome this 
 disadvantage the city undertook a colossal project 
 which in the bigness of its treatment, though not in 
 its cost, equals the Manchester ship canal. It in- 
 volved dredging a navigable channel in the river 
 Main in order to make it accessible to Rhine boats. 
 Artificial weirs and locks had to be constructed to 
 retain the water. This work reached its completion 
 in 1897, when a harbor was opened in the west end 
 of the city. This made Frankfort the terminus of 
 Rhine river traffic for this region. The deepening 
 of the river and the building of the first harbor im- 
 mediately developed a large water traffic, which by 
 1905 had increased to 1,700,000 tons per annum, or 
 
 ^ The attitude of the German city toward social and industrial 
 questions and the proper Hmits of its activities are set forth in a 
 pamphlet by Doctor Adickes, entitled Die Sozialen Aufgaben der 
 Deutschen Staedte, Dresden.
 
 76 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 twelve times the tonnage of 1886, before the water- 
 way was opened. 
 
 The first harbor soon became inadequate and new 
 provision had to be made to meet the growing busi- 
 ness of the city. There was no available land about 
 the original harbor, and the city was compelled to 
 go still farther to the east, where it could plan its 
 development with a free hand. Here it worked out 
 a harbor, transportation, industrial development, and 
 housing programme of the most comprehensive sort. 
 The city acquired an area of 1,180 acres of agricult- 
 ural land at a relatively low price and in anticipa- 
 tion of any public discussion of the project. Engi- 
 neers were then employed to plan the whole territory 
 for the various uses to which it was to be put, and 
 350 acres were deducted for streets, railways, termi- 
 nals, and embankments along the water basins. A 
 number of harbors were dredged into the land and 
 connected with the river, which were lined with con- 
 crete. 110 acres more were used for the harbors 
 proper. After these deductions had been made, 720 
 acres remained for development purposes, which were 
 laid out for various factory uses, all so connected that 
 the railways, docks, and warehouses could be oper- 
 ated in the most economical manner possible. 150 
 acres were assigned to miscellaneous traffic, of which 
 37 acres were dedicated to coal traffic. The 570 
 acres remaining were set aside for manufacturing 
 sites, of which 135 acres were reserved for large
 
 FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN 77 
 
 water-front industries and 435 acres were kept for 
 inland factory locations. The navigable shore line 
 of the various harbors is over 9 miles in length and 
 is connected up with 35 miles of railway track and 
 sidings and 30 miles of streets. 
 
 Frankfort, it must be remembered, has a popula- 
 tion of only 417,000, and the magnitude of this 
 undertaking is seen by comparing its 9 miles of 
 frontage in this new harbor alone with the few thou- 
 sand feet owned by such cities as Cleveland and De- 
 troit and the inadequate provision of the latter cities 
 for handling the colossal traffic of the Great Lakes. 
 The harbor accommodations of this small town are 
 comparable to those of a great seaport city like New 
 York or Boston; they are comparable to those of 
 Liverpool or Manchester in the provision made for 
 all kinds of industry and traffic. Even the cost 
 seems colossal for a community of this size, for the 
 total sum involved is approximately $18,000,000, a 
 sima in excess of the total indebtedness of many 
 American cities of the size of Frankfort. 
 
 Herein is one of the explanations of Germany's 
 wonderful industrial advance. It is to be found in 
 the intelligent control of the means of transportation 
 by water and rail. They are treated as matters of 
 the utmost public importance and are not left in 
 private hands. Docks and harbors are owned by 
 the cities; they are constructed in close connection 
 with the railways and industrial sections. Canals
 
 78 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 intersect the country from one end to the other and 
 are used for the hauling of heavy freight. Water-ways 
 are planned as an integral part of the transportation 
 system and are used as an aid to the upbuilding of 
 industry. The harbor of Frankfort, like that of other 
 Rhine cities, is designed with the completeness of a 
 modern steel plant with every possible equipment 
 for the speedy and cheap handhng of freight. Upon 
 the crown of the embankments which surround the 
 water basin are steam railway tracks connected with 
 a great railway terminal not far away. Upon these 
 tracks hydraulic and electrical machines move about 
 and quickly load and unload vessels or freight cars, 
 and transfer their cargoes to land or water or into 
 one of the many warehouses along the embankment. 
 Each harbor basin is dedicated to a particular kind 
 of traffic, either general merchandise, coal, lumber, 
 or grain. 
 
 In connection with the harbor a factory district 
 was planned for new industries, and 570 acres of land 
 were dedicated to such uses. The harbor-front lo- 
 cations were laid out so that heavy freight could be 
 landed directly from the boat to the factory. In- 
 side of the harbor line are less expensive locations 
 for smaller plants, all of which are connected with 
 the river and the railway by sidings which bring 
 them into close connections with the best of freight 
 facilities. Every possible provision has been made 
 to promote competition and make it easy for facto-
 
 FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN 79 
 
 ries to find a suitable location at a low cost. This 
 is one of the ways in which Germany curbs monop- 
 oly. It curbs it through keeping the transportation 
 avenues open to all comers on equal terms and by 
 providing cheap sites and facilities for the upbuild- 
 ing of new industries. 
 
 It was obvious that provision had to be made for 
 workmen for this new district, so the city included 
 a housing project as part of the programme. The 
 city owns the street railways, and laid tracks out 
 into the suburbs as well as rapid transit lines to 
 distant villages. It was recognized, however, that 
 many of the working-people prefer to live in the 
 city because of the distractions and amusements 
 which it offers, so an area of 157 acres was acquired 
 close by the industrial section for the building of 
 workmen's houses. Upon a portion of this land 
 houses are being built by the city, of which 550 have 
 already been erected. In the immediate neighbor- 
 hood a large park was laid out with recreation 
 grounds, swimming and bathing establishments, play- 
 grounds and foot-ball fields. Not far away is one of 
 the city forests. Together with the private property 
 developed, the harbor and industrial undertaking 
 increased the area of the city by 50 per cent., and 
 when it is completed, provision will have been made 
 for every need of this new community on what a 
 few years ago was cheap agricultural land of Httle 
 value.
 
 80 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 And the whole undertaking is being paid for in a 
 manner quite usual in Germany. Officials and the 
 public generally seem to resent the idea of enriching 
 private speculators by the community's activities. 
 So the city is financing the project by retaining the 
 unearned increment which the development created. 
 Sites are being sold or leased on a basis which is ex- 
 pected to reimburse the city for the greater part, if 
 not the whole cost, of the undertaking and leave the 
 harbor and all the improvements in the possession 
 of the city without any indebtedness whatever. Lo- 
 cations on the harbor proper are let to individuals 
 on short terms of from ten to thirty years, while the 
 factory sites are sold outright and on easy terms to 
 encourage industry. An instalment of 10 per cent, 
 only is required on the purchase price, the balance 
 being payable in ten years' time. And in order that 
 the land may be used for industry rather than spec- 
 ulation, the city provides in the contract of sale that 
 the site must be used for the purpose agreed upon, 
 while the buyer is required to improve the property 
 within a certain period of time, previous to which 
 the land must not be resold.^ 
 
 Considerable difficulty was experienced by Frank- 
 fort in the planning of the suburbs by reason of the 
 fact that the land was owned by a large number of 
 
 ^ The facts relating to the above industrial undertaking and har- 
 bor project are taken from an official report of the city by H. 
 Uhlfelder.
 
 FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN 81 
 
 proprietors whose lots were unfit for building after 
 the streets had been opened through. It was neces- 
 sary to devise some plan for the protection of these 
 owners and at the same time permit the city to plan 
 the streets without reference to lot lines. Frankfort 
 met the problem by working out a method by 
 which all of the land within a new territory is joined 
 into a single plot, the lot lines being wholly disre- 
 garded. Out of this plot the land needed for streets 
 is first taken, when the land remaining is then 
 carved into suitable building sites, of which each 
 owner receives a share corresponding in size and 
 value to the area taken for the redistribution less the 
 amount taken for streets. But the carrying out of 
 such a redistribution required the consent of all the 
 owners, and if any one refused to consent the proj- 
 ect had to be abandoned. To free the city from 
 this difficulty the Lex Adickes was enacted, under 
 which the city is able to make the redistribution if 
 one-half of the land-owners, who own one-half of the 
 land, consent to it. In addition the act empowered 
 the city to take as high as 40 per cent, of the total 
 area affected for streets and to leave only 60 per 
 cent, for redistribution among the owners. No pay- 
 ment is made by the city for the 40 per cent, so 
 taken. 
 
 The development is done by the city usually in ad- 
 vance of any house construction. Sewers are built 
 in the centre of the street and seem adequate for all
 
 82 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 time. Gas, water, telephone, and electric mains are 
 laid at the same time and connected to the cm'b. 
 The service pipes are sometimes placed under the 
 sidewalks close by the building line, so that it will 
 not be necessary to tear up the pavement in order 
 to get access to them. Once completed, the streets 
 need not be disturbed. Nor are warring pubHc-util- 
 ity corporations permitted to tear up the pavement 
 for the installation or repair of pipes or conduits. 
 All of the work has been done before the street is 
 dedicated to use. Usually the street is not surfaced 
 until the houses have been constructed, when it is 
 faced with asphalt, macadam, or stone, as may be 
 provided by the council. 
 
 The financing of improvements is made as conven- 
 ient as possible to the owners, who are assessed for 
 its cost according to foot frontage or advantages 
 received. The city advances the money and carries 
 the total cost as a lien on the premises for such length 
 of time as may be necessary to enable the land to 
 be sold by the owners, the assessment becoming due 
 when the property is built upon. 
 
 The streets of Frankfort are officially divided 
 into main thoroughfares, promenades, and ordinary 
 streets. The main thoroughfares, which radiate from 
 the city centre, are sufficiently wide to carry rail- 
 way tracks and are lined with trees planted along 
 the sidewalks. The boulevards or promenades, which 
 form a ring around the town, have a promenade-way
 
 FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN 83 
 
 of twenty-three feet for pedestrians in the centre^ 
 which is planted with rows of trees and flower-beds 
 on either side. On each side of the promenade-way 
 are asphalt or macadamized carriage-ways. The 
 suburban quarters are usually laid out with gar- 
 dens in front of the houses. 
 
 A longitudinal study of the leading streets of the 
 city shows a large concrete sewer in the centre of 
 the roadway approximately ten feet under the sur- 
 face. On one side are conduits for the fire and tele- 
 graph system and on the other for the distribution 
 of mail. The gas and water mains and electric light- 
 ing and telephone conduits are laid under the side- 
 walks on both sides of the streets. They are laid 
 at various depths and are easily accessible without 
 tearing up the pavement. They, too, are laid by 
 the municipal authorities. For the whole roadway 
 is built as a single job, from property line to prop- 
 erty line. 
 
 The cleaning of the street is done by the city 
 itself by direct labor rather than by contract. The 
 city is divided into six districts with a chief inspector 
 in charge of every two of them. Each district has a 
 central depot containing offices, workshops, and a 
 mess-room for the workmen fitted up with cooking 
 and heating arrangements. Here all the machines 
 and tools are kept and the horses are stabled. The 
 streets are cleaned at night by gangs, each of which 
 consists of fifteen men with one watering-cart, two
 
 84 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 sweeping-machines, and two dust-carts. The water- 
 carts begin their work shortly before midnight and 
 are followed by the sweeping-machines and later by 
 the dust-carts. All the work is completed by eight 
 o'clock in the morning. Each gang is allotted a 
 certain amount of work which must be completed 
 within the specified time. Dust-carts follow the 
 sweeping-machines and immediately gather up the 
 sweepings. The asphalt streets are cleaned every 
 night except in wintry weather. They are first thor- 
 oughly drenched with water and the accumulated 
 sludge is hauled away. During the day uniformed 
 white wings keep the street in immaculate condi- 
 tion. Asphalt streets are sanded in frosty weather 
 and also after a rain. House-owners are obliged to 
 clean their own sidewalks three times a week, to 
 sand them during the winter and remove the snow 
 and ice. This work is, however, done by the city on 
 request, in which case a charge is made. 
 
 Refuse from the houses is removed three times a 
 week in specially constructed covered dust-carts 
 which make collections between ten o'clock at night 
 and seven o'clock in the morning. The refuse must 
 be placed in tins provided for the purpose, all of the 
 prescribed size. Unique appliances have been de- 
 vised to reduce the dust and dirt involved in the 
 removal of ashes and refuse. The dust-carts are 
 constructed with small openings in the side closed 
 by shutters. These shutters open automatically
 
 FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN 85 
 
 when the full ash-bins are placed against them and 
 close again when the bin is withdrawn. The cart is 
 emptied by being tipped on hinges at an angle that 
 ejects the refuse from the rear.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 
 
 German cities were unprepared for the industrial 
 awakening and the rapid increase in population 
 which began in the eighties. Those of the south 
 were surrounded with fortifications over which the 
 population spread into the outlying districts. Land 
 speculators began to lay off allotments with no other 
 concern than their own immediate profit. Rings of 
 mean streets appeared round about the old towns, 
 while tenements were erected into which the popu- 
 lation was herded much as it is in England and 
 America. There was no adequate provision for in- 
 dustry, and factories located themselves anywhere 
 without regard to the community, just as they do 
 with us. In addition the old towns were built for 
 military protection. The roadways were narrow 
 and crooked. They were not designed for street 
 railways or business traffic. There was little pro- 
 vision even for vehicles in mediaeval times, when in- 
 dustry was of a domestic character and the cities 
 were congested into the smallest possible areas as a 
 means of protection from their many foes. Nor was 
 there much concern for health and sanitation in those 
 days. The sewers were inadequate, the streets were 
 
 86
 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 87 
 
 badly paved, and the municipal life was for the most 
 part grouped about the court or the market-place. 
 
 This rapid urban growth threatened these old cities 
 just as the tenements, springing up all around them, 
 threatened the health and beauty of the community. 
 The inner towns were not adjusted to modern in- 
 dustrial needs, while new standards of sanitation 
 and health became necessary, as did more generous 
 provision for air and light. Provision had to be 
 made for the mill and the factory, for the railway, 
 and for terminals. Parks, open spaces, and schools 
 had to be provided in response to the democratic 
 movement and the enlightenment of the state which 
 has gone hand-in-hand with the industrial revolution. 
 
 The art of town planning had its birth in these 
 necessities. It was a protest against the threatened 
 destruction of the old towns and the speculative 
 building of the new. Men saw that the city was a 
 permanent thing rather than a fugitive expression. 
 They realized that cities would grow in the future 
 as they had in the past; and realizing these things, 
 Germany determined that the city should be built 
 with an eye to the needs of all its people as well as 
 its highest industrial efficiency. And in a compara- 
 tively short time Germany has built industrial com- 
 munities as beautiful as Washington. There are fac- 
 tory towns as full of the joy of living as Paris. There 
 are cities whose business is conducted with more 
 scrupulous honesty, more scientific efficiency, and
 
 88 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 more devoted pride than that which the average 
 business corporation in America commands. There 
 is order and completeness. The city is planned from 
 the bottom up and from centre to circumference. 
 Apparently nothing is left to chance. There are 
 municipal artists, architects, planners, engineers, and 
 financiers, to whom the building of cities has become 
 a science, just as much a science as the building of 
 engines. 
 
 Within the past fifteen years almost every Ger- 
 man city has undertaken a more or less ambitious 
 planning project. Almost all of them have an offi- 
 cial plan carefully worked out in detail for years in 
 advance of present needs. 
 
 There are experts who make a profession of plan- 
 ning cities. They go from city to city and confer 
 with local officials on definite problems. They are 
 employed to lay out suburbs, plan city centres, lo- 
 cate pubHc buildings, project new streets through 
 old quarters, and give advice on health, sanitation, 
 and housing, as to building regulations and land 
 restrictions. Every phase of the physical life of the 
 city is handled by an expert working in co-operation 
 with other experts on other problems. 
 
 In 1901 Stuttgart planned a new suburban devel- 
 opment. Before the work was started the city ob- 
 tained an elaborate opinion on the engineering and 
 architectural problems involved. Similar reports 
 were secured from architects and the surveyor of
 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 89 
 
 buildings. Reports were made upon the hygienic 
 aspects of the work by the local medical officers as 
 well as by an expert from another city, while the 
 social and industrial aspects of the project were sur- 
 veyed by recognized authorities on the subject. 
 Other experts gave advice on the artistic aspects of 
 the projects, and all of the reports were then pub- 
 lished in a volume to enable the citizens to study 
 the proposals. The methods employed by Berlin, 
 Munich, and Diisseldorf, in which cities competi- 
 tions were held, are described elsewhere. 
 
 There is a college of town planning in Berlin, while 
 in 1911 Diisseldorf opened a university of town plan- 
 ning and city administration. A regular periodical, 
 Der Staedtebau, is published, and a large literature 
 has made its appearance. During the summer of 
 1909 an exposition was held in Berlin on town 
 planning. 
 
 The exposition was a recognition of the birth of 
 the art of building cities. It was a surprise even 
 to Germany. There were exhibits from all over the 
 country, some of them completed, most of them in 
 actual progress. There were models of suburban de- 
 velopments, of groups of public buildings, of hous- 
 ing experiments. There were studies of the relation 
 of transportation and traffic to city building. Sug- 
 gested plans for the remodelling of old cities by the 
 opening up of new thoroughfares; the creation of 
 civic centres and the designing of parks and play-
 
 90 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 grounds were exhibited, as were artistic proposals for 
 fountains, statues, lamp-posts, street-railway signs, 
 etc. Charts were exhibited showing the density of 
 population, the proportion of rent to income, and the 
 number of families in apartments of different sizes. 
 Later the exhibition was transferred to Diisseldorf, 
 and was subsequently taken to London in connec- 
 tion with the town-planning exhibit of the Royal 
 Institute of Architects. During the summer of 
 1912 a similar town-plan nmg exposition was held 
 by the city of Diisseldorf. 
 
 As a preliminary step to any planning project, 
 cities enlarge their boundaries and take in the sur- 
 rounding villages and suburban territory. And 
 cities have generally widened their boundaries in 
 recognition of the fact that the urban district should 
 include a wide circumferential area. The area of 
 Diisseldorf is 29,000 acres; of Cologne, 28,800; of 
 Frankfort, 23,203. Having enlarged its boundaries, 
 the city is in a position to control its development, 
 to plan for its future growth. Ordinances are then 
 passed by the town council providing either for a 
 comprehensive plan for the entire city or for the 
 planning of certain suburban areas for residential 
 or business purposes. Competitions are frequently 
 held to which town-planning experts are invited. 
 The city prepares maps, statistics of growth, trans- 
 portation, and other data, and submits them to the 
 competitors the same as to a private builder. Such
 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 91 
 
 competitions have been held by Berlin, Munich, and 
 Diisseldorf and have awakened great interest. They 
 are not necessarily confined to the planning of an 
 entire city; they are frequently limited to a subur- 
 ban area, the competitors making suggestions as to 
 the best means for utilizing natural advantages, the 
 style and plan of streets, the location of parks and 
 playgroimds, and the development of the territory 
 in the most intensive and effective way possible. 
 Almost every large city has experts on town plan- 
 ning in the magistrat as well. 
 
 The city treats the land on which it is built as an 
 architect treats the site of a structure. It treats it 
 as a unit, with plumbing, circulation, breathing-spots, 
 and centres for the various activities of the com- 
 munity. And when the plans are finally approved by 
 the authorities they must be observed by everybody. 
 Maps of the territory surrounding the city are then 
 prepared on which proposed streets are indicated. 
 To these plans the owner must conform in laying 
 off his property for sale. He is not permitted to 
 plan his land as he wills, to lay out the streets, or 
 determine their width, style, and direction. He may 
 not plat his land as suits his fancy or decide for 
 what it shall be used. The German city treats its 
 foundations as a matter of public rather than of 
 private concern. It plans for generations to come 
 rather than for the day. Private property is sub- 
 ordinate to public use and the rights of the indi-
 
 92 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 vidual are controlled in the interest of the whole 
 community. 
 
 No municipal problem receives more attention than 
 the building of streets. Their planning engages the 
 best thought of officials and experts. For streets 
 control a city's life. In America no subject is more 
 neglected than this. We have erected fine schools, 
 have laid out some of the most beautiful parks in 
 the world; we have done commendable work in the 
 sewage systems of many cities, but the building of 
 streets has received little attention. For the most 
 part it has been left in private hands. Even the di- 
 rection and width of streets is determined by land 
 speculators as suits their fancy. They are permitted 
 to put in pavements and sewers even though the}^ 
 are so inadequate that they have to be shortly re- 
 placed at public expense. 
 
 Washington is almost the only city that planned 
 its street system with any vision of the future. The 
 capital was laid out on paper over a century ago 
 by Charles Peter L' Enfant under the direction of 
 President Washington, with the aim of buildmg a 
 city worthy of the nation. But Washington is al- 
 most the only American city that was so planned. 
 Philadelphia controls its street extensions into the 
 suburbs, as do Boston and New York. But even 
 in these cities no attempt has been made to realize 
 the artistic possibilities of streets or to adjust them 
 to a imiform plan. In no department of adminis-
 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 93 
 
 tration have our cities more signally failed than in 
 the planning and building of streets. 
 
 German town planners have worked out the great- 
 est variety in streets. For certain purposes the 
 plan is formal or classic, with thoroughfares radiat- 
 ing out from a centre, as do the streets and avenues 
 of Washington. This plan is usually adopted for 
 focal points or in connection with some big city 
 centre where vistas of public buildings are desired. 
 There are radial thoroughfares running out from 
 the centre of the city like the spokes of a wheel 
 as well as parklike boulevards, or Ring Strassen, 
 which surround the city. Many of the streets have 
 sweeping curves so as to secure repeated vistas of 
 the house fronts. Others are narrow and irregular. 
 They are designed for coziness and retirement. A 
 conscious effort is made to discourage traffic on 
 those streets that have been dedicated to residential 
 uses. 
 
 The rectangular arrangement of streets which pre- 
 vails so universally in America is rarely followed. 
 It is monotonous, offers no opportunity for command- 
 ing sites, and has been discarded by German town 
 planners. The modification of the rectangular grid- 
 iron plan by the addition of radial avenues, of which 
 Washington is such a conspicuous example, has been 
 generally abandoned because of its inelasticity and 
 coldness. Almost always the natural advantages 
 and topography of the land are preserved irrespec-
 
 94 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 tive of grades. The motive is to substitute irregu- 
 larity for regularity; to give streets character and 
 charm and adjust them to specific uses. Streets 
 should have variety, these planners say. We see the 
 effectiveness of the sweeping curved type of street 
 on the Grand Canal in Venice, in Regent Street, 
 London, and in High Street, Oxford. These streets 
 have a charm of their own, because of the unexpected 
 vistas which break constantly on the view. There 
 are new pictures at every step. 
 
 Other street planners have gone back to the irreg- 
 ular mediaeval type of street found in Nuremberg, 
 Cologne, Rothenburg, and Frankfort. They have 
 designed streets for the suburbs with as much ir- 
 regularity as possible. Some come to a dead end, 
 while others break off in sharp turnings. There is 
 no uniform width or direction. The effort of this 
 school of planners is to secure picturesqueness, cozi- 
 ness and a sense of retirement. 
 
 The main thoroughfares are planned on a different 
 scale. They are commanding and spacious. They, 
 too, are planned for a particular use, that of traffic 
 thoroughfares. They range from 150 to 250 feet in 
 width. In the centre is a parkway. On either side 
 are street-railway tracks. A bridle-path is often 
 provided, while on either side are roadways for 
 vehicular traffic. These radial thoroughfares are 
 designed to minimize distances, to reduce transpor- 
 tation costs. They are the trunk lines of the city.
 
 Spacious Street Construction, Charlottenburg. 
 
 Type of Street Construction, Frankfort-on-the-Main. 
 
 Showing broad parking with ornamental fountains and new style of residential 
 
 architecture.
 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 95 
 
 The council determines the material to be used, 
 whether it be wood blocks, stone, or asphalt. It 
 decides on what streets front gardens are required, 
 how far back houses must be located from the curb 
 line, as well as the distance between houses. It also 
 determines beforehand as to the class and character 
 of buildings that may be erected in different locali- 
 ties. It dedicates some districts to factories, others 
 to expensive villas, and still others to workingroen's 
 homes. 
 
 Before work on any suburban development is un- 
 dertaken the plans and building regulations are placed 
 on exhibition and the public is invited to inspect them 
 and make criticisms. After considering the sugges- 
 tions the plans are finally approved by the local 
 authorities, when they become the official building 
 plans of the city. Property-owners have a right to 
 appeal to the courts, but it rarely happens that the 
 plan is rejected because of private objections. There 
 was some protest at first from land-owners against 
 this control, but time has demonstrated that such 
 oversight by the city protects the land-owner and 
 increases the value of his property rather than de- 
 preciates it. It protects him from the license of irre- 
 sponsible neighbors and compels all persons to use 
 their own in harmony with the whole. Owners gen- 
 erally transfer to the city such land as is needed for 
 streets without compensation, while cities have a 
 right to take from 30 to 40 per cent, of the property
 
 96 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 for streets and open spaces without payment to the 
 owner. 
 
 Such are the street plans and suburban-develop- 
 ment projects of nearly all the growing cities. 
 
 The city also controls the site on which it is built 
 much as it controls its streets. It does this: (1) 
 through land-ownership, (2) through the regulation 
 of private owners, and (3) in a sense through taxa- 
 tion. Officials realize that the land on which the 
 city is located controls everything else. It controls 
 the city's size and appearance. It controls the 
 homes people Hve in. Official control of the city's 
 site is the first essential to city building. 
 
 The German city is frequently the largest land- 
 owner in the community. From the earHest times 
 German towns have owned forests and common 
 lands which were used for pasturage, for the gather- 
 ing of fuel, for forestry and agriculture. Much of 
 this land has been retained, while in recent years 
 great additions have been made to city holdings. It 
 is stated by a German writer that "no less than 
 1,500 towns and villages in Germany still own, and 
 have owned right down from the Middle Ages, so 
 much common land that their inhabitants pay neither 
 rates nor taxes." ^ 
 
 In 1902 an official report^ on land-ownership by 
 German cities stated that Posen owned 10 square 
 
 ^ Westminster Review, July, 1907. 
 * Soziale Praxis, December 5, 1902.
 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 97 
 
 yards of land per capita; Barmen, 10.76; Dresden, 
 14.95; and Essen, 17.70. Of the thirty-one towns 
 enumerated only seven had less than 23.94 square 
 yards per capita. Nine of the towns had from 59.8 
 to 119.6 square yards, while five towns had from 
 119.6 to 239.2 square yards of land. Strassburg, 
 which owns 364.78 square yards to every one of its 
 inhabitants, is the largest of the municipal land- 
 owners. 
 
 And instead of selling the land, towns constantly 
 add to their possessions. Between 1890 and 1902 
 the city of Cologne increased its holdings by 1,269 
 per cent. During the same period Chemnitz added 
 605 per cent.; Munich, 334 per cent.; Dresden, 290 
 per cent. ; and Mannheim, 254 per cent, to their pre- 
 vious possessions. In ten years' time Berlin added 
 21.52 square yards of land per head of its population, 
 notwithstanding its increase in size. 
 
 In this policy the government has given the cities 
 every encouragement. Some years ago orders were 
 issued by Prussia to administrative officials to use 
 their influence to induce the towns to buy as much 
 land as they could obtain and to retain existing hold- 
 ings and all they should thereafter acquire. 
 
 Berlin owns land to the extent of 240.8 per cent, 
 of its total area, including the area owned outside 
 of its boundaries. Frankfort owns 48.9 per cent, of 
 the land within its limits. Ulm owns 80 per cent. ; 
 Mannheim, 35.4 per cent.; and Hanover, 37.7 per
 
 98 
 
 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 cent, of the land within its boundaries. The fol- 
 lowing table indicates the extent of land-ownership, 
 both within and without the city, of a number of 
 European cities, for the policy of municipal land- 
 ownership is not confined to Germany: 
 
 
 Total 
 
 Area or 
 
 CiTT 
 
 Acres 
 
 Total 
 
 Amount of 
 
 Land Owned 
 
 BY City 
 
 Acres 
 
 Pboportion of Total 
 City Area 
 
 Within 
 
 City 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 WiTHOirr 
 
 City 
 Per Cent. 
 
 Berlin 
 
 15,689.54 
 21,290.24 
 14,095.25 
 19,345.45 
 9,677.25 
 2,338.60 
 10,470.37 
 10,894.64 
 
 39,151.28 
 13,597.02 
 8,406.84 
 11,866.98 
 5,674.90 
 1,633.33 
 4,480.79 
 5,621.52 
 
 9.2 
 23.7 
 32.3 
 33.2 
 37.7 
 4.2 
 3.05 
 26.0 
 
 240.8 
 37.8 
 27.4 
 
 281.1 
 20.4 
 65.1 
 42.9 
 25.9 
 
 Munich 
 
 Leipsic 
 
 Strassburg 
 
 Hanover 
 
 Schoeneberg. . . . 
 
 Spandau 
 
 Zurich 
 
 
 The motives underlying this poHcy of public 
 land-ownership are officially stated by the city of 
 Diisseldorf as follows: 
 
 "The city of Diisseldorf has recently acquired large 
 tracts of land. The extension of the city and the 
 unexpected appearance of many municipal problems, 
 the very large extension of municipal undertakings, 
 the practicability of various institutions, make it nec- 
 essary for the municipality to become the owner of 
 land in various sections of the city. The adminis- 
 tration which meets the necessary needs of the hour 
 and leaves the provision for the future to the com- 
 ing generation may be justly accused of shortsighted- 
 ness. Experience teaches that a plat of land is very
 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 99 
 
 often much dearer at the time it is needed than some 
 time previously. 
 
 "The city should not, however, acquire land only 
 for its own immediate needs. It is entirely to be 
 sanctioned, if the city participates in the rise of the 
 prices of land through the establishment of munici- 
 pal institutions that causes such rise in the price of 
 land serving such institutions. The city should es- 
 pecially become the owner of land in the suburban 
 sections and thus influence the development of the 
 sections, the mode of building and creation of larger 
 squares, and should influence also the opening of land 
 for building purposes and thus keep down the prices 
 of these plats. 
 
 "The increase in the value of municipal lands is, 
 according to experience, on an average at least four 
 per cent, annually, taking a long number of years as 
 standard. Even though stagnation in the rise of 
 prices does set in at times, still the interest at four 
 per cent, will be found to have been realized and we 
 may even figure upon four per cent, with compound 
 interest. Whereas an investment at four per cent, 
 doubles itself in seventeen years, we have found 
 ground values to treble and quadmple themselves 
 during the same time and in some cases multiply 
 themselves more than that."^ 
 
 Cities generally anticipate future needs by buying 
 land for schools as well as for open spaces and other 
 pubhc uses before the territory has been opened up 
 for sale. This protects the city from speculative 
 prices and enables it to provide generously for school 
 sites and recreation in the suburbs, where play- 
 
 * For further information as to the land policy of Dvieseldorf, see 
 chapter III.
 
 100 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 grounds and gardens of the greatest variety are to 
 be found. 
 
 A similar policy is often adopted as a means of 
 financing docks, harbors, and industrial sections. 
 Frankfort, whose harbor project is described else- 
 where, acquired 1,180 acres of land at agricultural 
 prices before the project was undertaken, and expects 
 to pay the greater part, if not the entire cost, amount- 
 ing to nearly $18,000,000, out of the increase in land 
 values which the undertaking itseK creates. The 
 policy and profits of Ulm in a suburban-development 
 plan are described elsewhere. 
 
 Cities also determine the uses to which land can 
 be put by the owners. Factories are required to lo- 
 cate upon the railway or harbor and on the side of 
 the city away from the prevailing winds. Thus the 
 smoke and dirt are blown away from the city rather 
 than across it. Terminals and railway connections 
 are built with switches, sidings, and spurs which are 
 linked up with the canals and water-ways to insure 
 the economical handling of freight. This is one way 
 by which Germany controls monopoly. It makes it 
 easy for new concerns to enter the field. It supplies 
 them with cheap sites advantageously located, and 
 gives them every facility for cheap transportation. 
 The territory near the factory district is dedicated 
 to workingmen's homes, where the streets are planned 
 with this object in view. In the neighborhood parks, 
 playgrounds, and public baths are usually provided.
 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 101 
 
 This control of the land does not depreciate its 
 value. Rather it increases it. It protects the resi- 
 dence area from alien interests and insures its natural 
 rather than its forced use. This is now so generally 
 recognized that real-estate owners co-operate with 
 officials in planning projects. 
 
 Cities still further control the growth of the city 
 by what is known as the zone system. The council 
 divides the city into districts in which the building 
 regulations are fixed in advance of local development. 
 These building ordinances prescribe : (1) The amount 
 of land that may be covered by buildings; (2) the 
 height of the structures that may be erected; (3) 
 the distance they must be located back from the 
 street, and (4) the space which must be left between 
 buildings. These districts are like the fire zones of 
 our cities; they insure proper sanitation, light, and 
 air, and prevent the reappearance of the crowded 
 tenement and slum. In the suburban plans of Ulm 
 the new area opened up for building was divided as 
 follows: 17 per cent, was dedicated to streets, 20 
 per cent, only was allowed to be covered by buildings, 
 13 per cent, was reserved for back gardens, and 50 
 per cent, for front gardens. Mannheim is divided 
 into three building zones. In the first zone, or busi- 
 ness district, 60 per cent, of the land may be covered 
 by structures, which must not exceed five stories in 
 height. In the next outer zone 50 per cent, of the 
 lot area may be built upon, while the structures may
 
 102 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 not exceed four stories in height. In the outlying 
 sections three stories is the Umit, while a smaller 
 percentage of the land may be built upon. 
 
 In the business district of Frankfort 75 per cent, 
 of the land may be covered by buildings, which may 
 not exceed five stories, or more than 65 feet, in height. 
 In the second outer zone buildings may be four 
 stories high, but never higher than the width of the 
 street. In the third suburban zone two stories is 
 the limit. 
 
 The building ordinances of Cologne provide that 
 25 per cent, of the land must be left free in the busi- 
 ness section, 35 per cent, in the next two outer zones, 
 while in the suburban residence section only 50 per 
 cent, may be built upon. In Berlin the height of 
 buildings in front is limited to the width of the street, 
 with a maximum of 70 feet. The height may be in- 
 creased to 72 feet if the structure is set back from 
 the building line. In Paris buildings are limited to 
 the width of the street. 
 
 Architectural harmony is insured by these restric- 
 tions. There is a uniform sky-line as well as a uni- 
 form house-frontage. There are no dark canyons 
 into which the sun rarely enters; there is no hideous 
 incongruity of architecture. Nor are there any tax- 
 earners built by speculators. The German city in- 
 sists that the community has a right to be protected 
 from ugliness just as from any other nuisance. 
 
 Public buildings are harmoniously grouped about
 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 103 
 
 a commanding centre. Bridges have fine approaches, 
 while the river and canal banks are laid out as parks 
 and promenade places. Clock-towers, statues, and 
 public gardens are scattered through the city. Along 
 the street railway lines are artistic waiting-rooms. 
 Public street signs are carefully designed, as are the 
 electric-lighting poles. Service wires are placed in 
 conduits underground as a matter of course. In 
 some cities the trolley spans are hung by rosettes 
 from the sides of the buildings. Business signs rarely 
 overhang the street and are minimized or pro- 
 hibited altogether, while billboard announcements 
 are limited to circular kiosks located in prominent 
 places. 
 
 Almost every large city has a park close by the 
 business district. There are Hofgartens, city cen- 
 tres, and market-places which are utilized for recrea- 
 tion and rest. In all public work beauty is treated 
 as incidental to the useful. It is taken as a matter 
 of course that public and private work shall not be 
 ugly. 
 
 Cities have jealously preserved the old parts of the 
 town in their rebuilding projects. Frankfort pro- 
 tected its old crooked streets and mediaeval buildings 
 with reverence. The old gates of Munich, Bremen, 
 and Diisseldorf have been kept in their original set- 
 ting and have been harmoniously framed with other 
 structures. In Nuremberg and Munich the subur- 
 ban housing projects have been designed to repro-
 
 104 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 duce the old types of houses with overhanging upper 
 stories. 
 
 Each city, too, has one or more great city centres 
 about which public buildings are grouped. Build- 
 ings are located across the end of a fine street so as 
 to secure the most effective vistas. In Berlin there 
 is the Lustgarten with the palaces, opera-houses, 
 cathedrals, and museums. The new Reichstag build- 
 ing is in the centre of another commanding group. 
 The Zwinger and surrounding palaces and art gallery 
 of Dresden form one of the most splendid centres in 
 Europe. Munich has half a dozen civic centres, 
 while Mannheim, Frankfort, and Diisseldorf locate 
 their public structures with an eye to their greatest 
 effectiveness and service. 
 
 Opera-houses and theatres are located in the same 
 way as part of a comprehensive official plan. They 
 are maintained or subsidized by the city, as neces- 
 sary parts of a well-ordered municipal life. They 
 are designed by great architects and have the same 
 place in the affections of the community as the cathe- 
 drals or royal palaces of earlier days. Generous 
 provision is made for open spaces, for parks, gardens, 
 and playgrounds. In the newer sections such open 
 places are found within easy walking distance of al- 
 most every home. These gardens and open spaces 
 are very varied. Some are round, others are square. 
 Still others are sunken. Often these smaU parks are 
 on one side of the street rather than in its centre, so 
 
 I
 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 105 
 
 as not to obstruct the traffic. The imagination of 
 the artist has been allowed free play in the design- 
 ing of these neighborhood parks. 
 
 Almost every bit of water is jealously preserved and 
 developed by the city, whether it be an old moat, an 
 inland lake, a little stream or a canal, river or ocean 
 front. Water-frontage is deemed a priceless posses- 
 sion, and it has proven so to many cities. The Alster, 
 a fresh-water lake in the heart of Hamburg, is the 
 centre of the city's life. About it the business as 
 well as the pleasure of the city moves. The cities 
 of Bremen and Dusseldorf have parked the moats 
 which surrounded the old towns. They are features 
 of the city's beauty. The river banks are developed 
 as promenades and parkways as well as the site for 
 public buildings and cafes. 
 
 The water approaches of the American city are 
 its most neglected parts. They are given over to 
 railway tracks, warehouses, and factories, with no 
 attempt to preserve their beauty or insure their full- 
 est use by the community. 
 
 Many of the German cities received valuable heri- 
 tages from the past in the sites of the fortifications 
 which surrounded the old towns. In Cologne, 
 Frankfort, Ulm, and Bremen these fortifications were 
 acquired from the nation and converted into ring- 
 strassen which encircle the city and separate the old 
 from the new. Cologne has two such boulevards, 
 indicating various periods of the city's fortifications.
 
 106 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 These ringstrassen are laid out with elaborate care 
 and are the most commanding streets in the world. 
 Upon the ringstrassen public buildings, opera- 
 houses, and private residences have been erected. 
 Along these parkways are gardens, statuary, and 
 opportunity for recreation. 
 
 But city planning is a larger programme than 
 streets, parks, or playgrounds. It is far more than 
 the city beautiful. City planning is more properly 
 city building. It involves the planning of water and 
 steam and street transportation so as to reduce the 
 cost of transit and loss of time to a minimum. It 
 means building terminals to facilitate trade and in- 
 dustry. Street railways, gas, electric light, and wa- 
 ter are treated as the cities' vital organs to be owned 
 and operated for service, comfort, and convenience. 
 They are owned by the city because they control 
 its life, its growth, its development. 
 
 When a city undertakes a harbor project, the rail- 
 way administration co-operates with it. There is 
 no conflict between the city and the railway over 
 streets, stations, or terminals. The railway is not 
 an eyesore, a source of annoyance, dirt, and smoke. 
 It is part of the city plan. Terminals, tracks, and 
 stations are built into the city just as are the streets. 
 Stations are located at convenient places, and sidings 
 are built where needed. Every possible facility is 
 afforded to make the means of transportation serve. 
 
 Harbors are planned as integral parts of the com-
 
 Elevated Railway Station, Berlin. 
 Showing artistic construction of station and supporting columns. 
 
 DtJssELDORF River Embankment. 
 
 Showing use of river for pleasure and business; also the ornamental development 
 of promenade-way and river boulevard. Railway tracks and landing-stage for 
 boats below.
 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 107 
 
 munity and of the industrial machinery of the empire. 
 All along the Rhine River, on the North Sea and the 
 Baltic, natural harbors have been developed by the 
 cities or artificial ones created. Even inland cities 
 like Berlin and Dresden utilize the streams for carry- 
 ing on a tremendous traffic, while canals have been 
 constructed to open up almost every section of the 
 empire. Germany's industrial eminence is largely 
 due to the scientific planning of rail and water trans- 
 portation and the intelligent building of cities, so that 
 each will reahze its highest industrial possibilities. 
 All are part of a great industrial organism as con- 
 sciously developed as is the military and naval pro- 
 gramme of the empire. 
 
 Thought in America is obsessed with the idea that 
 the laws of commerce are like the laws of nature. 
 We assume that these laws cannot be controlled or 
 aided by man. We have left transportation to pri- 
 vate control. With the exception of New York, 
 Baltimore, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and San Fran- 
 cisco, few seaboard cities have made any effort to 
 develop their water-frontage, while upon the Great 
 Lakes the harbors of Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, 
 Milwaukee, Duluth, and almost all the smaller towns 
 are the possession of the railways or private owners. 
 Tens of millions of dollars have been spent by the 
 government in the building of breakwaters, canal- 
 ways, locks, and other improvements, which have en- 
 riched the riparian owners but done little to convert
 
 108 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 this great highway of commerce into a public water- 
 way. Rather the reverse is true. In recent years, 
 independent shipping has diminished on the Great 
 Lakes because of the inadequate harbor facilities. 
 It would at least be reasonable to insist that, before 
 any appropriation is made by the Federal Govern- 
 ment for such purposes, the cities or the States 
 should first make adequate provision for public har- 
 bors in order that the benefits of the improvement 
 should accrue to the community. 
 
 Nor have we utilized our water-fronts, as do Eu- 
 ropean countries, for beauty and recreation. They 
 should be the centre of the city's recreational life. 
 Yet nowhere, with the exception of Boston, have 
 cities consciously developed their water-front for 
 these purposes. The Charles River basin, which lies 
 between Boston and Cambridge, is almost the only 
 example we have of intelligent, far-sighted city plan- 
 ning of inland waters. A score of cities have greater 
 advantages than any of the Rhine towns, while the 
 Atlantic and Pacific harbors are susceptible of being 
 made the most beautiful in the world. 
 
 City planning is a radical departure from the 
 laissez faire philosophy which dominates politics, in- 
 dustry, and thought, in this country. It is a recog- 
 nition of the fact that individualism has broken down 
 in housing, in transportation, in the supply of many 
 services that lie at the heart of our daily life. The 
 German city realizes that the community must pro-
 
 TOWN PLANNING AND CITY BUILDING 109 
 
 tect its health, its water supply, its food, its chil- 
 dren, its workers. City planning extends the commu- 
 nity idea still further. It protests against ugliness, 
 against discomfort, against dirt and disease. It pro- 
 tects the community purse against the costs of vice, 
 crime, and infection, from the tenement and the 
 slum, from the denial of light, sunshine, and air. It 
 treats transit as part of the housing question ; trans- 
 portation as an adjunct to industry and commerce; 
 the water-front as a means of communication and 
 pleasure. City planning means all these things and 
 more. It means the control of property in the in- 
 terests of humanity. It means planning cities for 
 people to live in as well as to work in. It means 
 building a community as an agency of civilization, 
 culture, and art. 
 
 In America we have exalted the rights of property 
 above the rights of the community. Courts, councils) 
 and mayors reflect this motive. So do the legislat- 
 ures. We may not regulate the height of bill-boards, 
 suppress smoke, limit the height of buildings, or plan 
 suburban land without encountering an injunction 
 from the courts allowed on the ground that the city 
 is taking property without compensation or without 
 due process of law. The city has lost its sovereignty; 
 it has become subordinate to a thousand property 
 rights, each of which sacrifices the whole to its indi- 
 vidual selfish desires. And we cannot have a city, 
 we cannot build for comfort, convenience, joy, until
 
 no EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 public opinion assumes and the legislature and the 
 courts accept the assumption that the claims of all 
 people, of all property, of all business, are superior to 
 the rights and claims of any individual property, 
 business, or special privilege.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 CITIES FOR PEOPLE 
 
 Everywhere in Europe the city does a great many 
 things which we leave in private hands or neglect to 
 provide altogether. The services performed are con- 
 stantly being widened to reduce the costs of indus- 
 try, of poverty, of disease. There is no prejudice 
 against municipal ownership, scarcely any protest 
 against the city entering on new activities of any 
 kind. That distrust of public enterprise so univer- 
 sal in this country and England has never existed 
 on the Continent, where the proper limits of public 
 activity have always been a matter of expediency 
 rather than of principle.^ Nor is there any hard and 
 fast line between those natural monopolies, which 
 many people in this country admit should be in 
 public hands, and industries of a competitive, non- 
 monopolistic character. The question is one of ex- 
 pediency, of what will be best for the community. 
 
 ' The official attitude of German cities is conservatively indicated 
 by the following utterance of Doctor Adickes, Burgomaster of Frank- 
 fort: 
 
 "As to the matter of the proper provinces of public and private 
 undertakings, we have already mentioned that there has never ex- 
 isted among us that predominance of private corporations in the 
 fields of the necessities of hfe which is the case in London and other 
 English cities, in France and in Belgium; that, on the contrary, under- 
 takings of monopolistic character as well as others concerning the 
 welfare of all the citizens have from the beginning been in the control 
 
 111
 
 112 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 This is more true of Germany than of any European 
 country. And to our point of view the German 
 city is very socialistic. So is the state. So, too, 
 are the Austrian and to some extent the Itahan 
 cities. 
 
 All this is the more remarkable because the Ger- 
 man city is governed by business men. They consti- 
 tute a majority of the council; they select the burgo- 
 master and the magistrat. And the business men 
 who rule the German cities are not the small trades- 
 men or shopkeepers as in Great Britain. They are 
 rather the men of large affairs, the bankers, manu- 
 facturers, wholesale and retail dealers. They, with 
 the professional classes, rule the city. It is from this 
 class that the council is recruited. And they have 
 taken the most profitable businesses away from other 
 business men because it was good business for the 
 city to do so. 
 
 The following figures of the fifty largest cities in 
 Great Britain and Germany show the extent to which 
 ownership has been carried in the two countries. 
 The figures for English cities are taken from The 
 
 of the cities. It is well known that the process of municipalizing is 
 steadily advancing, and the only problem is to go about it cautiously 
 and consistently so far as the financial and other conditions of the 
 individual cities allow. After the unfortunate results that often 
 followed efforts to regulate by agreement conditions of traffic, and 
 which had to be endured a long time, everyone is convinced that 
 municipal ownership and operation of street railways best serves 
 pubhc interests, particularly in the matter of city expansion and 
 housing regulation." — {Die Sozialen Aufgahen der Deutschen Slaedte, 
 p. 28.)
 
 CITIES FOR PEOPLE 
 
 113 
 
 Municipal Year Book of Great Britain for 1909, and 
 of German cities from The Kommunales Jahrhuch of 
 1908: 
 
 In 
 
 Great Britain 
 
 Own Their Own 
 
 In 
 
 Germany 
 
 39 
 21 
 44 
 42 
 49 
 44 
 23 
 
 Water supply 
 
 48 
 50 
 42 
 23 
 48 
 50 
 43 
 
 Gas supply 
 
 Electricity supply 
 
 Tramways 
 
 Baths 
 
 Markets 
 
 Slaughter-houses 
 
 The attitude of the German business man is indi- 
 cated by the comment of an official of Berlin, made to 
 a group of Americans who were being entertained by 
 the city in the summer of 1911. He said: 
 
 "I have frequently heard American business men 
 say that what they want is a business men's govern- 
 ment such as we have in Germany. Yet your busi- 
 ness men approve of giving away all of the profital^le 
 businesses in the city and of keeping those which 
 are unprofitable. You keep your sewers, which lose 
 money, and give away your street railways, which 
 make money. You own your streets and parks, 
 which are unprofitable, but not your gas and electric 
 lighting works, which are profitable. New York 
 City took over the ferries when they began to lose 
 money to the private operators, but later gave away 
 the subways, which make money. We think that is 
 bad business in Germany. We should say that was 
 not a business-like administration. We keep the
 
 114 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 profitable along with the unprofitable businesses. 
 I fancy your business men would go bankrupt if 
 they conducted their private business as they do 
 their cities. Yet I have never heard an American 
 business man protest against this unbusiness-like 
 policy." 
 
 This attitude of mind is held by all classes. There 
 is an intelligent discrimination between those things 
 which should be public and those, which should be 
 private. Officials and citizens appreciate that many 
 things must be done by the state to insure indus- 
 trial freedom; that even free competition is out of 
 the question when a privileged few control the high- 
 ways, the resources, the raw materials of produc- 
 tion, as well as such local undertakings as the 
 public-service corporations, docks, slaughter-houses, 
 and markets. 
 
 Coupled with this business point of view is an- 
 other motive which in recent years has come to in- 
 spire the activities of burgomasters and councillors; 
 a motive expressed by Doctor Albert Siidekum, of 
 Berlin, one of the most distinguished municipal ex- 
 perts in Germany, a member of the Reichstag, and 
 the editor of the Kommunales Jahrhuch. Speaking to 
 the American group referred to above, he said : 
 
 " City administration in Germany is becoming the 
 science of community living. We are not content 
 alone with the idea of efficiency, of honesty, of run- 
 ning our cities as a business man runs his business.
 
 CITIES FOR PEOPLE 115 
 
 We have grown beyond that idea. The city is far 
 more than a business affair. It is much more than 
 a pohtical agency. It is an agency of social welfare 
 with unexhausted possibilities. Our cities are tiying 
 to utilize art and science, the improvements of steam 
 and electricity, in the service of the people. We are 
 aiming to socialize industry and knowledge for the 
 common good. This is the new motive of municipal 
 administration. We have learned by experience that 
 this can only be done when the community itself 
 controls property for the welfare of the people." 
 
 Cities do a surprisingly large number of things. 
 Hamburg insures all property against fire, insurance 
 being compulsory. Premiums are paid along with 
 the local taxes. The city maintains a fire depart- 
 ment and is responsible for the protection of property : 
 why should it not enjoy the benefits of its own ex- 
 penditure and at the same time eliminate the waste 
 of solicitors, of competition, and perform this neces- 
 sary social service for the protection of everybody 
 at cost? 
 
 During the winter of 1911 investigations in New 
 York disclosed the fact that public bakeries were 
 located in cellars, under sidewalks, in the most un- 
 sanitary places possible. Bread was being baked in 
 the midst of dirt, filth, and close by dripping sewage. 
 The conditions discovered were almost unprintable. 
 In Buda-Pest it was found that the private bakeries 
 had combined to reduce the weight of the loaf of 
 bread and increase its price. To meet this situa-
 
 116 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 tion the city erected a public bakery and prepared 
 to supply the entire city. Immediately the price of 
 bread and the size of the loaf came to the standard 
 and the price fixed by the municipal bakery. 
 
 Nothing contributes so much to the low cost of 
 living in Germany as the universal use of the par- 
 cels post. It is operated in connection with the 
 state-owned railways, and is used by business men, 
 farmers, and the people generally, and is of the 
 greatest conceivable convenience and economy. Al- 
 most anything can be mailed, and at a very low cost. 
 The consul-general of the United States in Ham- 
 burg says of the parcels post: "If it should be pro- 
 posed in Germany to abolish the parcels post (a 
 most unthinkable proposition) loud complaint would 
 no doubt be heard from the people of the small 
 towns and the farming population," for the parcels 
 post makes it possible for the farmer to visit the 
 city once a year, where he solicits customers whom he 
 supplies directly from the farm just as regularly as 
 from the retail shop of the immediate neighborhood. 
 
 In Great Britain the same is true. The American 
 consul at Cork says of the parcels post: 
 
 "Farmers, merchants, and manufacturers patron- 
 ize extensively this means of communication between 
 the markets and the isolated individual consumer. 
 For instance, the farmer at Queenstown can order a 
 pound of tea in London and have it delivered at 
 Queenstown for six cents. So the merchant in
 
 CITIES FOR PEOPLE 117 
 
 London can order a pound of butter of the farmer 
 at Queenstown and have it dehvered at his residence 
 by parcels post for the same price. People through- 
 out the rural districts generally avail themselves 
 of this express system to get their produce, such as 
 that of farm and market garden, to market. Also 
 dealers in fruit, game, fish, eggs, butter, meat, and 
 such commodities generally use this means of 
 speedily reaching their customers or the market." 
 
 The hausfrau in Germany receives her fresh vege- 
 tables, her poultry, butter, and flowers along with 
 her mail in the early morning delivery. They 
 come fresh to her table from the country, and have 
 been posted a few hours earlier possibly a hundred 
 miles away in a country village. Farmers come to 
 the city three or four times a year to solicit customers. 
 A postal-card changes the standing order. All Ger- 
 many offers itself as a market for the cities without 
 the intervention of warehousemen, wholesale or re- 
 tail dealers, or cold-storage plants. There is no 
 possibility of combination or monopoly. There is no 
 waste in handling by half a dozen agents. Producer 
 and consumer meet directly through the parcels post 
 as though they were bartering at the city markets. 
 
 Germany protects the consumer and producer 
 alike. The middle-men are eliminated, and the 
 profits and waste which they entail. 
 
 The slaughter-house is also a public rather than a 
 private institution. Of the fifty largest towns in 
 Germany forty-three own their abattoirs and require
 
 118 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 that all meat sold in the city shall be slaughtered in 
 them. In almost all of the other countries of Europe, 
 as well as in South America, Egypt, even in the Far 
 East, the private slaughter-house has been closed. 
 
 Paris has had pubhc abattoirs since the time of 
 the first Napoleon, who compelled the French cities 
 to close the private houses and erect public ones. In 
 Switzerland, HoUand, Denmark, Austria, Hungary, 
 Russia, and Scandinavia slaughtering has been in 
 public hands for years. 
 
 Public slaughtering is required as a sanitary meas- 
 ure, for the purpose of stamping out the diseases prev- 
 alent in cattle. Only by public inspection can the 
 food supply be protected. These were the original 
 reasons for the public abattoir. In addition, they 
 protect the public from extortion. The food supply 
 of the people is too important to be left in private 
 hands, interested only in pecuniary profits. Ger- 
 many realizes that food monopoly has a direct bear- 
 ing on poverty and industrial efficiency. So the 
 cities cut out monopoly as far as possible at the root. 
 There is only the butcher between the farmer and 
 the housewife, and he must compete with another 
 butcher around the corner as well as with the mu- 
 nicipal market to be found in almost every city. 
 
 Slaughtering in Germany is covered by an im- 
 perial law and code of rules for inspection and slaugh- 
 tering which went into effect in 1903. The newer 
 abattoirs are models of completeness and are de-
 
 CITIES FOR PEOPLE 119 
 
 signed by architects with a spaciousness and beauty 
 in keeping with the German idea of pubHc building. 
 They are usually of brick or cement and are so lo- 
 cated as to be easily accessible to the railways and 
 water-ways, and are united with a cattle market 
 where the butchers come several days a week to 
 make their purchases. The abattoirs are usually in 
 the suburbs, although this is not necessary, for 
 science and hygiene have made such progress that 
 the abattoir is no longer a nuisance. The slaughter- 
 ing is done in the most humane way possible, under 
 the careful supervision of experts trained for the 
 purpose, while the veterinarians who inspect the 
 cattle are required to be graduates of the Ober-Real 
 Gymnasium, followed by a four years' course of 
 study. Inspectors are also required to pass an ex- 
 amination. The public abattoirs are self-sustaining, 
 but charges are fixed at the point which will pay 
 operating ex-penses and interest on the money in- 
 vested. They are not operated as a means of profit. 
 Dresden, a city of 540,000 inhabitants, finished 
 an immense cattle market and abattoir in 1910 at a 
 cost of $4,260,000. It is the largest and most com- 
 pletely equipped slaughter-house in Germany. It 
 covers 90 acres of land and includes 68 buildings. 
 It is located on the River Elbe, and is connected 
 with spurs of the railways. The groups of buildings 
 are designed as a unit and form a suburban com- 
 munity in themselves. The material is cement with
 
 120 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 roadways between them of the same material, all 
 so arranged as to be easily cleaned by flushing 
 machines. The most fastidious woman could visit 
 the abattoir, and, as a matter of fact, visitors are en- 
 couraged to come as a means of insuring cleanliness. 
 The gates through which one enters are like those of 
 a pubHc park. Everything bears the mark of the 
 architect and the artist in the designing. On the 
 right as one enters is the residence of the director. 
 On the left is a spacious hotel with a restaurant and 
 the post-office. The restaurant is finished with artis- 
 tic wood-work and frescoed ceilings. 
 
 Six thousand head of cattle had been killed the 
 day before I was there. Yet the place had the ap- 
 pearance of "Spotless Town." To the market in 
 connection with the abattoir all the cattle, sheep, and 
 hogs for the city's use must be brought. Here they 
 are inspected for tuberculosis and other diseases. 
 
 In the slaughter-houses of Berlin 657 persons are 
 employed, including one director, 47 veterinary sur- 
 geons, 15 assistant veterinary surgeons, 121 male mi- 
 croscopists, and 120 female microscopists. There are 
 two great establishments, one on each side of the 
 city, transacting a business which was formerly 
 done in nearly 1,000 private slaughter-houses. The 
 original cost of the slaughter-house was approxi- 
 mately $5,000,000. The service is performed more 
 cheaply than under the old system, while consumers 
 are protected in every possible way. The total value
 
 CITIES FOR PEOPLE 121 
 
 of the cattle and other animals slaughtered in 1905 
 amounted to $55,000,000. 
 
 In Italy, every town of more than 6,000 inhabi- 
 tants is required to build and maintain its own 
 slaughter-house to which all cattle must be brought. 
 The slaughtering is done by individual butchers. 
 The city provides the building, keeps it clean, and 
 furnishes veterinary inspectors to conduct the exam- 
 inations. Even in Russia the laws require that all 
 animals for food purposes must be slaughtered at the 
 city abattoir. These laws have been in force for a 
 quarter of a century. 
 
 The public market is universal in Europe and has 
 been for centuries. It, too, curtails the cost of liv- 
 ing. The market-place was the centre about which 
 the mediaeval town was organized. It was close by 
 the city hall, which even to-day, in many cities, fronts 
 upon it. The market-places of Brussels, Frankfort, 
 Bremen, and many other cities form a kind of civic 
 centre. They are surrounded by the old guild halls, 
 which are still preserved in their original style of 
 architecture. Here markets are held in the open un- 
 der awnings or umbrellas, which are cleared away 
 in the middle of the day. 
 
 Almost all of the European cities have erected 
 spacious retail market buildings, so distributed as to 
 serve every section of the city. There are also nu- 
 merous other markets in the streets and open spaces 
 which are used in the morning hours. In Vienna
 
 122 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 there are seven enclosed market buildings and forty 
 open-air market-places. The articles sold are pro- 
 visions and agricultural products as well as other 
 commodities of general use. The city authorities 
 determine the distribution of market-places among 
 dealers, and what wares may be sold. Locations are 
 assigned according to priority of application. Care- 
 ful supervision is maintained to prevent misleading 
 or fraudulent statements relative to the contents of 
 packages, while any wares exhibited of an unsani- 
 tary character are confiscated and destroyed. A 
 high standard of cleanliness is maintained. As the 
 railroads are in public hands, they are so operated 
 as to facilitate the widest possible usefulness of the 
 market. The fees are fixed according to business and 
 location. The total receipts of all the Vienna mar- 
 kets in 1906 were $382,508, and the expenditures 
 $321,412. 
 
 The city of Antwerp maintains nineteen open 
 squares and places where markets are held, and two 
 covered markets. One can find almost anything in 
 the Belgian market, from vegetables, meat, and fish, 
 to second-hand books, old clothes, furniture, and 
 other household goods. All contracts for the use of 
 market space are supervised by the municipality to 
 protect the consumer from extortion. The markets 
 of Brussels are very elaborate. They are built of 
 steel, and are light and well ventilated. In addition, 
 there are a large number of open-air markets.
 
 CITIES FOR PEOPLE 123 
 
 The market system of the city of Paris is one of 
 the most extensive and best-administered institutions 
 of its kind in Europe. The central or wholesale 
 market is a large establishment located near the 
 Louvre, and known as the Holies Centrales. It con- 
 sists of ten pavilions and open structures, partly 
 covered by a roof, the entire market occupying 
 twenty-two acres of land. The total cost of the cen- 
 tral market and the ground was about $10,000,000. 
 Produce is brought to the central market by railroad, 
 by boats, and by vans; it is classified, inspected, and 
 then sold by auction or by bargain and sale to re- 
 tailers and consumers in the city. The central 
 market is almost exclusively a wholesale market. 
 Distributed throughout the city are thirty-three 
 smaller retail markets which are supplied through 
 the central market or by direct communication with 
 the farmers. 
 
 Underneath the markets proper are great cellars 
 in which produce can be temporarily stored. This is 
 a kind of cold-storage warehouse under public ad- 
 ministration. There is careful oversight to prevent 
 unwholesome foods being sold and to check combina- 
 tion or extortion among dealers. The total revenue 
 from the system of central and local markets in 1906 
 was $1,817,164, and the total expenses $318,923, 
 leaving a profit of $1,498,241. 
 
 The permanent markets of Berlin are of recent 
 construction, the first market hall having been built
 
 124 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 in 1886. There are now 14 city markets in sub- 
 stantial buildings, and so located as most easily to 
 distribute the incoming farm produce of the rail- 
 ways, river, and canal-ways to the retail dealers and 
 consumers of the city. The markets are used for 
 the sale of food of all kinds, of household necessities, 
 as well as the cheaper kinds of cloth, crockery, and 
 every kind of farm produce. There is an immense 
 central market as a distributing agency for the smaller 
 markets in which produce is sold in bulk by auction 
 or otherwise.^ 
 
 *An exhaustive study of municipal markets and slaughter- 
 houses in Europe has been made by the Department of Commerce 
 and Labor of Washington, and is found in Special Consular Reports, 
 vol. XLII.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 PROTECTING THE WORKER 
 
 Germany is free from the individualistic point of 
 view that characterizes America, an individuaHsm 
 which resents any interference with the right of the 
 strong to exploit the weak. There is little of that in- 
 difference to the vicarious costs of industry, to the 
 sickness, accidents, and human wreckage which fol- 
 low in the trail of our failure to protect the weaker 
 classes. This attitude of mind is indicated in the 
 opening paragraph of a report issued by the Cham- 
 ber of Commerce of Frankfort-on-the-Main, which 
 says: 
 
 "The 'Manchester School' has had its day, and 
 since it had full sway, a great change has come 
 over the civilized nations, marked by an increased 
 influence of the governments at the expense of in- 
 dividualism. 
 
 "Slowly at first, but then in ever increasing meas- 
 ure, mankind realized that the doctrine of 'laisser 
 faire,' 4aisser passer' was a vicious one, and that the 
 Darwinian tenet of the survival of the fittest should 
 not apply to human beings. True enough, this 
 knowledge did not emerge from purely altruistic mo- 
 tives, but was a result of the conviction that the road 
 with the finger-post inscriptions, 'Elbow-room for 
 
 125
 
 126 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 everybody/ and 'Everybody for himself and the 
 devil take the hindmost' was a short one leading 
 nowhere. 
 
 "It had become obvious to leaders of men, like 
 Bismarck and Gladstone, that the new methods of 
 modern machinery and large capital had created 
 forms of employment miknown before, that huge 
 urban agglomerations had been called into existence, 
 and that the national agriculture of Old World 
 countries like France, England and Germany was 
 being exposed to a great strain by the competition 
 of the virgin soils of new lands. 
 
 "Furthermore, the new conditions in industry, 
 commerce, and agriculture had brought about a 
 change in the personal relations between employer 
 and employed ; the formerly patriarchal relations be- 
 came impersonal in proportion as the numbers of 
 workmen and other employees increased. Great por- 
 tions of the population saw themselves helpless and 
 shelterless in case of death, disaster and disease. 
 Germany was the first state to recognize the threat- 
 ening danger, and, in order to minimize it, adopted 
 the system of compulsor}^ insurance. Prince Bis- 
 marck and his imperial master, William I, were the 
 prime movers in this great legislative work, but I 
 think it is only just to mention that certain elemen- 
 tary forms of taking care of those in distress existed 
 before, and not only in Germany." 
 
 A similar attitude animates officials in their efforts 
 to promote the well-being of the working-classes. 
 Cities have worked out a programme of human con- 
 servation based on a realization of the helplessness 
 of the individual under modern industrial conditions. 
 The worker is no longer able to protect himself, to
 
 PROTECTING THE WORKER 127 
 
 choose his own employment; to be a free agent, as he 
 was a hundred years ago. He has become an insig- 
 nificant factor in a social machine which ruthlessly 
 crushes those who serve it in the cruel, competitive 
 life which the industrial cHy has created. Germany 
 has officially recognized these facts, and some years 
 ago the Minister of the Interior, speaking in the 
 Reichstag, outlined the policy of Germany as well 
 as of her cities in these matters. He said: "If Ger- 
 many has experienced a vast industrial expansion 
 equalled by no other country in the world during 
 the same time, it is chiefly due to the efficiency of 
 its workers. But this efficiency must inevitably have 
 suffered had we not secured to our working-classes 
 by the social legislation of recent years a tolerable 
 standard of life, and had we not as far as was possible 
 guaranteed their physical health." 
 
 The workman is trained to be a good mechanic, 
 he is insured against accident, sickness, and old age; 
 he is protected from the careless employer, and is 
 watched over in a variety of ways. When hard 
 times or industrial depression throw him out of work, 
 employment is provided for him. When seeking em- 
 ployment in other cities, a lodging is offered to pre- 
 vent his passing into the vagrant class. When sick, 
 he is cared for in wonderful convalescent homes, 
 tuberculosis hospitals, and farm colonies. And when 
 old age removes him from the factory, a pension 
 awaits him as a slight mark of appreciation from so-
 
 128 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 ciety, which has taken in his labor all that his life 
 had to offer and has given him only a bare sub- 
 sistence wage in return. 
 
 It is estimated that 30; 000 men are killed each 
 year in America in industrial employments, while 
 500,000 more are seriously injured. Up to very re- 
 cently we have made but little effort to shield the 
 worker from these dangers. We compel him and his 
 dependent family to bear the burdens of his acci- 
 dent. He has the choice between a beggarly settle- 
 ment from his employer or an exhausting and costly 
 litigation with the possibility of defeat in the end. 
 
 Germany thinks human life is too valuable to be 
 destroyed in this way. And Germany throws the 
 cost of human accidents onto society itself, just as 
 it does the wear and tear or depreciation of machin- 
 ery. The worker and his dependents are given com- 
 pensation for injuries without the delays, uncertain- 
 ties, and costs of a court trial. Compensation is paid 
 as a matter of course on a fixed scale established by 
 law. 
 
 Insurance is compulsory against accident, sickness, 
 invalidity, and old age. In 1909, out of a population 
 of 63,879,000, about 13,385,000 persons, of whom 
 10,000,000 were males, were insured in this way 
 against sickness by 23,449 sick funds. The number 
 insured against accident was about 23,767,000, of 
 whom one-third were women. Invalidity insurance 
 covered about 15,444,000 persons. The income col- 
 
 II
 
 PROTECTING THE WORKER 129 
 
 lected for all these forms of insurance amounted to 
 $214,856,650, of which the employers contributed 
 $98,312,000, and the employees $81,414,000. The 
 states and the interest earnings added $35,194,945 
 more. The cost of the invalidity and old-age insur- 
 ance is shared by the wage-earner, the employer, and 
 the state, while insurance against accident is borne 
 by the employer. The disbursements of the various 
 funds amounted to $167,592,770, of which the sick- 
 ness insurance amounted to $82,762,450, the accident 
 insurance to $39,461,155, and the invalidity insurance 
 to $45,369,165. In addition to the above nearly 
 $50,000,000 is to be added for the insurance of pub- 
 lic servants and $50,000,000 more for private servants. 
 
 Insurance against sickness has been provided since 
 1884. It is provided for almost all industrial workers 
 whose wages are below $500 a year. The sick insur- 
 ance funds are of several kinds: some provided by 
 the community for all the trades within their limits, 
 some by the large industries which maintain funds 
 of their own. All of the insurance funds provide for 
 free medical attendance and supplies, as well as for 
 sick pay from the third day of illness. 
 
 The insurance amounts to about one-half the daily 
 wages received by the insured or of the amount upon 
 which his assessment is fixed. Sick benefits continue 
 for not more than twenty-six weeks, after which time, 
 if the illness continues, the burden is transferred to 
 the accident insurance fund. The administration of
 
 130 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 these funds is partly in the hands of the working 
 people themselves through a board chosen by the 
 employers and the employees. The accident insur- 
 ance fund covers substantially the same classes as 
 does the sickness insurance, and the method of ad- 
 ministration is substantially the same. 
 
 Every employer is bound to provide insurance 
 against accident. Upon opening a factory he be- 
 comes a member of a trade association which covers 
 his business, and is bound to contribute to the in- 
 surance fund. The fund is managed by an ex- 
 ecutive board, which has power to classify trades 
 and fix the schedule of premiums for risks. The 
 board has power to enforce rules and compel the 
 introduction of appliances for protection against ac- 
 cident, and if a member refuses to make the changes 
 ordered, he may be fined for neglect or his insurance 
 premiums increased. 
 
 The benefits to be paid for accident are not left 
 to tedious and costly judicial inquiry. There is no 
 expense or delay. Even though the employee is neg- 
 ligent he is entitled to compensation, unless there is 
 evidence that he intentionally brought the accident 
 on himself. 
 
 Insignificant contributions from these millions of 
 insured have created immense reserves like those of 
 the private insurance companies in America. But 
 while the insurance premiums in this country have 
 been used to promote monopoly, to add mine to
 
 PROTECTING THE WORKER 131 
 
 mine and railroad to railroad, and through monopoly 
 to levy tribute upon the people, the insurance re- 
 serves in Germany are used to promote human wel- 
 fare, to house the people, to improve their health, 
 to save human waste. Millions have been loaned to 
 individual workmen, co-operative societies, and mu- 
 nicipalities for the building of workmen's houses, 
 suburban colonies, and apartments, as described else- 
 where. Millions more are used in the war against 
 disease. Every large city of 250,000 inhabitants 
 has wonderful hospitals, convalescent homes, and 
 sanatoriums, which have been buUt largely by the aid 
 of the insurance funds to minimize insurance losses 
 by preventing disease. The hospitals in Germany 
 are almost all pubUc, and the last ten years have 
 witnessed the erection of probably the finest in- 
 stitutions for the care of the sick and injured in the 
 world. 
 
 It was found that tuberculosis was responsible for 
 15 per cent, of the insurance allowances to males, 
 and this led to the organization of a systematic war 
 against it. A chain of sanatoriums was established 
 in the important cities, of which in 1911 there were 
 99. In 1897 there were only 3,334 wage-earners 
 provided for by institutional treatment; in 1909 
 this number had grown to 42,232. In twelve years' 
 time 272,000 patients had been treated and cared 
 for in these institutions. The expenditure for this 
 purpose shows an equally rapid increase. In 1897
 
 132 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 it was $243,833, while in 1909 it had risen to 
 $3,880,261. 
 
 As a result of this campaign the death-rate from 
 tuberculosis has fallen from 23.08 per 10,000 during 
 the four years from 1895 to 1899, to 18.45 per 10,000 
 during the period from 1905 to 1909.^ 
 
 Berlin has recently erected the Virchow Hospital 
 in the outskirts of the city, which is the most com- 
 plete hospital I have ever visited. At Buch, an old 
 people's home has been built on the detached cottage 
 style, which is a generation in advance of the alms- 
 houses in this country. An open-air farm colony for 
 inebriates is connected with it. The buildings are 
 of great architectural beauty; they are surrounded 
 by parkage, and have every modern appliance for 
 the study and prevention of disease. Reference has 
 been made to the hygienic exposition held in Dres- 
 den in 1911 which contained exhibits from all over 
 Germany, showing the hospitals, sanatoriums, and 
 
 ^ "The marvellous results achieved in the German Empire through 
 the intelligent coordination of public and private agencies enlisted in 
 the effort to reduce the mortality from tuberculosis to a minimum 
 entitles the German experiment, as the first and most successful of 
 its kind, to the admiration of the entire civilized world. Whether 
 what has been done has paid for itself in a strict financial sense is 
 wholly secondary to the social results which have been achieved, and 
 which have unquestionably conferred an infinite amount of good 
 upon the German people engaged in German industry in successful 
 competition with the economically more advantageously situated 
 wage-earners of many other lands. From the social, economic, and 
 medical points of view the treatment and care of tuberculous wage- 
 earners in Germany is a subject well deserving of intelligent and 
 sympathetic study as a distinct contribution to the civihzation of 
 the present time." — {Care of Tuberculous Wage-Earners in Germany, 
 Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor, Washington, 1912.)
 
 PROTECTING THE WORKER 133 
 
 other institutions for the care of sick and dependent 
 classes. 
 
 At BeeHtz, some miles out of Berlin, a tubercu- 
 losis sanitarium has been built which contains beds 
 for 2,000 patients. It is located in a great pine 
 forest of several hundred acres in extent and sug- 
 gests a garden colony rather than a hospital. This 
 hospital was built and is maintained out of the 
 national insurance funds. In 1906 the expenses 
 were about $349,000 for the care of more than 
 4,000 patients who received treatment. 
 
 Provision is also made to protect the man out of 
 work. Scattered all over the empire, in every city 
 of any size, are labor registries or exchanges, main- 
 tained partly by public and partly by private agen- 
 cies. There are upward of 400 of such bureaus in 
 the empire. Each year they find places for approx- 
 imately 1,000,000 men and women in all kinds of 
 employments. These labor exchanges aim to mini- 
 mize the waste involved in unemployment. They 
 are great clearing-houses for capital and labor. 
 When the labor market is congested in one place, 
 the exchange distributes labor to some other section 
 where it is needed. An attempt is being made to 
 utilize these agencies for satisfying the periodic de- 
 mand for men upon the farms during the harvesting 
 season. 
 
 I visited the exchange in Berlin, the largest in 
 the empire. It secures positions for approximately
 
 134 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 120,000 persons each year. It has been in existence 
 for twenty-five years, and is maintained at a cost of 
 $25,000 a year, of which the city pays $10,000, and 
 the fees the balance. It occupies a large four-story 
 building in the heart of Berlin. There is a separate 
 entrance for women on one street and for men on 
 the other. In the centre of the building is a great 
 hall capable of seating 1,400 persons, while smaller 
 halls accommodate the skilled artisans and women 
 in another part of the building. There were prob- 
 ably 600 men waiting to be called when I was 
 there. They did not suggest vagrants or tramps. 
 They were clean, self-respecting, and robust. The 
 men sat in groups according to their employment. 
 When a request was received over the telephone or 
 by mail, the men were called to the desk in the order 
 of their registry, and the position explained to them. 
 Priority is given to the married men in the assign- 
 ments. 
 
 On one side of the great hall is a buffet where 
 beer and food are sold at a trifling sum. There are 
 tailors and cobblers connected with the registry, who 
 repair clothes and shoes at an insignificant charge. 
 Checkers, dominos, and chess are played by the 
 men while they wait in the hall. The exchange 
 suggests a huge workingman's club rather than 
 an employment agency such as those of New 
 York or Chicago. There are shower-baths in the 
 building which are generally used, while a free dis-
 
 PROTECTING THE WORKER 135 
 
 pensary and medical inspection bureau are also 
 offered. 
 
 Many cities also maintain a unique institution to 
 enable workmen to find apartments at the least pos- 
 sible loss of time. House-owners report to the agency, 
 which investigates the premises as to its character 
 and cleanliness, and from descriptive cards the 
 workman can select with little loss of time a place 
 adjusted to his purse and his needs. In some cities 
 this plan has found so much favor that renting by 
 advertisement in the newspapers has been practically 
 abandoned. The house registry is a great boon to the 
 workman, employed as he is all day at his job, and 
 frequently compelled to accept the first apartment 
 that offers, no matter how badly located it may be. 
 
 Germany also makes provision for the wandering 
 worker, for the artisan out of employment seeking a 
 job. There is no assumption that a man out of em- 
 ployment is a suspicious character, a semi-criminal 
 to be arrested because he has no visible means of 
 support. He is not placed under arrest because of 
 his poverty, as is the practice in many of our cities. 
 Rather the community recognizes that men are com- 
 pelled by necessity to change their employment. So 
 the cities and private agencies maintain lodging- 
 houses or herbergen. In 1904 there were 462 of these 
 lodging-houses in Germany, which contained 20,000 
 beds. They lodge over 2,000,000 persons a year, of 
 whom the majority are paying guests.
 
 136 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 In order to secure admission to the herbergen the 
 worker must produce a passport showing that he has 
 been at work. For the sum of twelve cents he re- 
 ceives lodging and breakfast, or he can work for 
 four hours for them. The rule of the herbergen is, 
 "morning work, afternoon walk." The work is usu- 
 ally of a simple kind, such as chopping wood. These 
 institutions have been so widely developed in south 
 Germany that vagrancy has almost disappeared. 
 
 In connection with the herbergen, branches of mu- 
 nicipal savings-banks are frequently maintained, 
 while labor exchanges are in close contact with them. 
 Through the herbergen and the labor exchange the 
 self-respect of the worker is kept ahve. He is pre- 
 vented from falling into the tramp and vagrant class, 
 and is found employment as speedily as possible in 
 the job for which he is best fitted. 
 
 None of these agencies, however, are able to cope 
 with industrial or seasonal trade depressions. They 
 cannot create employment and do not attempt to 
 do so. ]Many cities recognize that the worker has a 
 right to be protected from hard times and saved 
 from the demoralizing influence of non-employment. 
 "Distress work" is quite generally provided by cities 
 during the winter as well as during hard times. Cit- 
 ies do not recognize the "right to work," but they 
 provide work in considerable measure, nevertheless. 
 Contractors are also required to employ local men, 
 so as to relieve local expenditure for charity. The
 
 PROTECTING THE WORKER 137 
 
 distress work is not of the best; but cities recognize 
 that it is far less expensive than to permit the worker 
 to develop the habit of shiftlessness and fall into the 
 wreckage of vagabonds, tramps, and semi-criminals, 
 who are the inevitable product of every period of 
 hard times. 
 
 This sense of community responsibility for the 
 workers is not confined to Germany. In Switzer- 
 land, according to the American Consul, R. E. Mans- 
 field, of Zurich: 
 
 "The indigent unemployed are dealt with as an 
 economic question. The Swiss act upon the theory 
 that the man who is unemployed is, if left to himself, 
 prone to become unemployable; and that for a com- 
 munity to allow any one of its members capable of 
 work to remain unemployed is public waste, for the 
 reason that, as soon as he becomes a subject of char- 
 ity, he is a tax upon the community, which has to 
 support not only the individual but also those depend- 
 ent upon him. The purpose is to assist the unfort- 
 unate unemployed to secure work, not only for the 
 sake of the individual but also in the interests of the 
 state; to prevent his becoming a tax upon the com- 
 munity instead of a source of income — a consumer, 
 instead of a producer. 
 
 "In industrial Switzerland there is no place for the 
 idle. It is considered the duty of the authorities to 
 assist in every way possible persons honestly seeking 
 employment, and it is also held to be their duty to 
 punish the work shirker and to force him to earn his 
 bread before he may eat it." ^ 
 
 » Daily Consular and Trade Reports, March 8, 1912.
 
 138 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 Begging is not permitted; nor is vagrancy. In 
 some cantons a system of insurance against unem- 
 ployment has been developed, by which persons who 
 contribute a small sum per month are guaranteed 
 work or are paid a weekly indemnity during the 
 period of their non-employment. Unemployment in- 
 surance, however, has not yet been perfected because 
 of the difficulties of administration. Employment 
 agencies are also maintained by the cities and the 
 federal government. Through these agencies nearly 
 50,000 places a year are filled. Of these about one- 
 quarter are women. 
 
 Pawn-shops {Leihduser) are public institutions in 
 Germany, and have been for centuries. The loan 
 shark is put out of business by public competition 
 rather than by the regulation of interest rates or 
 spasmodic criminal proceedings. The pawn-shops 
 are administered by the city on a business basis, the 
 rate of interest being from 1 to 2 per cent, a month, 
 depending on the amount of the loan. Loans are 
 made on jewelry, wearing apparel, household goods, 
 books, or other articles of general use. Many small 
 tradesmen use the pawn-shop as a bank of discount. 
 They place their imseasonable goods in pledge until 
 they are needed. 
 
 The municipal pawn-shops of Nuremberg, Ham- 
 burg, and Augsburg date from the seventeenth cent- 
 ury. Those of Dresden, Munich, Frankfort, and 
 Breslau are more than a hundred years old. Almost
 
 PROTECTING THE WORKER 139 
 
 all the cities maintain them as an aid to people in 
 distress. 
 
 The pawn-shop at Frankfort employs a director 
 and twenty clerks and appraiseis. It occupies thirty- 
 four rooms as well as a number of warehouses. In 
 1908 loans to the amount of $300,000 were made by 
 the city. 
 
 Savings-banks to encourage thrift among the poor 
 are found in almost every city. They have been 
 maintained for generations and are universally used. 
 In most of the large towns the number of depositors 
 exceeds the total number of families, and in some 
 cities there are twice as many depositors as house- 
 holds. The rate of interest paid is generally 3 per 
 cent., the funds being invested for the most part in 
 public securities of unquestioned stability. Branch 
 offices are scattered all over the city to encourage 
 their use as widely as possible. The banks are ad- 
 ministered by the city officials at practically no ex- 
 pense to the depositors, the aim being to pay as high 
 a rate of interest as possible. 
 
 In many countries special courts have been created 
 for the settlement of disputes between employers and 
 employees, as well as for the arbitration of contro- 
 versies. These courts are made as easy of approach 
 as possible, the procedure being very simple and in- 
 formal. The decisions are speedy. The court fees are 
 reduced to a minimum, and the employment of law- 
 yers is discouraged. In some cases lawyers are not
 
 140 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 permitted to appear at all, the litigants themselves 
 being called before the court to state their case. The 
 constant effort is to settle disputes without contro- 
 versy, and a large percentage of them are so disposed 
 of. The court is made up of employers and em- 
 ployees rather than of trained lawyers, each class 
 electing its own representative. If a deadlock oc- 
 curs a justice from one of the minor courts is called 
 in to give the deciding vote. In a majority of cases 
 controversies are settled at the first hearing and usu- 
 ally within a few weeks from the bringing of the 
 action. In Germany, in 1908 only 267 cases lasted 
 more than three months. In France the judges are 
 subject to a penalty if the case is not disposed of 
 within four months. In Zurich, in 1909, there were 
 941 cases settled without judgment, of which 768 
 were disposed of in less than eight days after com- 
 plaint had been filed. 
 
 In France there are no fees at all if the case in- 
 volves less than twenty francs. In Germany no fees 
 are charged if the parties reach a voluntary agree- 
 ment, while if a judgment is rendered the fees are 
 graded according to the amount involved. In dis- 
 putes involving more than $24, the fees range 
 from twenty-five cents to seventy-five cents. These 
 courts are widely used and command the confidence 
 of the employees, rather more than of the employers, 
 who find that judgments are more frequently given 
 against them than under the old system.
 
 PROTECTING THE WORKER 141 
 
 This does not exhaust the activities of German cit- 
 ies in dealing with the labor problem or the provi- 
 sions for the welfare of the working and the poorer 
 classes. Experiments have been made with insur- 
 ance against unemployment, although with far less 
 success than in other fields. The intermittent nat- 
 ure of industrial employment is recognized and efforts 
 are being made to protect the worker against it. 
 This, too, is being done with the aim of minimiz- 
 ing pauperism by preventive legislation. Insurance 
 against unemployment is designed to prevent the 
 degeneration which invariably follows idleness. It 
 is inspired partly by humane motives, partly by a 
 far-sighted industrial intelligence, and partly by the 
 appreciation of city officials that it costs less to tide 
 men over industrial depression than to maintain 
 them permanently in the pauper class. 
 
 In addition the worker must be kept in a state of 
 efficiency for re-employment or for military purposes. 
 Nearly a dozen cities, of which Munich, Dresden, 
 Cologne, Diisseldorf, Strassburg, and Mayence are 
 the chief, are experimenting with unemployment in- 
 surance. Since 1896 Cologne has been working on a 
 system the administration of which is in the hands 
 of a committee created by the council, consisting of 
 the Mayor, the President of the Labor Exchange, 
 twelve workingmen elected by the insured, and twelve 
 honorary members chosen from among prominent 
 citizens in the community. Approximately $25,000
 
 142 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 was raised for the purpose by employers of labor; to 
 which the city added $6,000 more. This is the capi- 
 tal fund of the system. Workmen over eighteen 
 years of age who have resided a year in the Cologne 
 district and have a regular calling are permitted to 
 join the association and pay a weekly contribution 
 of from seven to ten cents for a period of thirty-four 
 weeks. Then if they are out of employment without 
 fault of their own, they are entitled to insurance for 
 fourteen weeks during the winter months. No bene- 
 fits are paid if the workman is on strike or if he 
 refuses to work. Insurance offices are run in con- 
 nection with the Labor Exchange. Thus far the 
 opportunity has been taken advantage of chiefly by 
 masons, stone-cutters, carpenters, and seasonal work- 
 men. The number of insured has risen to about 
 2,000. 
 
 Similar organizations promoted by the city or by 
 private individuals have been started in other cities, 
 but thus far the system is still in its experimental 
 stage.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 THE VISION OF THE GERMAN CITY 
 
 The attitude of mind of the German business man 
 is different from anything I have ever known. Men 
 talk of the city as they do of their homes, as they do 
 of their private business affairs. Cities spend gen- 
 erously for many things which have no place in the 
 budget of the American city, and they spend with 
 an intelligent estimate of their value. Beauty is 
 treated as a commercial asset and is justified as a 
 means for promoting the city's growth. Taxpayers 
 do not question the outlay for the opera and the 
 theatre, for gardens, art galleries, and museums. 
 They approve of expenditure to beautify the streets, 
 to adorn them with statuary and fountains, with clock 
 towers and other forms of ornamentation. Bridges 
 command the talent of the architect, as do railway 
 stations and minor public buildings. The overhead 
 work of the railways and elevated lines is of a 
 splendid permanence. And officials and business men 
 defend these expenditures by an appeal to results. 
 They say that those cities increase in population and 
 trade that spend most generously for these things. 
 Nor is there any protest against heavy taxes for edu- 
 
 143
 
 144 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 cation, recreation, and social purposes. For it is gen- 
 erally recognized that industry seeks those cities that 
 do the most to encourage trade, that stimulate com- 
 merce by opening up industrial areas, that build 
 docks and harbors and provide cheap factory sites. 
 Employers are attracted by educational opportunities 
 which produce skilled workmen, and a happy, con- 
 tented population. Persons of leisure choose their 
 homes for the same reasons, while travellers seek out 
 the cities that make the most adequate provision for 
 education, art, music, and beauty. All these things 
 bring money to the town. They promote business. 
 They increase land values. Finally, the income-tax 
 rate is reduced by contributions from the many in- 
 dustrial activities as well as by the increasing taxable 
 land values which the growth of population and in- 
 dustry create. 
 
 Education is close-linked with life. It is vocational 
 as well as cultural. Much of the efficiency of Ger- 
 many in industry, in commerce, in those lines of 
 manufacture which involve artistic and special train- 
 ing, is traceable to the thought given to the subject 
 of education. Exhibitions are frequently held for 
 the purpose of stud3dng the progress of education 
 and its achievements. In the summer of 1912 an 
 arts and crafts exhibition was held at Dresden not 
 unlike the exhibition of hygiene in the same city in 
 1911. The handicrafts were all represented, as were 
 the domestic sciences. There were exhibits of model-
 
 THE VISION OF THE GERMAN CITY 145 
 
 ling, the making of furniture, and studies from life. 
 The drawing, designing, color work, landscape gar- 
 dening, and interior decoration suggested the work 
 of the practised artist rather than of the public- 
 school child. 
 
 Every large city has its manual training and tech- 
 nical arts schools, which are graded from the lower 
 classes up to higher schools for mature students. 
 The courses of study are adjusted to the particular 
 industries of the town. Colleges of commerce are 
 maintained in the larger cities, in which employers 
 and managers are trained in finance, political econ- 
 omy, international relations, and accounting. The 
 studies in these schools are consciously related to 
 the promotion of commerce and trade. The newer 
 school buildings are elaborate and no expense has 
 been spared to make them efficient instruments for 
 teaching. Shower-baths are provided in the element- 
 ary schools, as are gymnasiums and playgrounds. 
 The children are put through physical exercises and 
 are taken on long tramps through the country. 
 
 The expenditure for education is even more gen- 
 erous than it is in America — not only relatively but 
 absolutely. The city of Diisseldorf spends $1,132,- 
 400 on education, or nearly $4 per capita. Frankfort- 
 on-the-Mam spent $1,800,000 in 1907, or nearly $5 
 per capita. Of this, $425,000 was expended on high 
 schools, $200,000 on middle schools, $700,000 on ele- 
 mentary schools, $60,000 on continuation schools,
 
 146 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 $40,000 on trade schools, and $45,000 on technical 
 schools. Head-masters in the high schools are paid 
 from $1,800 to $2,500; men teachers from $550 to 
 $1,120, and women teachers from $400 to $820. On 
 retirement the teachers receive a pension for the re- 
 mainder of their lives. The number of teachers in 
 Frankfort schools is 1,300, of whom 301 are women.^ 
 Germany provides for the leisure of its people more 
 intelligently and generously than any other country 
 in the world. This, too, lures hundreds of thousands 
 of visitors and residents to that coimtry each year. 
 Provision for the drama, for the opera, and for art 
 is treated as a public as well as a private function. 
 Men and women, boys and girls, are so familiar 
 with the old masters, that a knowledge of art and 
 music is an almost universal possession. It seems as 
 though the city said: "Every human being is enti- 
 tled to at least an opportunity for wholesome enjoy- 
 ment dm-ing his leisure hours. The coming of the 
 city has destroyed individual play. It has taken 
 away the country-side and left only the streets, and 
 such opportunities as commerce offers. The parks 
 are closed in the winter. So are the streets. The 
 cost of commercialized amusements to the poor is 
 prohibitive. Only through taxation can education 
 be made a life-long thing; only by public action can 
 the people enjoy clean, wholesome amusement. Only 
 
 1 For a comparison of school expenditures of German and Ameri- 
 can cities see chapter III.
 
 THE VISION OF THE GERMAN CITY 147 
 
 through the community itself can recreation be of- 
 fered under modem urban conditions." 
 
 In America recreation has been left almost wholly 
 to commerce. It is satisfied by the saloons, the dance- 
 hall, and the theatre, at a terrible cost to the taste, 
 the minds, and the morals of the people. We dissi- 
 pate the results of education by our neglect. We 
 leave the worker to the saloon; we break up the 
 family, and turn the boy and girl over to the dance- 
 hall. These are almost the only places open after a 
 day of exhausting toil. In Germany, on the other 
 hand, the city educates while it amuses. The opera 
 and theatre are subsidized, and the best sort of pro- 
 ductions are encouraged. Every capital city has its 
 court theatre and opera-house of monumental archi- 
 tecture. This more than anything else explains the 
 superiority of the drama in Europe. One hears the 
 plays of Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw, Hauptmann, 
 Schiller, Lessing, and other dramatists, the best Eng- 
 lish plays being presented to far more appreciative 
 audiences than those of New York or Chicago. There 
 are twenty subsidized court theatres in Germany and 
 nearly one hundred maintained by individual cities. 
 In some instances the theatre is given to the director 
 free of rent, while in others a direct subsidy is granted. 
 Some cities provide the orchestra, scenery, costumes, 
 and the gas, heating, and lighting. There is no uni- 
 formity in the manner of support, but in nearly all 
 the cities the drama and opera are generously main-
 
 148 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 tallied as essential features in the life of the com- 
 munity. Prices of admission are adjusted to encour- 
 age persons of small means to attend the theatre and 
 opera. Tickets range from twelve cents to two dol- 
 lars in the evening, with reduced prices for matinees. 
 The municipal or court opera-houses and theatres 
 of Berlin, Dresden, IMunich, Frankfort, and other 
 cities are of great beauty. 
 
 Cities also provide generously for music in con- 
 nection with public or semi-public places of refresh- 
 ment. Nearly all of the larger to^vms maintain sym- 
 phony orchestras with an oflficial director. Two or 
 three evenings a week the best of symphony con- 
 certs are given, for which a small admission fee is 
 charged. Munich has inaugurated a musical festi- 
 val in the summer, at which a series of concerts are 
 given from the works of the leading masters. People 
 come to Munich from all over the world during the 
 festival week. In nearly every large town there are 
 daily concerts by the military bands connected with 
 the regiments stationed in the ^dcinity. In cities like 
 Berlin, Munich, Diisseldorf, and Dresden one can at- 
 tend from two to three concerts a day during the 
 summer months. They are given in the public parks 
 or open-air restaurants, to which great crowds of peo- 
 ple go for their evening meal or for Hght refreshments. 
 Entire families spend their holidays and Sundays in 
 the zoological and palm gardens or in the public parks 
 and private beer gardens. These gardens are open
 
 Palm Gardens, Frankfort-on-the-Main. 
 
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 Exposition Park, Munich, where all Kinds of Exhibitions 
 ARE Held. 
 
 The Palm Gardens, Exposition Halls, and Zoological Gardens are the favorite 
 resorts of the people. There are open-air restaurants, with band and 
 orchestral concerts In the evenings and on holidays.
 
 THE VISION OF THE GERMAN CITY 149 
 
 to the air, are clean and free from disorder, and play 
 an important role in the life of the community. They 
 are accessible to even the poorest and are frequented 
 by all classes. 
 
 Many cities, too, maintain rathskellers in the 
 basement of the city hall. Diisseldorf owns a Ton 
 Halle in which the best of symphony concerts can 
 be heard three or four times a week. In recent years 
 cities have been erecting exposition halls for indus- 
 trial and art exhibitions, for manmioth concerts, and 
 a great variety of purposes. They are usually sur- 
 rounded by a park and form the recreational centre 
 of the community. These ex-positions are designed 
 to promote industrial efficiency and knowledge of 
 local industries. They attract many visitors to the 
 cities and indirectly pay for the expenditure in this 
 way. 
 
 It is about the open-air concert in the parks and 
 public halls, in the opera-house and the theatre, that 
 the leisure life of the German revolves. It is lei- 
 surely, restful, and cultural. It provides for the fam- 
 ily rather than for the individual; it is social in char- 
 acter and is consciously directed toward refinement 
 and the development of the artistic senses. The sub- 
 traction of this public provision for leisure from the 
 every-day life of Germany would be the destruction 
 of much of the country's charm. Provision for lei- 
 sure begins with the cradle and ends with the grave. 
 It supplements education, and relieves the tedium of
 
 150 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 toil. The efficiency of the German workman is in 
 no small degree traceable to the rest, to the change 
 in environment and in mental interests, which the 
 community offers in these ways. There is little 
 drunkenness and few of the environing allurements 
 leading to excess which characterize the commercial- 
 ized recreational opportunities in America. 
 
 In recent years the playground has been developed 
 along American lines. The new suburban extensions 
 include provision for play places and gardens within 
 a few minutes' walk of every man's home. These 
 playgrounds are designed with the greatest care, so 
 as to secure the maximum of beauty and use. The 
 gardens are of great variety and are filled with plants 
 and flowers. The Hofgartens in the capital cities are 
 crowded with mothers with their children every after- 
 noon in summer enjoying the concerts. Cities almost 
 always maintain all-year-round bath-houses, and 
 public comfort stations. The teaching of swimming 
 is compulsory in the schools, and during the summer 
 months crowds of children may be seen with their 
 teachers on their way to the baths which line the 
 water-fronts. Almost every city has its zoological 
 and palm garden, to which the children are brought 
 in groups with their teachers. There are restau- 
 rants in connection with them where band concerts 
 are held. The city of Munich maintains a wonder- 
 ful Turkish-bath establishment of splendid architect- 
 ure and the most complete appointments. It is lo- 
 
 I
 
 THE VISION OF THE GERMAN CITY 151 
 
 cated upon an island in the river, and is thronged 
 with people at all hours of the day. 
 
 Some idea of the attitude of mind of the city to- 
 ward the leisure life of its people and the prominence 
 which it gives to recreation may be gained from the 
 expenditures which it makes for these purposes. Co- 
 logne, a city of 500,000 population, spends $129,000 
 a year for parks, $97,000 for public baths, and $500,- 
 000 for the theatre, for music, for art and science. 
 It spends nearly $1.50 per capita for these purposes. 
 Were New York City to spend as generously, taking 
 into consideration the relative purchasing power of 
 money, it would spend from $10,000,000 to $12,000,- 
 000 upon recreation, the theatre, music, and provi- 
 sions for recreative culture. Diisseldorf, with 350,- 
 000 people, spends $64,000 on its parks, $110,000 on 
 its theatres and orchestras, $45,000 for the arts and 
 sciences. Mayence, with a population of 105,000, 
 spends $29,400 on the theatre, $16,000 on baths, and 
 $19,000 on an orchestra. Essen, with 265,000 people, 
 spends $9,730 on its orchestra and $12,500 on its 
 theatre. In addition there are other subsidies and 
 subventions which increase the appropriations to a 
 much larger sum. 
 
 The German city looks upon happiness as a public 
 obligation. It freshens the artisan and relieves the 
 dull monotony of his daily work. We in America 
 have not yet realized that provision must be made 
 for the leisure hours of the people and that their di-
 
 152 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 rection and control must; of necessity, be in public 
 rather than in private hands. 
 
 The same intelligence characterizes expenditures 
 for social ends. Emergency work in hard times, for 
 the opening up of a slum area, for the building of 
 new schools and hospitals, is made with an apprecia- 
 tion of the ultimate value of such expenditure in re- 
 ducing disease. The burdens of taxation are treated 
 as a kind of investment from which dividends will 
 be reaUzed in the future. 
 
 There is no question but that expenditures will be 
 made with economy and with the best talent the 
 empire commands. Officials enjoy long tenure of of- 
 fice, and are selected with a view to the big projects 
 which the city has in hand. City councils, too, com- 
 mand a high order of talent, drawn from business and 
 the professions. The term of service in the council is 
 six years, with only a partial renewal every two years, 
 in consequence of which projects can be planned over 
 a long period of time, while the ability of the city to 
 borrow without limit makes it possible to project 
 plans in a long-visioned way. 
 
 Much of the waste of the American city is due to 
 the Umitation on its borrowing powers. Cities have 
 to adopt a hand-to-mouth policy. They are com- 
 pelled to spend a hundred thousand dollars instead 
 of a million because of the debt limit fixed by the 
 legislature. New York has been cramped within 
 Manhattan Island because it could not borrow
 
 THE VISION OF THE GERMAN CITY 153 
 
 enough money to build its subways, and when re- 
 lief was secured it was so inadequate that the city 
 had to rely on private credit at colossal cost to the 
 future in order to complete the system. 
 
 Docks and harbor development projects are ham- 
 pered by similar limitations. The city cannot pro- 
 ject plans to be carried out as the needs of the city 
 require because of its inability to secure the neces- 
 sary funds. Each department clamors for appropri- 
 ations which compel an annual adjustment of the 
 budget, not to what should be done, but to what can 
 be done. The city of Chicago is helpless to carry 
 out its planning and harbor projects because of limits 
 on its borrowing capacity which have kept down its 
 indebtedness to an insignificant sum. Cleveland has 
 planned a harbor development for years, the city 
 has been alive to the need for adequate sewers, new 
 bridges, parks, playgrounds, and hospitals, but the 
 almost inflexible debt limit of the city makes im- 
 peratively needed improvements impossible. The in- 
 troduction of the expert or the improvement of the 
 machinery of government would not correct our city 
 problems so long as officials are cramped as they are 
 by inflexible laws which control both the borrow- 
 ing capacity and the tax limit of the city. 
 
 Big improvements are carried through in Ger- 
 many on a scale which anticipates the needs of the 
 community for generations to come. Suburban proj- 
 ects are worked out with great care long before work
 
 154 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 is begun. An opportunity is offered for criticism and 
 suggestion. When the project is ready for actual 
 work a wide area is undertaken at once. The streets 
 are planned in as much detail as the specifications 
 of a great building. The project may cover a half 
 dozen years in its completion, but when it is finished 
 every provision has been made for a community of 
 several thousand inhabitants. 
 
 Water, sewage, and harbor projects are undertaken 
 in the same big-visioned way. The city of Munich 
 long suffered from a high mortality rate due to the 
 prevalence of typhoid fever. The water supply was 
 inadequate. In 1883 the city undertook to bring 
 water from pure springs far up in the Bavarian Alps. 
 The project was a most costly one; it involved en- 
 gineering difficulties which required the best of ex- 
 perts and involved many years in its completion. 
 Great sewers were run through the city which are 
 flushed by running water, impounded in the Isar 
 River, and carried at a rapid flood through the cen- 
 tral part of the city. 
 
 The water-front developments of cities are of the 
 same ambitious sort and include provision for every 
 possible need. Stone embankments are built along 
 the river front with promenade-ways on the top, 
 while the street and steam railway tracks are on a 
 lower level with quays and landing-stages at the 
 water's edge for passenger and pleasure craft. Com- 
 manding water-front sites are reserved for public
 
 THE VISION OF THE GERMAN CITY 155 
 
 buildings, for exposition halls or parkage. Still 
 others are dedicated to playgrounds or open spaces, 
 while provision is made for a dock and harbor sys- 
 tem susceptible of development to meet the growing 
 needs of the city. 
 
 It is this vision of the municipality with a life of 
 its own that marks off the German city from the 
 rest of the world. There is a sense of community 
 living, an appreciation of the fact that the city is 
 here to stay and that its coming involves vicarious 
 sacrifices to the many that must be relieved by the 
 few. There is something of the municipal sense of 
 the cities of ancient Greece or the towns of Italy, 
 Germany, and the Netherlands during the renaissance 
 of municipal enthusiasm of the latter middle ages. 
 This feeling is found among all classes. It animates 
 artisans and employers, councillors and burgomasters. 
 The city is a conscious, living thing with a big life of 
 its own and a definite mission to perform.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN GERMANY 
 
 Germany has not solved the housing problem any 
 more than have we. But Germany has attacked it 
 with courage and intelligence. Bad housing is rec- 
 ognized to be a national menace which must be cor- 
 rected in the interest of the health and efficiency of 
 the people. 
 
 And officials seem agreed that the trouble is that 
 there are not enough houses. Not only that, but 
 private capital will not build enough houses to keep 
 pace with the demand. It is not the magnitude of 
 the problem that prevents capital from building; it 
 is the absence of a commercial interest to induce it 
 to do so. It is good business to perfect the automo- 
 bile; to make it cheap, safe, and durable. Competi- 
 tion compels this in most industries. But there is 
 no such motive driving capital to build houses or to 
 improve their appointments. Rather the reverse is 
 true. Capital instinctively appreciates that a limi- 
 tation of the supply of houses keeps up rents and 
 increases the value of existing property. This is true 
 because the housing problem is a land rather than 
 
 a house problem. Land-owners act just as do coal 
 
 156
 
 THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN GERMANY 157 
 
 operators, cotton-growers, or sugar-refiners in re- 
 stricting the output. There is more money in land 
 speculation than there is in house-building. That is 
 the crux of the housing problem all over the world. 
 Men speculate rather than build. Land speculation 
 has created a house famine. This is the real explana- 
 tion of high rents, of congestion, of the slum. There 
 are lumber, bricks, and material enough to build all 
 the houses the people want. And labor is eager to 
 work upon them. There is no more difficulty about 
 house-building than there is about any other indus- 
 try. The thing that differentiates it from other ac- 
 tivities is its identity with the land. And its identity 
 with the land leads men to speculate and withhold 
 land from use in the hope of increasing profits from 
 this source. 
 
 All over the world the city is growing with the same 
 rapidity, and with the growth of the city land values 
 tend to increase. The urban population of Germany 
 in 1871 was 35.5 per cent, of the total. By 1895 it 
 had risen to 49 per cent. In the latter year 13.2 
 per cent, of the people lived in cities of over 100,000 
 population, while in 1900 the percentage had risen to 
 16.18 per cent, and five years later to 18.97 per cent. 
 It is this growth in urban population that leads men 
 to speculate in land rather than to build houses. 
 Professor Eberstadt, of Berlm, describes the situation 
 of the modern city by saying that "the mediaeval 
 town was surrounded by a wall to keep the invaders
 
 158 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 out; while the modem industrial city is surrounded 
 by a wall of land speculators, who keep the people in." 
 Nowhere in the world has the housing question 
 been studied with the thoroughness that Germany 
 has given to it. The housing problem has been stud- 
 ied in its relation to land, to transportation, to the 
 health and well-being of the people. It is looked upon 
 as one of the most important if not the most impor- 
 tant municipal problem. The greatest variety of 
 experiments are being made by cities, states, co-oper- 
 ative associations, and private individuals in the 
 working out of the problem. City authorities issue 
 reports upon the subject, all planning schemes are 
 related to it, while individual factories and industrial 
 developments are laid out with reference to the proper 
 living of the people. There are the most minute 
 regulations as to the height of buildings, the amount 
 of land that may be covered by the structure, the 
 distance houses must be set back from the street, as 
 well as the distance which separates one house from 
 the other. Streets are arranged so as to give the 
 maximum of sunlight in the hving-rooms. Their 
 width is fixed so as to permit adequate open space 
 around the houses. There is the most careful super- 
 vision of plumbing and sanitary arrangements, as 
 well as in the provision for small parks and open 
 spaces. The literature on the subject is voluminous, 
 as is the legislation of the various German states. 
 We have nothing like it in America. England,
 
 THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN GERMANY 159 
 
 France, Belgium, and Austria are far behind Ger- 
 many in their knowledge of the subject, while in no 
 country in the world is it treated with the same 
 big vision and appreciation of its meaning as in Ger- 
 many. 
 
 Studies have been made of the relation of urban 
 land values to the rents people pay. In an article en- 
 titled " Wohnungsnot" ^ Dr. Miiller asserts that the 
 land underlying the city of Berlin increased in value 
 during the twenty years from 1870 to 1890 by $857,- 
 000,000. It is this increase in land values that in- 
 creases rent, and especially the rents of the very poor. 
 It is this that drives up tenements, destroys the open 
 spaces, and diminishes the size of the rooms. It is 
 this, too, that makes it more profitable to speculate 
 than to build. And it is realization of this fact that 
 has convinced German housing reformers that the 
 problem cannot be left to the free play of demand and 
 supply, as in other industries. Mr. Camille Huys- 
 mann, of Brussels, in a study entitled. La Plus- 
 Value Immobile dans les Communes Beiges, has ana- 
 lyzed the increase of urban land values in the cities 
 of Europe. Speaking of Berlin, he says: "Taking a 
 hundred inhabited houses, the average site or land 
 value increased from $82 in 1855 to $166 in 1895, an 
 increase of 100 per cent.; while the groimd rent of 
 the individual person increased from 19.68 thalers in 
 1850 to 35.28 thalers in 1872. Of these hundred 
 
 * Conrad's Jahrhucher, 1902.
 
 160 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 houses the ground rent or annual site value forced up 
 rentS; so that, whereas in 1865 30.74 per cent, had 
 paid less than $37.50 a year, in 1895 only 8.47 per 
 cent, paid this sum." Continuing he says : "The many 
 inquiries conducted in Berlin demonstrate beyond 
 question that the increase in ground rentals is more 
 rapid than the increase in the value of real estate; 
 that the number of cheap tenements tends to di- 
 minish, while the number of dear tenements tends 
 to increase." He shows that, while the number of 
 houses increased from 1886 to 1895 by but 24.8 per 
 cent., rentals increased 36.7 per cent. Insurance on 
 buildings increased by $500,000,000 from 1870 to 
 1890, while land values increased by $875,000,000. 
 In 1881, 16.23 per cent, of the people paid an aver- 
 age rent of less than $37.50, while ten years later only 
 7.32 per cent, paid less than this sum.^ 
 
 Investigations in Berlin have shown that the 
 poorer classes pay from one-fifth to one-quarter of 
 their total income in rent. Six hundred thousand, or 
 nearly one-third of the population, Hve in dwellings 
 in which each room contains five or more persons, 
 while 80 per cent, of the working people in the 
 larger towns of Germany are said to live in cellars, 
 attics, and tenements inadequate to the maintenance 
 of a decent family life. Official reports on the sub- 
 ject show that in the following cities, out of every 
 1,000 persons, there live in dwellings consisting of 
 
 ^ La Plus-Value Immobile dans les Communes Beiges, pp. lQ-12.
 
 THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN GERMANY 161 
 
 only one or two rooms the following number of per- 
 sons, to wit: in Berlin, 731; in Breslau, 742; in 
 Dresden, 688; in Hamburg, 523; in Hanover, 679; 
 in Konigsberg, 760; in Magdeburg, 726; in Mann- 
 heim, 610; and in Munich, 524.^ 
 
 In the solution of the problem, Germany has 
 adopted three general policies. In the first place, 
 the land within and without the city is planned 
 with great care to prevent the reappearance of tene- 
 ment conditions in the new quarters. Second, the 
 municipality either builds or promotes the building 
 of suburban garden communities or the erection of 
 model apartment-houses within the city. A third 
 policy, referred to elsewhere, is the taxation of vacant 
 land at a higher rate than improved land, to force 
 the owner to build. In addition, the cities generally 
 own the means of transit, which, together with the 
 state-owned railways, are used for the distribution 
 of population out into the country and surrounding 
 villages. 
 
 The housing problem is treated as an integral part 
 of town planning. When a suburban district is 
 opened up, transportation facilities are at once pro- 
 vided, and before any building is permitted details 
 of streets, parks, and open spaces are fixed by ordi- 
 nance of the council after exhaustive study of the 
 subject by engineers, landscape artists, and industrial 
 and sanitary experts. This is all done before the 
 
 \ Die Wohnungsfrage, Dr. Eugen Jaeger, Berlin, 1903.
 
 162 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 streets are constructed or the land is placed upon 
 the market for sale. 
 
 Health and sanitary conditions, as well as the gen- 
 eral welfare of the people, are constantly kept in 
 view. Residence streets in the workingmen's sec- 
 tions are of narrow width, in order to keep down the 
 paving costs and permit a larger area of land to be 
 used for parkage and open spaces. Playgrounds are 
 provided at frequent intervals, as weU as public gar- 
 dens. All this is part of a conscious health pro- 
 gramme; it is part of the conviction that healthy 
 citizens are the best asset of the state, and that 
 health can only be enjoyed with proper home sur- 
 roundings. 
 
 It is further recognized that cheerfulness, hopeful- 
 ness, and a love of life itself have value, to promote 
 which the newer sections have a park-like appearance, 
 it being generally recognized that the larger the town 
 the more numerous the open spaces should be. In 
 order to insure fresh air for everybody, buildings are 
 lower in the outskirts than they are in the centre of 
 the city. The towns are divided into building dis- 
 tricts, or zones, in each of which the building regula- 
 tions are adjusted to local conditions. As one passes 
 from the centre of the city to the outskirts, the 
 height of buildings gradually diminishes, until in the 
 outer section only two stories are permitted. 
 
 In the second place, towns quite generally build 
 apartment-houses or construct suburban garden cot-
 
 THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN GERMANY 163 
 
 tages either to rent or to sell. The state authorities 
 frequently provide houses for their own employees, 
 while many of the larger employers have made ex- 
 tensive provision for the housing of their people. As 
 a general rule, however, housing projects are carried 
 through by co-operative building societies, which are 
 aided by loans from the insurance funds of the state, 
 or by the city, at low rates of interest. Such socie- 
 ties are found all over Germany and are making sub- 
 stantial progress toward the solution of the housing 
 problem. 
 
 The various states lend their hearty approval to 
 this programme of municipal activity; they urge 
 towns to build houses, to loan money to workmen, 
 to acquire land, and extend the means of transit to 
 the suburbs. The Interior Department lends every 
 assistance possible and places the stamp of its ap- 
 proval upon this line of municipal enterprise. 
 
 The ambitious building schemes of Germany would 
 have been impossible without this co-operation. 
 Money is loaned for the construction of workingmen's 
 dwellings from the reserves of the old-age pensions, 
 accident and invalidity insurance funds, at from 2)^ 
 to ^}4 per cent, interest, with provision to amor- 
 tize the loan in a given number of years. ^ Some- 
 
 ' Up to December 31, 1910, the various insurance funds had con- 
 tributed $76,175,598 as loans for the erection of workingmen's houses. 
 Of this sum $4,470,801 was invested in lodging-houses and other 
 means of providing for the needs of unmarried wage-earners. The 
 average rate of interest ranged from 2i per cent, to 4i per cent. 
 An exhaustive study of housing reform in German cities is found in
 
 164 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 times the money is loaned to the municipahty, which 
 builds the houses, but more often it is loaned to 
 co-operative building societies, which find approxi- 
 mately one-tenth of the necessary capital, the in- 
 surance funds providing the remaining nine-tenths 
 for the purpose. The mortgages run for long periods 
 of time, and the conditions of repayment are made as 
 attractive as possible. $76,175,598 has been loaned 
 out of the reserves of the insurance funds for this 
 purpose. The dividends to private investors in the 
 stock are limited to not more than 4 per cent., while 
 the workingmen become stockholders by making par- 
 tial payments in the form of rent, for which stock is 
 issued. Subscriptions by the tenants can be with- 
 drawn on notice, so that their investment is, in fact, 
 like a savings bank deposit. The rents are low and 
 are so adjusted as to pay the maintenance charges 
 of the property, the interest on the loan and the 
 stock, and ultimately amortize the debt. By this 
 means a sense of home ownership is assured to the 
 tenant along with an investment that can readily 
 be converted into cash. The tenants acquire an 
 interest in the entire apartment rather than in an 
 individual home, which leads them to watch their 
 neighbors and prevent any misuse of the property. 
 
 Wohnungsfursorge in deutschen Stddten, Berlin, Carl Heymann's 
 Verlag, 1910. It shows the remarkable progress made in recent years 
 in the building of new houses, as well as in the more effective control 
 of private construction by inspectors. The building regulations gov- 
 erning the erection of dwellings are included.
 
 THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN GERMANY 165 
 
 They are guaranteed against any increase in their 
 rent and participate in the administration of the 
 undertaking by the election of a certain number 
 of the board of directors or trustees. 
 
 Many thousand people already live in these co- 
 operative apartment-houses in Berlin, erected by 
 voluntary associations aided by the insurance funds 
 of the state. Something like ten thousand apart- 
 ments are provided in the blocks so erected. These 
 new apartment-houses are not barracks; they do 
 not suggest the cheap, tawdry tenements of New 
 York and Chicago. They are usually designed with 
 great care by competent architects; they often oc- 
 cupy an entire city block, and are designed to secure 
 the maximum of comfort and architectural effect. 
 
 The blocks are frequently arranged like a figure 
 eight with two court-yards in the interior, one of 
 which is equipped as a playground for the children 
 with grass and sand plots, gymnastic apparatus, and 
 other opportunities for play. The other is for grown- 
 up persons and contains gardens, flowering plants, 
 benches, and an opportunity for men and women to 
 spend their evenings or holidays in a park-like en- 
 closure. Other apartment-houses are set back from 
 the street and have garden-plots in front. Balconies 
 are built upon all sides of the apartment-house, which 
 are usually ornamented with flower-boxes so that 
 the block offers an artistic effect, with Httle to sug- 
 gest the tenement.
 
 166 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 The Berlin Savings and Building Society is an 
 example of many others in Berlin, as well as of most 
 of the large cities of the empire. The society was 
 organized in 1881. It now has 958 dwellings or 
 apartments in a dozen great structures. It has 5,000 
 members, of whom 3,500 are workmen and 1,500 are 
 clerks. Of the 958 apartments of the Berlin Society, 
 223 rent at from $50 to $75 a year, 114 rent at from 
 $75 to $87 a year, 164 at from $90 to $100 a year, 
 while the remainder run up as high as $225 a year. 
 The more expensive apartments contain a private 
 bath, while all of the apartments have the use of pub- 
 lic baths in connection with the house. Even the 
 smallest apartment has light in abundance and a 
 compact little kitchenette. Rooms are of comfort- 
 able size, are clean, and thoroughly sanitary. The 
 most fastidious would find nothing to offend in 
 the cheapest of these apartments. They bear about 
 the same resemblance to a New York or Chicago ten- 
 ement that a country villa does to a workingman's 
 house in the mill districts of Pittsburgh. There is 
 free water in each flat, as well as many other con- 
 veniences. 
 
 Each apartment-house is a community by itself. 
 Usually there is a free kindergarten in which the 
 children can be left while the parents go out to work. 
 It is presided over by an instructor. There is a res- 
 taurant as well as a smoking, lounging, and club 
 room for the men, with all kinds of games. A well-
 
 Berlin Model Apartments. 
 
 Erected by co-operative societies from insurance funds. Apartments 
 rent for from $4.50 a month upward. 
 
 Essen, Altenhof. Workmen's Colony of the 
 Krupp Company.
 
 THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN GERMANY 167 
 
 chosen library and reading room is also provided. 
 In connection with many of the houses are co-opera- 
 tive stores and baking establishments in which the 
 tenants buy their supplies at cost. In the basement 
 there is a free public wash and drying establishment. 
 All these services are included in the rent which the 
 tenant pays. There is no suggestion of charity and 
 little patronizing oversight. Each house is admin- 
 istered separately, partly by the tenants, partly by 
 the society which erects them. The tenants choose 
 a house master who collects the rents, watches the 
 premises, and represents the tenants before the board 
 of directors. These tenements are highly prized. 
 There is a large waiting list of applicants who can- 
 not be acconmaodated. 
 
 The Chamber of Commerce of Frankfort-on-the- 
 Main, in a pamphlet prepared by it entitled: A 
 Glimpse of Social Reform in Germany, describes the 
 co-operative apartment-houses erected by the city, 
 as well as their relation to the state insurance funds, 
 as follows : 
 
 "The [insurance] administration has loaned, up 
 to the end of 1909, 280,000,000 marks on mortgage 
 to small apartment building societies, both joint- 
 stock and co-operative and also to individuals. 
 The seventy-six houses [in the city of Frankfort] 
 cost 1,430,000 marks, and the provincial administra- 
 tion loaned to the company 1,350,000 marks, or 92 
 per cent, of their value. It loaned almost the full 
 value because sufficient provisions for a sinking-fund
 
 168 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 have been made and because of the indirect benefits 
 it derives. That this way of employing the funds 
 of the insurance is a step in the right direction is 
 proved by the fact that the mortahty in the apart- 
 ments of the society is but six per cent., as against an 
 average of 13.84 per cent, in the city as a whole. 
 The mortality of 5.8 per cent, among the infants con- 
 trasts very favorably with that in the city generally, 
 which is 12.37 per cent. The state insurance authori- 
 ties cannot invest their money to any better pur- 
 pose. The society in Frankfort is a joint-stock com- 
 pany whose sole purpose is to build small apartment 
 houses. It belongs to the class of so-called pubHc 
 utility societies, as it does not seek an economic rent, 
 its dividend being restricted by statute to three and 
 one-half per cent. All earnings above this rate are 
 used for the maintenance of the so-called dwellings 
 extension. As it is impossible for the rent paid by 
 the tenant to furnish each apartment with a parlor, 
 library, and nursery, separate club-houses have been 
 erected. In these club-houses the youngsters are 
 taken care of by trained kindergarten nurses, while 
 their parents are earning their living or while the 
 mother attends to her household duties. Here the 
 tired father may read the papers in the evening un- 
 disturbed or play a game of chess or dominos with 
 his next-door neighbor. Entertainments are given 
 in the club-house, and on Christmas Eve a big Christ- 
 mas-tree celebration is held." 
 
 The city of Ulm, in Wiirtemberg, has carried 
 through the most ambitious and famed housing pro- 
 gramme of any city in Germany, if not in the world. 
 The city is an important manufacturing centre of 
 about 56,000 inhabitants and owns 80 per cent, of
 
 THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN GERMANY 169 
 
 all the land in and around the city. In 1902 the 
 city authorities acquired the site of the old fortifica- 
 tions which surrounded the city, and began the 
 development of a town planning and housing pro- 
 gramme. It was seen that the razing of the fortifica- 
 tions and the opening up of the outlying territoiy 
 would greatly increase the value of the real estate, 
 so the city determined that the improvements should 
 benefit the city itself and not the land speculators. 
 As early as 1891 the council began to buy the sur- 
 rounding land, and by 1909 nearly 1,200 acres had 
 been purchased, at a total cost of $1,389,640. Four 
 hundred and five acres were later resold for $1,623,- 
 924, leaving the city with 805 acres, and a net profit 
 of $234,284 from the sale of one-third of its purchase. 
 Ulm was already a large landlord, and the addition 
 of these holdings brought the total area of the city's 
 possessions up to 4,942 acres. 
 
 The territory surrounding the town, including the 
 fortifications, was laid out for the purposes for which 
 it was best fitted. One section was set aside for all 
 kinds of business, for minor industries and dwelling- 
 houses. In another section close beside the railways 
 provision was made for large manufacturing plants. 
 Elsewhere a suburb was planned for the working 
 classes, while in another section the land was planned 
 for villas and houses of substantial size. A great 
 woods was reserved for recreation and sport. Mu- 
 nicipal ordinances were passed which fix the tjrpe and
 
 170 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 kind of houses that may be built in the several dis- 
 tricts. Almost all of the houses are of the detached- 
 cottage type, those in the workingmen's district being 
 required to be at least seventeen feet apart, while 
 those of clerks and well-to-do persons must be 
 twenty-three feet apart. In the more expensive 
 residence district the interval between the houses 
 must be from thirty-three feet to forty-seven feet, 
 according to the value of the property. 
 
 Inasmuch as the city owns 80 per cent, of the land 
 it is able to keep down prices for both industrial and 
 residence purposes. The contracts of sale contain re- 
 strictions as to the type and character of houses that 
 may be built, as well as a provision that purchasers 
 must build within a given number of years. Specu- 
 lation is eliminated by a reservation which permits 
 the city to buy back the land and to refuse its as- 
 sent to any sale to other purchasers, as well as to 
 control the rent to be paid. 
 
 The city itself has built 175 individual houses, con- 
 taining 291 apartments, for 1,367 inhabitants. These 
 apartments are built for sale rather than for rent. 
 The purchaser pays 10 per cent, down and the bal- 
 ance at 3 per cent, interest and 2 per cent, for the 
 sinking-fund to repay the mortgage. Co-operative 
 societies have constructed 18 other apartment-houses 
 containing 62 flats. The kingdom of Wiirtemburg, 
 the postal administration, and several industrial un- 
 dertakings have also erected houses for their em-
 
 THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN GERMANY 171 
 
 ployees. The houses are of cement, are usually two 
 stories in height, and are so arranged that the pur- 
 chaser can rent one floor and occupy another. Rents 
 range from $41.65 per year for two rooms up to 
 $90.44 for three rooms. The houses erected by the 
 building societies are on municipal land under a leas- 
 ing system, the city agreeing to buy back the houses 
 at the end of seventy years for 80 per cent, of the 
 construction value. 
 
 Just outside of the city of Dresden, and connected 
 with it by trolley, is another experiment in the solu- 
 tion of the housing problem, which is being widely 
 copied. It is Hellerau, the first garden-city in Ger- 
 many. It was promoted by a private individual, 
 but is being carried out along co-operative lines. 
 Three hundred and forty-five acres of land were pur- 
 chased and laid out as a suburban residence for ar- 
 tists, clerks, and workingmen along the lines of medi- 
 aeval German towns. The undertaking was started 
 in 1909, and the first year one hundred and fifty cot- 
 tages were built, which were immediately occupied. 
 The next year as many more cottages were erected. 
 By 1912 nearly 300,000 square metres of land had 
 been developed for dwellings, country houses, and in- 
 dustrial purposes. 
 
 Cottages are erected by a co-operative building 
 society and are rented to members only, at from $62 
 to $150 annually. Each cottage has a garden, a cel- 
 lar, a separate scullery, with water, gas, and electric
 
 172 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 light. The smallest cottages contain four rooms — 
 a kitchen and living-room on the ground floor, and 
 two bedrooms on the upper floor. The houses con- 
 tain the most compact equipment for heating, for 
 cooking and laundry purposes. In order to become a 
 member of the society stock to the amount of $47.60 
 must be subscribed for. In another quarter of the 
 village villas and residences are being built, to rent 
 for from $200 to $500 a year. These contain steam 
 heat, warm water, and other conveniences. AH of 
 the houses are built by the garden-city company, 
 and are let on a basis sufficient to pay interest on 
 the value of the land and building and the ultimate 
 repayment of the cost. 
 
 The whole village is laid out like the garden-cities 
 of England. Artistic effects are secured through a 
 building commission which passes upon all archi- 
 tects' plans. In connection with the village is a 
 physical training institute. There are schools for 
 younger children, while an agricultural college is 
 planned. In two years' time the population has 
 grown to 2,000. 
 
 The success of Hellerau has led to the organization 
 of other garden-city societies in different parts of 
 the empire. 
 
 Karlsruhe started a suburban garden-city in 1911 
 of 30 acres of land, and Ratshof with 500 acres, and 
 a building project of 55 houses. Nuremberg and 
 Munich have laid out 165 and 200 acres, respectively,
 
 THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN GERMANY 173 
 
 along garden-city Knes. Nuremberg plans the erec- 
 tion of 74 houses, while the Munich project involves 
 the ultimate housing of from twelve to thirteen thou- 
 sand people. All of these undertakings are financed 
 by direct action of the municipality or through co- 
 operative associations supplied with funds at a low 
 rate of interest by the municipal savings-bank and 
 the insurance department of the empire. 
 
 One of the promoters of the German garden-city 
 describes the motives underlying these new experi- 
 ments as follows: 
 
 " We understand, then, by a garden city or garden 
 suburb, not a pleasant town or suburb with a few 
 gardens within its walls. Nor has the term any- 
 thing to do with the colonies or villas which land 
 speculators adorn with the name of 'garden cities' 
 in order to attain public recognition of their purely 
 commercial enterprises. A garden city is a sys- 
 tematically planned settlement on suitable land 
 which will be in the permanent possession, in the 
 last resort, of the community (state, commune, 
 society, etc.), in such a manner that any land specu- 
 lation will be altogether prevented and the increment 
 in value assured to the community. The social and 
 economic basis provides and secures to the newly 
 established city the garden also — (even for those of 
 slender means) — and so makes it a garden city." 
 
 Germany is attacking the housing problem in still 
 another way. It is being treated as a land as well 
 as a house problem. And along with the building of 
 houses by municipalities, state authorities, and co-
 
 174 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 operative associations, the cities and the state are 
 using the agency of taxation to discourage land spec- 
 ulation. This is one of the motives behind the un- 
 earned increment tax described elsewhere; it is a 
 motive fully appreciated by city authorities and 
 housing reformers. Cities tax unimproved land at 
 double the rate imposed on improved land. By this 
 means they place official approval upon those who 
 build. The imperial unearned increment tax of 1911 
 exempts land used by co-operative societies, munici- 
 palities, and associations organized to build small 
 homes, for the same reason. 
 
 The world has only begun to realize that taxation 
 can be used to promote a social pohcy, just as it has 
 been used in the past to promote an industrial policy. 
 By means of the protective tariff we attempt to en- 
 courage domestic industry by excluding foreign com- 
 petition. By means of high Hcenses and excise taxes 
 we seek to control the liquor traffic, reduce the num- 
 ber of saloons, and increase the cost of intoxicating 
 liquors to the consumer. During the Civil War we 
 drove the bank-notes of the State banks out of circu- 
 lation by a Federal tax of 10 per cent., which made 
 their issue impossible. 
 
 For different reasons Germany, England, Austraha, 
 and Western Canada are beginning to tax land mo- 
 nopoly to discourage speculation. Increased taxation 
 on vacant land forces the owner to use it or to sell 
 it to some one who will. The tax imposed in these
 
 THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN GERMANY 175 
 
 countries is not yet very burdensome, but it has 
 been found effective in discouraging idle landholding. 
 
 The Mayor's Committee on Congestion in New 
 York a few years ago recommended reducing the 
 tax rate on improvements to one-half the rate im- 
 posed on land, to encourage building and discourage 
 land speculation. It seems quite obvious that a tax 
 on buildings discourages buildings just as the Fed- 
 eral tax on bank-notes destroyed their issue. It is 
 equally apparent that the taxation of idle land com- 
 pels its owners to use it. The increased taxation of 
 suburban land will open it up for homes, for market- 
 gardening, for all sorts of purposes. It will make 
 jobs for more men, and this, in turn, will increase 
 the labor demand and improve the standard of living 
 of the workers. 
 
 This policy of land value taxation will destroy the 
 psychological motive, referred to earlier in the chap- 
 ter, which obstructs the building of houses. For if 
 we tax land heavily enough there will be less reason for 
 holding it idle in the hope of speculative gain. Men 
 will be compelled by economic necessity to use their 
 land. It will not be possible to erect tax-earners 
 which disfigure the community, or to hold a growing 
 city close confined within narrow limits. Taxation 
 will offset the hope of speculative profits. Land- 
 owners will be driven by the same forces that, drive 
 automobile builders to perfect their output; they 
 will be driven by necessity to build, and when that
 
 176 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 time comes the building of houses will be like any 
 other competitive industry. 
 
 If we compel owTiers to build, the housing problem 
 will take care of itself. There will be no need of 
 municipal dwellings; Httle need of tenement regula- 
 tion. Competition will take care of this. At the 
 same time the art of house building will become a 
 real art, as it must become if houses seek tenants in- 
 stead of tenants seeking houses. It will awaken 
 architects, artists, and decorators. Then men will 
 build houses that combine use with beauty, variety 
 with comfort — houses that reflect the inteUigence of 
 the modern world. 
 
 And the conditions which now prevail in housing 
 can only be reversed by some such pressure as this, 
 that will increase the supply so that tenants will al- 
 ways have a choice. If landlords compete for ten- 
 ants just as business men compete for buyers, then 
 a new type of house will be erected; then the tene- 
 ment will be improved of necessity, while the com- 
 petition of suburban land will lower rents to all 
 classes. And this condition of competition by land- 
 lords for tenants can only be brought about by two 
 means: either by the erection of dwellings by the 
 community in competition with private owners, or 
 by such a hea\7' taxation of land values that land 
 cannot be kept out of productive use.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 SOCIALIZING THE MEANS OF TRANSIT 
 
 Tra-nsportation is a private business in America. 
 In Germany and England it is more of a social agency. 
 It is an agency closely related to the housing of the 
 people, the distribution of population and the increase 
 in opportunities for more wholesome living and play. 
 All the countries of Europe, with the exception of 
 Great Britain and France, own the steam railways, 
 while outside of France and Belgium the street rail- 
 ways are generally in public hands. Officials treat 
 the means of transit as integral parts of the streets 
 and highways which control the place as well as the 
 way in which people live. Transit fixes rents. It de- 
 termines the comfort, the health, and physical well- 
 being of the community. Even the morals of the 
 city are related to the means of transportation, be- 
 cause of their close connection with housing, conges- 
 tion, and opportunities for recreation. 
 
 For the means of transit control urban life. They 
 determine the height of buildings and the nature of 
 construction. It was belated transit facilities that 
 shot up the tenement and the skyscraper. It inten- 
 sified land values and created the slum. People had 
 
 177
 
 178 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 to build toward the heavens because they could not 
 build along the ground. 
 
 High rents and inadequate housing are the costli- 
 est burdens of private ownership of the means of 
 transit. Excessive fares, fictitious capitalization, all 
 these are far less burdensome to the community than 
 the artificial, unsanitary, and unwholesome living 
 conditions which the close crowding of people creates. 
 And these conditions are largely traceable to the 
 private ownership of transit. 
 
 Railways and elevated Hues in Europe are built 
 into the city as though they were its circulatory 
 system. They do not offend the eye; do not de- 
 stroy whole sections of the community with ugly 
 approaches, bad terminals, and unsightly overhead 
 work. The stations are things of beauty as weU as 
 of use, while the water-fronts, when occupied by 
 tracks and terminals, are protected from destruction 
 by them. Grade crossings have everywhere been 
 eliminated for the protection of life. And the over- 
 head work is designed by artists, so that the elevated 
 structures of Germany, Belgium, and France are 
 adornments to the city. Everywhere service is the 
 paramount consideration. Industry is encouraged 
 by cheap rates, while travel is made as cheap and 
 comfortable as possible. The engineer, the artist, and 
 the administrator unite in the development of trans- 
 portation facilities as a social rather than a merely 
 profit-making enterprise.
 
 SOCIALIZING THE MEANS OF TRANSIT 179 
 
 Of the fifty largest cities in Germany twenty-three 
 operate the street railways, while of a similar num- 
 ber in Great Britain forty-two operate them. In 
 neither of these countries is there any movement 
 away from municipal ownership, even where the most 
 rigid regulation is possible. For experience has 
 shown that regulation touches only the evils of over- 
 capitalization, excessive charges, and obviously bad 
 service. Private ownership does not permit the 
 city to build in a far-sighted way or to treat transit 
 as an integral part of city building. 
 
 German cities adopted ownership, just as they did 
 in Great Britain, after a test of private ownership. 
 Franchises were originally granted to private corpo- 
 rations for from twenty-five to forty years. But con- 
 flicts were constant over the same questions that 
 arise in this country. Employees were overworked 
 and underpaid. The service was unsatisfactory. 
 Cities desired extensions into the suburbs in con- 
 nection with their housing programmes. The cor- 
 porations, on the other hand, resisted such exten- 
 sions; they tried to restrain the city within narrow 
 limits, as short hauls increase car-mile earnings. For 
 it is the car-mile rather than the gross earnings that 
 determine street-railway profits. High car-mile earn- 
 ings mean high dividends. Low car-mile earnings 
 mean small dividends. That is the reason for street- 
 car crowding. It explains the strap-hanger. It is 
 always to the interest of street railways to congest
 
 180 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 population in the smallest possible compass. It is 
 to the interest of the community, on the other hand, 
 to distribute population as widely as possible. Herein 
 is an inevitable conflict between the community and 
 private interest in the business of transportation. 
 It is this that makes it essentially a public function, 
 for no matter what the regulation, this conflict of 
 interest precludes the harmonious adjustment of the 
 private to the public interest in the matter of transit. 
 This conflict does not exist to the same extent in 
 other pubHc utihties. 
 
 Transfer to public ownership in Germany was gen- 
 erally coincident with the change from horse to elec- 
 tric traction. This enabled the cities to acquire the 
 properties at a relatively low valuation before the 
 corporations had appropriated the economies and 
 increased earnings which followed the electrification 
 of the lines. And everywhere the change has been fol- 
 lowed by improvement in service. This is obvious, 
 even to the casual traveller, as he passes from Diis- 
 seldorf, Cologne, Frankfort, and Dresden to Ham- 
 burg and Berlin. The public lines are more perma- 
 nently constructed than the private ones. Cars are 
 better, cleaner, and more comfortable. The employ- 
 ees are more courteous. Everywhere tracks are laid 
 flush with the pavement, while girder-grooved rails 
 are universally used. There is scarcely any noise 
 from worn-out cars or bad tracks. Some cities have 
 abolished street-car advertisements. And in all
 
 SOCIALIZING THE MEANS OF TRANSIT 181 
 
 these cities the strap-hanger is not permitted. There 
 are no "step forward," "step lively" orders from 
 the conductors. This is true even during rush hours. 
 Comfort and convenience are studied in construction 
 as well as in operation. The artist confers with the 
 builder in the designing of cars, in the building of 
 waiting-rooms to protect the people from inclement 
 weather, as well as in the signs along the route which 
 indicate the destination of cars. In the wider streets 
 the tracks are sodded with grass to keep down the 
 dust and reduce the noise. 
 
 The zone system of fares prevails in Germany as 
 it does in Great Britain, the rate being generally 23^ 
 cents, which includes the right of transfer. Beyond 
 the city limits higher fares are charged. But the aver- 
 age fare is much lower than in this country. There 
 is a curious custom in Germany of feeing conductors, 
 in consequence of which wages are lower than they 
 are in England, although they are higher than under 
 private operation. 
 
 Dresden is typical of other German cities in the 
 number of devices adopted for the convenience of 
 passengers. Even a stranger can use the street rail- 
 ways without knowing the language or the street ar- 
 rangement. Each of the eighteen lines is designated 
 by a number instead of by name. Cars on the even- 
 numbered routes are painted red, while those on the 
 odd-numbered routes are painted yellow. The num- 
 ber is conspicuously displayed on the car, as are the
 
 182 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 general route names, which are indicated by signs on 
 the sides. Within the car is a map, on one side 
 of which are shown the routes of all the car lines to- 
 gether with their numbers, while on the opposite 
 side are the various zones into which the city is 
 divided. 
 
 There are two belt lines which intersect all other 
 lines and make every part of the city accessible with 
 a maximum of two transfers. Cars are supplied with 
 clocks furnished as an advertisement. Stops are in- 
 dicated by red signs attached to the lamp-posts. 
 They are usually in the middle of a block, so as to 
 interfere as little as possible with traffic at street 
 intersections. Illuminated index signs are placed at 
 the principal railway stations for the convenience of 
 strangers. The rates of fare are arranged according 
 to the zone system. Two cents is the fare for a 
 single average ride, while four cents is the maximum. 
 Trailers are used during rush hours in which smok- 
 ing is permitted. 
 
 In Berlin, where the lines are in private hands, the 
 service is excellent. There are more seats than pas- 
 sengers at almost every hour of the day. There is 
 little or no overcrowding during rush hours. Not 
 more than seven persons are permitted to stand. 
 The rush-hour traffic is handled by the use of trailers, 
 which are of light construction but easy-running. 
 Each car contains descriptive maps and indicators 
 arranged so that the passenger can tell where he is
 
 SOCIALIZING THE MEANS OF TRANSIT 183 
 
 as well as the route and destination of the car. In 
 the suburbs tracks are laid in grass-plots in the cen- 
 tre of the street. The rate of fare is a flat charge of 
 2]/i cents, which entitles the passenger to a maxi- 
 mum ride of thirteen miles. Workingmen's tickets 
 are sold at the rate of 23.8 cents a week when used 
 twice a day and for half that sum when used but 
 once. Tickets for school-children cost but 71.4 cents 
 a month. Most of the lines are so routed that 
 transfers are not necessary. 
 
 Berlin is also served by a private elevated and sub- 
 way system which has been extended far into the 
 suburbs. There is scarcely any noise from the ele- 
 vated lines, as the tracks are heavily ballasted. The 
 stations are completely enclosed from the weather, 
 and are of beautiful design. Those in conspicuous 
 places have the imposing beauty of the German rail- 
 way station. The elevated is called the "Umbrella 
 of Berlin," because it offers a means of shelter from 
 the rain and the sun, while the operation is so nearly 
 noiseless as to cause the minimum annoyance to the 
 public. 
 
 The city of Frankfort-on-the-Main, which began 
 the operation of its lines in 1903, is consciously pro- 
 moting suburban development through its tramways. 
 The new industrial sections, as well as the surround- 
 ing villages, have been linked with the city railways 
 in a comprehensive way. An official statement of the 
 policy of the city in regard to transit is as follows:
 
 184 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 " It is of great importance that there is good tram 
 connection between the city and the new district. 
 The city of Frankfort is in a fortmiate situation of 
 being the owner of the tramway, and can carry out 
 a scheme for traffic quite independent of a too far- 
 reaching consideration of receipts. Frankfort will, 
 therefore, immediately lay down an electric tram 
 connection so that it will be already in use while 
 the industrial section is in course of development. 
 Further, the city will construct its own suburban 
 lines, with its special permanent way, which will 
 travel with greater speed. This railway wiU run to 
 the surrounding villages, where the working classes 
 can, in general, live cheaper, better, and healthier 
 than in the city." 
 
 The steam-railroads of Germany are also used for 
 the development of suburbs and the improvement of 
 housing conditions. Very cheap commutation fares 
 are charged, which are consciously adjusted for luring 
 the working classes out into the surrounding country. 
 One can live many miles from Berlin and travel to 
 and fro each day at less cost than that of surface 
 transportation in this country. On holidays and 
 Sundays innumerable train-loads of people are sent 
 out into the country at very low fares. From early 
 morning until late at night the trains are filled with 
 families taking an outing. As one enters the crowded 
 stations or goes to the various resorts, it seems as 
 though the whole population were out on a holiday. 
 In Switzerland, Belgium, and Denmark tickets are 
 sold good for a fortnight, which entitle the holder to
 
 Copyiight h-j Viulei-irond i(- Cmlenruod. 
 
 Elevated Railway in Berlin along Canal. 
 
 Showing method of construction, development of water-ways and 
 water-front parking.
 
 SOCIALIZING THE MEANS OF TRANSIT 185 
 
 travel as far and as many times as he likes. They 
 are designed to stimulate travel and a knowledge of 
 the country. They are a kind of vacation tickets, 
 limited in time but not in distance. 
 
 No country in Europe has done as much as Bel- 
 gium to consciously use its railroads to distribute the 
 working population out into the countryside. It has 
 done this by extremely low fares upon the state-owned 
 railway lines. Beginning in 1870, the government 
 inaugurated workingmen's trains on almost all of its 
 lines at very low rates, and at hours to suit the con- 
 venience of the work-people going to and returning 
 from their work. A man may live six miles in the 
 country and travel to and from his work six days a 
 week for 24 cents; he can hve 31 miles and pay but 
 43 cents, and he can live 62 miles and pay but 60 
 cents a week. This is for two trips a day. 
 
 While the ordinary fare in a third-class compart- 
 ment is 58 cents for a single return journey of 31 
 miles, a workman can travel this same distance to 
 and fro six days in the week for 43 cents. 
 
 This has worked a profound revolution in the dis- 
 tribution of workmen. In 1870, when the system 
 was inaugurated, 14,223 tickets were sold, and in 
 twenty years' time their number has increased to 
 4,515,214. 
 
 The great majority of these tickets are sold to men 
 who make six journeys a week to and from their 
 homes. It is estimated that from ninety thousand
 
 186 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 to one hundred thousand workmen, or a ninth of the 
 total industrial population, travel daily on the state 
 railways to and from their work. They live in the 
 country and enjoy some of the advantages of living 
 on a farm. 
 
 The effect of this policy has been described by 
 Emile Vandervelde in these words: 
 
 "Nothing surprises the traveller who goes from 
 London to Brussels more than the contrast between 
 the solitary stretches of pasture in Kent and the ani- 
 mated landscapes in the neighborhood of Belgian 
 towns. Enter Hesbaye or Flanders from whatever 
 side one may, the countrj^ is everywhere thickly 
 strewn with white, red-roofed houses ; some of them 
 standing alone, others Ijong close together in popu- 
 lous villages. If, however, one spends a day in one 
 of the \dllages — I mean one of those in which there 
 is no local industry — one hardly sees a grown-up 
 workman in the place, and almost believes that the 
 population consists nearly entirely of old people and 
 children. But in the evening quite a different pict- 
 ure is seen. We find ourselves, for example, some 
 twelve or thirteen miles from Brussels at a smaD rail- 
 way station in Brabant, say Rixensast, Genval, or 
 La Hulpe. A train of inordinate length, consisting 
 almost entirely of third-class carriages, runs in. 
 From the rapidly opened doors stream crowds of 
 workmen, in dusty, dirty clothes, who cover all the 
 platform as they rush to the doors, apparently in 
 feverish eagerness to be the first to reach home, where 
 supper awaits them. And eveiy quarter of an hour, 
 from the beginning of dusk till well into the night, 
 trains follow trains, discharge part of their human
 
 SOCIALIZING THE MEANS OF TRANSIT 187 
 
 freight, and at all the villages along the line set down 
 troops of workmen — masons, plasterers, paviors, car- 
 penters with their tool-bags on their backs. Else- 
 where it is colliers, miners, workmen in rolling-mills 
 and foundries, who are coming from the Mons dis- 
 trict, or Charleroi or Liege, some of them obliged to 
 travel sixty or seventy miles to reach their homes in 
 some world-forgotten nook in Flanders or Limburg. 
 And on other parts of the railway, in Campine, in 
 Flanders or the Ardennes, Antwerp dock-laborers, 
 weavers in the Roubaix and Tourcoing factories, 
 metal-workers, travel daily into France, and when 
 their day's work is done return to the country place 
 where they find their beds. In short, in Belgium, 
 there are few villages which do not contain a group 
 of industrial workers who work at a distance, and 
 often at a great distance, from their homes." 
 
 A study of the Em^opean city compels a readjust- 
 ment of one's ideas of municipal ownership. Instead 
 of inefficiency one finds efficiency. In the place of 
 indifference to improvements the city is more open- 
 minded than are the private managers. The public 
 employees are more courteous than are the private 
 ones, while officials are constantly on the alert to 
 increase the comfort and convenience of the people. 
 
 In addition to the other advantages, public owner- 
 ship enables cities to experiment in a way that is not 
 possible under private management. They ascertain 
 for themselves as to what the service costs. They 
 have also been able to introduce many new devices. 
 And improvement has almost always followed the
 
 188 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 change from private to public hands. With cheap 
 and adequate credit, and with no fear of franchise 
 expirations, the city builds for permanence. And 
 the pubHcly owned Unes are far in advance of the 
 private ones in this respect. Almost everywhere in 
 Europe the means of transit have taken their place 
 alongside of health, police, and fire administration 
 as natural activities of the community, and as in- 
 separably bound up with a proper city programme.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE; THE UNEARNED 
 INCREMENT TAXES 
 
 All over the world governments are seeking new 
 sources of revenue with which to satisfy demands for 
 war and naval purposes as well as the social legisla- 
 tion which industrial conditions have created. All 
 over the world, too, protests are being made against 
 the injustice of customs and excise taxes, exacted 
 mostly from the poor; against the many indirect 
 taxes that have come down to us from feudal times. 
 
 And it is interesting to note that a tendency is 
 manifest to return to the sources from which all rev- 
 enues came in early times; to the taxation of the land 
 itself, which for centuries was almost the only source 
 of state and local revenues. 
 
 The beginning of the movement for the taxation 
 of land values in Germany is generally ascribed to 
 the activity of the Bund der Boden Reformer, or Land 
 Reform Society, of which Dr. Adolf Damaschke, of 
 Berlin, is the leader, while the first experiment with 
 the unearned increment tax, or wertzuwachssteuer, was 
 in a distant Asiatic colony. In 1898 Germany ac- 
 
 189
 
 190 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 quired the harbor of Kiaotchau from China under a 
 lease for ninety-nine years, with all the rights of sov- 
 ereignty. The area of the concession was 160 square 
 miles. In twelve years' time Kiaotchau has become 
 one of the most successful German colonies. The 
 harbor is said to be the finest in eastern Asia, not 
 even excepting Hong-Kong, while the city has been 
 planned in a comprehensive way by experts on the 
 subject. Its trade has grown with phenomenal ra- 
 pidity, the exports having increased from $1,650,000 
 (Chinese dollars) in 1899 to $15,143,847 in 1907, while 
 the total trade of the port increased from $6,000,000 
 to $51,000,000 during the same period. 
 
 German land reformers trace the success of the 
 harbor to the land and taxing policy adopted on its 
 transfer to German authorities. At least the ex- 
 perience of Kiaotchau is constantly cited as proof of 
 the wisdom of taxing land values. The admiral com- 
 manding the German squadron. Von Diederichs, and 
 the Chinese commissary. Doctor Schrameier, were 
 both members of the German Land Reform Society. 
 They saw that the harbor was bound to grow, and 
 that land speculation would ine\dtably follow. They 
 appreciated that the growth of the harbor might be 
 checked by real-estate speculators, and that the 
 community itself might be enriched if it retained 
 the speculative profits itself. A German wiiter^ 
 describes the means employed to prevent specula- 
 
 » R. Ockel, in Weslminster Review, July, 1908.
 
 NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE 191 
 
 tion and encourage the development of the harbor 
 as follows : 
 
 "The system of land tenure adopted in Kiaotchau 
 is largely responsible for this phenomenal rise of a 
 previously unknown place. On taking over the land 
 at the price ruling before the seizure by the German 
 Government, the order of the 2nd September, 1898, 
 stipulated that the buyer of land shall pay a tax of 
 33 per cent, on the increased value, and that if a 
 plot of land is not sold for twenty-five years, the 
 owners shall pay a tax of 33 per cent, on the increased 
 value found by assessment to have taken place. The 
 owner of land has to give notice of any intended sale, 
 and (in order to prevent under-assessment) the Gov- 
 ernment has the first option to buy at the owner's 
 figure. In addition, every land-owner has to pay each 
 year a tax of 6 per cent, of the capital value of his 
 land. The owner's valuation is taken, but again (in 
 order to avoid under-assessment), the Government 
 has the right to buy at the owner's figure. This tax 
 effectually stops all speculation in land, and prevents 
 the holding of land idle. The withholding of land 
 from use is further checked by the regulation that, 
 if land is not being built upon at a certain date, in 
 accordance with the stipulated plan of building, the 
 owner forfeits his right of property, and the Govern- 
 ment takes it back, paying only half the assessed 
 value. Instead of forfeiting the right of property, 
 the order of December 31, 1903, imposes a progres- 
 sive land value tax, which effects the same purpose 
 of forcing the land into use." 
 
 The motive of these taxes was to discourage any 
 one from acquiring land except for use, and at the
 
 192 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 same time to compel purchasers to use their holdings 
 in a productive way. Land speculation is made 
 costly rather than profitable; for no one but the com- 
 munity can hold land idle in the expectation of spec- 
 ulative gains. 
 
 Prior to this experiment Germany had been famil- 
 iarized with the idea of taxing land values by the 
 work of Professor Adolf Wagner, of the University 
 of Berlin, probably the leading authority on finance 
 in Germany, who had advocated the taxation of the 
 unearned increment of land for years. 
 
 Prior to 1893 German communities assessed real 
 property on the income it actually produced, rather 
 than on its actual value for purposes of sale. This 
 was the universal practice in Europe, as it still is in 
 many other countries. About twenty years ago the 
 interior department of Prussia issued an order based 
 upon an act of the Prussian diet advising cities and 
 smaller local di\'isions to assess land according to its 
 selling value instead of upon the rent derived from 
 it. Within a few years 350 communities adopted 
 the new system of valuation in the face of the hos- 
 tility of speculators and large land-owners. Rev- 
 enues from real-estate taxes increased greatly. In 
 Breslau they sprang from $2,530 in 1898 to $79,000 
 in 1899. In Schoenberg receipts increased from $356 
 in 1895 to $56,724 in 1902. In Kattawitz they in- 
 creased from $93 in 1901 to $8,506 in 1902. "The 
 result," a German writer says, "has been to discour-
 
 NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE 193 
 
 age the holding up of land and to open to both labor 
 and capital further avenues of employment. As a 
 matter of fact, hardly any unemployed are to be 
 found at present in Germany, and a scarcity of labor 
 has set in that seriously troubles many an employer." ^ 
 
 The periodical valuation of the land at its selling 
 value made it possible to introduce the unearned in- 
 crement tax, or wertzuwachssteuer. It disclosed to 
 the authorities the increasing value of city land, and 
 confirmed the claims of land reformers that here was 
 an untapped source of revenue for local purposes. 
 
 German cities have great freedom in local matters 
 and wide latitude in the matter of taxation. In 1904 
 the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main evolved the un- 
 earned increment tax, which in a few years' time 
 spread to nearly every large city in Germany. It is 
 not the single tax of Henry George, and it has awa- 
 kened little enthusiasm among his followers, although 
 it is a partial appropriation by the community of the 
 values which the community creates. For the single 
 tax would collect all the needed revenue of city, state, 
 and nation from the land, irrespective of any increase 
 in value. By so doing it would force land into use 
 and prevent speculation. 
 
 The single tax is primarily a social philosophy and 
 only incidentally a means of collecting revenues. 
 The wertzuwachssteuer, on the other hand, is pri- 
 
 »"The Taxation of Land Values in Germany," R. Ockel, Weat- 
 minster Review, London, July, 1907.
 
 194 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 marily a revenue measure; although it does dis- 
 courage land speculation. 
 
 Under the municipal ordinances of Frankfort the 
 following land taxes were collected. First, on every 
 change of ownership a tax of 2 per cent, is paid on 
 the selling price of the property. This is simply a 
 transfer tax, irrespective of whether the property has 
 increased in value or not. Second, the unearned in- 
 crement taxes were di\'ided into two classes: (1) those 
 on the increase in the value of land, which continues 
 without transfer in the hands of the same owner, and 
 (2) taxes upon speculative profits realized from its 
 sale. In the first case an ad-valorem tax of from 
 1 to 6 per cent, is imposed upon the increase in value, 
 the tax upon land which is improved or built upon 
 being about one-half of the tax upon land which is 
 not improved and is held idle. This is to encourage 
 improvements. The rates upon profits made from 
 the sale of land are higher, and range from 2 per cent, 
 to 25 per cent., depending upon the size of the profits 
 and the time in which they are realized. 
 
 These taxes were only imposed when twenty years 
 elapsed between changes of ownership, and where the 
 increase in value is more than 15 per cent. The 
 seller is held responsible for the tax. 
 
 The new tax has swept over Germany with great 
 rapidity, and indicates the way new ideas are adopted 
 in that country as well as the indifference of ofli- 
 cials to property interests that stand in the way of
 
 NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE 195 
 
 the city's welfare. Community after community 
 adopted it until, in April, 1910, the tax had been intro- 
 duced into cities and towns with an aggregate popu- 
 lation of 15,000,000. Nor is there any substantial 
 protest against it, in spite of the fact that real-estate 
 interests are active in city politics as well as the pro- 
 vision of the Prussian law that one-half of the mem- 
 bers of the city council must be owners of real estate. 
 The tax meets with all but universal approval. 
 
 Mr. Robert C. Brooks, writing in the Quarterly 
 Journal of Economics, states that, following its adop- 
 tion — 
 
 "the new tax started upon a triumphal progress 
 through the German municipalities. Before the end 
 of 1907 it had been introduced by eleven cities, 
 among which, besides Cologne, the more consider- 
 able were Dortmund, Essen, and Frankfurt-am-Main. 
 Since that date the accessions have continued with 
 increasing rapidity until by April 1, 1910, no fewer 
 than 457 German cities and towns had adopted the 
 unearned increment tax. In Prussia alone 159 cities 
 and 13 rural counties had introduced it prior to 1910. 
 As the new form of taxation found most favor in rap- 
 idly growing places of large and considerable popu- 
 lation the true significance of the foregoing is greater 
 than the bare figures might indicate. Of the Prus- 
 sian cities and towns which had introduced the tax 
 prior to April 1, 1910, 27 had more than 100,000 in- 
 habitants, 72 between 20,000 and 100,000, and 64 be- 
 tween 5,000 and 20,000. Berlin (2,018,279 popula- 
 tion), after rejecting the new principle in 1907, finally 
 accepted it in March, 1910. Nearly all the hustling
 
 196 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 suburbs of the metropolis had anticipated it in this 
 action. Among other large cities not already men- 
 tioned which have introduced the unearned increment 
 tax are Hamburg (874,878 population), Leipsic (503,- 
 672), Breslau (470,904), Kiel (163,772), and Wies- 
 baden (100,953)." 1 
 
 In 1909 the Reichstag considered the advisability 
 of adopting the unearned increment tax for imperial 
 purposes, but action on the measure was delayed to 
 enable the government to study its workings in the 
 cities. In February, 1911, the proposal became a 
 law, with the approval of all parties save the Social 
 Democrats, the Cathohcs, and a portion of the In- 
 dependents, the vote in the Reichstag being 199 for 
 its passage to 93 against it. 
 
 The Imperial law is an adaptation of the ordinances 
 of the cities. Sales of land in individual parcels of 
 5,000 marks ($1,250) are exempt, as are large parcels 
 of 20,000 marks ($5,000). Land held by public au- 
 thorities, by housing associations which limit their 
 return to 4 per cent., and holdings of philanthropic 
 associations are exempt. These exceptions are de- 
 signed to encourage the building of homes and the 
 
 ^ "The German Imperial Tax on the Unearned Increment," Quar" 
 terly Journal of Economics, August, 1911. See also a prior article by 
 the same author entitled, "The New Unearned Increment Taxes in 
 Germany," Yale Review, vol. XVI, p. 236, November, 1907. 
 
 A number of reports on the local ordinances of German cities are 
 to be found in a special consular repwrt entitled " Municipal Taxa- 
 tion in Foreign Countries." Vol. XLII. Issued by the Bureau of 
 Manufactures, Washington. For the latest information on the sub- 
 ject see Daily Consular and Trade Report, June 22, 1912.
 
 NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE 197 
 
 promotion of co-operative and municipal housing 
 schemes described elsewhere. 
 
 The basis of the tax is arrived at from the follow- 
 ing facts: first, the price paid for the property at 
 the last sale; second, the cost of the permanent im- 
 provements which have been placed upon it by the 
 owner; and third, the selling price. The unearned 
 increment or profits subject to the tax is the differ- 
 ence between the selling price and the sum of the 
 other two items. The measure was opposed by the 
 land speculators and real estate interests, who suc- 
 ceeded in so amending it that its friends claimed it 
 "had no teeth in it." 
 
 Increases in value are calculated from December 
 31, 1910, to catch a large number of sales made dur- 
 ing the consideration of the measure. Stock corpora- 
 tions had also been formed to anticipate the law, and 
 the measure was made retroactive as to such transfers 
 by being made apphcable to all sales subsequent 
 to March 31, 1905, about the time of the adoption 
 of the first municipal ordinances. Finally the law 
 reaches back to January 1, 1885, to ascertain the 
 price on which increments are calculated. And if 
 no sale had taken place subsequent to that date the 
 valuation of the property as of January 1, 1885, is 
 taken as the base line from which increases are to 
 be estimated. 
 
 Included in the improvements which may be de- 
 ducted are all permanent betterments as well as all
 
 198 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 assessments paid by the owner for sewers, street 
 improvements, and other municipal betterments. 
 Other exceptions of a rather compUcated kind are 
 permitted which include ordinary carrying charges 
 at a fLxed per cent, on the investment, as well as the 
 costs of the transfer. In addition the whole incre- 
 ment is exempt unless it has advanced at a rate of 
 from 4 to 5 per cent, a year. The rate of the tax 
 imposed depends on the percentage of the unearned 
 increment to the purchase price subject to the exemp- 
 tions referred to. 
 
 Consul-General A. M. Thackera of Berlin describes 
 the new law and the rates of taxation imposed as 
 follows : ^ 
 
 "The rate of taxation varies from 10 to 30 per cent. 
 The highest rate is imposed when the value of the 
 real estate has increased 290 per cent, or more, and 
 the lowest rate when the increase is less than 10 per 
 cent." The table on nexi; page gives the rate of tax- 
 ation. 
 
 "The high rates are rarely assessed, as large in- 
 creases in value occur only after the real estate has 
 been held by the same owner for a long period, 
 whereby, according to paragraph 16 of the law, there 
 is a great reduction on account of long tenure. For 
 every year that comes into consideration in levying 
 the tax 23^ per cent, is added to the value of real 
 estate valued up to 100 marks per are (2.21 cents 
 per square foot). When the value is more than 100 
 marks per are, 23^ per cent, is added to that part 
 
 1 Daily Consular and Trade Reports, June 22;. 1912.
 
 NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE 
 
 199 
 
 up to 100 marks, and to the part above this sum 2 
 per cent, is added if the land is not improved, and 
 1^ per cent, if improved. As a result of this allow- 
 ance any real estate whose value is increasing gradu- 
 
 Increask op Value 
 
 Up to 10 per cent . . 
 10 to 30 per cent. . . 
 30 to 50 per cent. . . 
 50 to 70 per cent . . . 
 70 to 90 per cent . . . 
 90 to 110 per cent. . 
 110 to 130 per cent. 
 130 to 150 per cent. 
 150 to 170 per cent. 
 170 to 190 per cent. 
 190 to 200 per cent. 
 200 to 210 per cent. 
 210 to 220 per cent. 
 220 to 230 per cent. 
 230 to 240 per cent. 
 240 to 250 per cent. 
 250 to 260 per cent. 
 260 to 270 per cent. 
 270 to 280 per cent. 
 280 to 290 per cent. 
 Over 290 per cent . . 
 
 Tax on 
 Incrbabs 
 
 Per cent. 
 10 
 11 
 12 
 13 
 14 
 15 
 16 
 17 
 18 
 19 
 20 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 24 
 25 
 26 
 27 
 28 
 29 
 30 
 
 ally and whose ownership remains unchanged is, in 
 the event of a sale, in part or wholly relieved from 
 paying this tax. 
 
 " In addition to the foregoing far-reaching provision 
 for length of ownership, paragraph 28 of the law pro- 
 vides that the tax be lessened by 1 per cent, for every 
 entire year considered in assessing the tax. If the 
 property was acquired before January 1, 1900, the 
 reduction is 13^ per cent, a year for the whole pe- 
 riod up to Januaiy 1, 1911. Commenting upon the
 
 200 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 law, Dr. W. Boldt, of the city council of Dortmund, 
 says: 
 
 "'By this twofold reduction the extremely large 
 gains which are realized in the large cities as the 
 result of original possession or of acquisition many 
 years ago through speculation are favored entirely 
 too much. While this allowance for an increase of 
 value without taxation, provided for in paragraph 
 16 of the law, is thoroughly approved of in principle, 
 it seems urgently to be desired that the reduction of 
 the tax provided for in paragraph 28 of the law should 
 be done away with or considerably lessened in the 
 event of the revision of the law. This reduction of 
 the tax, besides favoring the increased values pro- 
 vided for in paragraph 16, benefits particularly the 
 large property-holders and real estate which was ac- 
 quired through speculation many years ago, as well 
 as encouraging the retention of real estate in the 
 large cities for speculative purposes.' 
 
 "Certain transactions are exempted in levying the 
 tax, of which the following are the principal : (1) In- 
 heritances, so far as this would cause double taxa- 
 tion owing to the inheritance-tax law; (2) changes in 
 the tenure of real estate on account of marriage or in 
 certain other family transactions; (3) the exchange 
 of real estate to improve the shape of adjoining prop- 
 erty." 
 
 In the discussion of the law it was frankly admitted 
 by all parties that land values are created by the 
 growth of the community rather than by any efforts of 
 the individual. And representatives in the Reichs- 
 tag of the empire, the individual states and cities, all 
 emphasized the extent to which their constituencies 
 increased land values. Each claimed a share of the
 
 NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE 201 
 
 increment as its own creation. Under the final ad- 
 justment it was provided that 50 per cent, of the 
 proceeds of the tax should go to the empire, 10 per 
 cent, to the individual states, and 40 per cent, to the 
 cities or local governments. In addition, cities were 
 authorized to add an additional local tax (zuschlag) 
 to that imposed under the imperial law. Thus con- 
 siderable freedom was left to the cities, while at the 
 same time the whole unearned increment tax was 
 brought under imperial control. 
 
 The history of the unearned increment tax indi- 
 cates the freedom with which German cities experi- 
 ment; it indicates the liberty they enjoy at the hands 
 of the state and the advantages that spring from a 
 large number of experiment stations working on local 
 problems in their own way rather than under hard 
 and fast rules laid down by the state. Out of the 
 Frankfort experiment the unearned increment tax 
 spread to Great Britain, the Lloyd George budget of 
 1909 being in large part inspired by German experi- 
 ence. It has been adopted or is being officially con- 
 sidered in Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, and Bel- 
 gium. Germany treats her cities as we do private 
 business. We assume, without question, that the 
 industrial progress of America is largely due to the 
 freedom that private business enjoys, but we re- 
 verse this principle in municipal government and 
 assume that the best results will follow from a rigid 
 and inelastic control of the city by a distant legislat-
 
 202 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 ure, ignorant of local needs, and quite generally 
 prejudiced against the city. 
 
 The movement for the taxation of land values has 
 spread to our own continent. In 1906 the city of 
 Vancouver reduced taxes on houses and improve- 
 ments by 50 per cent. The results which followed 
 were so generally satisfactory that two years later 
 the tax on improvements was reduced to 25 per cent. 
 Finally, in 1910, the city abolished the taxation of 
 houses, improvements, and personal property alto- 
 gether. The result of the change was to greatly 
 stimulate building operations, and to some extent to 
 discourage land speculation. Idle holdings were 
 broken up, and workingmen became home-owners. 
 New capital came to Vancouver because investments 
 in business and improvements were free from taxa- 
 tion. There was an increased demand for labor 
 which increased wages and stimulated business. 
 
 Vancouver has grown with wonderful rapidity. 
 Its prosperity is generally attributed in part at least 
 to the exemption of capital and labor from taxation. 
 Other cities in western Canada followed the example 
 of Vancouver, until nearly all of the leading commu- 
 nities collect their local revenues from a single tax 
 levied on land values. These cities are Edmonton, 
 with a population of 30,000; Victoria, with 60,000; 
 Westminster, with 15,000; Lethbridge, with 15,000; 
 Prince Rupert, with 8,000; and Nanajino, with 
 6,000 people.
 
 NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE 203 
 
 Land- value taxation has also made rapid progress 
 in the AustraHan states. In 1896, New Zealand 
 passed the "Rating on Unimproved Values Act," 
 which is applied only to cities. The law is optional 
 with each locality, its adoption being decided by ref- 
 erendum of the voters. Up to 1909, eighty local 
 bodies had adopted the provisions of the act. A 
 supplementary act was passed increasing the rate of 
 the tax according to the size of the holdings. The 
 purpose of these measures was to break up idle land 
 holding by taxing it into use. The rate is only a 
 penny in the pound, which is low in comparison 
 with our rates, but the principle of taxing only land 
 values has been established. In South Australia and 
 Queensland similar laws have been enacted, in the 
 latter country all local rates having been levied on 
 land values since 1891. In New South Wales, which 
 contains one-third of the population of Australia, the 
 tax has been rapidly ex-tended. In 1894 a tax of a 
 penny on the pound was levied on land values. In 
 1905 local communities were required to levy the 
 general rate on the unimproved value of the land, 
 while further rating or taxing of land values was 
 left optional with the shires or counties. Almost 
 without exception, the one hundred and sixty-one 
 municipalities have decided to collect their local rates 
 from land values. Sydney levies an average of 3^ 
 pence in the pound and other cities have raised the 
 rate as high as 5 pence. As this method of assess-
 
 204 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 ment can only be adopted with the approval of the 
 voters, and as only real estate owners are permitted 
 to vote on the question, this decision is obviously 
 the reasoned conviction of the more conservative 
 elements of the community that speculation rather 
 than thrift should be taxed. In Sydney owners of 
 improved property had their taxes decreased by 
 from one-third to two-thirds, while owners of va- 
 cant land had their burdens increased from 200 to 
 500 per cent. 
 
 A parHamentary inquiry was made by Great Brit- 
 ain as to the effect of these new land taxes. The 
 testimony of local officials was all to the same effect. 
 The report said building had been stimulated by 
 "rendering it unprofitable to hold land for prospec- 
 tive increment in value." The "effect on urban and 
 suburban land has been very marked," it has " com- 
 pelled owners either to build or to sell to those who 
 would build." An " owner of land occupied by build- 
 ings of Httle value, finding that he has to pay the 
 same rates and taxes as an owner having his land 
 occupied by a valuable block of buildings, must see 
 that his interests He in putting his land to its best 
 use." The rebuilding of WeUington, the report says, 
 "is largely attributable to the taxation and rating 
 of land values." The effect on rent is to bring it 
 down rather than the reverse. "As the tax becomes 
 heavier," the report continues, "it tends to bring 
 into beneficial occupation land not put to its best
 
 NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE 205 
 
 use, and so reduces rent, the improvements being 
 entirely free from all rates and taxes." 
 
 The adoption of the single tax or its modification 
 by lowering the rate on improvements and increasing 
 it on land is comparatively easy in those states that 
 separate the assessment of land and improvements 
 as is done in Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, and 
 elsewhere. In these States the growth in land values 
 is easily ascertainable, and reports show that the in- 
 crease in cities is colossal. New York and Boston 
 have the most accurate statistics on this subject. In 
 the former city the assessed valuation of improve- 
 ments and land have been kept separate since 1903. 
 They are published in the annual report of the com- 
 missioners of taxes and assessments. From these 
 reports it appears that land values alone increased by 
 $786,004,307 in four years' time, between 1904 and 
 1908, or at the rate of nearly $200,000,000 a year. 
 Between 1908 and 1911, the increase in land values 
 was $712,759,780, or $237,586,590 a year. The spec- 
 ulative increases in land values alone during these 
 seven years was in excess of the total budget of the 
 city, which amounts to approximately $180,000,000 
 a year. 
 
 The city of Cleveland made a re-appraisal of its 
 property for the purposes of taxation in 1909. It 
 was found that the land underlying the city had in- 
 creased by $177,000,000 in ten years' time, or more 
 than twice the amount collected for municipal taxes
 
 206 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 during these years. Wherever investigations have 
 been made it has been found that land values increase 
 at a definite ratio to population, and that in growing 
 cities the growth is in excess of the annual expendi- 
 tures of the city. This increase is from 4 to 5 per 
 cent, per annum, which is the normal growth in New 
 York. Four per cent, is the estimated increase in 
 German cities, where the subject has been more ac- 
 curately studied than it has been with us. 
 
 And if we study population in relation to land 
 values, we find that the latter amount to from $600 
 to $1,000 per capita, depending upon local conditions, 
 or to from $3,000 to $5,000 per family. Land values 
 reflect population. They reflect industrial prosper- 
 ity, expenditures for improvements, for streets, for 
 sewers, parks, and schools. They are increased by 
 good transit, the extension of water, gas, and elec- 
 tric lighting faciHties. Expenditures for these pur- 
 poses add to the value of the land and of the land 
 alone. They do not increase the value of the im- 
 provements, whose value is always the cost of repro- 
 duction. This is why land values are social values. 
 They are not traceable to the industry of the owner 
 or to any activity on his part. They spring from the 
 close crowding of people, from the demand for build- 
 ing sites, from the improvements in the art of living, 
 of production, of transportation. All these things 
 contribute to the value of the land, and to no other 
 form of wealth.
 
 NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE 207 
 
 Land values are a natural source of taxation, grow- 
 ing with the growth of the community, and respond- 
 ing to the expenditures and improvements made by 
 it. Year by year they increase with the coming of 
 people and the advances of industry. And it is be- 
 cause land values are the creation of the community, 
 that they should be taken by the community for 
 community purposes.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 THE BUDGET OF THE GERMAN CITY 
 
 Three things stand out prominently in the budget 
 of the German city and distinguish it from our own. 
 One is the size of the budget and the generosity with 
 which cities spend for things which would hardly be 
 expected in a country where substantial wealth is of 
 very recent appearance and where the great mass of 
 the people are still very poor. In the second place, 
 despite the fact that the cities are governed by busi- 
 ness men, the taxes are almost all assessed against 
 income, property, or business. Thirdly, the budget 
 of the German city includes many business under- 
 takings that in this and other countries are left in 
 private hands. The extent to which such activities 
 figure is shown in the budget of Diisseldorf, as well 
 as in the budget of Mannheim referred to later in 
 this chapter. Cities generally make a charge for 
 many services that in this country are rendered free. 
 There are admission fees to the zoological and palm 
 gardens, to the museums, baths, and concerts. The 
 German city tries to make as many services self- 
 supporting as possible, while many activities realize 
 an increasing profit with which the burdens of taxa- 
 tion are being reduced. 
 
 208
 
 THE BUDGET OF THE GERMAN CITY 209 
 
 Wide latitude is enjoyed by the city in the matter 
 of taxation as in other things. There are no inflex- 
 ible limitations on the tax rate or the indebtedness 
 imposed by the state constitution or by law. The 
 city is assumed to be the best judge of these matters, 
 although the interior department maintains a watch- 
 ful eye to see that well-recognized standards of effi- 
 ciency and conduct are observed. But the city has 
 considerable latitude to place its taxes where it wills, 
 to shift them from incomes to real estate, to tax 
 business, luxuries, and transfers of property as suits 
 the judgment of the community. The laws of the 
 several states also differ from one another, although 
 a general uniformity prevails throughout the empire. 
 
 Real estate bears a very much lower rate than in 
 this country. Up to very recently, under the system 
 of assessment which prevailed, it bore an inconsid- 
 erable burden. Nor is the general property tax 
 found in any state. It is unknown in Europe. No- 
 where is it assumed that all property should be 
 taxed at the same rate irrespective of its character. 
 Personal property is not taxed at all, nor are stocks, 
 bonds, mortgages, or intangible forms of wealth. 
 
 From one-fourth to one-half of the tax receipts 
 come from the income tax, which is the central feat- 
 ure of the system just as the real-estate tax is with 
 us. Real estate is taxed by three separate taxes, one 
 levied at the time of sale at a certain percentage of 
 the selling price; another tax is levied on the capital
 
 210 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 or rental value of the property, while a third, or "un- 
 earned increment," tax is collected from the profits 
 of speculation or the increasing value of land. 
 Taxes on business yield a very substantial sum, as do 
 licenses on the sale of beers and wines. Dogs are 
 taxed, while the tickets or receipts of theatres, con- 
 certSj and places of amusement yield a considerable 
 sum. The latter are in the nature of luxury taxes. 
 The income tax is a source of both state and munic- 
 ipal revenue. It is assessed against all incomes and 
 at a progressive rate, incomes below approximately 
 $225 a year being exempt. The municipal tax is in 
 the nature of a surtax added to the state rate. For 
 instance, if a city contributes $1,000,000 to the state 
 from the income tax, and requires an equal sum for 
 municipal purposes, the municipal income-tax rate 
 is said to be 100 per cent.; i. e., 100 per cent, of the 
 state rate. The rate ranges from 100 to 200 per 
 cent, in the larger towns. In some very poor munic- 
 ipalities, which contain but few rich men, the mu- 
 nicipal rate may run as high as 500 per cent., or 
 a total of from 12 to 15 per cent, on very large in- 
 comes for both state and local purposes. The in- 
 come tax rate in Berlin is 100 per cent., in Nurem- 
 berg and Diisseldorf 140 per cent., and in Spandau 
 250 per cent. The state income-tax rate is moderate, 
 beginning with 2^ per cent, on incomes of about 
 $225 and increasing to 4 per cent, on incomes of 
 $250,000. This would make the average rate for
 
 THE BUDGET OF THE GERMAN CITY 211 
 
 state and city purposes from 5 to 12 per cent., de- 
 pending on the size of the income. 
 
 Municipalities are permitted to levy up to 100 
 per cent, without notice by the state authorities, but 
 if the rate exceeds this percentage, the central gov- 
 ernment reserves the right to participate in the ad- 
 ministration of the city. 
 
 Berlin collected $8,227,148 from the income tax 
 in 1907. 
 
 The second source of taxation is the grundsteuer, 
 or real-estate tax. Real estate is assessed on both 
 its capital and its rental value. Prior to 1893, the 
 rent received by the owner was the basis of assess- 
 ment rather than the selling value of the property. 
 If land was used for agricultural purposes, when it 
 was ripe for building, it was assessed on the rental 
 secured as agricultural land rather than on its value 
 for building purposes. In 1893 the interior depart- 
 ment issued an order advising cities to adopt the 
 capital value instead of the rent received as a basis 
 of taxation, the value being ascertained by capital- 
 izing the rental value of the property. The order 
 was complied with by a great number of local authori- 
 ties, and the taxes on real property were largely in- 
 creased in consequence. 
 
 The tax on real estate in Berlin amounted to 
 $5,523,000 in 1907, or about 4 per cent, of the sum 
 realized by the city of New York from this source. 
 
 In addition to the tax on capital value, there is a
 
 212 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 transfer tax assessed at the rate of 1 per cent, of the 
 selUng price of improved property, and of 2 per cent, 
 of the seUing price of unimproved property. This 
 tax is levied at the time of sale. 
 
 A third source of taxation is the gewerlesteuer , or 
 tax on trade and industry. It is assessed upon all 
 persons engaged in trade or commerce according to 
 the amount of capital invested and the net profits 
 made the preceding year. All trades are taxable, but 
 small concerns are usually exempt. Frankfort, for 
 instance, exempts all industries where the net profits 
 are less than $375 a year or where the capital em- 
 ployed is under $750. This tax is also progressive. 
 BerUn collected $2,449,119 from this source in 1907. 
 Almost all cities collect taxes from restaurants, 
 hotels, and places where intoxicating liquors are sold. 
 The license tax, however, is nominal and is not de- 
 signed as a sumptuary measure as in this country. 
 The Hcense is fixed by the profits of the business. In 
 Berlin the license tax on the sale of liquor is but 
 $2.38 where the profits are but $357, from which the 
 rate progresses slightly, a restaurant that earns $11,- 
 900 a year being taxed only $23.80. The total rev- 
 enues from liquor licenses in 1907, in Berlin, a city of 
 over two million inhabitants, was but $760,927, or 
 about what would be collected in a town of 60,000 
 inhabitants in America from the same source. 
 
 Department stores are taxed on a different scale 
 than retail shops. There is a tax on pedlers and
 
 THE BUDGET OF THE GERMAN CITY 213 
 
 transient dealers. Dogs are generally taxed, a sub- 
 stantial sum being realized from this source. In 
 Frankfort $4 is paid for the first dog owned and $6 
 for the second. 
 
 There are also many fees in the nature of special 
 assessments. There are drain dues for connecting a 
 house with the sewers; dues for the removal of gar- 
 bage and refuse at a certain percentage of the rent of 
 the house, as well as special charges for the erection 
 or alteration of buildings. The unearned-increment 
 tax described elsewhere yields an increasing percent- 
 age of the municipal revenues. 
 
 Hamburg is a free and sovereign state in many of 
 its functions. It is a city of 936,000 people and its 
 revenues for the year 1908 were as follows: 
 
 Real-estate tax $4,417,008 
 
 Income tax 9,331,143 
 
 Stamp revenue 710,683 
 
 Registration fees 133,447 
 
 Tonnage dues 779,013 
 
 Inheritance tax 1,082,474 
 
 Tax on sales of property 1,015,870 
 
 Amusement tax 18,874 
 
 Dog tax 74,190 
 
 Contributions for fire brigade 218,830 
 
 Customs (share of state refunded by Imperial 
 
 government) 1,619,629 
 
 Share in federal receipts for distilling tax and 
 
 imperial revenue tax 700,391 
 
 Total $20,101,572 
 
 Earnings of business undertakings occupy a prom- 
 inent place in the city budget. The receipts from 
 public-utility corporations, from docks, markets, ab-
 
 214 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 attoirs, forests, etc., are frequently many times the 
 amomit collected from taxation. The 1908 budget 
 of the city of Mannheim, with a population of 192,- 
 000, shows the sum of $3,683,647 as derived from its 
 many undertakings; while the direct taxes on in- 
 comes, real property, industrial capital, and business 
 yielded but $1,553,440. The gross earnings of the 
 more important industrial undertakings for the year 
 1908 were as follows: 
 
 Street railways $627,488 
 
 Buildings 463,491 
 
 Agricultural land 18,207 
 
 Markets 27,650 
 
 Transportation of merchandise 128,392 
 
 Management of lands 32,403 
 
 Water-works 256,986 
 
 Gas-works 711,291 
 
 Electrical works 409,122 
 
 Abattoir 172,532 
 
 Fountains, etc 12,993 
 
 Cemetery 37,502 
 
 The net gain from the street railways amounted to 
 $44,942, from the water-works $123,021, from the 
 gas-plant $165,641, and from the electrical light and 
 power $127,366. These undertakings are operated 
 only incidentally for profit, the motive of operation 
 being the maximum of service at a relatively low 
 charge. Out of a total budget of $5,237,086, all but 
 $1,553,440 consisted of earnings of business under- 
 takings and special fees for services performed. The 
 tax upon incomes yielded $466,345, or about one- 
 third of the total taxes; $475,976 was collected from
 
 THE BUDGET OF THE GERMAN CITY 215 
 
 trade and business taxes, and $500,400 from the sev- 
 eral taxes on real property. 
 
 The business men who rule the German cities have 
 assumed the bulk of the burdens themselves. They 
 have taxed incomes, business, land, and property, 
 rather than tenants, as in Great Britain, or the con- 
 sumer through the octroi, as in the Latin countries. 
 Ahnost all of the local taxes are collected from the 
 well-to-do classes rather than from the poor. 
 
 In the matter of local taxation, at least, the Amer- 
 ican city is far in advance of the cities of Europe, not 
 excepting those of Germany. This is true in spite 
 of the general property tax and the faulty assess- 
 ments made by many of our cities. We collect our 
 municipal revenues more justly than do other coun- 
 tries, because the bulk of them come from real es- 
 tate and, by the nature of the case, from land. In 
 recent years, too, great advance has been made in 
 the art of assessing property for taxation, following 
 the example of New York, in which city the assess- 
 ment of real estate has been brought to a more nearly 
 scientific basis than in any city in the world. 
 
 Land is the natural source of local revenues, for 
 land values are so obviously a social rather than an 
 individual product that they should be taken for 
 municipal purposes. They are social in character. 
 And undoubtedly our cities will collect an increas- 
 ing share of their local revenues from land values, 
 as is evidenced by the many movements for the re-
 
 216 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 duction of the taxes on improvements, as well as 
 their exemption from taxation altogether. In re- 
 spect to the collection, if not the disbm'sement, of 
 revenues, the American city leads Europe, as is 
 shown by the tendency in Gennany and England 
 to increase the bm^dens of taxation on land values. 
 That is the meaning of the change of basis of assess- 
 ment from rental value to capital value in Germany; 
 it is the meaning of the unearned-increment tax, 
 or wertzuwachssteuer. It is this that has animated 
 five hundred municipalities and local communities 
 in England to demand from ParUament the right to 
 rate land values and tax them for municipal pur- 
 poses. 
 
 The indebtedness of many European cities is much 
 in excess of the indebtedness of cities of the same 
 size in America. Thisisnot viewed with concern; it 
 is rather a sign of intelhgence and progressive ad- 
 ministration. For in Germany and England the 
 bulk of the indebtedness is for street railways, gas, 
 electricity undertakings, for docks, harbors, slaugh- 
 ter-houses, and markets, which not only carry the 
 interest charges but frequently yield a substantial 
 income as well. The debt of Berlin amounts to 
 $100,000,000, yet officials say that the sewage-dis- 
 posal farms have so increased in value that they 
 could be sold for sufficient to retire the whole munic- 
 ipal debt. In addition nearly $65,000,000 of the total 
 is for business undertakings which carry themselves.
 
 THE BUDGET OF THE GERMAN CITY 217 
 
 The average indebtedness of thirteen British cities 
 with an average population in excess of 200,000 is 
 over $100 per capita. In Germany the average is 
 $85 per capita. Manchester has a per capita debt of 
 $180 and Frankfort of $140. A considerable part 
 of the Manchester debt was incurred in the building 
 of the Manchester Ship Canal. The per capita debt 
 of Munich is $125; of Diisseldorf, $130; and of Char- 
 lottenburg, $120. The average indebtedness of the 
 American city is much less. The per capita debt of 
 Chicago is very low. It is but $43.92. That of 
 Cleveland is $69.29; of Detroit, $30.31 ; of Washing- 
 ton, $44.84; of Milwaukee, $32.47; of Philadelphia, 
 $65.09; while that of Greater New York is $207.16. 
 The debt of the latter city, however, includes sub- 
 ways, docks, ferries, water supply, and other invest- 
 ments of a valuable kind that support themselves in 
 whole or in part out of earnings. These figures indi- 
 cate the gross debt. The net debt is somewhat less.^ 
 
 As indicating the extent of municipal indebtedness 
 in Germany, as well as the large proportion incurred 
 for productive undertakings, the following table of 
 seven Prussian cities is instructive. The figures are 
 for 1908, and the productive undertakings include 
 street railways, gas, electric light, water, harbors, 
 baths, etc. The "other purposes" are schools, 
 streets, sewers, and all non-productive undertakings. 
 
 • Financial statistica of cities. Bureau of the Census. The fig- 
 urea are for 1909.
 
 218 
 
 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 
 
 
 FOR PRODUCTIVE 
 
 OTHER 
 
 TOWN 
 
 POPULATION 
 
 TOTAL DEBT 
 
 UNDERTAKINGS 
 
 PURPOSES 
 
 Berlin 
 
 2,001,032 
 
 $99,254,000 
 
 $64,767,000 
 
 $34,512,000 
 
 Elberfeld... 
 
 168,000 
 
 13,595,000 
 
 7,252,000 
 
 6,392,600 
 
 Halle 
 
 176,798 
 
 9,500,000 
 
 2,877,000 
 
 4,612,000 
 
 Solingen . . . 
 
 50,961 
 
 3,285,000 
 
 2,257,000 
 
 1,029,000 
 
 Magdeburg. 
 
 247,358 
 
 15,005,000 
 
 7,775,000 
 
 7,503,900 
 
 Remscheid. 
 
 69,700 
 
 3,930,000 
 
 2,790,000 
 
 1,147,000 
 
 DtiBseldorf . 
 
 284,439 
 
 28,585,000 
 
 22,260,000 
 
 6,327,000 
 
 A similar table of the indebtedness of seven Amer- 
 ican cities shows the amount as well as the distri- 
 bution of indebtedness between productive and un- 
 productive agencies.^ 
 
 
 POPULATION 
 
 INDEBTEDNESS 
 
 FOR PRODUC- 
 
 FOR OTHER 
 
 
 1910 
 
 1909 
 
 TIVE PURPOSES 
 
 PURPOSES 
 
 Philadelphia. . 
 
 1,526,383 
 
 $99,355,026 
 
 $30,776,642 
 
 $68,578,384 
 
 Cleveland .... 
 
 538,374 
 
 37,304,908 
 
 5,613,684 
 
 31,691,224 
 
 Minneapolis. . 
 
 294,330 
 
 14,927,202 
 
 1,933,424 
 
 12,993,778 
 
 Indianapolis. . 
 
 228,690 
 
 4,790,401 
 
 22,000 
 
 4,768,401 
 
 Denver 
 
 207,112 
 
 5,814,419 
 
 329,200 
 
 5,485,219 
 
 Omaha 
 
 122,187 
 
 8,598,997 
 
 
 
 Grand Rapids 
 
 110,060 
 
 3,184,612 
 
 1,137,500 
 
 2,047,112 
 
 ' Financial Statistics of Cities, 1909. Bureau of the Census.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 HOW THE GERMAN CITY IS GOVERNED 
 
 The German city is governed by experts who de- 
 vote their lives to this calling. Men prepare them- 
 selves for city administration as they do for law, 
 medicine, or any other profession. They take special 
 courses in the universities or technical schools in 
 law, finance, engineering, town planning, education, 
 or sanitation. On graduation they compete for a 
 municipal post along with other candidates. Some- 
 times they enter the permanent service from the city 
 council, or the state civil administration, or the pro- 
 fession of law. They rise from one position to an- 
 other or pass from city to city, much as a clergyman 
 or professor in this country moves from place to 
 place. In time they hope to become burgomaster, 
 and if they make a success in their city, their rep- 
 utation is known all over Germany. This is true of 
 the burgomaster, of members of the magistrat, or 
 administrative council, and of the important per- 
 manent officials generally. 
 
 In this respect the city is but a cross-section of the 
 nation at large, for public offices are almost always 
 held by men who have prepared themselves for the 
 
 219
 
 220 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 particular post to which they aspire. This is as true 
 of the civil service as it is of the army and navy. 
 The intense competition for place has something to 
 do with thiS; as has the universal education of the 
 empire. But aside from these influences, the tra- 
 ditions of Germany treat public service as a profes- 
 sion open only to those who are fitted for the par- 
 ticular work to be done. 
 
 The framework of municipal administration in 
 Germany is essentially different from that of Amer- 
 ica or Great Britain. In America authority has 
 been gradually concentrated in the mayor, as an 
 easy means of escape from the evils of the council 
 system. Through this de\ace, as well as through 
 the commission form of government, we have found 
 a means by which we can hold some one responsible, 
 and through responsibility substantial improvement 
 has been secured. This and simplicity are the great 
 gains from the federal plan and the commission form 
 of government adopted by our cities so generally in 
 recent years. In Great Britain, on the other hand, 
 all the powers of the city are lodged in the council, 
 which is a large body acting through committees. 
 The mayor is an unsalaried figure-head, with but 
 little power and that of a titular character. The 
 British and American cities are antipodal in these 
 respects. 
 
 The German city is governed by a composite sys- 
 tem in which the burgomaster is the central figure,
 
 HOW THE GERMAN CITY IS GOVERNED 221 
 
 although he is not the repository of as great legal 
 power as are mayors in America. Associated with 
 him are a large nmnber of expert advisers, who form 
 the magistrat. Approximately one-half of these are 
 paid, and make a profession of their calling. The 
 city comicil, or gemeinderat, is a large body, elected 
 in Prussia under a restricted property qualification, 
 and is generally made up of men of only less distinc- 
 tion than the magistrat itself. The German city is 
 the most generously endowed political agency in the 
 world so far as talent and training are concerned. 
 Municipal administration is the work of the expert 
 rather than of the politician. 
 
 In Prussia the burgomaster is chosen for a term 
 of twelve years; in other states for nine or six years. 
 In Leipsic, Dresden, Hanover, and some other places, 
 the burgomaster is chosen for life in the first instance. 
 
 When a vacancy occurs in any city, the council 
 examines the qualifications of candidates who are 
 suggested or who offer themselves for the position. 
 The available persons are finally reduced to two or 
 three, from whom the choice is finally made. The 
 same procedure is followed in the selection of mem- 
 bers for the magistrat. Elections are made without 
 regard to residence, and candidates for important 
 positions present themselves from all over Germany. 
 At the end of the term the council may refuse to 
 re-elect an incumbent, but inasmuch as burgomasters 
 are entitled to a pension if not re-elected, the choice
 
 222 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 in the first instance is made with great care and is 
 expected to be permanent. Burgomasters are elected 
 by the council rather than by the people directly. 
 So are all other higher administrative officials. 
 
 There are many burgomasters who have served 
 from ten to twenty years in their respective cities. 
 The burgomaster of Halle has been chief magistrate 
 of that city since 1882. Dr. Martin Kirschner, until 
 recently the chief burgomaster of Berlin, was first a 
 judge, but in 1873 he entered municipal life as a 
 town councillor in Breslau. Later he became the 
 city's legal adviser, and in 1893 was called from Bres- 
 lau to become one of the burgomasters of Berlin. 
 Six years later he was elected chief burgomaster, 
 which office he held until shortly before his death. 
 Dr. George I. Bender, chief burgomaster of Breslau, 
 entered municipal service through the law, much as 
 did Doctor Kirschner. He became a magistrate in 
 the city of Thorn, and in 1888 was elected burgo- 
 master of that city. In 1891 he was chosen as chief 
 burgomaster of Breslau and was elected a member 
 of the Prussian House of Lords. 
 
 Doctor Adickes, the present burgomaster of Frank- 
 fort-on-the-Main, began his municipal career at the 
 end of the Franco-Prussian War as burgomaster of 
 Dortmund, where he served for four years. In 1877 
 he was chosen burgomaster of Altona, and in 1883 
 became its chief burgomaster. In 1891 the city of 
 Frankfort-on-the-Main called him to be burgomaster,
 
 HOW THE GERMAN CITY IS GOVERNED 223 
 
 which oflSce he has held ever since. In addition to 
 his municipal office, he is a member of the Prussian 
 House of Lords. He has received many orders, in- 
 cluding that of the Imperial Red Eagle. 
 
 Frankfort is a very wealthy city ; it is rich in tradi- 
 tions, in old monuments, and Doctor Adickes awa- 
 kened the ambitions of the citizens and proceeded to 
 build a new city of splendid proportions about the 
 old mediaeval town, which for centuries was one of 
 the free cities of the Hanseatic League. He used 
 the city as a laboratory for experiments in taxation, 
 in town-planning, in industrial, housing, and harbor 
 developments. New municipal ideas have issued 
 from Frankfort much as new discoveries in science 
 issue from the university laboratory. When Doctor 
 Adickes became burgomaster, in 1891, the population 
 of the city was but 180,000. To-day it is 414,000. 
 Much of the growth is due to the big-visioned ad- 
 ministration of its burgomaster. 
 
 Diisseldorf is another example of the influence of 
 the expert professional mayor. In 1898, when Diis- 
 seldorf was a town of less than 200,000 population, 
 Dr. Wilhelm Marx was called to be its burgomas- 
 ter. The city was not unlike a score of American 
 cities fifteen years ago. It might have been as un- 
 interesting and disorderly as any of our own. 
 But Doctor Marx appreciated that his city could 
 only successfully compete with its neighbors by hav- 
 ing greater advantages than they. So he proceeded
 
 224 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 to build a city that would attract business and people. 
 Under his administration the municipal debt was in- 
 creased to $100 per capita for the acquisition of the 
 street railways, electric-lighting and other plants. 
 The city engaged in the purchase of land; it became 
 a land speculator on a large scale; it invested in the 
 shares of Diisseldorf industries and entered on the 
 greatest variety of industrial activities. A great 
 harbor was constructed, suburbs were laid out, edu- 
 cation was perfected, and the city made alluring to 
 business and residents. In a dozen years Diissel- 
 dorf acquired the name of the garden-city of Ger- 
 many. It now has 356,000 people. The German 
 steel trust has made it its home, while many other 
 industries came to it because of its advantages. 
 Diisseldorf is a centre of art, music, and education; 
 it is one of the show cities of Germany to which 
 travellers come from all over Europe and America. 
 What Diisseldorf has done, Detroit, Cleveland, In- 
 dianapolis, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, al- 
 most any one of fifty American cities, could do were 
 they but inspired by a vision of their possibilities 
 and were our political institutions adjusted to the 
 employment of permanent experts in city adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 Having achieved these things. Doctor Marx re- 
 tired from the mayoralty at the end of twelve years 
 of service, and Doctor Oehler, of the near-by city of 
 Crefeld, was chosen by the council to continue the
 
 HOW THE GERMAN CITY IS GOVERNED 225 
 
 programme of city-building on which the city had 
 entered. 
 
 There is keen rivalry among German cities. The 
 struggle is for bank clearings, factories, and business 
 growth, just as it is with us; only these ends are 
 attained by different means. Cities vie with each 
 other in the promotion of the arts, beauty, and com- 
 fort. They develop opportunities for factories, per- 
 fect their educational systems, and improve their 
 facilities for water and rail transportation. The 
 professional burgomaster has much to do with this. 
 He wants to make a showing, to achieve a reputa- 
 tion which will lead to his being called to some other 
 city. 
 
 The German burgomaster corresponds roughly to 
 the American mayor, although his legal powers are 
 not nearly as ample as those of the American city 
 operating under the federal plan. In practice his in- 
 fluence is likely to be as great as his abilities. If he 
 is a man of force and originality he becomes the di- 
 recting spirit in the administration. He presides over 
 the magistrat, promotes city policies, oversees other 
 departments, and is the official representative of the 
 municipality on all state occasions. He may sus- 
 pend and punish officials who have been remiss in 
 their duties, but his power to discharge is subject to 
 review by the administrative courts, to which an 
 appeal may be taken by the discharged official. He 
 is also directly responsible for the police administra-
 
 226 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 tion, over which the state maintains a watchful super- 
 vision. In the larger Prussian cities, however, the 
 state may appoint a police commissioner responsible 
 to it directly. 
 
 The burgomaster has no veto over ordinances and 
 may be overruled by the magistrat. He neither pre- 
 pares the budget nor introduces it. That is done 
 by his associates. Nor has he the large appointing 
 power lodged with mayors in this country. In a 
 legal sense he is but the first among equals. 
 
 Some cities have two burgomasters, in which case 
 the senior one is called the chief burgomaster. In 
 some of the larger cities he is known as the ober- 
 burgomaster, but this title is only permissible when 
 authorized by law. 
 
 In a sense the King is the fountain-head of mu- 
 nicipal administration, for while the council selects 
 the burgomaster, its choice must be ratified by the 
 King acting through the interior department. Such 
 approval is usually given as a matter of course. 
 Some years ago, however, when the council of Ber- 
 lin selected a burgomaster who was persona non 
 grata to the King, the action of the council was 
 disapproved. The council reaffirmed its selection, 
 but the King refused to rescind his veto. For some 
 time the city was without a burgomaster, but finally 
 the council receded from its position and selected 
 a candidate who received the royal approval. Sim- 
 ilar conflicts have occurred in some of the smaller
 
 HOW THE GERMAN CITY IS GOVERNED 227 
 
 cities where the radicals have selected candidates 
 representative of their opinions. It is not improb- 
 able that the royal veto will be called into play more 
 frequently in the future, especially in those states 
 where the Prussian three-class system of voting does 
 not prevail, while if manhood suffrage is introduced 
 into Prussia the same conflict is likely to arise in 
 that state as well. In Bavaria, where the Prussian 
 system of voting does not prevail, members of the 
 SociaHst party are already found in the magistrat, 
 and many of the cities are likely to fall into the 
 hands of this party. This will probably not involve 
 any change in the character or integrity of the men 
 or the efficiency of administration, for many of the 
 leading municipal experts in Germany are Socialists, 
 actively connected with the party, but identified 
 with the municipal movement. 
 
 The salaries paid the burgomasters are higher than 
 the salaries of mayors in this country, even aside 
 from the greater purchasing power of money. Ber- 
 lin and Frankfort-on-the-Main pay their oberburgo- 
 masters $9,000 a year, while Leipsic, Cologne, and 
 Magdeburg pay $6,250 a year. Dresden and Mu- 
 nich pay $5,000, and Hanover $4,250. In the smaller 
 municipalities salaries are correspondingly lower. In 
 addition the burgomaster receives a number of sub- 
 stantial perquisites which may amount to several 
 thousand dollars a year more. He is entitled to a 
 pension of from one-half to three-fourths of his sal-
 
 228 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 aiy on retirement from office, depending upon the 
 length of his service. 
 
 To be burgomaster of a German city is one of the 
 most alluring of professions. Not only is the office 
 highly paid, but the city is the largest single corpora- 
 tion in the community. It conducts a multitude of 
 undertakings and has a large budget to control. In 
 salary, in social position, in power and opportunity, 
 as well as in permanency of tenure, Germany has 
 provided a system that attracts men of talent and 
 ability to city administration. 
 
 Associated with the burgomaster are a number of 
 assistants, who form the magistrat, or stadtrat. 
 Their duties are primarily administrative, although 
 they both initiate and influence legislation. They 
 form the executive branch of city government and 
 constitute an upper chamber, which meets apart from 
 the coimcil but is fused with the elective body in 
 actual practice. For there is no superstition in 
 Germany about the necessity of separating powers 
 and responsibilities between legislative and execu- 
 tive branches. There are no checks and balances 
 in city administration. These are poHtical fictions 
 which have never had any place outside of America. 
 The aim is rather to merge administration and legis- 
 lation as closely as possible in the interests of effi- 
 ciency. 
 
 The magistrat is a body of experts, who, like the 
 mayor, make a profession of city administration.
 
 HOW THE GERMAN CITY IS GOVERNED 229 
 
 The members are chosen from men who have achieved 
 distinction in the comicil, in the state civil service, or 
 who enter it after special training for some depart- 
 ment. Each member is an expert in his line of ser- 
 vice, and is chosen for some definite position. This, 
 at least, is true for the salaried members. There are 
 experts in law, in finance, accounting, education, en- 
 gineering, charity, housing, and town planning. With 
 the burgomaster, who is an expert in chief, they form 
 an executive council, each member of which is trained 
 in his department and thoroughly familiar with what 
 is being done in other cities of the country. 
 
 A great business corporation is not more efficiently 
 organized than is the German city, and few business 
 corporations, whether in this country or abroad, are 
 as wisely and economically managed. There is no 
 waste, no need of efficiency surveys by private agen- 
 cies. The city itself is equipped with men whose life 
 is dedicated to their work, and whose hopes, am- 
 bitions, and social standing are satisfied with the 
 opportunities which city administration offers. 
 
 The magistrat contains from one-fourth to one- 
 third as many members as does the council, by 
 which it is chosen. Approximately one-half of the 
 members are salaried, the other half are not. The 
 number of paid members is determined by the coun- 
 cil itself, and usually depends upon the size of the 
 city and the activities in which it is engaged. Ber- 
 lin, with a population of 2,099,000, has 17 paid and
 
 230 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 as many more unpaid members of this body. Mag- 
 deburg, with a population of 240,633, has 12 paid 
 and 15 unpaid officials, while Breslau, with a popu- 
 lation of 510,939, has 14 paid and 15 unpaid officials. 
 There are 14 paid and 18 unpaid members of the 
 magistrat in Dresden, 12 paid and 15 unpaid in 
 Leipsic, 16 paid and 20 unpaid in Munich, and 9 
 paid and 8 unpaid in Frankfort-on-the-Main. Like 
 the burgomaster, the names of the paid members of 
 the magistrat must be submitted to the central au- 
 thorities for approval. 
 
 The number of unpaid members is fixed by law 
 and depends upon the size of the city. Municipali- 
 ties with from 10,000 to 30,000 people have 6 unpaid 
 members; those with from 60,000 to 100,000 have 
 10 unpaid magistrates, with 2 additional ones for 
 every 50,000 people. The unsalaried members are 
 usually chosen from the council, much as are the 
 aldermen in Great Britain, although they may be 
 chosen from outside its membership. The unpaid 
 members are almost all men of comparative leisure, 
 and are held in high esteem in the community. Their 
 places are practically permanent. The paid and un- 
 paid members sit together in the same body much 
 as do the aldermen and councillors in Great Britain. 
 
 It is amazing how generously the German city 
 makes provision for administrative officials. While 
 New York has a board of estimate and apportion- 
 ment of but eight members, and while most of our
 
 HOW THE GERMAN CITY IS GOVERNED 231 
 
 large cities have from four to six salaried heads of 
 departments, the German city of equal size has from 
 two to three times as many salaried members in its 
 magistrat. In addition there are as many more 
 non-salaried ones. Many of our cities are under- 
 manned; they are unable to handle the many big 
 problems which confront them, not only because of 
 the lack of experience of officials, but because of the 
 inadequate number provided for. 
 
 The salaried members are usually chosen for the 
 same term as the burgomaster, but the unsalaried 
 ones are selected for six years, the same as members 
 of the council. The former are chosen by competi- 
 tion, and re-election generally follows as a matter of 
 course. They give their entire time to city adminis- 
 tration and receive salaries which are relatively high. 
 In Berlin, for instance, salaries range from $2,500 to 
 $3,000 a year, while in the other large cities they run 
 from $1,200 to $3,000. There are other perquisites 
 attached to the office, as well as a pension on retire- 
 ment, and a high social position in the community. 
 The unpaid members are chosen because of known 
 abihty demonstrated in the city council, in pubhc 
 service, or in private pursuits. 
 
 Each of the salaried members is assigned a par- 
 ticular department which he supervises. The de- 
 partments correspond roughly with our own. One 
 member, the Kammerer, occupies the post of city 
 chamberlain or auditor. Another, the Syndikus, is
 
 232 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 at the head of the legal department. A third, the 
 Schulrat, has control of education. A fourth, the 
 Baurat, has charge of the public works. Other spe- 
 cialists are assigned to charity administration, hos- 
 pitals, and institutions for the relief of the poor, 
 while still others have charge of the street railways, 
 gas, electric lighting, and other profit-making utilities. 
 AVhen a vacancy occurs in a given post the council 
 frequently advertises the fact, and invites competi- 
 tion to fill it. It is not unconmion to see advertise- 
 ments in a German newspaper like the following 
 taken from the Gemeinde Zeitung of July 28, 1906. 
 
 "NOTICE 
 
 "The post of Syndikus in the Magistrat of this 
 city has become vacant. The stipend is 6,000 marks 
 per year with an increase of 600 marks every three 
 years until the maximum of 9,000 marks is reached. 
 The appointment is for life; and provision is made 
 for a pension on retirement after long service, as well 
 as for the granting of an annuity to the widow or 
 orphans of a deceased incumbent of the post. The 
 Syndikus is expected to preside in the Industrial and 
 Mercantile Court (Gewerbe und Kaufmannsgericht), 
 and is intrusted with a general supervision over the 
 legal affairs of the city. Candidates who have passed 
 their second legal examination and who have had suc- 
 cessful administrative experience are requested to 
 submit applications accompanied by testimonials and 
 other suitable documents to the city clerk before 
 August 20. 
 " Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
 
 ''July 17, 1906. The Magistrat."
 
 HOW THE GERMAN CITY IS GOVERNED 233 
 
 Candidates send in their names and references, 
 from which the council selects the candidate best 
 qualified for the post, which selection is then reported 
 to the central authorities for approval. Unsalaried 
 members of the magistrat frequently aspire to be- 
 come salaried oflficials, while persons in private em- 
 ployment or those occupying a post in some other 
 city also respond to the inquiry. Every consideration 
 is ignored save the qualifications of the candidate for 
 the place. Neither politics, friendship, nor personal 
 consideration have weight in the selection, although 
 Socialists would probably not be accepted in Prussia. 
 They are, however, frequently found on the magis- 
 trat of the Bavarian cities, where the Prussian limi- 
 tations on the suffrage do not prevail. 
 
 The unpaid members of the magistrat are advisers 
 in general on municipal problems. They are not 
 chosen for special posts, as are the paid members, or 
 because of any especial training in particular branches 
 of administration. There are no qualifications pre- 
 scribed by law for their selection save that they must 
 be residents of the city. The council, however, usu- 
 ally chooses them from out its own members or from 
 successful business and professional men with recog- 
 nized aptitude for the work. The standard of quali- 
 fication is very high, and service upon the magistrat 
 involves heavy inroads upon a man's time. In spite 
 of this fact, cities fill these positions with men of 
 high character and attainments. For official life has
 
 234 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 a lure in Gennany of which we have no conception. 
 Caste runs throughout the nation and affects the 
 ambitions of all. At the top is the junker, or large 
 landed estate owner. Below him is the mihtary 
 caste, whose ojficers are almost exclusively recruited 
 from the landed classes. To the professional men 
 and merchants municipal office is almost the only 
 avenue of official distinction. Wealth as such car- 
 ries little standing, much less than in America or in 
 England. Everywhere the official class is the ruling 
 class, and every title of distinction, no matter how 
 insignificant, is jealously guarded by its possessor, 
 whose rank and position are scrupulously observed in 
 official and social relations. 
 
 One explanation of the size and importance of the 
 magistrat is the fact that the city is the agent of 
 the state in the administration of many laws relat- 
 ing to education, sanitation, insurance, and the ad- 
 ministration of industrial functions. The munici- 
 paUty has jurisdiction over the property of the state 
 church. It appoints the clergymen and church 
 officials. In this it differs radically from the Amer- 
 ican city, which rarely performs any state func- 
 tions. 
 
 Members of the magistrat initiate much of the 
 legislation which comes before the council. They 
 do this sometimes at the request of members of the 
 council, but more frequently on their own initiative. 
 Ordinances adopted by the council must have the
 
 HOW THE GERMAN CITY IS GOVERNED 235 
 
 approval of the magistral, much as legislation in 
 Congress must be passed by both houses. The coun- 
 cil is the agency of the pubUc intrusted with the 
 promotion of policies, while the magistral is the ad- 
 ministrative department, serving both the state and 
 the municipality, and promoting in every possible 
 way the advancement of the community. Rarely is 
 there any conflict between the council and the magis- 
 tral, for spoils, opportunities for political preferment, 
 and the privileged interests have little influence in 
 city politics, while anything which savors of dishon- 
 esty is practically unknown. 
 
 The magistral is free from supervision by the 
 council in executive matters, except where the ex- 
 penditure of money is involved. It has control of 
 the public utility enterprises of the city. It builds 
 and cleans the streets, controls the schools, parks, 
 and housing. It is the educational agency of the city, 
 for education is merged with city administration in 
 Germany as it is in England, rather than being a 
 detached, separate activity. In all of these depart- 
 ments the magistral acts with wide freedom, for not 
 only is the city free to do as it wiUs, but the magis- 
 tral is rarely interfered with, either by the state au- 
 thorities or the town council. 
 
 No moneys can be paid out of the treasury with- 
 out its approval. It controls the coUection and dis- 
 bursement of revenues. It has no power to levy any 
 taxes or to make general appropriations, but aside
 
 236 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 from this it administers the budget of the city. 
 Members of the magistrat rather than the burgo- 
 master make appointments for office, but these ap- 
 pointments must be confirmed by the council. The 
 magistrat meets as a separate body, and is presided 
 over by the burgomaster. Its meetings are not held 
 in public. No announcement is made of a vote or 
 division on a question, so that whatever action the 
 magistrat takes has the appearance of unanimity. 
 
 In practice the magistrat combines many of the 
 powers which we intrust to the council, mayor, and 
 heads of the various departments. Long tenure of 
 office, recognized efficiency, and the absence of polit- 
 ical controversies and spoils make jurisdictional quar- 
 rels with the council infrequent, in spite of the fact 
 that the magistrat is selected by the latter body. 
 Made up of men with the greatest variety of training, 
 and aided by the interior department of the state, 
 with its accumulated experience and statistical in- 
 formation, it forms probably the most efficient ad- 
 ministrative agency in the world. 
 
 It need hardly be said that there is no spoils sys- 
 tem in Germany. Nor is there any rotation in office, 
 either among the elective or the appointed employ- 
 ees. Even among unskilled workmen tenure is dur- 
 ing good behavior. This is part of the traditions of 
 Germany, in which country men in all walks of fife 
 choose their callings early and thus establish their 
 status. And municipal service, from the most sub-
 
 HOW THE GERMAN CITY IS GOVERNED 237 
 
 ordinate position to the highest, is a recognized ca- 
 reer the same as any of the professions. 
 
 While the burgomaster and the magistrat form the 
 central feature of administration, the city council or 
 stadtverordnete or gemeinderat is the final source of 
 power. It is a representative body elected by wards 
 or districts the same as in the United States and 
 Great Britain. Councilmen are elected for six years, 
 and one-third of the membership retires every two 
 years. None of the councilmen are elected at large. 
 In Berlin, under the Prussian system of three-class 
 voting, there are 16 districts assigned to voters of 
 the first class, 16 to voters of the second, and 48 to 
 voters of the third class. The first and second class 
 districts elect a councillor every two years, while each 
 of the 48 districts in the third class elects a councillor 
 eveiy six years. In Bavaria, councilmen are elected 
 for nine years, one-third of the body retiring every 
 three years, while in Saxony the three-year term 
 prevails. 
 
 Many electoral provisions militate against the free 
 expression of the popular will. There are no nomi- 
 nations of candidates by primaries, caucuses, or con- 
 ventions. Any qualified person can be voted for, 
 but in practice candidates are selected beforehand, 
 and are well known as such. Prior to the election 
 there are canvassing and meetings in the support 
 of candidates, but so far as the action of the voter 
 is concerned he is left entirely unaided by parties or
 
 238 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 by ballots in the making of his choice, for there are 
 no printed ballots. Candidates must receive a clear 
 majority of the votes cast, and if this is not secured 
 at the first election, a second is held. Only the two 
 candidates who have received the largest number of 
 votes are eligible at the second election. 
 
 The councU is a relatively large body. In Berlin 
 it numbers 144 members; in Karlsruhe and Mann- 
 heim, 96; in Dresden, 78; in Leipsic, 72; and in 
 Munich, 60. The size of the council is fixed by law 
 according to population. In Prussia there is a mini- 
 mum of twelve councilmen in the smaller municipali- 
 ties. The council is a much larger body than it is in 
 America, but is about the same size as in England. 
 All over Europe the large council prevails, and every- 
 where the organization is substantially the same. 
 There is no parallel to the commission form of 
 government which is rapidly being adopted in the 
 American West or to the federal plan, such as 
 has been generally adopted by our larger Eastern 
 cities. 
 
 A high order of ability is found in the council, for 
 the talent of the commimity seems to be at the ser- 
 vice of the city, and business and professional men 
 deem it a high honor to be elected to that body. In 
 university cities, members of the faculty are fre- 
 quently chosen. Members of the council receive no 
 salary, and there is no chance for pecuniary emolu- 
 ment of any kind. Service is obligatory, for a man
 
 HOW THE GERMAN CITY IS GOVERNED 239 
 
 can be fined if he refuses to accept an election — a 
 contingency, however, that rarely, if ever, happens. 
 The work of a councillor is very exacting. He has 
 to devote a considerable part of his time to city busi- 
 ness. The council usually meets once a week excq)t 
 during the summer months. Discussion is spirited, 
 and where Socialists have found a place in the coun- 
 cil, it covers the whole range of municipal policy. 
 The burgomaster and members of the magistrat have 
 a seat in the council chamber with the right to speak 
 on all questions but not to vote. They may be in- 
 terrogated by members on public questions. Much 
 of the work of the council is prepared for it by mem- 
 bers of the magistrat. The procedure differs from 
 that of the British council, where each committee 
 controls its own department, selects its managers 
 and subordinates, and combines legislative and ad- 
 ministrative work in the same body. In this respect 
 the German council is more like the American one. 
 With us, legislative as well as administrative work 
 has been assimied by the mayor and the directors of 
 the various departments, who prepare the budget, 
 formulate policies, and draft most of the ordinances 
 for consideration by the council. This transfer of 
 legislative power to the executive department is fre- 
 quently at variance with the theory of our charters, 
 which assume the separation of legislative and ad- 
 ministrative functions under the practice which pre- 
 vails in the state and Federal governments.
 
 240 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 While the magistrat is the actual directing agency 
 of the German city, the council is by no means an 
 unimportant factor in administration. It has not 
 lost its dignity or authority, as has the council in 
 America. It selects the burgomaster and the mem- 
 bers of the magistrat. It advises with the magistrat 
 and sometimes comes in conflict with it. Every 
 legislative measure which affects the municipality 
 must be passed by it. In case of a deadlock with 
 the magistrat, differences are adjusted by a joint 
 conference committee, and if this fails the appropria- 
 tion or question in dispute is referred to the central 
 administrative authorities for decision. 
 
 The laws of the several states — Prussia, Bavaria, 
 Saxony, Wiirtemburg, and some of the cities, like 
 Hamburg, Bremen, and Frankfort — differ as to the 
 size of the council and the magistrat, as to the length 
 of terms and qualifications of the suffrage, but in the 
 main the cities are administered under the same gen- 
 eral plan. And this plan has remained practically 
 unchanged for more than a centuiy. The laws gov- 
 erning municipal administration are based on the 
 reforms of Stein and Hardenberg enacted in 1808, 
 which reforms gave the cities large freedom of action 
 and established the machinery upon which subse- 
 quent legislation has been based. Just as the main 
 features of the British system are traceable to the 
 Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, so in Germany 
 the small town has grown into the metropolis under 
 
 I
 
 HOW THE GERMAN CITY IS GOVERNED 241 
 
 charters provided before the industrial city made its 
 appearance. While reformers in America have de- 
 voted themselves to changing the form of the char- 
 ter, to finding new political machinery for doing 
 things, the German and British cities have accepted 
 administrative forms a century old, and concerned 
 themselves with the functions and possibilities of 
 the city, rather than with finding new ways to govern 
 them. In both countries there have been many 
 changes in the substantive law; the powers of the 
 cities have been enlarged and the laws have been 
 codified, but the cities have moved on from one 
 activity to another with little complaint as to the 
 agencies employed. In this they differ radically 
 from the cities of this country, where reform has 
 been concerned more largely with method than 
 achievement. 
 
 It is not probable that we shall adopt either the 
 German or the British system of administration, 
 although we shall undoubtedly develop means for 
 securing permanence and the trained expert in office. 
 This is already being done indirectly through the 
 establishment of efficiency and research bureaus in 
 connection with many cities. The commission form 
 of government makes for permanence in personnel, 
 while the suggestion has been made in some cities 
 for the employment of a city manager, to whom the 
 actual administration is to be transferred under the 
 direction of the council. It is only a matter of time
 
 242 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 before our cities will find means for identifying train- 
 ing and experience with administration. In this, 
 as in many other problems, om* cities are working 
 out a solution in their own way and without being 
 conscious of the fact that it is being done. 
 
 I
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE BUSINESS MEN WHO RULE THE GERMAN 
 CITY, AND THEIR IDEALS 
 
 The German city is democratic, even socialistic^ 
 in its services, but not in its political machinery. 
 The American city, on the other hand, is democratic 
 in its machinery and professions, but not in its ser- 
 vices. Yet the cities of Germany and America are 
 in reality ruled by the same class, by the influential 
 business men. In Prussia the control is direct and 
 official. It is legalized by a system of voting. In 
 America, on the other hand, control is secured indi- 
 rectly through the ascendency of private interests in 
 the state legislature, city council, and party machin- 
 ery, as well as through the agencies of public opinion, 
 which for the most part are owned or controlled by 
 the privileged classes which stand behind the boss, 
 the party, and the machine. The business men who 
 rule the German city are not the small shopkeepers 
 as in Great Britain ; they are the bankers, merchants, 
 real-estate speculators, and professional men. They 
 form the ruling class. They elect the council, which 
 in turn elects the burgomaster and members of the 
 magistrat. 
 
 In Prussia this control by the well-to-do classes is 
 
 243
 
 244 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 secured by the laws which control the suffrage of that 
 state. ^Miile manhood suffrage prevails in elections 
 to the Reichstag, it does not prevail in the Prussian 
 Diet or in the cities of the state. Through the 
 methods of voting the large taxpayers select the ma- 
 jority of the council. The power of the voter at the 
 ballot-box is determined by the amount of his income 
 tax. Taxpayers are divided into three classes, each 
 one of which elects one-third of the council. The 
 classification for voting is as follows: beginning with 
 the highest single tax-payer, men are checked off in 
 order until one-third of the total taxes is ascertained. 
 The taxpayers in this group constitute the first class, 
 and elect one-third of the council. Then those whose 
 aggregate taxes comprise another thkd of the total 
 are checked off, and they constitute the second group. 
 The great mass of the electors, whose aggregate in- 
 come taxes comprise another third of the total, make 
 up the third class. This, in substance, is the law 
 governing the suffrage in Prussia, although in 1900 
 the method of procedure was changed somewhat, and 
 made rather more complicated. 
 
 Under this arrangement an insignificant number of 
 persons elect one-third of the city council, while a 
 small minority elects two-thirds of it. The first class 
 rarely consists of more than 3 per cent, of the total 
 number of voters, while the first and second classes 
 combined range from 10 to 20 per cent, of the total. 
 In Essen, where the Frederick Krupp Steel Works 
 
 1
 
 GERMAN BUSINESS MEN 245 
 
 are located, there were in 1900 only 3 electors in the 
 first class, with 401 in the second. These 3 men 
 elected one-third of the council, while 404 out of 
 nearly 20,000 electors chose two-thirds of the mem- 
 bers. In HaUe, there were 178 voters in the first 
 class, and in Aachen, 130. In Berlin, in 1903 there 
 were 1,857 electors in the first class, and 29,711 in the 
 second; 31,568 electors out of a total of 349,105 chose 
 two-thirds of the council. In Breslau, with a voting 
 population of 26,211, there were 669 in the first class 
 and 4,358 in the second. In Cologne there were 511 
 in the first class and 5,659 in the second. The total 
 number of voters in the third class in Breslau was 
 21,184, and in Cologne, 41,321. From these figures 
 it appears that a very much smaller percentage of the 
 population votes than in America, for in our cities of 
 the size of Cologne or Breslau, the total number of 
 votes cast would run from 70,000 to 100,000. 
 
 The example of Berlin indicates the limitations on 
 the suffrage, and the way the great mass of the people 
 are denied any hope of control. The registered elec- 
 tors for the year 1909 numbered 351,000. For every 
 elector in the first class there were 21 electors in the 
 second, and 214 in the third. In the city council of 
 Berlin there are 144 seats, one-third of which, or 48, 
 are apportioned to each class. As a result, 34 electors 
 on an average select a councilman in the first class, 
 and 721 electors select a councilman in the third 
 class.
 
 246 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 This is the Prussian three-class system, against 
 which the Socialists and radicals are protesting. It 
 applies to state as well as to municipal elections. 
 When the imperial constitution was adopted in 1871, 
 Prussia, which is the dominant power in the empire, 
 based its suffrage on the wealth and income of the 
 taxpayer. It is this system of voting that Hes at the 
 heart of reaction in Germany. It is this that gives 
 the large land-owners of east Prussia control of the 
 state and the wealthy business men control of the 
 city. It is this that prevents the Socialists from se- 
 curing control of the towns, in which they are par- 
 ticularly strong, for nearly every large city sends So- 
 cialist members to the Reichstag, for which body the 
 suffrage requirements are on the democratic basis of 
 one man, one vote. In imperial elections the suf- 
 frage is universal, as it is in America. 
 
 In addition to these inequaHties in the suffrage 
 other limitations are imposed on the selection of 
 members of the council, which tend to make it still 
 further conservative. In Prussia the suffrage is con- 
 fined to male citizens of twenty-four years of age who 
 have paid municipal taxes, who own a dwelling-house 
 or pursue a trade or profession which yields an in- 
 come. Even some corporations are allowed to vote. 
 In addition the ballot is open rather than secret, 
 while a considerable period of residence is required 
 in the city. The laboring classes are still further 
 excluded by the requirement that one-half of the
 
 GERMAN BUSINESS MEN 247 
 
 members of the council must be owners of real es- 
 tate — a limitation which tends to make the land- 
 owners and real-estate speculators unduly prominent 
 in city affairs. 
 
 The three-class system of voting does not exist in 
 Bavaria or in a number of smaller states. Propor- 
 tional representation was introduced into Bavaria in 
 1906. Under it members of the city council are 
 chosen by political parties in proportion to their vot- 
 ing strength. The suffrage is still not universal, 
 but is much more nearly so than in Prussia. In 
 Munich, the capital of Bavaria, one must live in the 
 city for two years, have an income of $300, and have 
 paid $37.50, for admission to the rights of suffrage. 
 In Munich there are now fifteen Socialists in the city 
 council, while four members of the magistrat belong 
 to this party. In Hamburg, which is a free city, and 
 in Frankfort the suffrage is on a somewhat different 
 basis, as it is in many of the smaller states of the 
 empire. Prussia, however, contains most of the large 
 cities. 
 
 There is relatively little politics as we understand 
 it in city elections. The system of voting and the 
 selection of members of the council by wards pre- 
 clude it. Nor is there much controversy over the 
 policies to be pursued or the programme to be fol- 
 lowed. The permanent magistrat and its willing- 
 ness to engage in any kind of activity for the wel- 
 fare of the community preclude such controvereies.
 
 248 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 The Socialists, it is true, have a definite municipal 
 programme and would carry municipal socialism 
 much further than any of the cities have done. And 
 in order to promote their programme they conduct 
 aggressive municipal campaigns. In Bavaria they 
 will probably control the councils of many cities 
 and attempt to carry their programme into execu- 
 tion. 
 
 Despite the political power of the business men, 
 they do not legislate in the interest of their class, as 
 they do in America. That is one of the anomahes of 
 Germany, for I know of no other country in the 
 world in which this is true. Political power is almost 
 always used to promote the economic interests of the 
 class which rules. Men seem unable to detach their 
 public from their private interests when elevated to 
 places of trust. They still vote as railway and fran- 
 chise owners, as manufacturers and land speculators. 
 The German junker, who controls the politics of Prus- 
 sia, and through Prussia the politics of the empire, 
 almost always votes as a junker. He represents his 
 class. And the tariff laws of Germany, as well as 
 measures affecting the internal administration, re- 
 flect the economic interests of the landed aristocracy. 
 The same is true of the landed class of Great Britain. 
 It is true of the business men in the American Con- 
 gress, in the legislatures of our States, and in the 
 administration of our cities. But the business men 
 who rule the German cities seem to have risen above
 
 GERMAN BUSINESS MEN 249 
 
 the interests of their class. They have built cities 
 for people, for all the people. They have adminis- 
 tered them for business, but for all business rather 
 than for that of a limited class. They have con- 
 trolled the factory and the mill-owner and compelled 
 them to locate in certain limited districts. They 
 have taken the street railways, gas, electric-lighting, 
 and water companies away from other business men. 
 They have erected docks and harbors to encour- 
 age competition rather than monopoly. Pawn-shops, 
 savings and mortgage banks, have been municipal- 
 ized in the interests of the working-classes, while mu- 
 nicipal houses have been erected in competition 
 with private landlords to improve the housing condi- 
 tions of the city. Business men approve of munici- 
 pal land speculation schemes as a means of keeping 
 down the price of private speculators. But, more 
 remarkable still, they have shifted the burdens of 
 taxation from the poor onto their own shoulders. 
 They have taxed their incomes heavily, have taxed 
 business and luxuries, and imposed the unearned in- 
 crement tax on the profits of land-owners. From 
 one-third to one-half of the revenue of the German 
 city comes from income taxes, while the bulk of it is 
 derived from wealth in some form or other. More- 
 over, income taxes are progressive, and bear most 
 heavily on those best able to pay. 
 
 The complaint is frequently heard that real-estate 
 interests and house-owners' organizations control city
 
 250 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 administrations; that many projects for the wel- 
 fare of the poorer class are defeated because of the 
 opposition of the property-owning classes which 
 control the suffrage. The Prussian law provides 
 that one-half of the council must be owners of real 
 property, while the suffrage itself gives the large tax- 
 payers a predominant influence in elections. Real- 
 estate interests have undoubtedly defeated trans- 
 portation proposals designed to open up the suburbs; 
 they have prevented the laying out of new territory 
 and the natural expansion of the city; they have 
 prevented the increase of taxes on real estate. The 
 imperial unearned increment tax of 1911 was seri- 
 ously weakened by the amendments which the real- 
 estate interests secured during the consideration of 
 the measure in the Reichstag. Some housing ex- 
 perts explain the universal prevalence of the tene- 
 ment and apartment house, in which the great mass 
 of the people dwell, as a result of real-estate interests 
 and house-owners' associations, which have pre- 
 vented city-widening proposals in order to main- 
 tain city rents and urban land values. It is claimed 
 that the extension of suburban transit in Berlin has 
 been checked by these same interests, while the com- 
 plaint is also heard that the suburban planning proj- 
 ects are delayed in execution or confined to sections 
 available only for the well-to-do classes by the same 
 unconscious class instinct. Undoubtedly these class 
 interests do influence city administrations, but this
 
 GERMAN BUSINESS MEN 251 
 
 is the most serious charge I ever heard against the 
 administration of the German city. 
 
 Aside from this charge the German city is honestly 
 administered. Scandals are of such rare occurrence 
 as to be almost unknown, as is bribeiy or corruption. 
 The councils attract men of integrity and ability. 
 The best citizens are willing to accept election, no 
 matter what the claims of their private affairs may 
 be. Public place carries with it social prestige. 
 The King has encouraged public service in the mili- 
 tary and civil departments, and the rank which a 
 man and his family take is in large part determined 
 by official precedence. In addition, municipal ad- 
 ministration is alluring, even in the council. It offers 
 opportunities for men of talent. One's associates 
 are agreeable and intelligent, while many distinctions 
 and social opportunities are opened through it.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 THE EXPLANATION OF THE GERMAN CITY 
 
 Why is the German city so eflScient, honest, and 
 business-like in its administration? What Hes back 
 of the pride of the business men? Why do they serve 
 so willingly on the council? Why do they accept 
 such burdensome income, land, and business taxes, 
 and submit to the control of their business and their 
 freedom with so little organized protest? 
 
 I have asked these questions of many business 
 men. I have tried to understand the German city. 
 It is not long experience in city administration, for 
 the industrial city is of even more recent appearance 
 in Germany than in America or England. Its life 
 covers but a generation. There were no great cities 
 prior to 1870, long after the British city had risen 
 to importance, long after the American city had 
 begun to be a problem. 
 
 Nor is it traceable to the ascendency of the busi- 
 ness men at the polls or the limitations on the suf- 
 frage, for the attitude of the business men is the atti- 
 tude of all classes. The Socialist party, which would 
 control many of the cities under universal suffrage, 
 is as free, probably more free, from interested mo- 
 
 252
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE GERMAN CITY 253 
 
 tives than the other classes. It sends many eminent 
 men to the Reichstag, and is essentially a party of 
 principles. And it has a well-defined and very ad- 
 vanced municipal programme. Universal suffrage, 
 on which they insist, would probably not change the 
 character of municipal administration or the quality 
 of the men in the permanent service. It would un- 
 doubtedly affect the policies of cities, and still fur- 
 ther widen their activities. 
 
 The explanation of the German city lies deeper 
 than these things. It is found, I think, in the psy- 
 chology of the people, and that psychology, in turn, is 
 traceable to home rule, to the freedom of the city to 
 do as it wills in almost all matters which affect its 
 life. Of all the causes I think this is the most im- 
 portant, for each city has liberty of action to work 
 out its own destiny. Without this freedom the 
 city might have been honest and efficient. It never 
 could have become the model of the world. 
 
 For the German city is free, free to own almost 
 anything, free to control the individual and his prop- 
 erty, free to borrow, free to experiment, free to 
 develop as it wills. Its bonds to the state rest so 
 lightly that it is almost unconscious of its chains. 
 The citizen is a subject of the city, just as he is a 
 subject of the state and the empire. And his de- 
 votion to his city is very much like his devotion to 
 the fatherland. 
 
 Under the laws of the state the German city can
 
 254 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 do anything it is not expressly forbidden to do, or 
 that the central administrative authorities do not for- 
 bid. Generally speaking, it can do anything an in- 
 dividual can do. Under the municipal act of 1853 
 local authorities have authority to perform any func- 
 tions that are necessary or wise for the welfare of 
 the municipality, provided only that these activities 
 do not come in conflict with the laws of the state. 
 Dr. Albert Shaw says: "There are, in the German 
 conception of city government, no limits whatever to 
 municipal functions. It is the business of the mu- 
 nicipality to promote in every feasible way its own 
 welfare and the welfare of its citizens." ^ 
 
 The powers of the city are not specifically enu- 
 merated, as they are with us. The city is assumed 
 to have all the power necessary for its local life. 
 This, roughly, is its status under the laws of Prussia 
 and the other states in the empire. For the laws 
 which govern the cities are enacted by the individual 
 states, as they are with us, and not by the empire. 
 
 This is where the German city differs most radi- 
 cally from our own. For the American municipality 
 enjoys only such authority as is specifically granted 
 to it. Its powers are set forth with the utmost par- 
 ticularity. There are few presumptions in the city's 
 favor; it has few implied powers. It has none of the 
 liberty of a private corporation or of an individual. 
 It can only act as it is told to act. And the courts 
 
 * Municipal Government in Continental Europe, p. 323.
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE GERMAN CITY 255 
 
 interpret the things it can do and the way they must 
 be done, with the presumption against the city rather 
 than in its favor. 
 
 The American city is in bondage to a higher au- 
 thority, to which it must constantly go for rehef . In 
 many instances it cannot control its own employees 
 or change their salaries. It can only enter on the 
 smallest undertaking after it has secured permission 
 from a reluctant legislature. It cannot regulate the 
 public service corporations that lie so close to its 
 life; and, generally speaking, it can own only water 
 and electric-lighting undertakings. It cannot secure 
 better street-car service, extensions to new territory, 
 or a change in the lighting power of gas or the charges 
 for any of these services. The tenements and the 
 slums are almost immune from the city's control, as 
 are the height, style, and character of buildings. 
 The city cannot borrow as it wills, for its borrowing 
 capacity is limited by law, and is usually below what 
 is needed to keep pace with its growing necessities. 
 Nor can it collect revenues beyond a certain limit or 
 experiment with taxation. The American city lives 
 within the most carefully prescribed rubrics, designed 
 not to promote efficiency, but to protect property. 
 The powers it enjoys lag many years behind the needs 
 of the day, and are only enlarged after exhausting 
 contests before the legislature or too late for the 
 prevention of abuses that can only be corrected at 
 colossal cost. Privileged interests, political bosses,
 
 256 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 and suspicious farmers have been engaged for a gen- 
 eration in welding chains about our cities, until they 
 have become our most helpless and inelastic polit- 
 ical agencies. 
 
 The denial of home rule is one of the many anom- 
 alies of our poHtics. In a countrj'- where all the as- 
 sumptions are of democracy local self-government 
 in important things is almost non-existent. Consti- 
 tutions, charters, and judicial decisions have so 
 cribbed, cabined, and confined the American city 
 that the wonder is that it has done as well as it has. 
 
 Monarchical Germany reverses this principle. It 
 assumes as a matter of course that the city should 
 be as powerful as a private individual, certainly as 
 powerful as a private corporation. And the things 
 forbidden are relatively few. The city has wide lati- 
 tude in the ways it can raise its revenues. It can 
 adopt the business, license, or real-estate taxes, and 
 fix the rates that shall be paid. There is no legal 
 limit to the tax rate, although the interior depart- 
 ment reserves the right to participate in the admin- 
 istration if the income tax exceeds a certain figure. 
 Nor are there any limits on the amount of money 
 that can be borrowed or the purposes for which it 
 can be used. And the debts of German cities are 
 frequently many times those of an American city of 
 the same size. The city engages in land speculation 
 for profit ; it owns farms and forests, docks and har- 
 bors, savings-banks, mortgage institutions, and pawn-
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE GERMAN CITY 257 
 
 shops. It loans money for house-building, erects 
 houses for its working-people, owns opera-houses, 
 theatres, and exposition buildings, and operates wine- 
 handling businesses for profit. It controls the land 
 speculator and plans his land for him; it determines 
 the purposes for which the land shall be used before 
 it is sold. It determines the height to which men 
 can build, the amount of land that can be covered by 
 improvements, and the distance houses shall be lo- 
 cated from the street. In some sections villas only 
 may be erected, in others apartment-houses, in others 
 workingmen's cottages. The city prescribes where 
 factories shall go; it prevents smoke and noise, and 
 by direct or indirect action controls the style of archi- 
 tecture that may be employed. The power of the 
 German city over property is as far-reaching as its 
 power over persons. 
 
 The German city has more than home rule. It is 
 almost a Httle republic, like the freistddte of the 
 middle ages, which owed allegiance to no one. Cities 
 are, however, subject to administrative supervision 
 by the interior department. New undertakings 
 must be sanctioned by the central authorities, which 
 may disapprove of them if they seem too great a 
 departure from municipal experience. Bond issues 
 must also be approved. The interior department 
 oversees the enforcement of certain laws which relate 
 to purely state policies, such as the maintenance of 
 the minimum educational standard of the state.
 
 258 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 Below this the city must not fall, although it may 
 extend its educational system indefinitely beyond 
 the minimum. The interior department is also an 
 advisory agency. It sets standards, collects statistics, 
 and encourages projects of importance to the nation 
 or the community. It is a bureau of municipal re- 
 search. Its function is one of encouragement and 
 direction, rather than repression. The German city 
 is subject to administrative rather than legislative 
 control by the state. 
 
 Under this arrangement great elasticity is secured. 
 There is local freedom, subject to the possibility of 
 veto by the state. Every city can develop as suits 
 its particular local needs or ambitions. It must live 
 up to a certain standard, but beyond this it can go 
 as far as it likes, and as long as the central authority 
 does not intervene. This procedure has great advan- 
 tages. It makes each community an experiment 
 station. Most of the municipal achievements of 
 Germany have been first worked out by one city, 
 and when success has been assured the idea has 
 been copied by others. 
 
 Freedom, too, has had an inspiriting effect on the 
 people. It has created a love and pride in the city 
 that is not found in England, France, or America. 
 And such pride cannot arise without freedom. Men 
 cannot be aroused to interest in a movement which 
 they cannot achieve or in which they do not directly 
 participate. It is impossible to awaken enthusiasm
 
 New City Hall, Dresden. 
 
 
 New Gothic City Hall, Munich. 
 
 City halls in Germany are of great splendor. They are used for a variety of 
 public purposes and usually contain rathskellers in the basement.
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE GERMAN CITY 259 
 
 for a project that involves first a change in the Con- 
 stitution, then a change in the State laws, then the 
 assent of the local authorities. It is hard to become 
 interested in a cause when the fruits of victory may 
 be taken away by the courts or the next session of 
 the legislature. We have violated all social psychol- 
 ogy — violated it so completely that the wonder is we 
 have any city spirit left. 
 
 Wherever the city has been free — free to govern 
 itself as it willed, to build, to reahze the ambitions of 
 men — there local love and patriotism have flowered. 
 There, too, civilization has reached a high develop- 
 ment, for the civiUzation of every age has been a 
 city civUization. 
 
 The Greek cities had such freedom. Each city 
 was a little republic. The individual was almost lost 
 in the community. Athens, Corinth, Syracuse, were 
 the centres of art, culture, and the drama. There 
 was no conflict between public and private rights, 
 for private rights were not recognized when in con- 
 flict with public needs. The city built temples, 
 rather than homes. Rich citizens adorned the city 
 with expressions of their patriotism. Leisure was 
 provided for, as were education, the drama, and the 
 arts. The Greek city was free to change its form 
 of government. It could collect its revenues as it 
 willed. It was free to spend them as the ambition 
 of the community decreed. For the city was also 
 the state.
 
 260 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 Rome, too, was a city republic. All Italy was 
 tributary to the city, rather than the reverse. Here, 
 too, civilization flourished again. And in Rome, as 
 in Greece, the ambitions of men found expression in 
 temples, gardens, public baths, amphitheatres, and 
 other monuments of public character. 
 
 Florence, Genoa, Venice, Padua, the cities of medi- 
 aeval Italy, were also free. They had no distant over- 
 lord. In these cities civilization awakened again af- 
 ter slumbering for centuries. They gave birth to 
 the greatest art the world had known since Athens. 
 They recalled the learning of the past, and produced 
 painters, architects, and men of learning whose work 
 has enriched subsequent generations. In these cit- 
 ies the rich merchants vied with one another not only 
 for power, but for the beautification of their cities. 
 They, too, were free to give expression to their am- 
 bitions without the supervision of constitutions, laws, 
 or the authority of a jealous overlord. 
 
 The mediaeval cities of Germany and the Nether- 
 lands were free cities. Frankfort, Hamburg, Bremen, 
 Liibeck, Nuremberg, Brussels, Bruges, Ghent — in 
 these cities commerce came to Hfe. The burghers 
 cast off the chains of the dark ages. They bought or 
 fought for their freedom from the baron on whose 
 territory the cities came into existence. And free- 
 dom produced the splendid halls which still adorn 
 these cities. The guilds erected palaces which still 
 remain in Brussels, Bremen, and Frankfort. For
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE GERMAN CITY 261 
 
 three hundred years these free cities kept alive the 
 liberty of Europe and enabled men to acquire wealth 
 and learning, to engage in trade and commerce; to 
 lay the foundations for present-day civilization. 
 
 Again in the twentieth century the German city 
 recalls the ideals of earlier centuries. Even the al- 
 most disfranchised workingmen have a city sense. 
 Certainly the business men, who in this country are 
 either indifferent to the city or are actively at war 
 against it, are very proud of their cities. They are 
 interested in the big things the city is doing — in the 
 schools and hospitals, in the parks and public gar- 
 dens, in the business activities of the city, in its 
 health, its comfort, its beauty. To the promotion of 
 these things men contribute of their wealth. They 
 do not give to charity, to the endowment of hospitals 
 or universities; rather their gifts are for gardens, pub- 
 lic places, the building of schools, or for work of a 
 constructive character. 
 
 It is difficult to know how far this city sense ex- 
 tends; as to how universally it is felt by the working 
 classes who participate so little in the actual control 
 of the city. There may be great numbers who care 
 Httle for the city, for large numbers do not vote, for 
 one reason or another. And the attitude of mind of 
 rich cities Hke Diisseldorf and Frankfort is undoubt- 
 edly different from cities like Essen, Barmen, and 
 Elberfeld. Among the classes accessible to the trav- 
 eller, however, there is a wide-spread affection for
 
 262 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 the city that does not seem to exist anywhere else 
 on the continent. 
 
 There are still other explanations of the German 
 city — explanations that are traceable to the tradi- 
 tions of the comitry, of a feudal society in which the 
 individual was subordinate to the state. From these 
 traditions Germany has never been emancipated. 
 Up to forty years ago the population was almost 
 wholly agricultural. The change to industr}^ was 
 sudden and abrupt. The factory appeared almost a 
 hundred years after it came to England. The com- 
 mercial classes have never been powerful enough to 
 control politics, as in America; nor have they united 
 with the landed aristocracy, as in Great Britain. 
 And the traditions of feudalism still affect all classes; 
 they mould the prejudices and the philosophy of the 
 state. 
 
 One of these traditions is the dignity of the state. 
 Germany has never known that license of business 
 that exists in America, a license that has moulded 
 politics, the press, and pubhc opinion to its will. The 
 ruling political class in the empire is still the landed 
 aristocracy, an aristocracy almost as feudal as it was 
 at the end of the eighteenth century. And the jun- 
 ker is jealous of the commercial classes, fast rising to 
 power. But while the junker rules Prussia and looks 
 out for his landed interests, he has no city posses- 
 sions to protect as in England. The ruling aristoc- 
 racy do not own the franchise corporations, the
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE GERMAN CITY 263 
 
 docks, the markets, or city land; nor do they own 
 the railroads, the express and the telegraph com- 
 panies. These industries are the property of the in- 
 dividual states, and have been for three-quarters of 
 a century. 
 
 Having no privileges to protect, the ruling aristoc- 
 racy in the state gave the cities freedom, the right 
 to own things, to control property. There is no con- 
 flict between their economic interests and their pa- 
 triotism as there is in Great Britain and America. 
 This in part explains why the cities have been given 
 such unlimited freedom in local administration. 
 
 In addition, the idea of public ownership is old in 
 Germany. It is part of the traditions of the coun- 
 try. All of the German states are great land-owners, 
 while cities own forests and agricultural land. The 
 stateaj own coal-mines, the railways, telegraph and 
 telephone systems. As a consequence of these tradi- 
 tions every one in Germany accepts the idea of 
 public ownership as the most natural thing in the 
 world. The universities reflect this attitude of mind, 
 for political economy was not influenced by the in- 
 dividualism of Adam Smith, Ricardo, and John Stu- 
 art Mill as it was in England and America. There 
 is no presumption against the state or the city, no 
 assumption that what the community does will be 
 badly done, and that only through enlightened selfish- 
 ness will the social welfare be best advanced. 
 
 German cities, too, are very old, older than the
 
 264 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 cities of England. Berlin was the capital city of the 
 Hohenzollerns. Dresden, Munich, Mannheim, and 
 Karlsruhe were capital cities. There are numerous 
 other hauptstddte and seats of bishoprics. Hamburg, 
 Bremen, Frankfort, and Liibeck were free cities, 
 with traditions of a highly organized industrial life 
 running back into the fourteenth century. All these 
 cities retain many monuments of their early life. 
 They are embellished with palaces, museums, art 
 galleries, and hofgartens. Rulers vied with one an- 
 other to promote the arts and to beautify their cap- 
 itals. The cities of Germany were old before the 
 industrial revolution burst on the world. 
 
 In America we have no such traditions, no such 
 monuments. Our only memories are those of shops 
 and factories, repeating themselves like the rings of 
 a growing tree about the centre. Our ideals are 
 formed by the men who built the railroads, mills, 
 and factories. Only recently have we begun to think 
 in other terms than those of private business. 
 
 To these traditions must be added the determina- 
 tion of Germany to become a world power. To this 
 end much of the best thought of the empire is dedi- 
 cated. In this prograname the city plays a promi- 
 nent part, as does science. The university prepares 
 men not only for private but for public professions 
 as well. There are courses in law, political science, 
 municipal administration, and town planning. Men 
 are trained to be burgomasters as they are to be law-
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE GERMAN CITY 265 
 
 yers. The universities and their laboratories are at 
 the command of the city as they are of the state. 
 Science is close Hnked with politics. And nowhere 
 is the intimacy closer than in the study of the prob- 
 lems of the city. 
 
 In this imperial programme of industrial eminence 
 the city is recognized as an agency for its promotion. 
 The health of the people is endangered by industry. 
 They must be protected, educated, trained to be 
 good workmen as well as good soldiers. The city 
 can promote trade or retard it, it can stimulate in- 
 dustry by offering facilities for transit by rail and 
 by water, or it can strangle industry by leaving these 
 agencies in monopoly hands. The city is also recog- 
 nized as a means for bettering the conditions of life 
 and for the promotion of comfort, convenience, and 
 happiness. 
 
 These are some of the influences that lie back of 
 the German city. They explain the attitude of mind 
 of the voter, of the burgomaster and the council- 
 men. They explain the mind of the artisan and the 
 business man as well. 
 
 There are other forces at work which profoundly 
 affect the psychology of the German city, forces 
 which are intimately related to the honesty, efficiency, 
 and pubHc spirit of official and citizen. The most 
 important of these is the bigness of the city, its atti- 
 tude toward itself, toward the activities it should 
 assume and the things it should do. The German
 
 266 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 city is the most important corporation in the com- 
 munity. Its budget is larger than that of any pri- 
 vate corporation. The budget of the city of Diis- 
 seldorf in 1909 (population 325,000) was $28,642,070, 
 of Cologne (population 467,653), $42,297,000. This 
 is many times the budget of an American city of the 
 same size. These expenditures include all of the 
 activities of the city, the street railways, gas, water, 
 and electric-Hghting enterprises, the land owTied by 
 it, the docks, markets, banks, and other undertakings. 
 The actual receipts from taxation of Diisseldorf were 
 but $2,856,600, and of Cologne but $4,810,000, or in 
 the neighborhood of $10 per capita. The business 
 undertakings of the city are nearly ten times as im- 
 portant as the activities maintained through taxa- 
 tion. The great part of the city budget relates to 
 business pure and simple. 
 
 And these activities link the city with the lives of 
 the people. They touch them in a multitude of ways. 
 The police, health, and sanitary departments are 
 vigilant and efficient. Education is in close touch 
 with the home. The workman goes to the city pawn- 
 shop to make a loan and to the city savings-bank to 
 deposit his wages. If he desires to own a home he 
 borrows from the city mortgage bank or invests in 
 one of the co-operative building associations with 
 which the city is identified. WTien sick he goes to 
 a city physician, a city hospital, sanatorium, or con- 
 valescent home. His insurance against old age, sick-
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE GERMAN CITY 267 
 
 ness, invalidity, or accident is partly managed by 
 the city. The city also offers him many means of 
 recreation. He bathes in the municipal bath-houses 
 along the river or in the splendid public baths about 
 the town. In the evenings he goes to the Tonhalle, 
 to the palm gardens, or to the exposition hall, where 
 he hears the best of music for an insignificant sum. 
 He spends his Sundays and holidays in the zoological 
 gardens or tramps with his family through the great 
 woods about the city. The parks and water-ways 
 offer clean, healthful amusement at no cost at all or 
 at a small charge. Art galleries and museums, streets 
 and palaces, opera-houses and theatres all reheve the 
 tedium of life of rich and poor, and all are supplied 
 by the community itself. Germany realizes that the 
 leisure time of the people must be provided for and 
 cannot with safety be left wholly to private hands. 
 
 There is a necessary psychological reaction from 
 this policy, a reaction on all classes. The attitude 
 of the citizen is largely traceable to the attitude of 
 the city toward the citizen. The city is the most 
 important thing in his life. It touches him in count- 
 less ways. Life is a social rather than an individ- 
 ualistic thing. Men come to think in community 
 terms, for their life is circumscribed by community 
 agencies. Every activity is related to something the 
 city does; every desire is in some way influenced by 
 the city's services. The hausfrau thinks in terms 
 of the city that guards her children, that ministers
 
 268 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 to their health and happiness. Her recreations and 
 her market-baskets are suppHed by it. The city 
 is so important it cannot be neglected; it cannot be 
 ignored. 
 
 This, too, explains why men are wiUing to enter 
 the city comicil ; it explains why they aspire to make 
 administration a profession. It explains, too, the 
 expert who has become a necessity. Business men 
 are eager to serve on a board of directors which deals 
 with millions. They desire to be identified with the 
 biggest thing in the commmiity. There is honor in 
 being part of an enterprise of such proportions and 
 with such possibilities of service, and just as men in 
 this country seek places on the board of directors of 
 a bank or a street railway, in Germany and Great 
 Britain the alluring posts are in public administra- 
 tion. The council is the most important directorate 
 in the city, while the magistrat is an executive com- 
 mittee far more alluring than that of a transconti- 
 nental railroad. 
 
 In addition, pubHc ownership of the pubHc service 
 corporations puts an end to the conflict between pub- 
 lic and private interest. Business and professional 
 men can enter the council, for there are no fran- 
 chises worth millions owned by themselves or their 
 friends to be protected. There are no special privi- 
 leges which ramify into the banks and trust compa- 
 nies, the press and the clubs, into all the professional 
 classes, as do the privileges of the street railways,
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE GERMAN CITY 269 
 
 gas, water, and electric-lighting companies in this 
 country. I have no doubt but that the city coun- 
 cil in America would command the best talent of 
 the city^were our politics free from the conflict of 
 interest which makes the men of wealth and power 
 fear better government. For our business men ac- 
 cept place on Hbrary and education boards, on the 
 boards of trustees of hospitals, chambers of commerce, 
 and other public and semi-public agencies, where 
 there is no conflict between their patriotism and their 
 purse. But such men dare not accept nomination 
 to the city council. Nor would the voter trust them. 
 The private ownership of pubHc service corporations 
 has created a condition that divorces the talent of 
 the community from poHtics. Philadelphia, Cincin- 
 nati, San Francisco, Denver, Cleveland, Detroit, To- 
 ledo, all tell the same story of the class conflict which 
 was precipitated by the attempt of the city to regu- 
 late these interests or even secure proper Hmitations 
 on the renewal of a franchise. The business and pro- 
 fessional classes were arrayed against the city in its 
 efforts. So were the banks and the press. The city 
 was deprived of its talented men at a time when they 
 were most needed. The class which owned, and the 
 class identified with the class which owned, do not 
 dare enter municipal politics because of this con- 
 flict, a conflict which does not exist in either the 
 German or the British city. 
 Home rule has enabled the German city to build
 
 270 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 as it willed. This has given variety to the city. It 
 has awakened local love. The traditions of German 
 life, the long, uninterrupted history of the city, its 
 traditions of beauty and order, the universal efficiency 
 of the empire — these, with the big-visioned services 
 which the city renders, explain its honesty, its effi- 
 ciency, its eminent success. And it is the absence 
 of these elements, rather than the inherent dishon- 
 esty or incapacity for self-government of our own 
 people, that explains our failures. For we have 
 created a condition that makes honesty and effi- 
 ciency almost impossible.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 IMPRESSIONS OF THE BRITISH CITY 
 
 If you come in contact with the mind of the man 
 behind the ballot in the British city, you meet a very 
 different mind from that of the man behind the bal- 
 lot in the German city. It is a very different mind 
 from that of the man behind the ballot in America. 
 And it is the mind of the man behind the ballot in 
 eveiy country that makes the city what it is. 
 
 I first came in contact with the men who rule the 
 British city in a social club in Glasgow, in many ways 
 the most aggressively efficient city in Great Britain. 
 I lunched with a group of merchants, shippers, law- 
 yers, and business men. It was such a group as one 
 would meet in a club in any large American city. 
 All of the men enjoyed local eminence. And each of 
 them, I afterward learned, was connected with the 
 government of Glasgow, or of one of the surrounding 
 communities. And for several hours these Scotch 
 business men talked city politics in a language with 
 which I was not familiar. 
 
 The previous day had been an annual clearing- 
 house day in the council. Several committees had 
 given an accounting of their work. They had sub- 
 
 271
 
 272 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 mitted a statement of earnings and expenditures, of 
 assets and liabilities. And these business men were 
 talking of their community's balance-sheet. They 
 discussed the municipal tramways, the earnings for 
 the last year, the surplus carried to depreciation and 
 reserve, and the contributions to be used for city pur- 
 poses. There was an obvious pride in the fine show- 
 ing of the committees, a pride in the rapid debt re- 
 duction and the efficiency of the lines. 
 
 The followdng day I read the report of the tram- 
 way committee, and it justified the pride of these 
 business men as did the gas, electric-light, and water 
 committee reports which had been made the same 
 day. I accompanied the lord provost and mem- 
 bers of the council on a tour of inspection of the 
 many activities of the city. It was an annual survey 
 of the city at work. We drove to the municipal 
 lodging-house designed to afford a home for widows 
 and widowers with children. It is provided with 
 kindergartens and creches in which the young chil- 
 dren are left when the parent goes out to work. We 
 visited the slum-clearance enterprise and municipal 
 dwellings erected on the site of one of the most dis- 
 ease-breeding spots in Great Britain. For the tene- 
 ments of Glasgow are terrible. The wretchedness of 
 the poor is only surpassed by the east-end WTiite- 
 chapel districts of London. It is stated that 50.6 
 per cent, of the population of all Scotland lives in 
 two-room cottages, or apartments, and conditions in
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF THE BRITISH CITY 273 
 
 the towns are, of course, much worse. We visited the 
 central fire-department station and saw the firemen 
 at work in the shops building and repairing fire en- 
 gines, wagons, and equipment. For the firemen of 
 Glasgow are artisans as well. They perform a double 
 duty. During their leisure hours they build and 
 maintain the fire apparatus for the city. We passed 
 numerous bowling greens as smooth as a billiard 
 table, where workingmen spend the long summer 
 evenings at the favorite Scotch play of bowls. The 
 inspection closed with a banquet at the city hall at 
 which the chairmen of the various committees dis- 
 cussed the achievements of their departments during 
 the past year and their hopes for the future. There 
 was no suggestion of partisan politics, no talk of 
 personal advantages or spoils. There was something 
 akin to religious enthusiasm for Glasgow. 
 
 I met the same municipal mind in the restaurants, 
 about the hotels, on top of the double-decker tram- 
 cars. Almost always the talk drifted around to the 
 council, to Glasgow, to the tramways, gas and elec- 
 tric undertakings, to the art galleiy, the parks, pub- 
 lic lectures, or the playgrounds. I fomid even the 
 workingmen knew about the budget; they were fa- 
 miliar with the life of the lord provost as well as the 
 personal characteristics of councilmen. They knew 
 how much was spent on wines and luncheons by a 
 committee, and there was some protest against the 
 wine bill, which is one of the little extravagances
 
 274 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 that arouse much talk at elections and in the radical 
 press. 
 
 And always and everywhere the talk turned to the 
 rates (taxes). They were too high, all agreed. Every 
 voter is a taxpayer, and he pays his taxes directly 
 as a tenant. He knew to a penny what the city cost 
 him. For local taxes in Great Britain are paid by 
 the tenant rather than by the owner. 
 
 The population of Glasgow is 1,150,000. The city 
 is terribly congested. Attempts have been made to 
 distribute population out into the countryside by the 
 building of new municipal tram lines which were oper- 
 ated at a loss. Immediately suburban land-owners 
 increased the price of their holdings, so that it was 
 impossible for the poorer classes to take advantage 
 of the transportation facilities constructed for their 
 reHef . This aroused the municipal authorities to the 
 necessity of controlling the land speculator. If evciy 
 effort to improve the condition of the people only re- 
 sulted in an increase in the value of land, there was 
 no way out of the housing problem. This led to the 
 organization of a movement for the taxation of land 
 values to check speculation. The council made an 
 appropriation of $15,000 to promote bills in Parlia- 
 ment to permit cities to tax land values for local 
 purposes. More than 500 communities were organ- 
 ized into a league to further the measure, for other 
 cities had been thwarted in their efforts to improve 
 housing conditions by the same causes. For years 
 
 J
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF THE BRITISH CITY 275 
 
 the league has besieged Parhament to permit cities 
 to levy taxes on the capital value of land by the same 
 methods employed in America, but thus far the land- 
 owners in Parliament have prevented any legislation 
 on the subject. 
 
 Glasgow is radical. Yet the council of Glasgow is 
 made up of business men, many of them eminent 
 business men. There is a sprinkling of Socialists in 
 the council who are constantly in controversy with 
 the conservative members over the management of 
 municipal undertakings. These labor members, like 
 the business men, give generously of their time to 
 the city, and with no other remuneration than the 
 satisfaction which comes from the service. 
 
 And the men in the council reflect the point of 
 view of the men in the club, in the restaurant, on 
 the street. I doubt if any elective bodies in the 
 world more accurately mirror the opinions of those 
 whom they represent than do the councilmen of 
 British cities. They are a cross-section of their con- 
 stituents. They have to be. If they depart from 
 the Scotch standards of thrift in their opinions or 
 votes they are sure to be challenged at the next 
 election, when they will be heckled on the platform 
 by their neighbors and opponents. For heckling is 
 a fine art in Glasgow. Through it new ideas are pro- 
 moted, and candidates for municipal and parliamen- 
 tary office are pledged to definite issues. The taxa- 
 tion of land values was promoted by these means, as
 
 276 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 was municipal ownership. And any proposal which 
 increases the burden of local taxation is sure to arouse 
 opposition and frequently to invite defeat. Some 
 years ago one of Glasgow's most eminent business 
 men, Sir Samuel Chisholm, who had been identified 
 with the city administration for years, was defeated 
 for re-election because of his advocacy of a badly 
 needed health and slum clearance project. It in- 
 volved an increase in taxation for which his constit- 
 uents were not ready to stand in spite of the eminent 
 services he had rendered to the community. In addi- 
 tion he was an outspoken advocate of temperance 
 reform. This, too, contributed to his defeat. But 
 nothing, miless it be dishonesty, is more hazardous 
 to a municipal career than a proposal which prom- 
 ises to increase the burden of local taxes. This is 
 the nerve centre of every British citizen. 
 
 In Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, 
 Leeds, people talked about the same things. They 
 seemed to understand municipal politics and issues. 
 And always the rates and taxes, municipal owner- 
 ship, the taxation of land values, or some other eco- 
 nomic question entered into the controversy. No- 
 where was there a suggestion of dishonesty. Every- 
 where there was an alert citizenship that looked upon 
 the council chamber as of far more interest than 
 Westminster. Everywhere men seemed to feel it 
 was a high honor to serve in the council, an honor to 
 which business men very generally aspired. 
 
 I
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF THE BRITISH CITY 277 
 
 I attended a banquet of municipal officials in Man- 
 chester and sat next to the chairman of the water 
 committee. He had been on the council for thirty 
 years and had just been knighted by the King in 
 recognition of his services. Great Britain does not 
 pay her elective city officials; she holds out what is 
 far more desired by them than money, and that is 
 knighthood or a baronetcy for distinguished action. 
 This is the goal of the business man who has made 
 his leisure secure. For this he will serve for a life- 
 time. For it he gives generously to his political 
 party, to charity, or to some public cause. 
 
 Sir Bosdin Leech seemed far prouder of the chair- 
 manship of the water committee than he did of his 
 business success. He had seen the department de- 
 velop, had watched its earnings grow, and its finan- 
 cial stability become assured. He was prouder of 
 his work for the water supply of his city than a rail- 
 way president, and talked about it with the enthu- 
 siasm of a parent for his child. 
 
 Asked by an American guest as to how it was pos- 
 sible for busy men to give so generously of their time, 
 he replied that he did not know what inspired it, 
 but "he could assure the inquirer that no man who 
 entered the city council ever made a penny out of it. 
 If any man were found using the corporation as a 
 vehicle for his own enrichment he would be drummed 
 out of the city." 
 
 I visited the Manchester ship canal in company
 
 278 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 wath municipal officials. It is partly a public, partly 
 a private undertaking, the city having subscribed for a 
 large part of the securities. Manchester is an inland 
 town lying 35 miles to the east of Liverpool. It 
 suffered from discriminatory freight rates on the rail- 
 ways and was at a disadvantage in competition with 
 the seaboard towns. The canal is 35 miles in length 
 and has cost more than $75,000,000. It was eleven 
 years between the passage of a bill in Parliament in 
 1883 and the opening of the canal for traffic in 1894. 
 Deep cuts had to be made, some of them for miles 
 through rock from 50 to 60 feet in depth. There is 
 a difference of level of over 60 feet in the 35 miles of 
 canal-way. Five huge locks capable of accommo- 
 dating great ocean steamers had to be constructed, 
 while the Bridgewater Canal is carried over the ship 
 canal far above grade, the section which crosses the 
 ship canal being so arranged that it can be swung 
 completely around to permit the passage of ships 
 while filled with water. The harbor itself is of im- 
 mense proportions, and is surrounded with ware- 
 houses, grain elevators, sheds, and railway tracks 
 connected with hydraulic and electrical cranes for 
 the transshipment of freight. The canal company 
 controls the railway sidings and performs a lighterage 
 business in order that costs may be kept at a mini- 
 mum and the harbor be operated as a unit. The 
 harbor water-ways cover 104 acres and the quays 
 152 acres. There are five and a half miles of dock
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF THE BRITISH CITY 279 
 
 frontage in all. For years the canal failed to meet 
 interest charges on its obligations, but recently it has 
 begun to pay. It saved Manchester from decline 
 and made it one of the great ports of the world. It 
 is a monument to courageous municipal spirit. 
 
 The chairman of the Manchester tramways com- 
 mittee, who spoke at the banquet, talked of the mu- 
 nicipal street railways as though they were the most 
 important thing in England. He was proud of the 
 cars, which are models of beauty and comfort. They 
 are as clean as they can be kept and are almost 
 noiseless in operation. There was no sign of over- 
 crowding even during rush hours. Manchester 
 thinks too highly of its people, of its factory women 
 and girls, of its clerks and workingmen to permit 
 them to be herded into inadequate cars for the sake 
 of profits. There are no strap-hangers. The trans- 
 portation system is designed to serve the people the 
 same as the schools and parks. They are the best 
 that the ingenuity of the council and the tramway 
 manager can devise. 
 
 There is no deficit to be made up at the end of the 
 year by reason of this ' ' seat for a fare ' ' poHcy . Man- 
 chester has done what the private street railways in 
 America say cannot possibly be done, and has done it 
 as a matter of course. In 1911 the tramways paid 
 all operating expenses, interest on the investment, 
 sinking-fund charges, and even taxes, and in addi- 
 tion turned over to the city treasury the sum of
 
 280 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 $375,000 with which to reduce taxes. This was in a 
 city of 900,000 people and with an average rate of 
 fare of a trifle over two cents. In addition, there 
 was a saving of several millions of doUars a year in 
 car fares to passengers as compared w^th what would 
 have been collected by a private company in 
 America. 
 
 Manchester sells gas from its own works for forty- 
 eight cents a cubic foot. The price is even lower for 
 fuel purposes. The city encourages the use of gas 
 among the poor by the introduction of penny-in-the- 
 slot machines attached to the meters. It lights its 
 alleys and slums generously as a means of checking 
 \nce and crime. It is a common sajang in England 
 that a lamp-post is as good as a policeman. 
 
 Even at the rates charged, the gas plant earned 
 $325,000 for the reduction of taxes after meeting all 
 operating and fixed charges. And the chairman of 
 the gas committee seemed to reflect the attitude of 
 the officials of the city when he said that "public 
 men in England had been taught from the cradle to 
 do their utmost to promote the happiness and welfare 
 of their fellow-citizens. It was a more serviceable 
 honor," he said, "to be a member of a city council 
 than of ParHament." 
 
 There is a dignity about a title or an office in Eng- 
 land, even though it be an obscure one, that does not 
 prevail in this country. The sons of the aristocracy 
 serve in the army, the church, or the state. Success-
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF THE BRITISH CITY 281 
 
 ful barristers aspire to Parliament. Members of the 
 county families serve as magistrates in the county 
 courts, while in the cities the tradesmen seek place 
 on the council as an avenue for the expression of the 
 same spirit of public service. There is a passion for 
 public place in England among the highest and the 
 lowest. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Chamberlain began his remarkable 
 career, which led him almost to the premiership of 
 the empire, as a member of the town council of Bir- 
 mingham. He was a wealthy manufacturer, and for 
 many years was connected with the council, and 
 later was mayor of the town. He is almost the only 
 British mayor who achieved distinction as a positive 
 force in municipal affairs, for usually the British 
 mayor is but the presiding officer of the council, en- 
 joying for a brief term the honor of being the first 
 citizen of the community. Rarely does he actively 
 engage in the promotion of a programme or in the 
 carrying forward of a policy. 
 
 Birmingham was redeemed from the almost uni- 
 versal ugliness of the British city by a great slum 
 clearance and rebuilding scheme which Mr. Cham- 
 berlain promoted during his incumbency as mayor. 
 In the heart of the city was a blighted area, the 
 centre of disease and vice. In 1875 the city ac- 
 quired forty-five acres of slum land which included 
 this area. One-fourth of the land so acquired was 
 opened up as business streets, of which Corporation
 
 282 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 Street is the most commanding. The remainder of 
 the land was laid out in building sites, which were 
 leased for long terms with provision for the periodical 
 reappraisal of the rental value. 
 
 The municipality became a landlord on its own 
 account, and is now reaping dividends on its invest- 
 ment. For the improvement has paid for itself in 
 several ways. The total taxes collected from the 
 slum area in 1875 were but $52,563. In 1909 the 
 taxes on the same property increased to $220,443, 
 or a gain of $167,880 a year, or 300 per cent. The 
 carrying charges for interest and sinking-fund amount 
 to $111,929 a year, or only two-thirds of the increase 
 in taxes alone. Within a few years' time the annual 
 debt charges on the improvement will be reduced to 
 $97,330, and will ultimately disappear altogether, 
 when the sinking-fund accumulations have repaid 
 the loan. 
 
 But this was not the only financial gain. The land 
 has greatly increased in value, and when the present 
 leases expire the land, together with all the improve- 
 ments, will revert to the city without cost. When 
 this occurs, the revenues from the undertaking will 
 amount to $485,650 a year. All this is in addition to 
 the saving in health, as well as the great improve- 
 ment in the appearance of the city, which has been 
 transformed by the splendid streets and the rebuild- 
 ing of the business district. 
 
 The British city is honestly administered. Of that
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF THE BRITISH CITY 283 
 
 there is no question. Public opinion does not toler- 
 ate the placing of friend or political supporter in pub- 
 lic office as a reward for political service. There are 
 no spoils and no suggestion of graft. 
 
 There is, however, something very like graft that 
 goes almost unchallenged in the British city. It is 
 the influence of privileged classes in the council. I 
 once heard the question of municipal honesty raised 
 by an American visitor at Liverpool in conference 
 with a group of city officials. The American asked : 
 " Is there no graft in connection with municipal own- 
 ership, no corruption incident to the many under- 
 takings which the city carries on?" 
 
 "No, there is no corruption in the British city," 
 the official replied, "it does not exist. Liverpool is 
 honestly administered in the interests of the people." 
 
 " But," the inquirer continued : " are there no busi- 
 ness interests, no land speculators, no privileged 
 classes, that in some indirect way control the council 
 or influence its actions? Is the British city free from 
 this sort of influence also?" 
 
 An elderly alderman who had taken no part in the 
 conversation interposed and said: "Liverpool owns 
 the street railway, the electric-lighting and water 
 plants. It does not own the gas plant, although 
 proposals have been made to buy it. There has been 
 some complaint that too many stockholders of the 
 gas company find their way into the council, and 
 are active in the protection of their private interests.
 
 284 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 If that is what you mean by indirect influence, there 
 has been some of it in Liverpool." 
 
 I heard this complaint in a number of cities that 
 do not own the gas or electric-lighting plants. The 
 companies send their directors or stockholders to 
 the council, where they use their influence to pre- 
 vent the purchase of the plant or to secure Uberal 
 valuations when it is acquired by the city. Where 
 private ownership prevails, companies are active in 
 politics, as they are with us, but in a less aggressive 
 way. There is no criminal wrong-doing. And the 
 Enghsh people, with their veneration for men who 
 have achieved distinction, find it difficult to suspect 
 a prominent citizen of wrong-doing in such a matter. 
 His advice is assumed to be only the wisdom of 
 greater experience. 
 
 Liverpool, like most British cities, is badly con- 
 gested. The tenement districts are old, unsanitary, 
 and involve a fearful cost in disease and death. But 
 the city boldly undertook a number of slum-clear- 
 ance projects at a total cost of 82,000,000. It tore 
 down great areas of tenement land; the streets were 
 widened, and 2,000 individual cottages erected to 
 take the place of those destroyed. 
 
 Citizens vie with officials in Liverpool in claim- 
 ing that their tram ways are the most up-to-date in 
 Great Britain. ^^Tlatever merit there may be in the 
 claim — a common one, by the way, heard all over 
 Great Britain — the tram ways are wonderfully effi-
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF THE BRITISH CITY 285 
 
 cient and comfortable, and are an ornament to the 
 streets. The cars are fresh with paint, the employees 
 are courteous, and the public is proud of the financial 
 balance-sheet. There is no overcrowding at any time 
 during the day. A great workshop is operated by 
 the city where cars, motors, and machinery are both 
 built and repaired. There is a spirit of enthusiastic 
 rivaliy to make the service the best that can be 
 offered. Municipal ownership, far from deadening 
 initiative, seems to have given it the fullest oppor- 
 tunity to express itself. This is true all over Eng- 
 land, as it is in Germany. 
 
 The manager of the tram ways invented a plough 
 life-guard which has been copied by other municipal 
 tram ways. It consists of a diamond-shaped guard 
 made of lumber which runs so close to the tracks that 
 any one thrown down is pushed off to the side by the 
 fender. He cannot get under the wheels. In conse- 
 quence, fatal accidents are reduced to the vanishing- 
 point. Experiments were also made by the city with 
 cars of every variety to find the one that was most 
 popular, that would provide the most seats, and carry 
 the greatest number of passengers with the maximum 
 comfort and the minimum cost. The trams com- 
 mittee purchased cars in America, Germany, and 
 Belgium, and tried them out exhaustively to ascer- 
 tain the type of car most wanted by the community. 
 Finally, the double-decker type was adopted. It has 
 so many advantages one finds it difficult to under-
 
 286 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 stand why it is not introduced in America. The en- 
 closed stairs have been found to be perfectly safe. 
 The upper decks of the cars can be used in any kind 
 of weather. In addition, statistical studies show 
 that these cars can be loaded and unloaded as 
 quickly as the single-deck cars universally used in 
 this country, while double the number of passengers 
 are comfortably carried. In addition, they are so 
 pleasant that they greatly stimulate traffic. 
 
 Many other improvements have been worked out 
 in Liverpool which, so far as the public is concerned, 
 are far in advance of the private lines in America. 
 The cars are cleaned every night, as are the trucks. 
 The signs upon the cars give the routes and destina- 
 tion in detail. Stopping-places are marked by con- 
 spicuous signs. On the narrow streets the span-wires 
 are carried from rosettes on the buildings, rather 
 than from poles. Employees are picked after the 
 most careful examination; they prize their jobs, 
 and are courteous and considerate to passengers. 
 There are no strap-hangers at any time, for the 
 double-decker car offers more than twice as many 
 seats as the average American single-deck car. 
 
 Across the river Mersey, from Liverpool, lies the 
 village of Port Sunlight, one of the first garden-cities 
 of Great Britain. It is a proprietary village of the 
 Lever Brothers, soap manufacturers. The garden 
 suburb is the most-talked-of municipal topic in Great 
 Britain, and along with town planning has appropri-
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF THE BRITISH CITY 287 
 
 ated the municipal thought of the nation. It seems 
 to mark an era in the whole city movement, and to 
 offer a solution of the housing problem. In 1898 a 
 book appeared entitled "Garden Cities of To-mor- 
 row/' written by Ebenezer Howard, which proposed 
 the building of model villages on cheap land, planned 
 in detail in advance of their building. Several years 
 passed before the book was taken seriously, but dur- 
 ing the last few years thirty or forty suburbs or 
 independent communities have been erected along 
 the line laid down by the author; while the idea has 
 been enthusiastically adopted by housing reformers 
 in Germany, France, and the Continent generally. 
 
 Port Sunlight was one of the earliest of the self- 
 contained garden-villages. It differs from Letch- 
 worth, Hampstead, and most of the subsequent un- 
 dertakings in being a proprietary village, much as is 
 Gary, Indiana, built by the steel trust. Fifty-six 
 acres of land were first purchased, about five miles 
 from the centre of Birkenhead, of which 32 acres 
 were set aside for village uses and 24 acres for the 
 factories. The original area has since been increased, 
 until it now includes 230 acres, of which 90 are occu- 
 pied by the works, and 140 by the village proper. 
 
 The planning of the village was placed in the hands 
 of an expert. The roadways are curved and skirt 
 the ravines, which were dedicated to park purposes. 
 The village now contains about three thousand peo- 
 ple, all of whom are housed in detached or semi-
 
 288 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 detached cottages erected by the company. There is 
 great diversity of style, but perfect harmony in the 
 whole. Almost every village need has been provided 
 for. There are a church, a wonderful art-gallery, and 
 a library. There are a gymnasium and club-houses, 
 with an auditorium, swimming and other baths, 
 tennis and cricket fields, and opportunities for out- 
 of-door sports. In all of the garden-villages the 
 greatest thought has been given to the leisure Hfe of 
 the people, and the most generous provision has been 
 made for play spaces, in winter as well as in sum- 
 mer, for adults as well as for children. 
 
 The cottages are surrounded with hedges, and the 
 front gardens are kept up by the company itself, 
 which makes a charge of six cents a week for the 
 care of each cottage garden. The roadways are 
 bordered with parkage, trees, and gardens, as are the 
 open spaces. 
 
 From a financial point of view the rents do not 
 maintain the village, partly because of the large out- 
 lay in the building and maintenance of the conomu- 
 nity institutions, such as the institute college, gym- 
 nasiums, baths, and so forth. The total investment 
 approximates $2,500,000, upon which the company 
 receives no interest, the rents being only sufficient 
 to maintain the cottages and keep them in repair. 
 The loss of interest to the company is about $170,- 
 000, which the company treats as a contribution to 
 efficiency. The owners claim that the improved
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF THE BRITISH CITY 289 
 
 health of the employees, due to better homes and 
 open-air Hfe, yields a return in the increased out- 
 put of the factories that reimburses it for the loss on 
 the investment. In this respect Port Sunlight dif- 
 fers from the other garden-cities, like Hampstead 
 and Letchworth, which are organized on a com- 
 mercial basis and yield a return on the investment, 
 the same as any other commercial enterprise. 
 
 Sir William H. Lever, one of the proprietors, insists, 
 as a matter of principle, "that every diligent em- 
 ployee has a moral and indisputable right to live in 
 a decent home, to possess the opportunity to bring 
 up his children in decent environments, to enjoy the 
 best possible facilities for the development of his own, 
 his wife's, and children's faculties, so as to make 
 them healthy and strong and long-lived. Business, 
 he says, cannot be carried on by physically deficient 
 employees, any more than war can be successfully 
 waged by physically deficient soldiers. Business 
 efficiency therefore demands better housing condi- 
 tions for employees, apart from the principle of the 
 employees' own unquestionable right to the same." 
 
 The houses at Port Sunlight are in striking con- 
 trast to the slum districts of the near-by cities of 
 Liverpool and Birkenhead. And the improvement 
 in the appearance of the working-people and the 
 children on the streets is a demonstration of the 
 terrible cost of bad housing to the life and morals 
 of a people. Careful statistical investigation showed
 
 290 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 that the height of Port Sunhght school-children at 
 fourteen years of age was 62.2 inches, while those 
 in the public schools of Liverpool ranged from 55.2 
 inches to 61.7 inches. The weight of the same chil- 
 dren in Port Sunlight was 108 pounds, as compared 
 with 71.1 to 94.5 pounds in the pubHc schools of the 
 near-by cities. The statistics of the death-rate are 
 quite as eloquent. In the average industrial cities 
 in England it ranges from 14 to 19 per thousand, 
 while in Port Sunlight it ranged during seven years 
 from 5.55 to 12.87 per thousand. 
 
 The garden-city is England's greatest contribution 
 to the housing problem. After a generation of fruit- 
 less effort to relieve urban congestion by regulation 
 and the construction of municipal tenements, the 
 garden-city has awakened the enthusiasm of housing 
 reformers not only in Great Britain, but on the con- 
 tinent of Europe as well. A proprietary garden-vil- 
 lage has been built at Boumeville, near Birmingham, 
 while within the past ten years 30 or 40 other garden 
 communities have been started. The best-known 
 are those of Letchworth and Hampstead. The 
 former has grown, in seven years' time, from 400 to 
 7,000 population. It is located 34 miles to the 
 north of London, and is planned upon a large estate, 
 purchased for the pmpose, of 3,818 acres. It was 
 laid off like an old English village, with the retail 
 shops confined to certain streets near the station. 
 The factory sites are by the railway track, away
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF THE BRITISH CITY 291 
 
 from the residence areas, which are planned for work- 
 ingmen or retired well-to-do people. Streets are of 
 the greatest variety, as is the architecture. Restric- 
 tions limit the height of all buildings as well as the 
 distance from the street. There is generous pro- 
 vision for athletic sports. A conmiunity club-house 
 has been erected, as well as institutes and public 
 schools. Land speculation has been eliminated by 
 a provision in the by-laws of the company, under 
 which earnings on the capital stock are limited to 
 5 per cent., any profits in excess of this being used 
 for the conmiunity itself, ultimately for the reduc- 
 tion of local taxes. 
 
 A similar garden suburb has been developed at 
 Hampstead, on the outskirts of London. It, too, is 
 a co-operative community, in which the dividends 
 are limited to 5 per cent, on the investment. A 
 score of other garden-cities have been begim in the 
 neighborhood of London, Manchester, Liverpool, 
 York, and elsewhere. 
 
 Possibly the garden-city will redeem the British 
 city. Housing conditions are everywhere bad, and 
 poverty is so general that it has alarmed the nation. 
 No country in Europe is so nearly exclusively urban 
 as Great Britain. The census of 1911 shows a popu- 
 lation for England and Wales of 618 to the square 
 mile. Sixty years ago the population was about 
 equally divided between the country and the town, 
 but in 1911 the census shows that no less than 78
 
 292 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 per cent, of the population live under urban, and 
 only 22 per cent, under rural conditions. Seventy 
 per cent, of the people live in towns of more than 
 10,000 population. Decade by decade the urban 
 population increases in spite of constant official ef- 
 fort during the last ten years to create a movement 
 back to the land. 
 
 Two movements have recently been started which 
 promise to relieve this tendency. One is the taxa- 
 tion of land values, which had its beginnings in the 
 budget fight of 1909 for the valuation of land and its 
 taxation at a low rate; the other, the garden-suburb 
 and garden-city movement, whose possibilities are as 
 yet only faintly realized. The threatened taxation 
 of land values has stimulated the sale of great es- 
 tates to small farmers, while the garden-city move- 
 ment has indicated the possibihties of industrial and 
 residential decentralization, which, from the present 
 interest in the idea, give promise of changing the 
 character of the British city. All these ideas look to 
 the utilization of the powers of government to im- 
 prove the condition of all classes. They are a sug- 
 gestion of the potentiality of democracy when con- 
 sciously directed to social ends. 
 
 ^ For a more extended description, by the author, of The Garden 
 Cities of England, see Scribner's Magazine, July, 1912.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 HOW THE BRITISH CITY IS GOVERNED 
 
 The administrative machinery of the British city, 
 or borough, as it is legally called, is very simple. 
 The town council is endowed with all the powers the 
 city enjoys. There is only one elective official, and 
 that is the councilman. The people do not select 
 the mayor or judicial magistrates. There are no 
 boards or commissions which confuse the voter as 
 to where responsibility should be placed. The mayor 
 is chosen by the council. So is the town clerk. The 
 managers of the various departments are nominated 
 by committees and subsequently confirmed by the 
 council. Up to 1902 local education was in the hands 
 of separate agencies, but by the education act of that 
 year it was transferred to the council, which admin- 
 isters education through a committee. This is all 
 there is to the government of the British city. It is 
 simple, direct, and easily understood by all. 
 
 The town council is a large body, much larger than 
 it is with us, but about the same size as it is in Ger- 
 many. The election is usually by wards, although 
 some of the smaller towns elect councilmen at large. 
 Most of the larger boroughs are divided into sixteen 
 
 293
 
 294 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 wards, with three members from each. In some cit- 
 ies the comicils are much larger. The London county- 
 council has 118 members. In Manchester there are 
 103, in Liverpool 134, and in Glasgow 75. Mem- 
 bers are elected for a three-year term, and one-third 
 retire every year. All citizens except clergymen, 
 including women since 1907, are eligible to member- 
 ship. Even non-residents may be chosen if they 
 own property in the municipality or pay certain rates 
 and live within fifteen miles of the borough. Nor 
 need candidates Hve in the wards which they repre- 
 sent. In consequence the councils of the larger cit- 
 ies contain many members who live in the suburbs, 
 but do business in the city. This is also the rule as 
 to members of Parliament, and is one explanation of 
 the long service of capable men in British politics. 
 It enables the community to draw on talent wherever 
 it may be found. A capable man defeated in one 
 ward can stand for election in another. This reduces 
 log-rolling. It raises the whole city above its parts. 
 In addition to the councilmen there are a certain 
 number of aldermen, usually sixteen, chosen by the 
 council upon its organization, either from out its own 
 membership or from distinguished citizens outside. 
 Except in special cases the number of aldermen is 
 fixed by law at one-third of the council. Aldermen 
 are chosen for six years, and one-third of the number 
 retire every three years. The usual practice is to 
 select the older and more experienced councilmen
 
 HOW THE BRITISH CITY IS GOVERNED 295 
 
 for this distinction, by-elections being then held to 
 fiU the vacancies. Frequently candidates who have 
 been defeated for the council are elected as alder- 
 men. Re-elections are the rule, and it is common to 
 find men in the council who have served in one ca- 
 pacity or the other for a quarter of a century. 
 
 Aldermen have the same powers as councillors. 
 They sit in the council, which has but one chamber, 
 and vote on all questions. The only distinction be- 
 tween councilmen and aldermen is the method of 
 election and the greater dignity which attaches to the 
 latter oflBce. Partisan considerations enter into the 
 selection, although it is not uncommon for an under- 
 standing to exist by which the minority party re- 
 ceives recognition. Aldermen quite generally hold the 
 important chairmanships by virtue of long service. 
 
 In a way the aldermen correspond to the unpaid 
 members of the magistrat in the German city. Their 
 experience is that of long training, however, rather 
 than of special qualifications for a particular post. 
 Here the analogy ends, for the aldermen are members 
 of the legislative rather than the administrative de- 
 partment of the city. 
 
 The councilmen and aldermen sit together and 
 form the town council. They elect the mayor and 
 appoint the committees. The more distinguished 
 members sit as magistrates. 
 
 This is all there is to the machinery of British 
 cities, all of which, with the exception of London,
 
 296 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 have the same form of government. There is no 
 provision for the permanent expert, as in Germany, 
 for neither the members of the council nor the mayor 
 receive any salary. Nor is city administration a pro- 
 fession to which men devote their lives. Such per- 
 manence and expert assistance as is secured is ob- 
 tained through the permanent heads of the depart- 
 ments, who are trained in a limited field rather than 
 in the art of city administration. In consequence 
 the British city is far less brilliant than the German 
 city. It has little of the imagination and little of 
 the social outlook which the paid magistrat and per- 
 manent expert burgomaster give to the latter. City 
 government in England is part of the politics of the 
 nation, although it is free from many of the evils 
 which characterize city government in this country. 
 
 The work of a conscientious councillor is very ex- 
 acting. The council meets regularly, while the com- 
 mittees are in frequent session. There are inspec- 
 tions to be made, a great variety of city functions 
 to attend, while if the councilman is a police magis- 
 trate his official duties may easily consume one-half 
 of his working hours. 
 
 The simplicity of English administration is one 
 ex'planation of the success of the city, as well as of 
 the high order of men who enter the council. This, 
 too, in part, explains the alertness of the voter. He 
 understands the charter. He knows who is responsi- 
 ble. There is no confusion of powers, no conflict of
 
 HOW THE BRITISH CITY IS GOVERNED 297 
 
 authority between departments, for there is but one. 
 It is easy to understand the procedure, to follow the 
 reports of council meetings in the newspapers, where 
 they are fully reported. The voter probably knows 
 his councilman personally. He certainly knows how 
 he votes on all important questions. 
 
 Nor is there any complicated machinery of nom- 
 ination or election. Any man or woman can be 
 nominated by the filing of a petition signed by two 
 proposers and eight seconders. Nothing more is re- 
 quired to place a nominee on the ballot. There are 
 no caucuses or conventions, no primaries or delegates 
 between the voter and his agent. There is no boss 
 to be seen, no campaign contributions to be made. 
 The only pledges of the candidate are to his constit- 
 uents in the ward. 
 
 The ballot is as short as it can be made. It is 
 simplicity itself. When the voter goes to the polls 
 at a municipal election in November, he receives a 
 ballot printed on plain white paper which contains 
 the name, residence, and occupation of each candi- 
 date. There is no reference to his party affiliations, 
 for the party is not recognized by law in municipal 
 elections. Names are printed in alphabetical order, 
 and after each name a blank space is provided in 
 which the voter indicates his choice. 
 
 This ease of nomination has not produced a large 
 number of candidates, as would be expected. There 
 are never more than three or four candidates, and
 
 298 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 usually there are but two. There are no national, 
 State, county, and school tickets upon a long blanket 
 ballot; there are no alien issues which have no pos- 
 sible relation to the city. The only question the 
 voter has to decide is as to whether he wants John 
 Doe or Richard Roe as his councilman. Members of 
 Parliament are elected at separate elections, and 
 usually only once in four or five years. Local and 
 national elections are divorced, and each campaign 
 is waged on its own merits. The expenses of the 
 election are borne by the municipality, although the 
 ballots are printed by the candidates. 
 
 England seems to have adopted, quite as a matter 
 of course, an easy means for enabling men to enter 
 politics and to remain there if they prove efficient. 
 At the same time the voter can readily change his 
 representative if he has proved unsatisfactory. 
 
 Municipal campaigns are often hotly contested, 
 quite generally along party lines; for, while the ma- 
 chinery encourages independence, the party organi- 
 zations usually select the candidates and aid them 
 in their campaigns. Voters adhere to their parties 
 quite as tenaciously as they do in the United States 
 and the independent candidate has relatively little 
 chance of success. 
 
 Quite frequently there is no contest in a ward for 
 years. Wherever the party is overwhelmingly strong 
 or where a councillor has been satisfactory to his 
 constituents he is left undisturbed in his seat. It
 
 HOW THE BRITISH CITY IS GOVERNED 299 
 
 has happened that all the candidates at a city elec- 
 tion have been returned without contest, while in 
 the election of 1899 less than half the seats in one 
 hundred and three boroughs and urban districts were 
 contested. In thirteen of the municipalities there 
 was not a single councilmanic contest. 
 
 The council usually organizes along party lines. 
 The mayor is chosen from the dominant party, as are 
 the town clerk and a majority of the aldermen. The 
 issues which divide councillors are much the same as 
 those which divide members of Parliament and are 
 grouped around economic and industrial policies. 
 Members of the Conservative, or Tory party are 
 generally opposed to any extension of municipal trad- 
 ing and are likely to be found protecting the inter- 
 ests of the landed classes. The Liberal party is es- 
 sentially the party of business men whose interests 
 are only incidentally landed. The Socialist or La- 
 bor group is committed to the extension of munic- 
 ipal activities, but only in a few of the boroughs 
 around London has it become the dominant party. 
 Contests within the council relate to the administra- 
 tion of the street railways, the gas, and other activi- 
 ties, to housing proposals and the feeding of school- 
 children. Labor members demand a reduction in 
 the rates and charges for public services, while the 
 Liberal and Conservative members are inclined to 
 operate the municipal undertakings so as to relieve 
 the rates and taxes.
 
 300 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 The British city is really governed by council 
 committees. They are both legislative and execu- 
 tive departments. Each committee is a council in 
 miniature, which directs the department committed 
 to its care. In the larger cities there are from 
 twelve to twenty standing committees, each of which 
 is further subdivided into subcommittees to which 
 are assigned special branches of the work. The sub- 
 committees report to the main committee, and the 
 main committee reports to the whole council. The 
 mayor is an ex-officio member of all committees, al- 
 though he rarely takes part in their deliberations. 
 
 Committees are not appointed by the mayor, but 
 are made up by the council itself. Immediately fol- 
 lowing the election a committee of committees is 
 created, which reports suggested assignments. These 
 recommendations are then referred to the council 
 for approval. Ordinarily the personnel of the com- 
 mittees continues with little change from year to 
 year. It is not uncommon to find men who have 
 served ten, fifteen, or even twenty years on a given 
 committee. 
 
 Places on important committees are much sought 
 after as a means of making a reputation or for po- 
 litical advancement. When a vacancy occurs in a 
 chairmanship the deputy is usually advanced to the 
 post, just as members of the council pass to the post 
 of mayor. To be chairman of an important com- 
 mittee is an honor that is greatly prized. This is
 
 HOW THE BRITISH CITY IS GOVERNED 301 
 
 particularly true of those committees which control 
 the street railways, gas and electric lighting under- 
 takings, which offer spectacular opportunities for 
 economies, earnings, and service. To be a member 
 of one of these committees, with a budget running 
 into millions of dollars annually, is like being on the 
 board of directors of a railroad corporation in this 
 coimtry. And it is sought for for the same reason. 
 
 The chairman is a kind of little mayor, selected by 
 the committee on its organization. He presides over 
 its meetings, and if he is interested in its work be- 
 comes an ex-offi,cio director of the department. The 
 committee employs the director and staff. It fixes 
 wages, salaries, and the details of management. It 
 prepares and spends its annual budget. All of its 
 actions are, however, referred to the council for ap- 
 proval. At stated intervals a voluminous report is 
 made, usually at the end of the year, which is dis- 
 cussed by the council as a whole. 
 
 The managers of the various departments are usu- 
 ally trained men, frequently chosen by competition 
 from other cities, or advanced from one post to an- 
 other much as are the managers of a private corpora- 
 tion. They are paid good salaries, and are rarely 
 changed for political reasons. Employment is per- 
 manent, as it is in Germany. A professional class of 
 expert officials has thus been produced which makes 
 a business of municipal administration. The Brit- 
 ish city expert differs from the German burgomaster
 
 302 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 in being the director of a single department rather 
 than in being one of the managers of the city. 
 
 The committee is the central feature of the British 
 city. To it all matters are referred. From it almost 
 all initiative comes. The great increase in munici- 
 pal functions which has taken place in recent years 
 has made it impossible for the council as a whole to 
 familiarize itself ^dth the details of administration 
 in each department or to have an intelligent opinion 
 about its needs. In consequence the recormnenda- 
 tions of the committee are usually approved by the 
 council as a whole, and in most of the details of man- 
 agement it acts as though it were an independent body. 
 
 The position of mayor or provost — as the mayor 
 is called in Scotland — is a social and titular rather 
 than executive post. The mayor is chosen by the 
 council each year upon its organization rather than 
 by the people directly. He is the chairman of the 
 council, and his selection is often determined by 
 seniority of service. The council system of admin- 
 istration ofTers no place for a strong mayor, as do 
 the German and American systems, for all of the de- 
 tails of administration are lodged with the council 
 conmiittees. The public does not hold the execu- 
 tive responsible for the success or failure of city 
 administration, and rarely does he promote a policy 
 or stand for a programme. Almost the only notable 
 exception is that of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, who 
 was Mayor of Birmingham from 1873 to 1876.
 
 HOW THE BRITISH CITY IS GOVERNED 303 
 
 Despite the lack of power of the mayor, his social 
 activities are very absorbing. He entertains the 
 city's guests, opens hospitals and public buildings, 
 and presides on all public occasions. The town hall 
 is the centre of many activities, of receptions, balls, 
 and other functions, at which the mayor is the host. 
 He is called upon to adjust labor disputes and to 
 represent the city on formal occasions. If the King 
 honors the city with a visit he has the distinction 
 of entertaining him. These, however, are his extra- 
 legal powers. By virtue of his office he is a member 
 of all committees, although he rarely attends them. 
 He has no veto power over legislation, and makes 
 no important appointments. He is a justice of the 
 peace and sits as magistrate in the disposition of 
 petty cases. 
 
 In spite of this lack of power, the office of mayor 
 is the goal of the business man's ambition. For this 
 distinction he serves in the council. Toward this 
 honor he looks forward as the end of an honorable 
 career. In anticipation of the burdens it entails 
 upon his purse, he saves. For in the larger cities the 
 mayor must be a man of wealth. And if his fondest 
 hopes are realized, retirement from office is crowned 
 by a knighthood from the King. This is the apothe- 
 osis of the British tradesman, the shopkeeper, and 
 the manufacturer, who form the ruling class in the 
 cities. 
 
 The office involves heavy expense to the mayor's
 
 304 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 private purse, for he receives no salary. He is, how- 
 ever, relieved of a portion of the burden which his 
 many social obligations entail by an appropriation 
 by the council for the puipose. In some of the 
 larger cities, like London, Liverpool, and Dublin, he 
 has a mansion house as a town residence. Some cit- 
 ies also maintain a coach and pair for his use. On 
 official occasions he is adorned with robes and jewels, 
 and cuts a distinguished figure before the community. 
 For some years Dublin appropriated $18,000 a year 
 for its lord mayor, but this appropriation was re- 
 cently reduced to $8,000. Bristol allows him $5,000 
 and $600 more for a private secretary. Edinburgh 
 appropriates $5,000 for its lord provost, while Brad- 
 ford, Leeds, Belfast, and Hull make no standing 
 appropriation, but provide for the expenses of enter- 
 tainment on special occasions. But no matter what 
 the appropriation may be, it is rarely sufficient to 
 meet the expenses incident to the proper maintenance 
 of the office. In spite of this fact the mayoralty 
 commands the talent of the community and excites 
 the ambition of successful business men. 
 
 The British official who corresponds most closely 
 to the German burgomaster, and in some respects 
 to the American mayor, is the town clerk. The office 
 is a distinguished one and requires a high order of 
 ability. The clerk is elected by the council; he re- 
 ceives a generous salary, holds office during good 
 behavior, and makes a profession of his calling. He
 
 HOW THE BRITISH CITY IS GOVERNED 305 
 
 is usually a lawyer and must be familiar with the 
 many special acts relating to the city and be able 
 to appear before parliamentary committees for the 
 promotion of local legislation. 
 
 The clerk of Glasgow receives $10,000 a year. 
 Some years ago when a vacancy occurred in that 
 city, the council advertised for a clerk just as the 
 German city advertises for members of its magis- 
 trat. Partisan questions usually influence the selec- 
 tion, but not to the neglect of ability. 
 
 The clerk is in a sense the guiding spirit of the 
 British city. To him the council turns for advice 
 upon all kinds of municipal questions. He is the 
 secretary of all committees, and the custodian of the 
 city's records. He reports to the local government 
 board and the board of trade, and prepares the offi- 
 cial transactions of the municipality. He attends the 
 meetings of the council as well as of important com- 
 mittees. He prepares reports and performs such 
 other duties as the council may provide. In the 
 larger towns he has a number of assistants who are 
 trained like himself. The town clerk, together with 
 permanent salaried heads of departments, constitutes 
 the expert element in British city administration. 
 
 There is no such thing as the spoils system in the 
 British city, nor are there any civil service laws as 
 there are with us. Public opinion would not tolerate 
 the use of public office for the organization of a party 
 machine or the payment of personal debts. Merit
 
 306 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 is recognized in all departments, and permanency of 
 tenure is assured, even among day laborers. 
 
 Nor has the extension of municipal trading, with 
 the thousands of employees which it has added to 
 the pay-roll, weakened the traditions or the sanctity 
 of pubHc office. It is quite possible that municipal 
 trading has strengthened the merit system by reason 
 of the bigness of the city and the importance of its 
 activities. The introduction of the spoils system 
 would dislocate so many services that it would arouse 
 an irresistible protest. There has been some fear 
 that the increase in the number of employees might 
 lead to the coercion of the council by organized labor, 
 but this fear has never been realized, partly because 
 the city pays a higher standard of wages and treats 
 its employees better than do the private employers, 
 and partly because public opinion would quickly re- 
 sent any such attempt. 
 
 The British city is honest; of that there is no 
 doubt. There have been instances of favoritism in 
 awarding contracts by the smaller communities, but 
 these have been ruthlessly uncovered. A few in- 
 stances have also come to light in which members of 
 councils were stockholders in corporations or were 
 otherwise interested in contracts from the city. In 
 Manchester, where an alderman had a slight interest 
 as stockholder in a company which secured an award, 
 even though the award was to the lowest and best 
 bidder, the alderman was forced to resign his office.
 
 A Back Garden in Port Sunlight, Garden Village.
 
 HOW THE BRITISH CITY IS GOVERNED 307 
 
 Instances of this kind, however, are rare. None of 
 the evils so freely predicted as inherent in municipal 
 ownership have followed the municipalization of the 
 pubHc service corporations. There has been no graft, 
 no machine, no spoils. Rather the reverse has been 
 true. The importance of the city's activities has in- 
 creased the sense of responsibility on the part of the 
 public and the press. It has brought the city into 
 close and intimate touch with all the citizens, who 
 are jealous of the services rendered, of the earnings 
 and the success of the undertaking. 
 
 The British city is also eflBcient. It has not the 
 big vision of the German city nor the generosity of 
 our own. The system of taxation creates a cheese- 
 paring policy on the part of the council, and resent- 
 ment on the part of the community of any under- 
 taking which increases the burdens of taxes. Nor has 
 the city the co-operation of the university and of 
 science as it has in Germany, where every municipal 
 problem is the subject of exhaustive study and a 
 voluminous literature. Economy is the prevailing 
 note in administration, and expenditures are scruti- 
 nized when made for anything save obviously nec- 
 essary purposes. The fear of the taxpayer is present 
 in every councilman's breast. This checks much 
 needed expenditure for schools, parks, playgrounds, 
 and those social activities that have developed so 
 rapidly in this country and Germany. 
 
 Councilmen, too, come from a different class than
 
 308 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 in Germany. They are for the most part tradesmen, 
 small shopkeepers, self-made men of limited educa- 
 tion and imagination. Rarely do the leism-e classes 
 or the aristocracy seek municipal office. They do 
 not mix in city affairs, but live almost exclusively 
 in the country. But there is a fine earnestness about 
 city administration, and conscientious devotion to 
 public work. Council meetings are well attended, 
 and the discussions are very animated. Members 
 of the council as well as the permanent officials are 
 highly respected in their communities. In recent 
 years labor candidates have been finding their way 
 into councils. They have not obtained control in 
 any of the large cities, but they do exert a stimulat- 
 ing influence on public opinion. There has been no 
 suggestion that administration has suffered, or that 
 honesty and efficiency have in any way depreciated, 
 by their coming.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 THE EXPLANATION OF THE BRITISH CITY 
 
 We can only understand the cities of Great Britain 
 when we understand the class which rules the nation 
 of which they are a part. This is because the city 
 has no life of its own. It is not independent; it is 
 the creature of Parliament in Great Britain, just as 
 it is the creature of the state legislature in America. 
 In both countries it has only such powers, only such 
 life, as the legislature permits it to enjoy. 
 
 In this respect the modern city differs from those of 
 ancient and mediaeval times. Then the city was free, 
 free in the sense that Athens, Corinth, Syracuse, and 
 Rome were free; free as were the city states of Ham- 
 burg, Bremen, Frankfort, and Liibeck. Present-day 
 cities, however, are political wards. Their life is 
 minutely fixed for them by state laws. This more 
 than anything else distinguishes the twentieth-cen- 
 tury city from the cities of antiquity. 
 
 And until we appreciate this fact, and all that it 
 imphes; until we know the laws of the state and 
 something of the class which makes these laws; until 
 we fathom the economic interests that control legis- 
 lative bodies, we cannot understand the city at aU. 
 
 309
 
 310 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 Even the psychology of the people is traceable to 
 economic rather than to racial influences; it is 
 traceable to economic influences which in turn are 
 traceable to laws which create the environment in 
 which people not only live but think as well. 
 
 Students of the city have failed to realize this fact ; 
 they have failed to see how completely the city is 
 moulded by laws in whose making it has no part. 
 Yet the attitude of mind of the people, their love or 
 indifference, the psychology of the voter, is the re- 
 flection of the legal status which the cities enjoy. 
 The physical appearance of the city is a product of 
 the same antecedent legal conditions. It is beauti- 
 ful or ugly; it is comfortable or the reverse; it is 
 healthful or unsanitary — all these local conditions re- 
 late back to the state itself. They are consequences 
 of the class interests which dominate Parliament, 
 diets, and legislatures. And if the city is the prey 
 of privileged interests, if it is denied the power to 
 own or regulate the physical basis of its life, it will 
 reflect the license of private property, as it does in 
 England and America. 
 
 The British city has little liberty. It enjoys none 
 of the freedom of the German or Italian city. In 
 many ways it is far less free than are our own. There 
 is no ripper legislation in Great Britain, no changing 
 of charters for partisan reasons or at the behest of 
 some powerful boss or corporation behind the boss. 
 This is unknown and inconceivable. And the city
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE BRITISH CITY 311 
 
 has substantial autonomy in police and sanitary 
 matters. There has been no change in the form of 
 municipal government for three-quarters of a cen- 
 tury, for the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, 
 which provided a uniform charter for all municipal 
 corporations, has remained substantially unchanged 
 since that time. And because Great Britain is free 
 from ripper legislation and legislative interference 
 with the form of government, we have assumed 
 that the city enjoys home rule and substantial self- 
 government. But nothing is farther from the truth. 
 Cities have far less power to control the things which 
 lie at the heart of their life than do our own cities, 
 crippled as they are by the jealousy of state legis- 
 latures and of powerful business interests. 
 
 The British city has been treated by Parliament 
 as a feudal possession, as though it were still the 
 property of the landed aristocracy, as it was in feudal 
 times. Legislation affecting cities has been enacted 
 with an eye to the creation and preservation of pri- 
 vate rights, rather than for the development of a free 
 community. Parliament has thought but little of 
 the claims of the city. It has thought of the prop- 
 erty of its members, which has been safeguarded in 
 every possible way. 
 
 During the nineteenth century great cities came 
 into existence on the landed estates, into which the 
 country is still divided, for to this day the feudal 
 aristocracy, which dominates the House of Lords,
 
 312 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 and is ascendant in the House of Commons as well, 
 retains title to nearly all the land of Great Britain, 
 and collects ground rents from the great majority of 
 the British people. City dwellers, rich and poor alike, 
 are tenants — ground tenants. They do not own the 
 land on which their houses, factories, or office build- 
 ings have been erected. They are like the tenants 
 of the Astor estate in New York or the ground ten- 
 ants of Baltimore and Philadelphia. The land is still 
 owned by the descendants of the families that owned 
 it when the country was almost exclusively agricult- 
 ural. It is this that has made the aristocracy of 
 Great Britain so rich and all the rest of the nation 
 so poor. It is the universal system of land monopoly 
 and the political control of the land-owning class that 
 explain the British city, for the powers which the 
 cities enjoy have been granted with a jealous eye 
 to the rights or claims of the landed classes. 
 
 The extent of land monopoly is almost incredible. 
 One-fourth of the land of the United Kingdom is 
 owned by 1,200 persons, another fourth is held by 
 6,200 owners, while the remaining one-half is dis- 
 tributed between 312,150 persons. There are twelve 
 landlords who own four and one-half million acres 
 between them. The land underlying London, with 
 its 7,000,000 people, is owned in large part by nine 
 estates. The city of Huddersfield, with its 95,000 
 people, is owned by another noble lord; so are the 
 cities of Sheffield and Bury; so are Burton-on-Trent
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE BRITISH CITY 313 
 
 and Devenport. City after city is built upon the 
 land of one or more great owners, whose rent-rolls 
 have reached colossal proportions through no efforts 
 of their own. 
 
 The lands of the aristocracy are entailed or pro- 
 tected from alienation by settlements. Owners can- 
 not sell their estates even if they would. It is the 
 universal custom to lease land to tenants with the 
 provision in the contract that all the improvements 
 made by the tenant shall return to the landlord 
 without compensation on the expiration of the lease. 
 By this process the landed aristocracy gradually ac- 
 quires all of the improvements on the land, and by 
 periodical reappraisal of the leases they increase the 
 burden of rent which the producing classes pay. 
 
 Not only is this true, but wherever possible the 
 landed aristocracy in Parliament has converted mere 
 licenses into vested interests that can only be taken 
 away or acquired by the public on the payment of 
 heavy damages. Privileges without number have 
 been so created. Markets are rights appurtenant 
 to land. If the city desires to open a market, it is re- 
 quired to pay not for the land alone, but for the right 
 to maintain a market as well. For cities have no 
 general right of eminent domain or compulsory pur- 
 chase, as they have with us. They have to negotiate 
 with the land-owner, and to acquire the land on his 
 terms, and then go to the same landlord and his 
 associates in Parliament to secure the right to enter
 
 314 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 on the enterprise. All London with its 7,000,000 
 people is dependent upon Covent Garden Market, 
 owned by the family of Bedford, from which the 
 present duke enjoys a princely revenue; and so pow- 
 erful are the present owners that the London County 
 Council has never been able to secure the right to 
 open a market of its own even on the land which it 
 already possesses. 
 
 Docks, too, are monopoly privileges which can 
 only be acquired on such terms as the owners exact. 
 And the right to own the docks has to be first se- 
 cured by the city from the class which owns the 
 land to be acquired for the purpose. Even the right 
 to maintain a public-house or saloon is a landed 
 privilege which can only be taken away by the pay- 
 ment to the land-owner of the capitalized value of 
 the rental he has received from the public-house 
 keeper for its use for that purpose. The measure 
 of damages is not the injury suffered by the saloon- 
 keeper; it is rather the capitalized value of monopoly 
 rents which the owner of the land has been able to 
 collect. 
 
 Cities have to pay extortionate prices for the right 
 to lay water-mains to distant water-supplies. They 
 cannot build until the tribute which the land-owners 
 demand has been satisfied. Nor can they condemn 
 slums and tenements; they can only raze them on 
 payment of the capitalized value of their congested 
 rentals, rentals which have been artificially enhanced
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE BRITISH CITY 315 
 
 by overcrowding encouraged by the owner in antici- 
 pation of such purchase by the community. Street- 
 railway, gas, and water undertakings can only be ac- 
 quired in the same way on the payment of their 
 franchise value. The class which rules in Parliament 
 owns all these agencies which lie so close to the life 
 of the people. And the noble peers at Westminster 
 have only permitted the cities to regulate or to buy 
 them on such terms as the owners themselves dic- 
 tated. 
 
 The cost of this class control of the cities is colossal. 
 It is seen in the indebtedness of the towns, in the 
 capitalization of the steam railways, in the burdens 
 imposed on municipal enterprises. Most of all, it is 
 seen in the terrible suffering of the people, in the 
 poverty of the cities, in the depopulation of the 
 countryside, for these conditions are traceable to the 
 privileges created by those who own and who at the 
 same time rule the nation. 
 
 This is the economic foundation of the British 
 city. It is the product of class rule. The House of 
 Lords is almost exclusively a landed body. Its 
 power was recently limited by the abolition of its 
 veto on the budget and its suspension on other legis- 
 lation. But the landed classes are still powerful in 
 the House of Commons. They control the Conser- 
 vative party. They are powerful in the Liberal 
 party. But far more important than their present 
 power are the laws adopted during preceding cen-
 
 316 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 tunes which protect their privileges in every possi- 
 ble way. There are a thousand restraints on munici- 
 pal initiative, hundreds of laws, customs, and usages 
 that suppress freedom. Great Britain had no day 
 of feudal renunciation, as had France during the 
 Revolution. It had no Von Stein and Hardenburg, 
 as had Germany, to repeal the old abuses. At no 
 time has democracy been able to repeal the multi- 
 tude of class laws which were largely swept away in 
 Europe under the influences of the French Revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 Costly as are the examples of class rule referred 
 to, the costliest of all is the system of local taxation 
 which the landlords in Parliament have imposed on 
 the cities; a system under which all of the local 
 taxes have been shifted onto the backs of the ten- 
 ant. Incredible as it may seem, land as land pays 
 no direct taxes for local purposes at all. The land 
 has not been assessed for taxation since 1692, when 
 Great Britain was an agricultural country and Lon- 
 don was httle more than a village. The landlords 
 have never permitted a revaluation to be made or 
 their taxes to be increased until the budget of 1909 
 was adopted by a recent Liberal ministry. 
 
 As stated elsewhere, all local rates or taxes are 
 paid by the tenant. Whereas we ascertain the sell- 
 ing value of real property, and upon this valuation 
 assess the local rate, which ranges from 1 to 2 per 
 cent., in Great Britain the rent actually paid by the
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE BRITISH CITY 317 
 
 tenant is ascertained, and then the tenant is com- 
 pelled to pay an additional sum as taxes. His taxes, 
 or rates, are determined by the amount of his rent. 
 If his rent is $500 a year, he pays from $150 to $250 
 more in taxes; and if the property is not occupied, 
 it pays no taxes at all, for there is no one from whom 
 they can be collected. If it is unimproved or is not 
 used, it is tax-free. It may be in the heart of the 
 business district and be worth millions of dollars, 
 but if no rent is received for its use it pays no tax. 
 
 It is against this injustice that five hundred local 
 communities have organized to promote a measure 
 in Parliament for permission to substitute the Ameri- 
 can system of taxation, based upon capital or selling 
 rather than upon rental values. But the landlords 
 have repeatedly thrown out the bills, for tax ex- 
 emption is the most valuable privilege which they 
 enjoy. By this simple device they relieve them- 
 selves from taxes, which, if assessed as they are in 
 America, would amount to approximately $200,000,- 
 000 a year. That is what the landed aristocracy 
 would pay if their land were taxed as it is in this 
 country. New York City alone collects approxi- 
 mately $80,000,000 a year from land values, exclu- 
 sive of the taxes on improvements. 
 
 The system of local taxation explains the poverty 
 of the people and the wretched housing conditions 
 which everywhere prevail. It also explains the ap- 
 pearance of the city. For the exemption of land from
 
 318 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 taxation enables the owner to keep it out of use; 
 this in turn congests the city within the smallest 
 possible limits. It increases rents through the mo- 
 nopoly holding of the land, and this, together with 
 the bad houses that are built, explains the tenement 
 and the slum. 
 
 In consequence, Great Britain is a land speculator's 
 paradise. The owner is under no necessity to im- 
 prove his property or to dispose of his holdings. He 
 can hold them out of use for an indefinite time. 
 Congestion follows as a matter of course, for building 
 sites are held until they are ripe for tenements. 
 Population is kept closely confined until it can be re- 
 strained no longer, and then when it overflows it 
 passes on to land as prohibitive in price as that from 
 which it was crowded. This is why British cities 
 are built close up to undeveloped agricultural land; 
 this is why tenements may be seen close packed 
 upon the land with hundreds of acres of open coun- 
 try all about them, tenements which are almost as 
 crowded as those in the centre of the city. There is 
 no pressure on the owner to improve, for he is able 
 to realize the last penny in the pound by holding 
 his property until it is absolutely needed for building. 
 
 Parliament exercises its power over the city and 
 protects the interests of the ruling class in many 
 other ways. Cities, it is true, are generally per- 
 mitted to enter on industrial undertakings that are 
 not too novel or too hazardous. They have little
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE BRITISH CITY 319 
 
 difficulty in securing power to acquire a street rail- 
 way or a gas plant, to build model houses or tene- 
 ments. But all these things have to be authorized 
 by a special act. They are not enjoyed as a matter 
 of right. Every new bond issue, every new project, 
 has to come before Parliament for approval. In- 
 vestigations are first made by the local government 
 board, which makes a report on the subject, after 
 which Parliament legislates. And it is through the 
 conditions imposed on the project that the privileged 
 classes exercise their control and exact their tribute. 
 A slum clearance is authorized only when the land- 
 lords in Parliament are assured that the owners' esti- 
 mate of damage will be satisfied. Docks can only 
 be built with the permission of the same class and 
 on its terms. The acquisition of new sources of 
 supply for water plants, the regulation of the liquor 
 traffic, the acquisition of markets — all these must be 
 submitted to the owners of the property affected in 
 Parliament before approval is given. This is the 
 way privilege protects its interests. And the laws 
 enter into the greatest particularity as to the way 
 things shall be done, the amount of money that 
 shall be spent, and the method employed in comput- 
 ing damages. In this way the city is supervised by 
 Parliament not for its own good, but for the good 
 of the class which is supreme in politics. 
 
 The special acts relating to a large city fill half a 
 dozen volumes. The time of Parliament is consumed
 
 320 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 with private acts promoted by municipal authorities 
 for the enlargement of their powers. Private acts 
 are initiated by the town council, which directs that 
 a bill be prepared for the purpose. The measure is 
 then sent to the member of Parliament who repre- 
 sents the district. All of the interested parties are 
 notified in order that hearings may be had by the 
 committee to which the measure has been referred. 
 And if the bill involves the expenditure of money, 
 it must be submitted to the rate-payers for approval. 
 
 Municipal authorities can only borrow money for 
 the extension of their street-railway systems, for 
 change in the method of traction, for the carrying 
 of parcels, or the sale of such accessories as gas- 
 stoves and electric equipment, with the slow and 
 tedious approval of Parliament. Such powers as 
 the American city enjoys as a matter of course in 
 condemnation proceedings, special assessments, the 
 issuance of bonds, the management of water under- 
 takings, the building of docks, or the opening of 
 markets do not exist in Great Britain. And it is 
 these activities which control a city's life. They are 
 far more important to the comfort and convenience 
 and health of the community than are the forms of 
 the charter, upon which we place so much emphasis. 
 
 Special legislation, too, is very costly. Pariiamen- 
 tary barristers, who belong to the privileged classes, 
 must be employed to promote each measure. Ex- 
 pert witnesses must be secured. A parliamentary
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE BRITISH CITY 321 
 
 report shows that during the six years from 1892 to 
 1898 the local authorities of Great Britain spent 
 $3,490,000 to secure new powers or to protect them- 
 selves from private bills introduced by special in- 
 terests which were opposed by the cities. The 
 London County Council spent $750,000 to prevent 
 the passage of a franchise grant for an electric 
 light and power monopoly. This sum was used for 
 legitimate purposes in the payment of parhamen- 
 tary agents and experts in the controversy over the 
 bill. Private and local bill legislation is so costly 
 that it is impossible to correct many minor abuses 
 or to secure affirmative legislation for many activi- 
 ties that should be enjoyed as a matter of course. 
 The city is also subject to supervision by the 
 local government board and the board of trade, which 
 are cabinet portfolios, like the interior department 
 of Prussia. The local government board sanctions 
 and supervises all loans. It investigates as to the 
 advisability of any new project. The health of the 
 city is supervised by the state authorities on the 
 assumption that the city is an integral part of the 
 nation. The board has control of poor-law admin- 
 istration and the board of guardians. In England 
 and Wales it audits the accounts of local authorities 
 by accountants who go from city to city to see 
 whether any irregiilarity has occurred or any funds 
 have been spent in violation of law. The town 
 planning act of 1909 was intrusted to the local
 
 322 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 government board, which passes upon all proposals 
 for the development of suburban areas and the pro- 
 motion of health and sanitary arrangements. 
 
 There are no statutory debt limits, as in America. 
 A municipal corporation may borrow in any amount 
 that Parliament or the central authorities permit. 
 But it cannot borrow a penny without this assent. 
 Orders sanctioning loans carefully prescribe the rate 
 of interest to be paid and the provisions for the 
 repa3mient of the debt. 
 
 Nor does the city grant franchises to public util- 
 ity corporations. These, too, are made by Parlia- 
 ment by special acts which impose the terms and 
 conditions for the use of the city streets. The city 
 is consulted in these grants, but it has no power to 
 make them. 
 
 It would be difficult to exaggerate or even enu- 
 merate the evils which flow from this control of the 
 city by Parliament, a control which is in effect lodged 
 in the hands of those who own the things which most 
 vitally affect the city's life. Just as the American 
 city is cramped and confined by class legislation, in- 
 spired for the most part by public service corpora- 
 tions, railways, and land speculators, so the British 
 city is in chains to the landed aristocracy, which re- 
 fuses to endow it with home rule, and which watch- 
 fully supervises every grant of power to insure that 
 its own property and privileges will be protected. 
 In possibly no country in the world is privilege more
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE BRITISH CITY 323 
 
 absolute in its ascendency or more costly in its con- 
 trol than in the cities of Great Britain, whose achieve- 
 ments have been made in spite of, rather than in 
 consequence of, the aid and co-operation of the 
 state. 
 
 But the cost of this class control does not end 
 here. This supervision over the city, but most of 
 all the system of taxation and land monopoly which 
 prevails, explain the physical appearance of the city; 
 they explain its lack of beauty and charm. These, 
 too, explain the meanness of city architecture, and 
 the failure of the British city to grow as have the 
 far more beautiful cities of the Continent. 
 
 For the British city is ugly. There are but few 
 exceptions. Parts of Edinburgh and Dublin are 
 beautiful. So are Oxford, Cambridge, and Chester, 
 and the cathedral towns. But they are old seats of 
 learning or religion which the landed classes love 
 as they do their country estates. They are part of 
 their class traditions. But this almost exhausts the 
 list of beautiful cities. The great industrial towns, 
 in which one-half of the British people dwell, are 
 the ugliest cities of the world. They have none of 
 the charm that makes men love cities. Manchester, 
 Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool, Bradford, Belfast, Bir- 
 mingham, Glasgow, there is little in any of them to 
 relieve the universal monotony of street and archi- 
 tecture. 
 
 Public and private architecture, too, is bad.
 
 324 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 There are few fine buildings, the parks are inade- 
 quate, there is little provision for recreation and 
 pleasure. Miles of brick and stone cottages, all 
 much alike, line the streets. There is little of that 
 city sense so universal in Germany. 
 
 Architecture in Great Britain has never found 
 expression in the city. It has never awakened the 
 ambition of the artist. Nor has the town house or 
 the business block. No city in Great Britain has 
 done what Budapest has done, which city boldly re- 
 built itself to express the pride and ambition of the 
 nation. None of the smaller towns are built as are 
 Diisseldorf, Munich, Frankfort, or a score of other 
 German cities. The British city is an expression of 
 the license of the manufacturing classes, cramped 
 and confined by the land laws and the system of 
 taxation which prevails. 
 
 The appearance of the British city is traceable to 
 the fact that there is no pressure behind the land- 
 owner to improve his land, while the tenant has no 
 incentive to do so. For the improvements all pass 
 to the landlord without compensation on the expira- 
 tion of the lease and must be made as the landlord 
 dictates. Every incentive to fine buildings or the 
 expression of private taste is lacking under the sys- 
 tem of land tenure and taxation which prevails. 
 
 In addition to this, the aristocracy is a country aris- 
 tocracy. Its life is not a city life, as it is in Germany 
 and America. The aristocracy lives in the country
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE BRITISH CITY 325 
 
 from its rents, and only goes to London for the season. 
 It has a contempt for trade, and has never mixed 
 with commerce. The city has never inspired the 
 architect or the artist, as it has in other countries, 
 for the art, architecture, and education of a nation 
 always reflect the interests of the ruling class. 
 
 Because of this divorce of the landed aristocracy 
 from the city Parliament has always treated it as 
 an alien thing, much as it treated Ireland. The 
 church has a more important place in its affections, 
 as have the game laws. The city does not command 
 the thought of the nation, the interest of the press, 
 or of literature. Even to-day, with the city the 
 most portentous problem of the empire, the litera- 
 ture of the city is very meagre. Not more than a 
 half-dozen books of recognized authority on the sub- 
 ject have been written by Englishmen. There are 
 few exhaustive statistical studies, year-books, and 
 scholarly monographs on municipal problems, of 
 which there is such a quantity in Germany. Nor is 
 municipal administration studied in the colleges, as 
 it is with us. The city is neglected by the univer- 
 sity, by statesmen, and by publicists. It does not 
 interest the ruling class or the public opinion made 
 by that class. 
 
 The cities of Great Britain differ from the cities 
 of America and Germany, not so much in racial 
 qualities as in their economic foundations, and it is 
 these economic foundations which mould the mind
 
 326 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 of the voter. The local taxes are very heavy; they 
 amount to from one-fourth to one-half of the amount 
 of the tenant's rent. And the voter watches every 
 new undertaking, every new suggestion, with the 
 fear of increased taxes always in his mind. Coun- 
 c'ilmen reflect this point of view, for they, too, are 
 rate-payers. They, too, think in terms of taxes. 
 The British city thinks through its purse. Its ideals 
 are limited by this fact. This explains the cheese- 
 paring economies of the council; it explains its un- 
 willingness to spend for anything save imperative 
 needs. The movement for municipal ownership 
 sprang largely from the desire of the rate-payers to 
 relieve themselves from taxation by the profits of 
 these undertakings. 
 
 A second explanation of the psychology of the 
 voter is the extent of municipal trading. The public 
 utility corporations touch the community in count- 
 less ways. The tramways are under daily inspec- 
 tion. They affect the comfort of the community 
 in so many ways. Through municipal ownership 
 the citizen acquires a sense of the dignity of the 
 city. He is a stockholder as well as a voter. He can- 
 not afford to be indifferent to municipal elections; 
 cannot afford to permit incompetent or dishonest 
 men to be chosen. The British voter thinks in 
 economic rather than in personal terms. This ex- 
 plains his alertness, his intolerance, and his insistence 
 on honesty and eflSciency.
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE BRITISH CITY 327 
 
 These are the influences that make the British 
 city what it is. It is moulded by class laws enacted 
 by Parliament for the protection of the pecuniary 
 interests of its members. The landed classes legis- 
 late for themselves just as do the franchise-owners, 
 railway magnates, tariff interests, and mine-owners 
 in America. And they sacrifice the city in every 
 possible way. They have made it what it is.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP OF THE GAS SUPPLY 
 
 The British city is far more limited in its activi- 
 ties than are the cities of Germany. It has neither 
 the freedom nor the social vision of the cities of the 
 latter country. Municipal trading, as it is called, 
 is almost confined to street railways, gas, water, and 
 electric-lighting undertakings, to docks, markets, and 
 pubhc baths. It has not been extended to pawn- 
 shops and savings institutions, to land speculation, 
 to the many institutions of social service which char- 
 acterize the more progressive cities of Germany. 
 There have been many housing experiments, but they 
 have not been as intelligently planned as those of 
 the latter country, nor have they been as successful. 
 They have been directly built by the city, but have 
 been handicapped by a heavy initial cost for the slum 
 clearances which they involved. 
 
 Ten years ago municipal trading was the most dis- 
 cussed question in Great Britain. The papers were 
 full of it. There were innumerable pamphlets upon 
 it. But trading is no longer a debated question. It 
 is the nearly universal policy of all large cities and 
 of most of the smaller ones. There is abundant in- 
 
 328
 
 MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP OF GAS SUPPLY 329 
 
 terest in the subject, but little controversy over it. 
 The cities have won their case by the logic of finan- 
 cial success. They have fortified their position by 
 good service, by cheap rates, and by the introduc- 
 tion of economies. Nowhere is there any suggestion 
 to return to private management. Water plants 
 have been widely owned by the cities from the verj^ 
 beginning, as they are with us. Two hundred and 
 ninety-eight local authorities own gas plants, and 
 this includes most of the large cities with the ex- 
 ception of London, Liverpool, and Sheffield. The 
 street-railway and electric-lighting controversy has 
 been the most acrimonious, because of the organized 
 nature of the electrical business and the universal 
 movement for its ownership. But even this con- 
 troversy has died down. It had little effect on the 
 spread of the movement. 
 
 Gas has not been as generally municipalized as 
 have the street-railway, electric-lighting, and water 
 undertakings. The water supply has always been 
 looked upon as a proper field for public ownership, 
 while the electric-lighting plants and street railways 
 were taken over at the time of the introduction of 
 electricity or during the period of transition from 
 horse to electric traction. City councils saw an op- 
 portunity to make money from these enterprises. 
 In addition the private gas companies were en- 
 trenched before the movement for public ownership 
 had gained much headway. Under the rules of
 
 330 
 
 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 valuation provided by Parliament for purchase the 
 cities are required to pay generously for the fran- 
 chise values of the companies. This, along with the 
 idea that electricity would eventually supplant gas, 
 has checked the municipalization of the supply. 
 
 The following is a condensed statement of the 
 public and private gas undertakings in the United 
 Kingdom for the year 1910-11, taken from the 
 Municipal Y ear-Book, 1912 (page 575), and com- 
 piled from official returns of local authorities and 
 private companies: 
 
 
 Local 
 Authorities 
 
 Private 
 Companies 
 
 Number of plants owned by. 
 Capital invested 
 
 298 
 
 $151,002,560 
 
 $54,148,790 
 
 $39,512,255 
 
 72.86 per cent. 
 
 $14,636,535 
 
 9^ per cent. 
 
 2,666,146 
 
 60 cents 
 
 511 
 
 $460,965,955 
 
 $102,232,190 
 
 $76,544,640 
 
 74.87 per cent. 
 
 $25,687,550 
 
 5f/i per cent. 
 
 3,751,703 
 
 66 cents 
 
 Total receipts 
 
 Operating expenses 
 
 Ratio of expense to gross 
 earnings 
 
 Net revenue . . . . . 
 
 Return on capital invested 
 
 Number of consumers 
 
 Approximate average charge 
 for gas per 1,000 cubic feet 
 
 The total receipts of the public plants are about 
 one-half the receipts of the private companies, while 
 the number of public plants is somewhat above this 
 percentage. There is no evidence that the public 
 plants are carelessly managed or inefficient. Rather 
 the reverse is true. Municipal plants are operated
 
 MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP OF GAS SUPPLY 331 
 
 at a lower percentage of their earnings than are the 
 private ones, the percentage of the former being 
 72.96, while in the private plants it is 74.87. This is 
 in spite of the fact that the public plants almost al- 
 ways pay higher wages, give shorter hours, and allow 
 holidays and other privileges not accorded by the 
 private companies. The pubHc plants, too, have 
 only one-fourth of the total capital invested in the 
 business, but serve over 40 per cent, of the total 
 consumers, showing that the cities reach a larger 
 number of potential consumers than do the com- 
 panies. This is done by encouraging the use of gas 
 by penny-in-the-slot meters, by the renting and 
 placing of gas-stoves and appliances, and the stimu- 
 lation of its use in the interest of cleanliness and 
 convenience. Cities realize the value of light as a 
 civilizing agency, and encourage it in every possible 
 way. 
 
 In addition the local authorities earn a larger re- 
 turn on the capital invested than do the companies, 
 showing again that councilmen are good business 
 men, better even than the directors of private com- 
 panies. In 1910-11 the public undertakings earned 
 9H per cent, on their capital, while the companies 
 earned only 5H per cent. This was the return after 
 the payment of all statutory charges for deprecia- 
 tion and maintenance as well as taxes. Finally, the 
 public plants sold gas at an average of 60 cents per 
 1,000 cubic feet, while the private companies charged
 
 332 
 
 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 an average of 66 cents, or 10 per cent, higher than 
 the municipal authorities. 
 
 Many of the cities sell gas below this figure, as ap- 
 pears from the following table, the rates for fuel being 
 
 CiTIEB 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Birmingham 
 
 Bolton 
 
 Bradford ... 
 Burnley. ... 
 
 Burton 
 
 Coventry. . . 
 
 Halifax 
 
 Leeds 
 
 Leicester . . . , 
 Manchester . 
 Nottingham . 
 Oldham.. . . , 
 Rochdale . . , 
 
 Salford 
 
 Stockport. . , 
 
 Net Pbotits 
 
 $202,000 
 
 438,105 
 
 148,685 
 
 64,675 
 
 75,045 
 
 70,820 
 
 93,160 
 
 79,840 
 
 90,505 
 
 236,635 
 
 361,625 
 
 245,715 
 
 92,400 
 
 89,540 
 
 167,890 
 
 130,960 
 
 Price of Gas per 
 1,000 Cubic Fbet 
 
 54 
 
 42 to 56 
 
 56 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 52 to 56 
 
 56 
 
 50 
 
 52 
 
 56 
 
 58 to 60 
 
 52 to 56 
 
 46 
 
 50 
 
 56 
 
 60 to 68 
 
 cents 
 
 considerably below the price for lighting. Special 
 prices are also made for factory uses. 
 
 The municipal undertakings earn large sums in 
 excess of operating costs, which are used to pay off 
 the debt of the plant, for the making of extensions, 
 and for the relief of taxation. The total contribu- 
 tions of all the municipal plants for the latter pur- 
 pose exceed $2,000,000 a year. This is in addition 
 to making provision for the sinking-fund charge to 
 retire the debt, for depreciation and reserve, and for 
 taxes, which the public as well as the private com-
 
 MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP OF GAS SUPPLY 333 
 
 panies are required by law to pay. The net profits, 
 together with the charges for gas in the cities, shown 
 in the table on preceding page, are obtained from 
 the Municipal Y ear-Book for the Year 1912, and are 
 taken from the returns to the Board of Trade for 
 the year 1910-11.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 MUNICIPAL TRANSIT IN GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 Municipal operation of the street railways in 
 Great Britain began with the experiment of the city 
 of Glasgow in 1894. It has since been adopted by 
 one hundred and thirty-six cities and local authori- 
 ties, while forty other local authorities own the 
 tracks but lease the operation to a private com- 
 pany. The success of public operation is now too 
 obvious to be challenged, and practically all classes 
 are united in its support. Almost the only opposi- 
 tion comes from the big electrical enterprises, which 
 are seeking to retain the privileges they now enjoy. 
 
 Glasgow was the first large city to both own and 
 operate its street railways. It undertook operation 
 after an unsatisfactory experience with a private 
 company which had operated a horse line under a 
 twenty-one year grant. There had been a long con- 
 troversy between the company and its employees, in 
 which the sympathy of the community was with 
 the men. This controversy, together with the in- 
 ability of the council to agree on terms for the 
 renewal of the grant, led the city to municipalize 
 
 334
 
 MUNICIPAL TRANSIT IN GREAT BRITAIN 335 
 
 the lines. The success was almost immediate, and 
 other cities followed the example. 
 
 The capital outlay of the tramways of Glasgow 
 now amounts to $17,515,000, and the total receipts 
 for 1911 were $4,747,740. The operating expenses 
 were 56 per cent, of the earnings, or $2,665,895, 
 leaving a profit of $2,081,541, which was distributed 
 as follows: for interest on the indebtedness, $276,- 
 290; for sinking fund to repay the debt at maturity, 
 $448,970; for depreciation or reserve, $1,356,285; 
 and to the Common Good, a fund used for general 
 municipal purposes, $343,390. The tramways earned 
 11.88 per cent, on the capital invested, at an average 
 rate of fare of 1.9 cents or less than 40 per cent, of 
 the average fare paid in the United States. They 
 earned $1,699,675 in net profits after paying interest 
 charges and sinking fund, which was contributed to 
 the betterment of the property or to community uses. 
 
 The zone system prevails in Glasgow, as it does all 
 over Great Britain, on both the public and private 
 lines. There is a halfpenny or one-cent fare for 
 short distances of about half a mile. For the year 
 1911, 27.86 per cent, of the passengers paid but one 
 cent. Those paying two cents formed 54.85 per cent, 
 of the total number, while the percentage paying 
 three cents was 8.15. 82.71 per cent, of all the pas- 
 sengers paid two cents or less. 
 
 The one-cent fare stimulates traffic in the centre 
 of the city and is a great convenience. It increases
 
 336 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 travel when traffic is light. It is also of great service 
 to working girls and women who go home for their 
 lunches, as do many workingmen. 
 
 In 1911; 237;967,307 passengers used the tram- 
 ways, and paid $4,747,740 in fares. In America, at 
 the prevailing five-cent fares, these passengers would 
 have paid $11,898,365.1 
 
 On the following page is a condensed statement of 
 the operating experiences of the municipal tramways 
 of four cities. The reports are for the year 1911.^ 
 
 Municipal trading cannot be challenged on its 
 financial showing. Nor can it be claimed that the 
 accounts are inaccurate. Municipal authorities are 
 required to keep their accounts according to stand- 
 ards fixed by the local government board. Annual 
 returns must be made to the board of trade, which 
 is a portfolio of the government, presided over by a 
 member of the cabinet. The reports are published 
 each year and are subject to scrutiny, while the 
 books of the municipality are audited by the central 
 authorities in order that the requirements as to debt 
 repajTnent, depreciation, and reserve may be prop- 
 erly provided for. 
 
 The extent of public and private ownership in 
 Great Britain, as well as the relative operations of 
 each, are indicated by the following table, taken 
 
 * For more detailed reports of Glasgow and other British cities, see 
 The Municipal Year-Book, London, which gives complete munici- 
 pal statistics of all the local authorities of Great Britain. 
 
 » The Municipal Year-Book, 1912, pp. 593, 598, 602.
 
 MUNICIPAL TRANSIT IN GREAT BRITAIN 337 
 
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 ^ -tf CL • 
 
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 338 
 
 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 from the Municipal Year-Book for the Year 1912. 
 The reports cover operations for the fiscal year 1910: 
 
 
 Local 
 Authorities 
 
 Pbivate 
 Companies 
 
 Number owned and actu- 
 ally operated ^ 
 
 136 
 $220,541,250 
 $47,437,170 
 $29,436,216 
 
 62.05 per cent. 
 $18,000,955 
 
 8H per cent. 
 2,102,483,010 
 
 2.1 cents 
 
 138 
 
 $147,780,580 
 
 $17,952,335 
 
 $11,769,970 
 
 62.52 per cent. 
 $6,727,980 
 
 4H per cent. 
 675,445,481 
 
 2.48 cents 
 
 Capital invested 
 
 Gross receipts 
 
 Working expenses 
 
 Ratio of working expenses to 
 gross receipts 
 
 Net revenue 
 
 Per cent, of net earnings to 
 capital invested 
 
 Passengers carried 
 
 Average rate of fare paid per 
 passenger 
 
 
 The comparison of pubhc and private operation 
 is on the same basis, for the public undertakings are 
 required to pay taxes the same as a private company, 
 as well as to provide for the amortization of the 
 debt within a specified number of years. Out of the 
 176 public undertakings (including the 40 owned but 
 not operated) 4 small communities show a deficit 
 aggregating in all $15,000. These deficits, however, 
 are nominal, and of course include the charges for 
 taxes, for interest, and for the sinking fund to repay 
 indebtedness. For the most part the undertakings 
 are highly profitable, even in the face of the fact 
 that cities pay higher wages and treat their employ- 
 
 * Cities also own the tracks and lease the operation to private 
 companies in forty other cities not included in these figures.
 
 MUNICIPAL TRANSIT IN GREAT BRITAIN 339 
 
 ees more generously than do the private companies. 
 They also charge lower fares and spend more liber- 
 ally for the comfort and convenience of the public. 
 
 Taking the United Kingdom as a whole, the aver- 
 age fare paid on the municipally owned street rail- 
 ways was 2.1 cents, as against an average fare of 
 2.48 cents on the private lines. The average fare in 
 Scotland on the public lines is but 1.9 cents. This 
 difference in fares alone amounts to $7,989,434 on 
 the 2,102,483,000 passengers carried by all the mu- 
 nicipal lines. And had these car riders paid the av- 
 erage fare of 5 cents charged in America, they would 
 have paid $105,124,150, instead of $47,437,170, which 
 is the difference between a 5-cent fare and a 2.1-cent 
 fare, the average fares charged in America and by 
 the public systems in Great Britain. 
 
 In addition to the saving to car riders, the public 
 tramways contributed $2,200,565 to the relief of 
 taxation. They also repaid loans to the extent of 
 $5,893,875. The total gain to the public from these 
 two sources alone amounted to $8,093,540, and if we 
 add the contributions to the relief of taxation, the 
 debt repayment, and the difference in fares between 
 the public and private corporations, together, we 
 have a total saving to the communities of $16,- 
 082,974 a year from municipal ownership of the tram- 
 ways. 
 
 The largest contributions to the relief of taxation 
 were $364,987 in Manchester, $275,000 in Leeds,
 
 340 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 S265,000 in Glasgow, $160,000 in Birmingham, $135,- 
 000 in Liverpool, and $100,000 in Nottingham and 
 Bradford. In Glasgow the profits go to a special 
 fund known as " The Common Good." 
 
 Ordinances in England, as in Germany, specifically 
 prohibit overcrowding. In Liverpool 68 per cent, 
 additional cars are added during the rush hours. 
 In Birmingham standing is prohibited. In Leeds 
 the service is increased by 30 per cent, in the morn- 
 ing, at noon, and in the evening. Many cities pro- 
 vide reduced fares mornings and evenings. In Man- 
 chester 3 and 4 cent fares are reduced to 2 cents, 5 
 and 6 cent fares to 3 cents, and 7 and 8 cent fares 
 to 4 cents. In Leeds four-mile tickets are sold for 2 
 cents. 
 
 Bradford carries on a municipal express and de- 
 livery service for the transportation of packages. 
 Delivery stamps are sold to be affixed to parcels the 
 same as postage-stamps. Motor vans collect the 
 parcels from outlying stations and bring them to 
 the centre of the city. At the terminals of each 
 tramway route a uniformed agent collects and de- 
 livers the parcels. Parcels are despatched from the 
 central oflices in bags and bundles, and are placed 
 in the vestibule behind the motorman. The pack- 
 ages are then delivered at the various substations, 
 of which there are from twenty to thirty, for distri- 
 bution throughout the city. The rates of charges 
 for carriage are as follows: For packages up to 7
 
 MUNICIPAL TRANSIT IN GREAT BRITAIN 341 
 
 poundS; 4 cents; from 7 to 14 pounds, 6 cents; from 
 14 to 28 pounds, 8 cents; and from 28 to 56 pounds, 
 10 cents. The entire investment in the parcels de- 
 livery system is but $17,033, including the cost of 5 
 motor vans, while the working force consists of 52 
 boys, who attend to the collection and delivery of 
 parcels, and 16 men, including the clerks, motor driv- 
 ers, and inspectors. The total cost of the service in 
 1910 was $31,284, and the receipts were $39,757. 
 During the year 1910, 675,719 parcels were carried. 
 
 The introduction of the tramway express has en- 
 abled many shopkeepers to dispense with errand- 
 boys and delivery service, as they secure a cheaper 
 and much quicker delivery by this process. The 
 congestion on the streets is also reduced, and the 
 unnecessary waste involved in countless delivery 
 wagons traversing the same routes. 
 
 If one can accept the opinions of officials and citi- 
 zens, the financial gains from public ownership are 
 of secondary importance to the social advantages 
 which have followed. Mr. John Burns asserts that 
 the renaissance of municipal administration in Great 
 Britain is the result of public trading, and especially 
 of the municipalization of street railways. Cer- 
 tainly one finds wide-spread interest in these under- 
 takings. The transfer of a tram-line to the city is 
 made a gala day. The cars are decorated with bunt- 
 ing and flowers; city officials declare a holiday, and 
 the whole community unites in rejoicing on taking
 
 342 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 possession of the property. The accounts are care- 
 fully scrutinized by the press and the public. Com- 
 parisons are made with the equipment and earnings 
 of other towns, while members of the council seek a 
 place on the tramway committee because of the op- 
 portunity it offers to make a reputation or perform 
 a service. As a result, the tramways are probably 
 the most efficient department of the city. They are 
 under such constant oversight by the public that 
 they have to be. But even aside from this, officials 
 and employees seem animated by a pride in their 
 work, by an esprit de corps that extends to all the 
 people. 
 
 The publicly owned tramways of Glasgow, Man- 
 chester, Liverpool, and London are the best, from 
 every point of view, of any street-railway lines that 
 I have ever seen. They are far in advance of the 
 private lines in America, and superior to any in 
 Germany, with the possible exception of one or two 
 cities. Tracks are laid on permanent concrete foun- 
 dations, so that there is scarcely any noise. Cars are 
 clean, fresh with paint, and very comfortable. The 
 double-decker type of car is universally used, the 
 upper deck being provided with windows which can 
 be closed in inclement weather. Here smoking is 
 permitted. The upper decks are very popular and 
 are widely used for pleasure-riding. 
 
 The condition of the employees has also been im- 
 proved. A week's holiday on full pay is usually given
 
 MUNICIPAL TRANSIT IN GREAT BRITAIN 343 
 
 the men, while free uniforms and pensions and other 
 benefits are provided. There have been few labor 
 controversies, although the cities do not discourage 
 organization on the part of the men. Troubles 
 are usually adjusted by arbitration. The employees 
 seem to appreciate that favorable public opinion is 
 necessary to a successful strike, and as the public 
 appreciates that the fares they pay and the profits 
 of the lines depend upon economies in operation, they 
 are not inclined to be indifferent to the wage-scale. 
 On the other hand, there is no inclination to insist 
 on low wages or long hours of employment. English 
 cities have generally established the "fair wage" in 
 all departments, the scale being considerably above 
 that paid by private employers. 
 
 Probably the greatest gain has come from an awak- 
 ened interest in the city; a feeling of affection that 
 springs from the many things the city does. It is 
 claimed that those cities are best governed that do 
 the most things for the people, which is a reversal of 
 the idea that that government is the best that does 
 the least. The council attracts a better type of men. 
 There is no powerful class that desires to control the 
 administration for its own enrichment. The press 
 is free as is public opinion. There is none of that 
 class division that divorces the best talent of the 
 American cities from participation in city politics 
 because of the conflict of pecuniary and civic inter- 
 ests. All men are free to want the best and to work
 
 344 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 for the best, while the professional and business 
 classes, which are excluded from politics in America 
 by reason of their affiliation with the public service 
 corporations, are free to enter the council without 
 fear of their motives being questioned. None of the 
 objections urged against municipal ownership by the 
 press of the United States have materialized in either 
 Great Britain or Germany, and in the former coun- 
 try, at least, the official who would propose a return 
 to private management would probably not survive 
 the next election.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN CITY— 
 A COMPARISON 
 
 The thing that distinguishes the cities of the Old 
 World from those of the New is a difference in point . 
 of view. European cities have a highly developed 
 community sense. The rights of the public are su- 
 perior to the rights of the individual. When a con- 
 flict arises, the community is paramount. In addi- 
 tion the city is a consciously developing organism 
 with a growing life of its own. It is a difference in 
 vision, in dignity, in sovereignty, as well as in hon- 
 esty and efficiency that differentiates the cities of 
 the Old World from those of the New. This is par- 
 ticularly true on the Continent. 
 
 We in America build cities much as our grand- 
 fathers carried on industry. Each individual follows 
 his fancy without regard to his neighbors. One man 
 erects an apartment-house alongside of a beautiful 
 home. Another builds a garage, a saloon, or a liv- 
 ery-stable in the heart of the residence district. 
 We awake in the morning to find a noisy factory in 
 course of erection, and at once all values in the 
 
 345
 
 346 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 neighborhood go tumbling, and an exodus to a new 
 region begins. The height, style, and location of 
 buildings are uncontrolled, while the harmony of the 
 community is disfigured by bill-boards, by smoke, 
 and by other private nuisances. There is no sense 
 of unity, of permanence, of the rights of the whole 
 community. In addition, the speculator lays out 
 his land in lots of any size and upon streets of his 
 own designing, in order that he may sell his property 
 as quickly as possible and move on to another field 
 of exploitation. Our cities give little thought to 
 streets; there is little attempt to fix their style or 
 character. They are neglected, as of no material 
 concern to the community. Only recently have 
 public buildings been located with any thought of 
 the future, while only rarely have sites been selected 
 with reference to artistic effect. Railways, factories, 
 and warehouses are permitted to appropriate river 
 and water fronts and exclude the rest of the com- 
 munity from access to them. 
 
 Individual license has run riot in our cities in a 
 physical as well as a political way, and the cost to 
 the present and the future is colossal. Rarely have 
 officials appreciated the influence of transit on the 
 distribution of population, or the cost of private 
 ownership to the health, comfort, and convenience 
 of the people. We fail to appreciate that the growth 
 of a city demands the pubHc ownership of many 
 activities which, under earlier conditions, could with
 
 THE AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN CITY 347 
 
 safety be left in private hands. Our cities are built 
 for the day only. 
 
 The British city has suffered from the same license. 
 It, too, has been sacrificed to the unrestrained liberty 
 of the land-owning classes and the privileges they 
 enjoy. There has been little ofl^icial control of pri- 
 vate property, and up to very recently little attempt 
 to plan the site on which the city is built or to antici- 
 pate its growth in a far-sighted way. 
 
 The cities of the Continent, and especially those 
 of Germany, are being built as a unit. Officials and 
 citizens think in different terms than do our own. 
 We deny the city power. The Germans endow it 
 with only less authority than the empire itself. With 
 them cities are being built like a world's fair, with 
 us as our grandfathers built log cabins centuries ago. 
 They accept the state socialism of community well- 
 being; we, the individualism of laissez-faire. Ger- 
 many is constantly substituting the community for 
 the private trader; we intrust almost everything to 
 commerce. The Germans think in terms of public 
 service, we in terms of private right. The political 
 psychology of Germany is that of wider freedom in- 
 sured through pubHc control, ours is that of individ- 
 ualism free to follow its own instincts regardless of 
 its cost to the community. 
 
 This difference in vision is reflected by councilmen 
 and citizens, by pubUc opinion and the press, by 
 legislatures and state officials. The psychology of
 
 348 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 the two countries differs diametrically in these re- 
 spects. 
 
 The machinery of administration differs almost as 
 radically as do the ideals of the people. All over 
 Europe the city is governed by experts selected with- 
 out regard to party and with special training for the 
 posts they occupy. Nowhere is the city the pawn 
 of parties or of business interests. Municipal ad- 
 ministration is treated as a technical profession 
 which requires long training and permanent tenure 
 for the solution of its problems. The city is a great 
 business corporation with a social as well as a polit- 
 ical mission to perform. 
 
 Very different things, too, are expected of officials 
 in the American and European city. The best 
 mayors in this country have been political crusaders, 
 who promoted issues before the people, often at great 
 cost to themselves. This is due to the fact that we 
 have no other way of settling controversial ques- 
 tions. We have to embody them in a candidate. 
 The relation of the city to the public service cor- 
 poration, the question of municipal ownership or 
 regulation, makes the crusader type of mayor inevi- 
 table, for no other way exists to settle these ques- 
 tions. The people are so nearly powerless that it is 
 only through a leader that they can protect them- 
 selves from exploitation. And not until the city is 
 equipped with home rule, with the initiative and 
 referendum, with power to frame policies and deter-
 
 THE AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN CITY 349 
 
 mine how great questions shall be settled, will it be 
 possible to do away with the crusader type and intro- 
 duce the expert into the machinery of administration. 
 
 Municipal administration is still further confused 
 by the excise, saloon, and vice questions. Legis- 
 latures enact sumptuary laws which mayors are 
 bound to enforce, and about the propriety of which 
 there is wide difference of opinion. Shall amuse- 
 ments be permitted and the saloon be open on Sun- 
 day? Shall we have a liberal administration of the 
 excise laws, or shall they be vigorously enforced? 
 These are problems which every candidate for mayor 
 must face, not only during his campaign but during 
 his administration as well. It is such issues as these, 
 which have but little to do with the question of 
 efficient administration, that make it difficult to 
 elect or retain the permanent trained official in our 
 cities. 
 
 This problem is further disturbed by the large 
 foreign-born population which cannot adjust itself 
 to Anglo-Saxon ideas of sumptuary legislation. It 
 has always looked upon the restaurant as a perfectly 
 natural place to go. It sees no more harm in the 
 sale of beer than in the sale of groceries, and it can- 
 not understand the point of view that makes these 
 things illegitimate. This element of the population 
 is perfectly honest in its convictions, and, being en- 
 dowed with the ballot, it uses it just as do all other 
 classes, to enforce its convictions. Through the in-
 
 350 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 jection of this issue into politics the foreign-born 
 along with the saloon-keeper are lured into politics, 
 and are organized with other agencies seeking privi- 
 leges or protection from the community. 
 
 From these issues the European city is free. The 
 saloon is not treated as an evil in itself, while sumpt- 
 uary laws directed against gambling and the excise 
 question do not confuse local elections or adminis- 
 trations. The city is free to deal with them as it 
 wills, and to adjust its administration to the pre- 
 vailing opinion of the community. It has home rule 
 in these as in other local questions. In consequence 
 the city is able to concentrate its mind on other and 
 more important issues. 
 
 It is not necessary to assume that there is less 
 honesty with us than there is in England or Ger- 
 many, or that our people are incompetent. Our 
 failure to develop efficiency is not due to the voter 
 so much as to this confusion of issues and the ac- 
 tivity of the public service corporations coupled 
 with the State laws directed against the saloon, 
 Sunday amusements, vice, and gambling. Nor is 
 this all. Our cities have a heavy burden to carry 
 in the complicated machinery which has been pro- 
 vided for registermg the people's will. When one 
 compares the simple charters of the German and the 
 British city with those of our own, one finds in this 
 alone an adequate explanation of our failures. In- 
 stead of two or three candidates and a single elective
 
 THE AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN CITY 351 
 
 office, with a direct line of vision between the voter 
 and his representative, the voter in America has to 
 make his way through a labyrinth of caucuses, pri- 
 maries, and conventions before he has even a chance 
 to vote for a candidate. The election is scarcely less 
 complicated. The voter is confined in his choice to 
 partisan nominees, all of whom are frequently selected 
 for him by the same interests. In addition he is con- 
 fronted with a blanket-ballot many feet in length, 
 containing the names of nominees for every conceiv- 
 able office, from governor to constable. He must pick 
 out a candidate for mayor, solicitor, treasurer, auditor, 
 and councilmen, often in addition to State and Federal 
 nominees. In a minute's time he is expected to work 
 out a combination that will be both efficient and 
 honest. Of course the voter is helpless. The whole 
 proceeding is a farce, and is designed to be. The 
 long ballot, the confusion of issues, the convention, 
 primary, and caucus, are all planned to make popu- 
 lar government impossible and to turn the city over 
 to the boss and the special interests which the boss 
 represents. Only recently have our charters been 
 framed for simplicity and responsibility. Herein, of 
 itself, is an adequate explanation of the failures of 
 our cities. 
 
 The administrative machinery of the cities of 
 America and Europe differs again in the ideals which 
 underlie it. We assume that every official must 
 have some other official to watch him and overrule
 
 352 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 him if necessary. The mayor has a veto on the 
 council, the legislature on both, while the courts are 
 a third check to hasty or ill-considered action. There 
 are checks and balances, hurdles and obstacles, all 
 along the line of action. Private business would go 
 into bankruptcy if compelled to work with such in- 
 struments as we have provided for city, State, and 
 nation. We have adjusted everything for dead-lock, 
 for delay, for conflict, as though no one was to be 
 trusted, and all officials were to be kept down to 
 the dead-level of the least enlightened or most reac- 
 tionary member of the trinity, be it the legislature, 
 the executive, or a judge. There is little to appeal 
 to the man of courage; little to attract the man of 
 power. City government is in the nature of a hurdle- 
 race, in which the idea of efficiency is to increase the 
 number of obstacles to the point that will permit of 
 the minimum of movement by the participants. 
 
 European administration has not fallen into this 
 error. It is not an obstacle race. It is easy for a 
 man to distinguish himself, easy for the council to 
 deliberate, and, when a decision has been reached, 
 easy to carry the decision into execution. This has 
 a stimulating psychological effect. It attracts men 
 of ability and ambition into politics, for the official 
 is not subject to the veto of half a dozen powers at 
 every turn he makes. 
 
 We are rapidly abandoning the idea of checks and 
 balances in our cities, and shall have to abandon it
 
 THE AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN CITY 353 
 
 in State and National Government as well. Those 
 States that have really achieved efficiency are the 
 ones where a strong executive has overridden the 
 theory of the constitution. For the theory of our 
 constitutions has broken down. It never was a wise, 
 never was a workable theory. And it never has been 
 copied by any other people in the century that has 
 intervened since its adoption. The Federal Con- 
 stitution, copied by our cities, with its divided re- 
 sponsibilities and checks and balances, was designed 
 to block popular government and check the ex- 
 pression of the popular will. 
 
 It is not to be inferred that the German or Eng- 
 lish political machinery should be copied in this 
 country. Undoubtedly city administration should 
 be intrusted to experts trained in the many problems 
 with which the modern city is confronted. Un- 
 doubtedly, too, there should be permanence and the 
 exclusion of partisanship from elections. The civil 
 service should be protected from the spoils system, 
 and the city be treated as a social and business 
 agency. But the large council, acting through com- 
 mittees, as in Great Britain, or the two-chambered 
 organization, consisting of the council and the magis- 
 trat in Germany, are not the only means for achiev- 
 ing these ends. If we were able to exclude the con- 
 troversial questions which convert our cities into 
 armed camps, it would be possible to have perma- 
 nence in tenure and at the same time secure the ex-
 
 354 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 pert without violent departure from either the fed- 
 eral plan, which prevails in most of our large cities, 
 or the commission plan, which has been adopted by 
 nearly two hundred smaller cities. 
 
 Of even more importance are the methods of nomi- 
 nation and election. For it is not through the charter 
 so much as through the long partisan ballot and the 
 making of nominations by conventions, that privilege 
 maintains its control. Were the party emblem abol- 
 ished, were nominations made by petition, and the 
 number of elective officials reduced to those who 
 control policies, city administration would un- 
 doubtedly leap to a higher level, as has almost al- 
 ways happened where these reforms have been 
 adopted. And were elections free from the excise 
 and Sunday-closing questions, and did our cities own 
 the public utility corporations which now divide 
 them into armed camps, the municipalities of Amer- 
 ica would adjust administration to business methods, 
 and find means for introducing the permanent ex- 
 pert official into the government. For improve- 
 ment in official personnel is not withheld from us 
 so much by the un\\dllingness of the people to appre- 
 ciate the value of talent as by the extraneous influ- 
 ences which control our cities for their own profit, 
 and which have thus far prevented reforms in the 
 machinery of administration as well as in the activi- 
 ties which the city may assume. 
 
 And back of all other municipal needs is that of
 
 THE AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN CITY 355 
 
 freedom, of local home rule. For in the long run 
 the attitude of mind of the voter is moulded by the 
 power he enjoys and the possibility of working out 
 his city's destiny in its own way. This is a law of 
 human psychology. It is a law of biology as well. 
 Development can only come through freedom; hu- 
 man progress can only come through experiment. 
 Society is bound to be static if controlled by inflex- 
 ible laws. It cannot be otherwise. This is as true 
 of politics as it is of industry. And American prog- 
 gress in industry is the product of liberty. The 
 same progress is only possible in politics when the 
 city is free to call forth the talent of its citizens and 
 to use that talent as the particular needs of the 
 community suggest. 
 
 The German and British cities differ from our own 
 in yet another way. But little has been written on 
 the subject of political psychology and but little is 
 really known. Yet the psychology of the voter ex- 
 plains the city. It determines how men think and 
 how they vote. One has only to talk with the citi- 
 zens of a German or a British city to find a very dif- 
 ferent psychology from that which prevails in Amer- 
 ica, and this is not traceable to personal or ethnic 
 causes so much as to the relation of the city to the 
 people. 
 
 In America there is no strong economic nexus be- 
 tween the voter and the official, between the citizen 
 and the city. There is little to bring home to the
 
 356 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 people the necessity for good government. In Eu- 
 rope the reverse is true. Even the poorest feels that 
 the city is an important thing in his life; so impor- 
 tant, in fact, that he must, in self-protection, concern 
 himself about the city. In England, as we have seen, 
 local taxes are levied on the tenant, rather than on 
 property. The voter is always a taxpayer, and the 
 taxpayer is a voter. He measures the honesty and 
 efficiency of the city every year in the bill which he 
 receives for the support of the government. Even 
 if he is a clerk or a workingman, he is conscious of 
 the cost of the city to him. In Germany local taxes 
 are levied upon incomes, business, and land, the 
 income tax being assessed against those who have 
 incomes in excess of approximately $225. In Amer- 
 ica, on the other hand, local taxes are collected from 
 real estate, personal property, and licenses. Three- 
 fourths of our voters are tenants. They are not 
 conscious that they are taxpayers and in conse- 
 quence feel little sense of concern for the actions 
 of their officials. They do not think in economic 
 terms. They lack the rate-payer's interest of Great 
 Britain and Germany. There is no material appeal 
 to them when they go to the polls. 
 
 In addition, the American city owns so few things 
 and does so little for the people that it fails to awaken 
 their pride or affection. Municipal activities are, 
 for the most part, limited to the exercise of the po- 
 lice power in its various manifestations. Municipal
 
 THE AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN CITY 357 
 
 ownership has much to do with the attitude of the 
 voter in England and Germany. It explains the 
 psychology of the citizen. The bigness of the city, 
 the services it renders, its intimate touch with all 
 classes, awaken their interest and affection. People 
 are interested in the city because the city is interested 
 in them. There is action and reaction. This is the 
 great gain from municipal ownership, especially the 
 ownership of the things that touch every citizen in 
 an intimate way, as do the street railways. And ex- 
 perience shows that it is more important for the 
 city to own its means of transit than its water, gas, 
 or electricity supply. For the street railways are 
 under daily, momentary inspection. They are always 
 on view. It would be almost impossible for a city 
 to manage its street railways badly, to sacrifice ser- 
 vice to spoils, to crowd passengers, or to tolerate the 
 dirty, noisy cars with which we are compelled to be 
 content. There would be too great an outcry against 
 it. It would involve too universal discomfort. 
 
 In addition to this, the very bigness of the Eu- 
 ropean city attracts big men to the council. It is a 
 distinction to be intrusted with the control of the 
 most important corporation in the community, to 
 handle millions, to direct construction work, to be 
 of commanding service. Men of talent are allured 
 by such opportunities — opportunities which do not 
 exist in the American city. With us there is little 
 to engage the imagination or the ability of a man of
 
 358 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 talent. We have reversed the natural order of things 
 in this country. We say that municipal ownership 
 must wait on honesty and efficiency. Rather we 
 should say that honesty and efficiency will be brought 
 in with municipal ownership; that only through 
 making the city an important thing will it awaken 
 interest and enthusiasm. 
 
 Moreover, only through municipal ownership can 
 we put an end to the class conflict that now aligns 
 the privileged few on the one hand, and the great 
 mass of the people on the other. On the one hand 
 are the banks, the business and professional men, 
 the members of clubs, and the agencies of public 
 opinion, almost all united against good government 
 when good government threatens their privileges. 
 It is not too much to say that in almost every city 
 in the land the business interests have controlled 
 elections, they have moulded policies, and have made 
 the American city the thing it is for a quarter of a 
 century. 
 
 The mind of the man behind the ballot in Ger- 
 many, Great Britain, and America is what it is be- 
 cause of economic rather than personal or ethnical 
 reasons. There is but little difference in human nat- 
 ure; little difference in the desire of people for the 
 good rather than the bad. But people think in eco- 
 nomic terms. Their welfare and the taxes they pay 
 are the nerve-centres to which the political mind re- 
 sponds. The English voter is a rate-payer first and
 
 THE AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN CITY 359 
 
 a fragmentary owner of an immense amount of prop- 
 erty second. The same is true in Germany. And 
 in both countries the renaissance in municipal life 
 came in with the larger social vision that began with 
 the municipal ownership of the public utilities — a 
 movement that has been widening ever since into 
 new fields of action. The voters in these countries 
 select officials with whom they can trust their eco- 
 nomic interests. And the officials reflect the needs 
 of the man in the street. For they, too, are tax- 
 payers and municipal property-owners. 
 
 In the American city there is no such stimulus. 
 The average man is not conscious of his material in- 
 terest in the community. The city does so few things 
 that it fails to awaken his pride. He is a member 
 of a corporation so shorn of power by the State, so 
 limited in its possibilities of good, so subject to the 
 control of business, the saloon, vice, and privileged 
 interests, that the natural political instincts of the 
 voter have but little chance to develop. 
 
 In this comparison of cities it should be borne in 
 mind that the European city is far from democratic. 
 Officials consult the voters but little, and manage 
 the city in a rather autocratic way. The mass of 
 the people participate but little in the making of 
 opinion or the framing of policies. This is less true 
 in Great Britain than it is on the Continent, but 
 even in the former country the rate-payers, suffrage, 
 the method of local taxation, and the ascendency of
 
 360 EUROPEAN CITIES AT WORK 
 
 the middle classes and small shopkeeper give a 
 quality to administration that is far from democratic. 
 
 The achievements of the American city are of the 
 people. They are the slow up-workings of a mii- 
 versal movement. We are raising a whole people 
 to the art of self-government. We are doing very 
 different things in this country; we are animated by 
 different motives; we are living in different ages. 
 The cry of the almost disfranchised German is for 
 democracy; of the British rate-payer for the Ameri- 
 can system of local taxation and more generous con- 
 cern for sweetness and light. The cry of the Ameri- 
 can city is for the things the German and English 
 cities have already achieved. 
 
 It should not be forgotten, too, that there are 
 many things already better done by the American 
 city than by any cities in the world. There are 
 realms of administration in which we excel. Our 
 system of local taxation is more just than that of 
 any other country. It is better than the German 
 system, and is a generation in advance of those of 
 Great Britain or the Latin countries. Our schools 
 are superior to those of most countries, and are com- 
 parable to those of any. The American parks and 
 playgrounds, the provision for out-of-door recrea- 
 tion and for the poor, are viewed as models, while 
 our libraries and fire departments attract the atten- 
 tion of foreigners just as the achievements of Euro- 
 pean cities attract the admiration of Americans.
 
 THE AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN CITY 361 
 
 The cities of the New World are not all bad by any 
 means. 
 
 Within the last few years the municipal movement 
 in this country has begun to assume new forms. 
 The individualism of a half-century ago is break- 
 ing down before the growing consciousness that the 
 city can only protect itself by undertaking new func- 
 tions and by socializing many activities. The reform 
 cries of a generation ago are being superseded by 
 movements for home rule and the simplification of 
 the city's charter. The ballot is being shortened, 
 the party emblem is being removed from the ballot, 
 while the initiative and referendum are being added 
 as a means of establishing responsibility. For the 
 first time cities are planning public structures and 
 suburban developments with a conscious vision of 
 the future, while election issues are centring about 
 programmes to be achieved rather than individuals 
 to be elected. We are forming new ideals and de- 
 veloping a city sense. We are beginning to see the 
 city as a conscious, living organism which the archi- 
 tect and the engineer, the educator and the artist, 
 the administrator and the dreamer, can build and 
 plan for the comfort, convenience, and happiness of 
 people, just as kings in an earlier age planned their 
 cities for the gratification of their ambition and the 
 glorification of their pride.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Abattoirs, p. 117 
 
 Adickes, Dr., pp. 74, 111, 222 
 
 Administration. See German, 
 
 British, and American city 
 Alster Basin, Hamburg, p. 21 
 America, license of business, p. 46 
 American city, p. 10; borrowing 
 powers of, p. 152; indebted- 
 ness of, p. 218; lack of power, 
 p. 254; budget of, p. 256; con- 
 trol by special interests, p. 
 322; comparison with Euro- 
 pean city, pp. 345-361; 
 achievements of, p. 360; new 
 issues in, p. 361 
 Architecture, British city, p. 323 
 Aristocracy, Great Britain, p. 
 
 324 
 AustraUa, taxation of land val- 
 ues, p. 203 
 
 B 
 
 Bahnhofplatz. See Railway sta- 
 tions 
 Bakeries, pubUc, p. 115 
 Bavaria, suffrage in, p. 247 
 Belgium, transportation and dis- 
 tribution of population, p. 185 
 BerUn, description of, pp. 22-25; 
 slaughtering in, p. 120; mar- 
 kets of, p. 124; hospitals and 
 sanitariums, p. 132; rents in, 
 p. 159; co-operative houses, 
 p. 165; transit, p. 182; rev- 
 enues of, pp. 211, 212; size of 
 council, p. 237; three-class vot- 
 ing system, p. 244 
 
 Bender, Dr. George I., p. 222 
 
 Birmingham, reclamation proj- 
 ects in, p. 281 
 
 Board of Trade, Great Britain, 
 p. 321 
 
 Bradford, p. 340 
 
 Bremen, p. 18 
 
 Bridges in Germany, p. 14 
 
 British city, issues in, p. 276; 
 honesty of, p. 282; supervi- 
 sion of, p. 321; no debt Umit, 
 p. 322; lack of beauty in, p. 
 323; appearance of, p. 324; li- 
 cense of property in, p. 347 
 
 Brooks, Robert C, p. 195 
 
 Budget of Diisseldorif, pp. 62-64; 
 of German city, pp. 208-218; 
 distinguishing features of, p. 
 208; real estate, low taxes 
 on, p. 209; income tax, collec- 
 tions from, p. 209; business 
 taxes, p. 210; income tax, 
 terms of, p, 210; BerUn, col- 
 lections of, pp. 211, 212; 
 Grundsteuer, p. 211; Gewerbe^ 
 steuer, p. 212; liquor licenses, 
 p. 212; department stores, p. 
 212; fees, p. 213; Hamburg, 
 budget of, p. 213; Munich, 
 budget of, p. 214; business 
 men, attitude of, toward tax- 
 ation, p. 215; land natural 
 source of local revenue, p. 215; 
 indebtedness, European cities, 
 p. 216; of Berlin, p. 216; of 
 British cities, p. 217; of Amer- 
 ican cities, pp. 217, 256 
 
 Building, regulations, height of, 
 pp. 45, 94; restrictions, p. 
 102. See Town planning 
 
 363
 
 364 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bund der Boden Reformer, p. 
 189 
 
 Burgomaster, pp. 38, 221, 226. 
 See German city 
 
 Burns, Hon. John, p. 341 
 
 Business men, license in America, 
 p. 46; attitude of, pp. 73, 248; 
 Germany, p. 112; policy, Ger- 
 man cities, p. 72 
 
 Business taxes, Germany, pp. 
 210, 212 
 
 Competitions, town planning. 
 
 See Town planning 
 Congestion. See Population. 
 Continuation and technical 
 
 schools, Diisseldorf, p. 59 
 Co-operative house-building, p. 
 
 162 
 Council, city, in Germany, pp. 
 
 237-239; Great Britain, pp. 
 
 293-308 
 Courts, commercial and trade, p. 
 
 54 
 
 Canadian cities, taxation of land 
 values in, p. 202 
 
 Canals, Germany, p. 6 
 
 Chamberlain, Joseph, p. 281 
 
 Charity administration, Diissel- 
 dorf, p. 55 
 
 Charter, German city. See Ger- 
 man city 
 
 Charter, Great Britain and 
 America, p. 220. American 
 city, p. 350. See British and 
 American city 
 
 Checks and balances, p. 352 
 
 Cities. See German, British 
 and American cities 
 
 City growth, p. 157; effect on 
 housing, p. 158. See Popula- 
 tion 
 
 City halls, Germany, p. 70 
 
 Civic centres, pp. 26, 28, 39, 102, 
 104 
 
 Civic interest, relation to mu- 
 nicipal ownership, p. 343 
 
 Class, control by, in Prussia, p. 
 243; in Great Britain, p. 323 
 
 Cleveland, land values in, pp. 
 202-205 
 
 College, town planning, Berlin, 
 p. 86 
 
 College, commerce, p. 145 
 
 Cologne, p. 15; streets of, p. 16; 
 zone system, p. 102; unem- 
 ployment insurance, p. 141 
 
 Competition, promotion of, in 
 Germany, p. 78 
 
 D 
 
 Death-rate, tuberculosis, reduc- 
 tion of, p. 132 
 
 Debt hmit, municipal. Great 
 Britain, p. 322 
 
 Democracy in cities, p. 359 
 
 Distress work, p. 136 
 
 Docks, Diisseldorf, p. 42; Frank- 
 fort, p. 75. See Harbors, 
 
 Drama, provision for, in Ger- 
 many, pp. 146, 147 
 
 Dresden, beauty of, p. 25; 
 slaughter-house, p. 119; tran- 
 sit in, p. 181 
 
 Diisseldorf, pp. 37-67; land-own- 
 ership in, p. 98; growth of city, 
 p. 223 
 
 E 
 
 Education, expenditure for, Diis- 
 seldorf, pp. 58-64; American 
 cities, p. 60; Germany, p. 144; 
 comparison, Germany and 
 America, p. 145 
 
 Elberfeld system, p. 55. See 
 Charity 
 
 Electric-Ughting works, Diissel- 
 dorf, p. 50. See Municipal 
 ownership 
 
 Elementary schools, p. 59. See 
 Education , 
 
 Elevated railways, BerUn, p. 
 183
 
 INDEX 
 
 365 
 
 Emergency work, p. 54. See 
 
 Working-people 
 Employer, Dusseldorf model, p. 
 
 53 
 English city. See British city. 
 Essen, p. 16; housing in, p. 17; 
 
 garden colonies in, p. 17; 
 
 Krupp Company, p. 17 
 European city, comparison with 
 
 American city, pp. 345-361; 
 
 not democratic, p. 359 
 Excise, saloon, and vice ques- 
 tions, p. 349 
 Expenditures, Dusseldorf, p. 62. 
 
 See Budget 
 Experts, in town planning, p. 88; 
 
 in German cities, p. 219. See 
 
 Chapter XIII 
 Exposition halls, Munich, p. 30 
 Exposition, town planning, p. 89 
 Express and delivery service, 
 
 street railways, p. 340 
 
 Factories, control of, Diissel- 
 
 dorf, p. 43 
 Fares. See Street railways 
 Financing city projects, Frank- 
 fort, p. 80 
 Fire department, Glasgow, p. 273 
 Food, supervision of, Dussel- 
 dorf, p. 57 
 France, labor courts, p. 140 
 Franchises, Great Britain, p. 322 
 Frankfort, railway station, p. 12; 
 an experiment station, pp. 
 68-85; zone system, p. 102; 
 chamber of commerce, p. 125; 
 pawn-shop, p. 139; housing in, 
 p. 167; transit, p. 184; un- 
 earned increment tax, p. 193; 
 223 
 Free cities, Germany, p. 18 
 Freedom, German cities, p. 201; 
 
 in taxation, p. 209 
 Free port, Hamburg, p. 20 
 Freistadt, p. 69 
 
 G 
 
 Garden-city, Dusseldorf, p. 37 
 
 Garden colonies, pp. 17, 27, 37, 
 172; British, p. 286 
 
 Gas, municipal, Dusseldorf, p. 
 50; Manchester, p. 280; mu- 
 nicipal ownership. Great Brit- 
 ain, pp. 328-333. See Munici- 
 pal ownership 
 
 German business men, attitude 
 of, p. 143 
 
 German city, vision of, pp. 4, 71 ; 
 population of, pp. 5, 7-10; 
 agency, industrial develop- 
 ment, p. 7; description of, p. 
 12; streets, type of, p. 16; 
 water-fronts, p. 18; garden- 
 cities, pp. 27, 37; hospitals, p. 
 27; ideals, pp. 35, 73; compe- 
 tition of, p. 38; attitude of, 
 toward business, p. 45; for- 
 ests, p. 46; land policies of, p. 
 61; city halls, p. 70; business 
 pohcy of, p. 72; municipal 
 ownership, pp. 74, 111, 179; 
 industrial programme, p. 77; 
 financing city projects, p. 80; 
 town planning (see Town 
 planning); growth of, p. 86; 
 street planning, pp. 91, 100; 
 street building, p. 95; zone sys- 
 tem, p. 101; grouping pubUc 
 buildings, p. 102; parks, p. 
 103; slaughter-houses, p. 117; 
 social policy of, pp. 125-142; 
 education, p. 144; recreation, 
 p. 146; happiness programme, 
 p. 151; housing, pp. 156-176; 
 land values in, p. 159; transit, 
 pp. 177-188; rivalry of, p. 225; 
 honesty of, p. 251; freedom of, 
 p. 253; wide powers of, pp. 
 256, 347; activities of, p. 257 
 
 German city, administration of, 
 pp. 219-242; experts, p. 49; 
 preparation of, p. 219; charter, 
 British, American, and Ger-
 
 366 
 
 INDEX 
 
 man cities, p. 220; composite 
 nature of German charter, p. 
 220; burgomaster, Germany, 
 p. 221; selection of, p. 221; 
 length of service of, p. 222; 
 city building, relation of ex- 
 pert to, p. 223; examples of, p, 
 222; burgomaster and Amer- 
 ican mayor, comparison of, 
 p. 225; burgomaster, power of, 
 p. 226; King fountain-head of 
 administration, p. 226; Social- 
 ist party, relation to admin- 
 istration, p. 227; salaries, bur- 
 gomasters', p. 227; dignity of 
 office, p. 228; magistrat, p. 
 228; size of, p. 229; generosity 
 of German city in provision for 
 ofiBcials, p. 230; salaries of 
 magistrat, p. 231; method of 
 selection, p. 232; unpaid mem- 
 bers, p. 233; city agency of 
 state, p. 234; magistrat, pow- 
 ers of, p. 234; municipal ser- 
 vice permanent, p. 236; city 
 council, p. 237; electoral priv- 
 ileges, p. 237; town council, p. 
 238; laws of various states, p, 
 240 
 Germany, industrial ambitions, 
 
 p. 264 
 Gewerbesteuer. See Business taxes 
 Glasgow, activities of, p, 271; 
 housing in, p. 272; fire depart- 
 ment of, p. 273; population of, 
 p. 274; council of, p. 275; mu- 
 nicipal ownership, p. 334; 
 street railways, p. 337. See 
 Municipal ownership 
 Greek cities, freedom of, p. 259 
 Grouping pubUc buildings, Vi- 
 enna, p. 32. See Civic centres 
 
 H 
 
 Hamburg, pp. 18-21 ; budget of, 
 
 p. 213 
 Hanseatic League, p. 18 
 Harbors: Hamburg, p. 20; Diis- 
 
 seldorf, p. 42; Frankfort, p. 75; 
 general, p. 106. See Docks 
 
 Health, provision for, p. 27; pro- 
 gramme, Diisseldorf, p. 56 
 
 Height of buildings, restriction 
 of, Diisseldorf, p. 45. See 
 Town planning 
 
 Hellerau, p. 27. See Garden 
 cities 
 
 Herbergen, p. 135 
 
 High-schools, Diisseldorf, p. 59 
 
 Holy Roman Empire, p. 69 
 
 Home rule, German city, p. 253; 
 effect on people, p. 258 
 
 Hospitals and sanatoriuros, pp. 
 27, 56 
 
 Housing, Essen, p. 17; condi- 
 tions, Vienna, p. 31; working- 
 classes, p. 52; reform, Frank- 
 fort, p. 79 
 
 Housing problem, Germany, pp. 
 156-176; is a land problem, p. 
 156; scientific study of, p. 158; 
 planning related to, p. 158; 
 increase in land values, rela- 
 tion of, to, p. 159; Berlin, land 
 and building values in, p. 160; 
 congestion, in Berlin, p. 160; in 
 other cities, p. 160; poUcies of 
 German cities, p. 161; part of 
 town planning, p. 161; health 
 and sanitation, p. 162; insur- 
 ance administration, p. 163; 
 loans for house construction, 
 p. 164; Berlin, co-operative 
 building, p. 165; community 
 apartments, p. 166; municipal 
 building in Frankfort, p. 167; 
 in Ulm,p. 168; the garden-city 
 of Hellerau, p. 171; of Karls- 
 ruhe, Ratshof , Nuremberg, and 
 Munich, p. 172; garden-city, 
 meaning of, p. 173; taxation, 
 relation to, p. 173; land taxa- 
 tion in other cities, p. 174; 
 Mayor's Committee on Con- 
 gestion, New York, p. 175; ef- 
 fect of land-value taxation, p. 
 175
 
 INDEX 
 
 367 
 
 Huysmann, Camille, p. 159 
 Hygiene, exposition of, p. 27 
 
 Ideals, German cities, pp. 35, 73 
 Imperial ambitions, Germany, 
 
 p. 5 
 Income taxes, German cities, p. 
 
 209 
 Indebtedness, Diisseldorf, p. 63; 
 
 Frankfort, p. 72; European 
 
 cities, p. 216; British cities, p. 
 
 217; American cities, p. 217. 
 
 See Budget 
 Indigent employment, p. 137 
 Individualism in America, p. 
 
 347 
 Industrial ambitions, Germany, 
 
 p. 264 
 Industrial conditions, attitude of 
 
 city, p. 126 
 Industrial development, cities' 
 
 contributions to, p. 7; Frank- 
 fort, pp. 76, 77; programme, p. 
 
 100 
 Industries, provision for, p. 100 
 Insurance, fire, Hamburg, p. 115; 
 
 compulsory state, p. 128; 
 
 funds, use for housing, p. 163 
 Interior Department, Prussia, 
 
 relation to cities, p. 257 
 Italian cities, freedom of, p. 260 
 Italy, slaughter-houses in, 121 
 
 K 
 
 Kiaotchau, pp. 190-191 
 King, fountain-head of munici- 
 pal administration, p. 226 
 Kirschner, Dr. Martin, p. 222 
 Krupp Company, housing, p. 17 
 
 Labor courts, p. 139 
 
 Labor exchange, Diisseldorf, p. 
 
 54 
 Land policies, Vienna, p. 33; 
 
 German cities, p. 51; specula- 
 tion, control of, Dusseldorf, 
 p. 52; ownership, Frankfort, 
 p. 71; control and ownership 
 of, pp. 90-100; ownership by 
 cities, pp. 96-98; speculation, 
 effect on housing problem, p. 
 156; values, relation to hous- 
 ing, p. 159; values in Berlin, p. 
 159; Ulm, p. 170; taxation 
 and housing, pp. 173-175; 
 assessments, Prussia, p. 192; 
 values, social, p. 206; natural 
 source of revenue, p. 215; land- 
 value taxation, Glasgow, p. 
 274 
 
 Legal-aid department, Diissel- 
 dorf, p. 54 
 
 Leisure, provision for, Germany, 
 p. 146. See Recreation 
 
 Lex Adickes, p. 81 
 
 License taxes, Germany, p. 212 
 
 Liverpool, tenement districts, 
 p. 284; housing experiments, 
 p. 284; tramways of, pp. 
 284-286; street railways, p. 
 337 
 
 Lloyd George budget, p. 201 
 
 Local Government Board, Great 
 Britain, p. 321 
 
 Local taxation, Europe and 
 America, p. 215 
 
 London County Council, p. 321 
 
 Lord provost, Glasgow, p. 273 
 
 Liibeck, p. 18 
 
 M 
 
 Magistrat. See German city ad- 
 ministration 
 
 Manchester, attitude of officials, 
 p. 277; ship canal, p. 277; 
 tramways of, pp. 279, 337; gas, 
 p. 280 
 
 Mannheim, p. 35; zone system, 
 p. 101; budget of, p. 214 
 
 Manual training, Germany, p. 
 145 
 
 Markets, pubhc, pp. 121-124
 
 368 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Marx, Dr. Wilhelm, pp. 39, 223 
 
 Mayor's Committee on Conges- 
 tion, New York, p. 175 
 
 Mortgage bank, Diisseldorf, p. 
 52 
 
 Munich, pp. 28-31; water sup- 
 ply, p. 154 
 
 Municipal administration. See 
 Administration, German, Brit- 
 ish, and American cities 
 
 Municipal exposition halls, p. 30 
 
 Municipal issues in American 
 and European cities, p. 348 
 
 Municipal forests, p. 46 
 
 Municipal ownership, Diissel- 
 dorf, pp. 50, 70; Germany and 
 England, pp. Ill, 112; Europe, 
 pp. 179, 187; earnings of, in 
 Germany, p. 214; in Mann- 
 heim, p. 214; indebtedness, p. 
 217; Glasgow, p. 272; Man- 
 chester, pp. 278-280; Liver- 
 pool, p. 284; pubUc service 
 corporations in America, p. 
 283; effect of, on community, 
 pp. 266, 326, 356; gas. Great 
 Britain, pp. 328-344; extent 
 of, p. 328 
 
 Music, provision for, Diissel- 
 dorf, pp. 61, 148. See Leisure 
 and Recreation 
 
 N 
 
 New sources of revenue, need of, 
 
 p. 189 
 New York City, land values in, 
 
 p. 205 
 Nominations and elections, 
 
 America, p. 354 
 
 Paris, markets of, p. 123 
 
 Parks, p. 103; concerts in, p. 
 148 
 
 Parkways, Diisseldorf, p. 39 
 
 Parhament, control of cities, 
 Great Britain, 322; attitude 
 toward British city, p. 325 
 
 Pawn-shops, Diisseldorf, pp. 54, 
 138 
 
 Planning, town, Hamburg, Ber- 
 Un, p. 22; Munich, p. 29; Vi- 
 enna, p. 31; Paris, p. 32; 
 Budapest, p. 34; Diisseldorf, 
 pp. 37-67; competitions, p. 48; 
 docks and harbors, Frankfort, 
 p. 75; general, pp. 86-110; re- 
 lation to housing, pp. 158, 161 ; 
 Ulm, p. 169. See Town plan- 
 ning 
 
 Playgrounds, p. 104; in Ger- 
 many, p. 150 
 
 Population, lu-ban, Germany, 
 pp. 5, 7; and America, p. 11; 
 Dusseldorf, p. 37; FranHort, 
 p. 70; congestion, p. 160 
 
 Port Sunlight, p. 286 
 
 Private bill legislation, Great 
 Britain, p. 321 
 
 Property, rights of, in America, 
 p. 109; absence of regulation 
 of, in America, p. 345 
 
 Prussian cities, indebtedness of, 
 p. 218 
 
 Psychology, municipal, p. 326; 
 poUtical, p. 355 
 
 Pubhc ownership, idea old in 
 Germany, p. 263 
 
 Public service corporations, ac- 
 tivity of, p. 283 
 
 O 
 
 Overcrowding, street railways, p. 
 340 
 
 Parcels poet, in Germany, p. 116; 
 in Great Britain, p. 116 
 
 Railways and industry, p. 6; and 
 community, p. 14; in Europe, 
 pp. 178, 184 
 
 Railway stations, p. 12; Frank- 
 fort, p. 12, 69; in America, p. 
 13 
 
 Rathaus. Frankfort, p. 68
 
 INDEX 
 
 369 
 
 Real estate interests, activity of, 
 p. 249 
 
 Real estate taxes, Germany, pp. 
 209, 211 
 
 Recreation, Hamburg, p. 21; 
 Munich, p. 28; Diisseldorf, pp. 
 40, 61; general, 146, 147; ex- 
 penditures for, 151. See Lei- 
 sure, Music, Playgrounds 
 
 Refuse collection, Frankfort, p. 
 84 
 
 Renting agencies, p. 135 
 
 Rents in Berlin, p. 160 
 
 Rhine. See River 
 
 Ring-strassen, Cologne, p. 15; 
 Vienna, p. 32; Frankfort, pp. 
 72, 105 
 
 River Rhine, description of, p. 
 18; improvement of, Dresden, 
 p. 26; Diisseldorf, p. 41 
 
 Romer, Frankfort, p. 69 
 
 Rothenberg, p. 25 
 
 Street railways, Hamburg, p. 19; 
 Diisseldorf, p. 50; Dresden, p. 
 181; Glasgow, p. 271; Man- 
 chester, p. 279; Liverpool, p. 
 284; municipal ownership, 
 Great Britain, pp. 334-344. 
 See Transit and municipal 
 ownership 
 
 Streets, type of, p. 16; Diissel- 
 dorf, p. 46; Frankfort, p. 81; 
 cleaning, p. 83, planning of, 
 Germany and America, p. 92; 
 variety of, p. 93; building of, 
 pp. 95, 103. See Town plan- 
 ning 
 
 Stuttgart, planning develop- 
 ments, p. 88 
 
 Suburban planning, see Plan- 
 ning 
 
 Stidekum, Dr. Albert, p. 114 
 
 Suffrage, Prussian cities, p. 243 
 
 S 
 
 Salaries, German burgomasters, 
 p. 227 
 
 Saloon question, p. 349 
 
 Sanatoriums, p. 131. See Hos- 
 pitals 
 
 Sanitation and hygiene, Diissel- 
 dorf, p. 56 
 
 Savings-banks, municipal, p. 
 139 
 
 School buildings, Diisseldorf, p. 
 57 
 
 Sewage-disposal farms, Berlin, 
 p. 23 
 
 Shaw, Dr. Albert, p. 254 
 
 Sheffield, street railways, p. 337 
 
 Single tax, meaning of, p. 193 
 
 Slaughter-houses, Dresden, p. 27; 
 Diisseldorf, p. 57; and slaugh- 
 tering, pp. 117-119 
 
 Speculation. See Land and 
 
 land-value taxation 
 
 Spoils system, none in Germany, 
 p. 236 
 
 Tariff, relation of free cities to, 
 p. 21 
 
 Taxation, Diisseldorf, p. 62; of 
 land values and housing, pp. 
 173-175; relief of, from mu- 
 nicipal ownership, pp. 332, 
 339. See Bridges and Un- 
 earned increment tax 
 
 Theatre, expenditures for, p. 
 151 
 
 Town planning and city build- 
 ing, pp. 86-110; birth of, in 
 Germany, p. 86; necessity for, 
 p. 87; universality of, in Ger- 
 many, p. 88; Stuttgart, plans 
 of, p. 88; Diisseldorf, uni- 
 versity town planning, p. 89; 
 exposition of, p. 89; city wi- 
 dening plans, p. 90; competi- 
 tions for, p. 90; land, treat- 
 ment of, p. 91; streets, plan- 
 ning of, p. 92; Washington, 
 plan of, p. 92; new ideas in 
 streets, p. 93; building regu-
 
 370 
 
 INDEX 
 
 lations, p. 95; land control, p. 
 96; land-ownership in Ger- 
 many, p. 96; Diisseldorf, land 
 policy of, p. 98; control of land, 
 p. 100; zoning system, p. 101; 
 parks and open spaces, p. 103; 
 preservation and beauties of 
 cities, p. 103; grouping public 
 buildings, p. 104; playgrounds 
 and parks, p. 104; water-ways, 
 preservation of, p. 105; for- 
 tifications, use of, p. 105; 
 harbor and transportation 
 agencies, p. 106; license of 
 property in America, p. 107; 
 America, water-fronts, p. 108; 
 city planning, philosophy of, 
 p. 108. See Planning 
 
 Tramways. See Street rail- 
 ways 
 
 Transit in Europe, Diisseldorf, 
 p. 41; pp. 177-188; a social 
 agency, p. 177; municipal 
 ownership in Europe, p. 179; 
 service, p. 180; zone system, 
 p. 181 ; Dresden, street cars in, 
 p. 181; Berlin, p. 182; Frank- 
 fort-on-the-Main, policy of, p. 
 183; steam railways, Germany, 
 p. 184; in Switzerland, Bel- 
 gium, and Denmark, pp. 184- 
 185; municipal ownership, suc- 
 cess of, p. 187. See Street 
 railways and municipal owner- 
 ship 
 
 Tuberculosis, war up>on, p. 131; 
 sanatoriums, p. 133 
 
 U 
 
 Ulm, housing in, p. 168 
 
 Unearned increment taxes, pp. 
 189-207; need of new rev- 
 enues, p. 189; origin of tax, p. 
 189; Kiaotchau, new harbor in 
 China, development of, p. 190; 
 land tenure, Kiaotchau, p. 
 191; method of assessment, 
 
 Prussia, p. 192; effect of new 
 taxes, p. 192; Frankfort, or- 
 dinances of, p. 194; spread of 
 unearned increment tax, p. 
 195; imperial measure, p. 196; 
 the Lloyd George budget of 
 Great Britain, p. 201; Cana- 
 dian experiences, p. 202; Aus- 
 tralian experiments, p. 203; 
 American proposals, p. 205; 
 land values in New York and 
 Cleveland, p. 205; reforms for 
 unearned increment tax, p. 206 
 UnemplojTnent insurance, p. 141 
 
 Vienna, pp. 31-34 
 Virchow Hospital, p. 132 
 Visions, city, Diisseldorf, p. 56; 
 Frankfort, 71 
 
 W 
 
 Wagner, Professor Adolf, p. 192 
 Wandering workers, provision 
 
 for, p. 135 
 Washington, plans of, p. 92 
 Water communications, Ger- 
 many, p. 6 
 Water-fronts, Rhine cities, p. 18 
 Water supply, Mimich, p. 154 
 Water-ways, improvement of, p. 
 41; planning of, p. 105; Amer- 
 ica, p. 107. See Town plan- 
 ning 
 Wertzuwachssteuer. See Unearned 
 
 Increment Tax 
 Widening, city projects, p. 90 
 Workingmen's railway tickets, p. 
 
 183 
 Working-people, what the Ger- 
 man city does for, pp. 125-142 
 
 Zone system, pp. 101, 102 (see 
 Town planning); Diisseldorf, 
 p. 44; Glasgow, p. 335
 
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