# Guide through Carlsbad and its environs/Social Matters

X.—SOCIAL MATTERS.
1. The Authorities and Taxes levied on Visitors.
The Authorities with whom visitors come into contact are—the District Surveyor, in the official building on the Neue Wiese, and the Burgomaster, whose office is in the Town Hall; and it is this latter gentleman’s duty to impose the taxes for the use of the waters and the music. As both taxes are divided into three classes, any visitor objecting to his assessment can appeal against it within three days at the office of the Burgomaster, and, secondly, at the office of the K. K. Bezirkshauptmann (Imperial and Royal District Surveyor). The Burgomaster’s office has also the control over the record of the visitors, and, based upon it, issues the visitors’ list. For this purpose, as well as for assessing, each visitor is supplied with a form to fill up, and after a few days an official hands him the assessment-paper for payment. The Curtaxe (visitor’s tax) has to be paid by every visitor staying longer than eight days at Carlsbad. It amounts for wealthy people to 10 fl.; for well-to-do people, 6 fl.; for the less affluent, ​4 fl., i. e., for each grown-up member of the family; for a child under fifteen years and for each servant 1 fl. has to be paid. The third class comprises public officers of lower degrees, small tradesmen, salesmen, and peasants. Physicians and surgeons, with their wives and children, are free from this tax, as are also all Austrian officers up to the rank of captain, and every visitor provided with a certificate of poverty.
The music tax is imposed upon each family, according to the number of persons and the rank of the visitors, and amounts respectively to from 5 to 14 fl., 3 to 8 fl, or 2 to 6 fl.
Other public offices are:—The K. K, Postamt (Imperial and Royal Post Office) on the Markt-Platz; office hours from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M.
The Telegraphenamt (Telegraph Office) on the Markt-Platz; office hours from 7 A.M. to 12 P.M.
The K. K. Haupt-Zollamt (Imperial and Royal Chief Custom House); attendance from 8 to 12 A.M., and from 2 to 6 P.M.
2. Divine Worship.
For Roman Catholics, daily at 7, 9, and 11 A.M. On Sundays and other Holidays High Mass in the morning, at 9 o’clock, followed by a sermon; in the afternoon, at 3 o’clock, the Benediction.
​For the Protestant Community, every Sunday and Holiday at 11 A.M. For the English Community, every Sunday at 11 A.M. For adherents of the Orthodox Oriental Greek Church, on Sundays and Holidays in the morning at 11, and in the evening at 6. For Israelites, on Friday evenings at 8 o’clock, Maarib-prayer, with chorus: on the Sabbath and other Holidays, at 10 A.M., Musaph-prayer, with chorus, and Thora-reading, sometimes a sermon.
3. Medical Intelligence.
The names and residences of the physicians and surgeons in practice at Carlsbad are annually added to the Curliste. There are two pharmacies called, respectively, Zum Weissen Adler on the Marktplatz, and Zur Böhmischen Krone on the Mühlbadplatz.
4. Information concerning Dwellings.
Single people will find accommodation at any time; should, however, a more spacious residence be required, it is advisable to send orders for it in advance. In this case, it will be necessary to state precisely at what time the arrival will take place, and how many rooms and beds will be wanted. There is a Miethordnung (regulations for hiring rooms) in existence for the guidance of ​visitors as well as landlords. In cases of disagreement, complaints should be made to the Burgomaster or the District Surveyor.
The prices for lodgings vary greatly, according to situation and size, but principally during the season, as rooms for which, in the height of it (from about 15th of May to the middle of July), 60 fl. a week are demanded, will probably at the end of the season be let for 15 fl.; consequently, it is difficult to give an exact statement as to the prices. Generally, however, it may be taken for granted, that single rooms may always be had at from 5 to 10 fl. per week; lodgings containing from two to four rooms at from 20 to 50 fl., and such as have from five to ten rooms at from 60 to 200 fl. per week. The larger Hôtels are as follows:—The Goldene Schild, Establishment Pupp, Hôtel de Russie, Hôtel Anger, Stadt Hannover, Paradies, Hôtel Erzherzog Karl, Hôtel Loib, Drei Fasanen, Morgenstern, Goldener Schwan, Hôtel Royal, Hôtel National, Hôtel Donau, &c.
5. Boarding.
People take their meals either à la a carte or at fixed prices; there are at least thirty places for this purpose, and the quality of the food is materially the same everywhere. The principal Re​staurants are the following:—The Establishment Pupp, the Sächsische Saal, the Curhaus, Stadtpark, Sans-Souci, and all the above mentioned Hôtels; smaller dining rooms:—Stadt Leipzig, Hopfenstock, &c.; there are some places also where food is prepared and cooked according to Jewish rules. The Coffee Establishments principally frequented are in the town:—The Elephant, Hamburg, the Kaffeesalon Pupp; in the environs:—Sans-Souci, Posthof, Schönbrunn, Freundschaftssaal, Kaiser-Park, Café Impérial, Schweizerhof, Panorama, &c.
6. Entertainments.
Reading. The Curhaus contains reading-rooms for ladies and gentlemen, where newspapers from all countries can be found. Novels, scientific books, and newspapers may be had at the circulating libraries of Hans Feller (bookseller to the Imperial and Royal Court of Austria) on the Alte Wiese and near the Mühlbrunn. Music.—A great quantity of pianos are let out for hire at from 5 to 10 fl. per week, and instruction on the piano is given by several teachers. Labitzky’s band performs daily in the morning, from 6 till 8 o’clock, near the Sprudel and the Mühlbrunn; in the afternoon, from 4 till 6, at different places, and twice a week in the evening, from 7+$^1$⁄$_2$ till ​after 9 o’clock. The Theatre.—During the season, from the beginning of May till the end of September, there is a company playing, who will give satisfaction to those whose taste is not too refined. Dancing is indulged in generally on Saturday evenings in the Curhaus. Archery can be enjoyed at different places on the Promenade, and Shooting at a Target may be practised at the shooting place of the Carlsbad Shooting Company, i. e., in the Schützen Park, where good pistols and rifles, with all the necessary implements, will always be found in readiness.
7. The Inhabitants and their Industry.
The inhabitants of Carlsbad number, according to the latest census, 10,579 souls. The management of room-letting and providing for the visitors is confided almost exclusively to the women, and it must be owned that their assiduity and sympathetic readiness is beyond praise.—Of the formerly very important industry of the inhabitants there is now only the pin manufactory that needs comment (at the beginning of this century there were nearly 50 cabinetmakers, 30 cutlers, 25 pewterers, 24 gunsmiths, and 14 pinmakers). More recent industrial branches are represented by the working of the Sprudel stones, either for ornaments, or for other