Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-11-13


2,250,oo0. Berlin has grown like a green
bay tree since the Franco-Prussian war, and
there is no city in the United States which
has increased so fast in population.
There is no place in the world where you
will find such uniformity of good build
ingA The houses are of vast size and YOU
can drive for miles and miles through
broad well-paved streets, which are
walled with three, four and five
story houses, all substantially built and all
looking clean and new. The most of these
houses are of brick, coved with stucco, and
it is only in the old parts OF the city that you
find any monstrosities in architecture. Ber-
lin is the best managed city in the world,
and its city fathers regulate the style of the
buildings which shall be put up. You can't
build dog kennel without showing a de-
sign of it at the city hall, and no man can
put up signboard on his own house until
he has shown diagram of it and has gotten
the permission of the Government.
The Sidewalks Are for Pedestrians.
In building the house you are not allowed
to litter the street with your bricks and
mortar, and all the materials for building
must be kept inside of the lot. You have to
fence off the street while the building
is going on, and when your house has
reached the height of the second story you
must build roof out over the sidewalk to
prevent the bricks or mortar falling on
those passing below. The building is done
much better than with US and much more
economically. Nearly all the mortar is
=,
company here which sells the mortar ready
mixed to the builders, and which carries il
about in iron wagons and delivers it Just
where it is needed
don't know how much New York runs
behind every year, but there is scarcely
city of the United States which is not stead
lily increasing its debt. Consul General Ed
wards tells me that Berlin makes profit of
5000, 900 marks every year over all of her
expenses, or of S1,25O.O00. The city owns
two-thirds of the gas stock and it sees that
its people have good light. There are gas
lamps on the corners of every street and the
posts are of tasteful pattern. Each post
has four burners and the lamps are so aided
by refectors from above that their power is
doubled. The posts are higher than ours
and note that some of them have Argand
burners. This gas stock is very valuable
houses as we'll as the city.
The City's Insurance Department.
1t is the same with fire insurance. The
city insures its own buildings, and it is
against the law for another insurance COM
panv to give out policies on buildings. The
city, in the first place. sees that the build
lngs are properly put up and that the pro-
lection against fire is Of the best character,
and it then makes every man take out an
insurance policy to prevent loss in case of
fire. The insurance stock is good and the
city, of course, makes money by it. The
only other insurance companies of Berlin
are those of life insurance and those whicn
insure personal property. You can have
your furniture insured by a private COM
pany, but the police are likely to step in
here and see that you don't overinsure it,
and all foreign insurance companies have to
own enough city bonds to guarantee any
losses which their subscribers might sus-
tain. The Equitable, the New York Life
and other American companies have offices