The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1894-11-23
BEAUTIFUL STREETS OF BERLIN
They are Asphalted and Kept Clean
and There are No Sims

$1,000 - - - IL OA4S414I ~ VI bAIEIl4t.
They are Asphalted and Kept Clean
and There are No Slums.
A foreigner coming to Berlin will be
impressed almost at once by the excellent
streets, and further by the exceptional
manner in which they are taken care
Of Almost everywhere they are as
phalted, even where they are narrowest,
and not only i'll the middle of the city,
but far out into the suburbs. This work
has been done i'll the most substantial
manner. This department of city affairs
is lntrusted to skillnul officers, who per-
form their duty according to the latest
scientific principles. In the center OF the
city large tract of street is now being
torn up for new horse-car tracks, and
IL Is an instructive sight to see the fine
scale upon which the work is done. The
foundation is at least foot in deDth of
the hardest possible mixture OF small
stones and cement. Upon this, by means
OF mOnStrOuS rollers and other machin-
cry, is placed the asphalt, W hch is not
more than a halI-iuch in thick ness, but
which on account of the strong SubWork
wears like the everlasting rock. | sell
dom needs repair, it does not run awaV
IN hot weather, and docs not rut even
under the heaviest kind of traffic.
This adds materially, OF course, to the
beauty OF Berlin, and facilitates the work
OF cleansing the streets, another depart
ment OF municipal administration which
Is attended TO III the most effective man
ner. CieanserS III uniform are constantly
az work in all parts of the city, VINO, with
broom and brush, heap up the refuse be-
side the curbS, to be haul cd off 10 the cILv
farms during the night. At intervals
each day water-carts are driven over the
streets, and boys follow after with
squeegees, which they propel by long
handles, washing every particle of filth
away.
The excellent condition Of the streets
OF Berlin Is, the Pennsylvania Iejeqr,t6t
says, one OF the reasons why the CITY has
none OF those districts which have come
to be called "slums." While London and
Paris. not to mention the Italian and
Spanish cities and some cases nearer
hoUe, suffer i'll a notable manner from
the congestion OF the poor ut certain
points, where they live crowded together
under tie most unhealthiul surround
lngs, TINS IS not tOany extent true Of
Berlin. There are districts in the east
and north whore the poor live together
but In nothing like the misery and
squaIOr which one will find elsewhere
Inc streets as already remarked, are as
phalted, and they are clean. They are
| nearly everywhere wide. There are
none Of those little dark alleys which
exist III other cities. The houses are we'll
built and sound.
one could pass through these districts
time and again, and did he not see the
children on the sidewalk and the women
with their heads out OF the windows, it
might scarcely occur 10 him that he was
among the poor people. The fronts of the
houses are Of very handsome masonry,
harmonious in architecture, and in no
! important respect different from the
! houses IN many wealthier sections of the
city.
SO much has a good city government
done and so much can every good CITY
government do. 1t can see that the streets
are wide enough; it can well pave those
streets; 1t can always keep them clean; 1t
can prescribe how house within the
city limits may and may not be built; it
cam decide about the chimneys, the pre-
cautions as TO fire and the drainage it
cannot go into mans family NATURALLY
and say how many beds shall be in one
room, how often and to what extent the
| house shall be cleaned; what shall be eat
and drink, and how it shall be eat and
drink. There is, of course, considerable
squalor inside OF the houses in Berlin
which the Government cannot prevent.
but IL is a lesson Tor every great city to
| observe what wonderful things have
been done here in this direction