The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-03-22
GERMAN
SWELL KEPT K. I: |
Berlin the Best Managed Cap
ital In All Europe.
FINE BUILDINGS. STREETS
Runs Gas and Electric Works at a Profit
and Makes Money by lnsurIng It's
Buildings-Largest Real Estate
Owner ii Prussia.

u (. ID i
copyright, 1903, by Frank G. Carpenter.)
! BERLIN, Feb. 2S.-Berln is the best
managed city in Europe. 1t has uniforms
" the best buildings and the best streets.
Tho streets are wide and well paved.
Asphalt has been put down on most of
\ them. and you can drop your handker-
lrhicf almost anywhere without soiling 1t.
fFhere IS no rubbish to be seen. II you
81 throw a scrap of paper on the pavement
n n policeman may order you to pick IT
np, and If you leave a pilo Of dirt IN
your yard you MAY be arrested
NJ The town is watched and everything
Is made pleasing to the oye All plans
n have to be submitted to tho city nrchl-
4tcct and every sign hoard has 10 be APP
proved before 1t can 60 up. You cannot
! build dog kennel without the approval
1 or tho city fathers, and they regulate
4 the width OF every whll, the height of
X the ceilings, and also the height of every
house. Tho result: Is that the most of the
buildings are uniform. They are all fats,
and you can ride for miles past yellow
structures of five stories, most OF which
have stores below and apartments above,
What Berlin Owns.
The Germans believe in the city owners
a ship OF public works and Berlin is inter
csted in all sorts Of undertakings. She
owns the market halls md cAttle yards.
She has savings banks and loan offices,
and more real estate than any Individual
or corporation in Prussia. She OWLS gas
and electric works. and lights not only
IA the streets, but also private houses, for
a consideration. She runs IN insurance
company, and forces every property
ownor to take out an insurance policy
sto prevent loss In case Of fire. At the
she sees to it that her losses arc as few
as Y possible, and "the result Is that the
Insurance department makes money. In
deed every department does comparative
Nv we IL !; the city pays all her own expens-
es and comes out q million dollars or so
ahead at the end Of the year.
Il sun Berlin carries the interest upon a
large n,ubllc debt. She owes $G5, 000 600,
which is a little more than one-fifth the
debt of New Y orlt, $4,000, 900 more than
the debt a,f Philadelphia, and a little less
than three times as much as Is owed by
Chicago.
q The diffenence between Berlin and the
average Anne rican city is that Berlin gets
the worth of her money. Her public
buildings are well put UP and there are
few public jobs OF late the parks have
been laid out in the Thicrgarten, wood
ed pleasure grounds of GOO acres in the
heart Of the city New statues have been
nit up there and among others those of
The Alice OF Victory which Is lined with
marble figures and busts of German he
roes. RI rs. H4
e Berlin Is building pleasure grounds for
The children in every quarter Of the city.
She Is gradually renpdeling the old
tc ~ n Ia w
Will vic with Paris MS the most beautl-
fill city of Europe.
Berlin's Big Boom.
Berlin is now the third city of Europe.
London is first, Paris second, Berlin third
and Vienna fourth. Berlin proper has
over ]. 500 900 Inhabitants. but with the
suburbs she has moro than two millions
and its is a question whether the Great
cr Berlin IS not equal to Paris in size.
n The town has been booming since the
Franco Prusslan war. 1t had 200. 600 In
1860, and at the time of that war only
tliree-quarters of q million. After that
the government got the big war mdemnl-
ty The French pulled a billion dollars
out Of their wooden stockings and handed
1t over to the German victors, and much
of this money came to Berlin The peo-
pie nocked In from all parts Of the en-
pire to see. II theyI.cuuld not get their
share of it..'and Berlin grew. 1t has beon
growing ever since. and notwlthstand-
ing tho hard times 1t Is growing to-
day. 1t now covers twenty-five square
miles in the Spree Valley and Is reach
ang out in every direction.
How German Cities Thrive.
A similar growth has taken place
throughout the German empire. Nearly
every city has put on the seven league
boots of modern progress, and has built
new buildings faster than most of our
American towns. The improvements have
been better than ours, and you will not
find country on earth that has as
many fine cities as Germany In proper
ZION to its population,
Let mo give you a few facts about
some of .the cities know. I first came
10 Germany over twenty years ago. and
the growth has been aim st altogether
since that time I-eipsig Is three timcs
as large as it was then. 1t had 100000
population mt the time of the Franco
Prussian war, and It numbers almost
half a million to-day. Munich and Dress
den each have now half o million, Bres-
Tau has A22 600, Cologne 100000. and
Frankfort on the Main about 100000.
Dnrtmund, Barmen and Danzig have
each $4,000: CheInnisz. 900, and Ham,
burg has quarters of a million. and
is fast rising toward the million mark.
The United States has thirty eight
towns which have more than 100000 pop
,llation Prussia is not as big as Texas
and II has twenty towns OF more thar
100 900 population. Stetun is bigger thar