The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1904-12-24
THE POOR OF BERLIN
HOW THEY ARE SUPERVISED BY THE
CITY AUTHORITIES.

Begging lx Not to De Seen on the
Streets Of the City, and Rags and
Misery Dare Not Lie About In the
Parks and Public Places.
"What," l exclaimed in Berlin, "are
there no poor in this city? Are you al
together without rags and wretched-
nessy'
"My dear friend,'' said the German,
winking a heavy eyelid, W are a very
clever people. We do not show our
dust bins"
Berlin is ruled by municipal experts.
1t has its wretchedness and it's despair,
but these things are not permitted to
increase. To be out of work in Berlin
is q crime. even as it is in London, but
with this ~difference-in Berlin the mu-
nicipality legislates for labor in Il fash
ion which makes iuleness all but indie
feasible.
The laws to this end may not COM
mend themselves to English minds, for
the Germans are not soft hearted in
SuCu iu0LlClS, Jul. t1NcS uuNc lLlS Eli
gaging Recommendation, they succeed.
Let a ragged mar make his appear
ance in: Friedricllstrassc or the Lindens
or in any'of the numerous open spaces,
and a policeman is at him in Il min
ute. "Your papers.' demands the man
of law. The beggar produces his docu-
ments. If it is proved that he has
slept in the asylum for the homeless
more than a certain number Of nights
he is, forthwith conducted. willynilly, to
the workhouse and made to labor for
his board and lodging.
Now. the workhouSe in Germany is
not a prison, but the vagrant would as
leave go to the II as to the other.
The administration of the workhouse
is conducted with iron severity. Ev-
cry ounce of bread and every drop of
thin soup consumed by the workhouse
man is paid for a thousandfOld by the
sweat of his brow. SO it m about
that the man Least disposed to work.
the born v%agabond, finds it more
agreeable to toll for his bread in the
market than to fall into the hands of
a paternal government.
Berlin takes advantage of the sys-
TEN in Germany which numbers and
tickets every child born in the father
land. No man can roam from district
to district. changing his name and his
life's story with every fitting. He is
known to the police from the hour of
his birth to the hour Of his death. Fol
a few pfennigs I can read the history
Of every person in Berlin. Therefore
the municipality has an easy task. Ev-
cry citizens life story is known to
them, and every vagrant is punished
for his crime against the community.
Moreover, every person of humble
means Is insured by the state. Even
clerks, shop assistants and servants
are compelled to insure against sick
ness and against old age. This insur-
ance is effected. by the FASTING into a
book Of certain stamps every week,
and it is the duty Of each employer
to see that this contract is faithfully
obeyed. And the state has at Beelftz
an enormous %sanitarium costing TO-
100000 marks N5oO, 600, where the in
valided citizen is sent with his pen
sion in order to; expedite his valuable
return to the ranks Of the wage earn
.ers..: 1t pays the city of Berlin to nurse.
Its sick and cherish its invalids. The
whole object Of the municipality is. to
secure the, physical and intellectual
well being Of its citizens, and on. this
task it concentrates its .labors with.
amazing energy. ;I. = ..,<
Berlin has II huge building resem-.;
bling a factory where the unemployed,
whole families, are received and pro-
vided for, but no must take advan-
tage of this. hospitality more. than five
times in three. months. Consider this
point of. view: If you are homeless five
times in three months you are dubbed
a reckless creature and packed off to
the workhouse. Private enterprise has
provided another. asylum where the
homeless may come five times in n
month and where the police are not al
lowed to enter at night. l have visited
this place and seen the people. who at
tend it, some decent enough. others
criminal in every line Of their. faces.
There are many Of these desperate
men in Berlin, many of these dirty,
ragged and unhappy .wretches, doomed.
from. the day of their BIRTH, but they
dare not show themselves in. the tddesrent;
world as they do in London: They
stink into these asylums at tEQ'clock;
they have their clothes -disinfecteds:.
they cleanse; themselves under, shower
baths; they, eat bread and drink soups
and then: they 20 to bed at 8 o'cloek:
like PRISONERS: to their cells, .saS :
Now. this system is a hard one. for
when once i man gets down in Berlin
it is almost impossible for him to- rise.
But it has this clear advanti::ge-eyery-'
body feels that 1T. is DIETER. to ~work
than to- fall into tile hahdtis Of the law.
Rags and misery dare mot lie about.
in the parks or;:scatter disease through
the crowded. streets. II there is any,
virtue in the unemployed the state viii:
aleSielopI,. II. as ,iiyelf as ii, j nos i
.s!ible to, 'do. sol There is 9. cenltna|* h'u;,
r1eaau Tor. SjNlallpAiKs s43aaen with ,work;; and
a,~rYan. knows. that. not stQaWDfki