Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1905-03-16
THE POOR OF BERLIN
HOW THEY ARE SUPERVISED BY THE
CITY AUTHORITIES.

Parks ana IhDilc tlacess
What" l exclaimed in Berlin, ARE
there no poor in this city? Are you al
together without rags and wretched-
ness
My dear friend" said the German,
winking heavy eyelid. I'VE are a very
clever people. We do not show our
dust bins"
Berlin is ruled by municipal experts.
1t has its wretchedness and its despair,
but these things are not permitted TO
increase. To be out of work ia Berlin
is a crime, even as it IS in London, but
with this difference-in Berlin the mu-
nicipality legislutes for labor in a fash
ion which makes idIeness all but inde-
fenSible
The laws TO this end may not com
mend themselves to English minds, for
the Germans are not soft hearted in
such matters, but they have this en-
gaging recommendation, they succeed.
Let ragged man make his appear
unce In Friedrichstrasse or the Lindens
or in any Of the numerous open spaces
and a policeman Is at him in a min
ute. Your papers" demands the man
Of law. The beggar produces his docu-
ments. If il 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 4 prison, but the vagrant would as
leave 20 to the one as TO the other.
The administration of the workhouse
js 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 1t comes about
that the man least disposed to work,
the born vagabOnd, finds 1t more
agreeable to toll for his bread in the
market than To fall into the hands of
paternal government
Berlin takes advantage of the sys-
tenn in Germany which numbers and
tickets every child born in the father
land. No man can roam from district
10 district changing his name and his
ifes story with every fitting He is
known 10 the police from the hour Of
lis birth 10 the hour of his death. For
a few pfennigs | 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
Tor 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 pasting into a
book OF certain stamps every week,
and 1t Is the duty OF each employer
20 see that this contract IS faithfully
obeyed And the state has at Beelitz
an enormous sanitarium costing TO-
100000 marks (G500,0O0, where the in |
yalided citizen is sent with his pen
sion in order to expedite his valuable /
return to the ranks of the wage earn I
ers. 1t pays the city of Berlin TO nurse |
whole object Of the municipality is TO
secure the physical and intellectual
well being of its citizens. and on this
task il concentrates It's labOrs with !
amazing energy.
Berlin has a huge building resem- |
bling a factory where the unemployed, |
whole families. are received and pro- |
,-iJaJ FOR I,,t M ono r1llCt taly Q1vau- |
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 work house Private enterprise has |
provided another asylum where the |
homeless may come five times in one |
month and whe e the police are not al
lowed to enter at night | have visited !
this place and seen the people who at |
tend il. some decent enough, others |
criminal in every line Of their faces. !
There are many Of these desperate |
men ia Berlin many of these dirty, |
ragged and unhappy wretches, doomed |
from the day OF their birth, but they |
dare not show themselves in the decent !
world as they do in London. They |
stink into these asylums at o'clock;
they have their clothes disinfeCted;
they cleanse themselves under shower
baths: they eat bread and driQk soup.
ana Cuen lney 90 70 bed at : CLOCK
like prisoners TO their cells.
Now, this system is a hard one. for
when once a man gets down IN Berlin |
il is almost impossible for him TO rise
But il has this clear advantG ge-every |
body feels that 1t is better to work |
than 10 fall into the hands of the law.
Rags and misery dare not lie about
in the parks or scatter disease through
the crowded streets If there is any
virtue in the unemployed the state viii
certainty develop it as well as 1t is pos
sible to do so. There is n central bu-
reau for providing men with work, and |
when man knows that not TO work !
means the workhouse he solicits en-
ployment here and elsewhere with such
a VIII as almost cOmpels wages In
one year the state has secured employ
ment for 10000 men.
The citizen is provided with sanitary
dwellings. with unaduIterated food.
with schools and technical colleges and
with insurance for sickness and old
age For penny he can travel almost
from one end of Berlin to the other b.
electric tramway or electric railway.
His streets are clean. brilliantly light
ed and noiselesS; his cafes and music
halls are innumerable. He lives In
palace. And all this is the result Of
municipal government by experts in
stead Of by amateurs London Mail
More Than skin Tight.
Senator Joe Blackburn. who was .
quite dandy ia bis younger days, /!
once ordered a pair Of trousers from
his tailor, and as the fashion then was