The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-21
RERLIN's RAPID GROWTH.

Germany's capital, Berlin, has caught
the annexation fever and proposes to
take in suburbs which will give it a
population of over 100000, and about
half a million more than Paris. With
this added population it will be the sec
ond largest city in Europe, and the
third in the world
While Berlin is growing rapidly. it is
not expected that it or any other Euro
pean city will ever surpass London,
which now has great lead over all
and is growing rapidly.
Berlin at one time passed New York.
but that, however, was before the con-
solidation of Greater New York. At
present Berlin has more people than
the Borough of Manhattan and equals
the population of the old city of New
York as its boundaries stood in 1880.
Cities in Europe are not expected to
grow as rapidly as those in America,
yet the rate Of Beriin's progress in the
past few years has been by no means
slow. 1t is only within the last few
years that its population approx
mated that Of New York Berlin at the
beginning of the last century had about
1S2. 600 inhabitants to New Yorlxs so, 900.
By the middle of the century Berlin
had 100000, while New York had 515.-
900, an increase of more than eight-fold.
This made the American metropolis
one-fourth larger than the Prussian,
instead of being only one-third its size.
The period since then has seen more
rapid progress for Berlin. At the
foundation of the German empire, in
1871, the population was S26, 900, includ-
ing its garrisons. New York then had
$4,000. Bcrlin's growth from that time
on became proportionately more rapid,
so that by 1880 it had reached 1,122,-
3S0-an increase Of nearly IS per cent
in nine years. New York at that time
was barely ahead of it with 1.206, 299.
In five years from that time the popu-
PSI. few thousand more than New
York. and in 1890 it had 1885, 900 to
New York's 1,515,3O1.
New York took the lead again short
ly after this. when the charter for
Greater New York was drawn I'D and
the city spread out and embraced
Brooklyn and other suburbs. This put
it far ahead of even Paris and all cities
except London. Berlin continued to
hold its own, however, and, If by its
consolidation it is not able to rival
New York, it is because it has not the
suburbs comparable in magnitude with
those of the American city.
Once known as the worst governed
city on the continent, Berlin is now
regarded as a model of municipal gov
eminent except in one particular. It's
police system, its gas and lighting
transportation service are splendid; its
of public improvements is carried out
scientifically and artisticaIly. Its great
problem is the proper housing of the
people. An old law limited the height
Of dwelling houses to five stories. or
seventy-two feet; as result, land
values and rentals in accessible dis
tricts have scared until the poorer
classes and persons of moderate means
find it next to impossible to get decent
living quarters. Many of them have
burrowed underground and buildings
have been crowded beyond any posi-
bility of sanitation in the modern sense.
In this respect, some of the Berlin ten
ement districts are as bad or worse
than the unspeakably bad tenement
districts of New York and London.
In spite of Berlin's rapid growth it is
unlikely it can ever approach New
York in size. Conservative estimates
place the population of Greater New
York within another decade at close to
100000. Its transportation systems
have already broken down under the
rapid increase of demands on them:
and nothing but the approaching COM
pletion of the great railroad tunnels
under the Hudson and East rivers Of
fers any solution of the problem.
Those ice cream trousers that bios