Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-31

similar manner. and 1 understand that
there is very little complaint People
generally admit that the rich are paying
their share of the cost of the improvements
which have made Dusseldorf a model city.
and that the revenues are honestly ana
impartially disbursed for the general vel
fare. 1t is the almost unanimous opi-
ion that the S2S.COO.OG0 represented by the
municipal debt was well invested. and
that il is bringing a steady income to the
city in the satisfaction of those who en-
joy TIE benefits and by attracting the
educated and progressive workingmen as
we'll capitalists to make Dusseldorf
their home and place of business.
Public Utilities Provided.
This money represents various public
utilities. The city owns and operates its
street railways and a system of interur-
ban roads. which furnish transportation
to and from it's suburbs and neighboring
towns; it owns and operates gas, electric
light. and water plants: it owns and man
ages an extensive wine business and
brewery; it owns and operates laundries.
public baths and cemeteries; it controls
the milk business within the city limits,
and conducts several restaurants and
cafes. in public gardens and pleasure
grounds. 1t owns and manages an opera
house, a theater. a hall for exhibition pur-
poses and public meetings. and the prin-
ages hospices or lodging houses in differ
ent parts of the city, where working peo-
pie and the poor can obtain quarters at
low rates until they are able to find en-
ployment.
The municipality also owns and controls
three savings banks and several loan and
mortgage establishments and municipal
pawn shops, which enable the officials to
assist honest and industrious working
men in securing homes of their own. and
in borrowing enough on chattel mort
cages at = per cent interest. to carry
them over times of sickness and dis
tress. Because of this facility no one is
compelled to resort to money sharks and
usurerS, which are the curse of working
people in so many cities. The loans of
the municipal pawn shops vary according
to the industry and activity of the city,
and will average about 100000 year for
the last ten years
The deposits in the three municipal saw
ingS banks combined exceed $4,000 O00,
and the loans made by the city from that
fund to workingmen on mortgages to
assist them in building homes now aggre-
gate little more than $6Coo,OO0.
Profits Of the Systems.
The street railway system pays divi-
dend of between and per cent. which
is less than formerly. because the wages
Of employees have recently been increas-
ed. The electric light service pays an
annual profit of about $4,000; the gas
works and the water works each about
the same The profits from the savings
bank. the loan offices and the pawn shops
remain in the business and are not turn
ed into the treasury.
The municipality Is the largest landlord
in Dusseldorf. In 1902 a fund of 5000.
coo was acquired by a bond issue to pur-
chase 2GD acres of land adjoining the
city limits, which has since been par
TALLY improved with cottages of three and
four rooms. They rent for from SO to SO
a month or are sold for from $1,000 to
$1,000. Apartments in city tenement
houses about the same size rent at about
the same rate. but the tenants have no
flower and vegetable gardens, they cannot
keep chickens, their children have no
yards to play in, and they do not enjoy
the advantages Of country life. Those
who prefer to live in the city can rent
apartments Of three and four rooms for
81 and SO a month. with water, gas, cleo
trio light and steam heat, which, OF
course cost extra. In the latter case, as
in the former, the tenant may become his
own landlord by purchasing stock in the
company, which, under municipal control,
had erected the apartment house. In the
beginning none but tenants were allowed
to purchase such stock, but many of the
original purchasers have sold their hold
ings, and the original tenants have moved
elsewhere, until now the stock OF all the
800 apartment houses which have been
erected by the municipality is scattered
among thousands of industries. The city
guarantees dividends of per cent a year,
and the stock is not taxable, which adds
to it's value 1t is now quoted considera-
bly, above par, and the stock of some of
the new apartment houses cannot be pur-
chased for any price.
These apartment houses are located in
different parts of the city, convenient to
the mills and factories where the tenants
are employed.