Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 5, 1881

No. 294.
Mr. White to Mr. Blaine .

Legation of the United States,
Berlin , August 15, 1881. (Received September 8.)

No. 239.]

Sir: At my request the second secretary of the legation, Mr. Chapman Coleman, has prepared a report upon the administration of the city of Berlin, which I have the honor to inclose.

This metropolis is noted for the excellence and economy of its government, and it has seemed to me that such a report placed upon the files of the State Department would be of permanent value; indeed, that it might usefully be published, since the problems of municipal government are becoming more and more pressing in our country.

I may add that Mr. Coleman has been favored with the hearty cooperation of the city authorities and that his work is based not only upon conversations with men in the administration, but also upon a careful study of a great mass of documents, a task for which his familiarity with the German language, as well as his legal turn of mind, especially fits him.

I have, &c.,

AND. D. WHITE.

[Inclosure in No. 239.]

Report of Mr. Coleman on the municipal administration of Berlin.

Legation of the United States,
Berlin , August 15, 1881.

Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith, pursuant to your request, a brief report upon the constitution of the municipal government of this city and the administration of its affairs.

Some preliminary statistics and other data, embodying information of a general character with regard to the great capital whose administration is the subject of this report, may be of interest, and afford facilities for comparisons of results attained here with those accomplished elsewhere in great communities.

Berlin is in population the fourth city of the world, having 1,122,360 inhabitants, a number about double its population of twenty years ago—a ratio of increase in this respect among cities of such magnitude equaled only in New York, which city it also resembles in its capacious and numerous public squares, and in the broad, straight streets which prevail in the modern part of the city, and constitute no inconsiderable portion of its entire area.

With its increasing population, its growing area, now about 15,266½ acres, has kept pace. In few cities is so large a proportion of territory occupied by public gardens and parks, which so well fulfill the purposes of healthful recreation and pleasure for which they were intended. About 1,052 acres of the entire area of the city is thus occupied, the great park, the “Thiergarten,” covering an area of about 630 acres, being situated but a few minutes’ walk from the center of interest in the city. In addition there are a number of large private parks, constituting a peculiar feature of this city, and limited to the use of persons occupying adjacent houses.

A widely extended network of horse-railways, with some 400 cars, about 5,000 cabs, and some 500 other public vehicles for the conveyance of passengers seem to offer almost every needed facility for transit, in the absence of transit by steam or electricity. The elevated railway constructed on solid masonry, and winding its way from southeast to west through the entire city, is rapidly approaching completion, and will go far to solve the problem of rapid transit by steam. An electric railway, the only one in existence, is in successful operation in the vicinity of Berlin, and the construction of electric railways in its streets is contemplated.

Police ordinances for the government of common carriers and regulation of traffic in the public streets, and for the prevention of extortion, by fixed tariffs for fares, which are low, have been attended with eminent success.

The beneficial results of the more enlarged self-government, extended to this community from time to time by the state and the sovereign, have been most marked. Under local administration the condition of the public thoroughfares has been greatly improved. Within a period of ten years past deep gutters, constituting open, air-poisoning sewers extended along the sidewalks throughout the entire city. The paving and lighting of the city streets, at a comparatively recent period very inadequate, are greatly improved. The offensive open sewerage system is being rapidly replaced by a subsurface system with utilization of the sewage for agricultural experiments and uses, which, where already in complete operation, appears to be quite satisfactory. Equal satisfaction is afforded by the granite block and asphalt pavements with which the rough cobble-stones, not long since prevalent, have been largely replaced in the principal streets. The asphalt pavement especially excites the admiration of traveled strangers, who pronounce it the best they have seen. It is laid by companies, under a contract system, which requires such guarantees for the good performance of the work that it would be madness to think of laying it otherwise than in the best and most enduring manner, and presents a most striking contrast to municipal success in this direction in some other great cities. Some little paving with wood has been done in an experimental way; American pitch pine has been used in part for the purpose, and is pronounced the best material.

This community is allowed to keep its own streets clean, and does so most effectually, cleaning them, too, at a time when the work can be most conveniently performed, and with little or no annoyance to the public or hinderance to traffic, between midnight and early morning; and so impartially is the system applied that obscure and remote alleys are as well cared for as the great highways of the city. In summer the dust is laid by frequent and regular watering. The lighting of the city by gas manufactured in its own works and on its own account is excellent, and a very considerable source of municipal revenue.

In another domain great progress has been made, the octroi, a tax imposed on certain provisions entering the city at its gates and railway stations, formerly a most irksome restraint, and still existing, and a source of great annoyance in so many great cities of Europe, is abolished, and traffic is free.

The administration of the city government, with its many satisfactory results, is conducted with enviable economy. For the year ending on April 1 last, the total expenditure varied but little from the budget, amounting to about 39,000,000 marks (about nine and one-third million dollars), of which amount some 32,000,000 marks were raised by taxation, the remainder accruing chiefly from the income derived from certain city property, the profit from the gas-works alone being about one and one-third millions. Of the expenditures incurred for this period about seven and one-half millions were for schools, no inconsiderable portion of which amount was expended for gymnasial and other educational institutions of a superior character as a voluntary addition to those provided by the State (about 125,000 pupils attended schools of all characters in this city during the past year). About 5,000,000 marks were for material city improvements, and about 7,000,000 for charitable institutions and the poor.

This very moderate expenditure in the administration of municipal affairs is in part made possible by the circumstance that a small army of citizens, some 8,000 in number, in response to the call of civic duty, performed unsalaried official functions in the various departments of city business, the duties thus imposed not being, however, sufficiently burdensome to preclude attention by this class of officials to their private affairs. This feature of the conduct of municipal affairs in Berlin would seem worthy of consideration, and perhaps of imitation elsewhere in great cities where such limited unsalaried participation in the administration of municipal business by the better class of citizens might not only lessen public expenditure, but also be fruitful of other beneficial results.

Some statements as to the nature of the municipal offices filled by these unsalaried officials may be of interest. About 400 of such officials, with their substitutes, perform the duties of executive heads of the various city districts or wards; about 1,475 unsalaried officials are employed in the “poor committees,” administering municipal alms as chairmen, substitutes of such, or members of such committees, 738 of the number are occupied with the care of city orphans, as are also 358 ladies; 1,276 persons fulfill similar duties in the various school committees, and 240, of whom 64 are ladies, constitute the supervising school boards.

The rental value of dwellings is assessed for taxation by 202 gentlemen, 45 others acting as members of appellate boards of revision in the same domain; 3,799 officials act on the committees which assess the class and communal income tax (incomes under 3,000 marks, about $714), and the boards of revision for such assessment, while 60 others assess the classified income tax (incomes over 3,000 marks, or $714); 60 gentlemen, who are technical experts, are associated in the various permanent administrative committees, with the members of the magistracy and city council constituting them.

The addition of these various categories yields the number of 9,300 unsalaried offices, or “offices of honor,” as they are called, filled in this city by gentlemen and ladies without pay, and which frequently entail, in no slight degree, painstaking, self-sacrificing labor. Although these offices do not represent as many officials, for the reason that in a considerable number of cases, one and the same individual performs the duties of several offices, the number of voting citizens of Berlin who perform unsalaried functions in the administration of municipal affairs is nevertheless to be reckoned at about 8,000.

The length of service in such offices is also considerable, the same person not infrequently fill them for twenty, thirty, and forty years, uninterruptedly and well, and take pride in thus filling them. In one instance, a member of a poor committee, still in office, has performed its duties continuously for fifty-eight years. The saving achieved, directly and indirectly, in the employment of carefully selected, unsalaried, officials for the performance of the duties of the important offices above mentioned, cannot but be enormous, and it is understood that no great difficulty is encountered in filling them in a satisfactory manner, although dispensation from such service is granted, to persons greatly burdened with their private business affairs.

To the number of persons performing civic functions without pay is to be added the entire body of city councilmen, and one-half of the members of the magistracy. The paid officials in all departments of the local administration, numbering about 3,500, are pensioned, receiving, according to length of service, from one to three fourths of their salaries upon retirement.

This estimate of salaried officials is inclusive of 2,800 school-teachers, but exclusive of bureau assistants, temporarily employed, of subofficials, servants, tax-collectors, and petty officers in municipal industrial establishments and charitable institutions, who are not reckoned as communal officials. The salaries of these paid officials are small compared with those of officials performing like functions in great American cities. But their appointment is for life, and advancement awaits the zealous and proficient. It is believed that, as a rule, a living interest is taken alike by chiefs and subordinates of the various departments in the work to be performed, each official becoming an adept in his special sphere, and all working harmoniously in an honest effort to achieve the best results with the lowest expenditure; and the results actually attained certainly speak eloquently in many instances of efficient and economical performance.

The chief department of the city government, not subject to local administration, is the police department, a former subdivision of which, the building police department, has, however, been ceded to the municipal authorities within a few years. The department of police is so admirably managed that no good ground for its transfer to the magistracy could well be advanced, unless, indeed, it be the natural desire of the community to rule in its own house. Owing to the peculiar character of the population of Berlin, the duties of this department are of a most difficult and onerous nature, and these duties are performed with an approximation to perfection that excites the unstinted admiration of strangers, unaccustomed though they may be, and as Americans in particular certainly are, to the many irksome minor police regulations, such, for instance, as those which require notices of arrivals in and departures from the city, of changes of domicile, and the like.

In no city of anything like the population of Berlin, New York perhaps excepted, has the ratio of increase of population been so great. Nowhere in such cities has the population been so shifting in its nature. In the year 1879 the population was increased by 113,666 new residents, while 84,027 former residents left the city. During the preceding year about 500,000 persons changed their domicile. Largely more than one-half of the population of Berlin were born elsewhere. For years there has been a great influx of the classes who have nothing to lose, of the poverty-stricken adventurous, and desperate (thousands of them, no doubt) persons seeking the facilities for wrong-doing, and the concealment afforded by a vast city. It is from these classes that the criminal population, the restraint of which necessitates the vigorous, well organized efforts exerted by the police department, is largely recruited. Some 68,000 persons, or about 186 a day, were arrested for all offenses, including begging and vagabondage generally, during the year 1879. The maintenance of order by the police authorities in the streets, at all times, and especially on occasions when great crowds are gathered together, challenges admiration; and the demeanor of the individual officer towards the public is a combination of civility and firmness, when essential, which deserves all praise.

I shall endeavor, under the various heads which follow, to present in a brief form the conditions of citizenship, and the exercise of the elective franchise, the organizations and functions of the two branches of the city government, and the relations of that government to the state and the sovereign; and also fuller statistics, and, in some instances, a brief account of the system and working of some of the chief departments. Full statistics of the past year have not in all instances been available; where those of a remoter period are given the fact will be stated.

i.—relations of the city government to that of the state.

The present communal constitution of the city of Berlin is derived from a state law, the “cities law” of May 30, 1850, which declares the community to be a corporation subject to the supreme supervision of the state, but concedes to it self-administration in the measure defined by the law, and permits it to make supplementary statutory regulations concerning all matters with regard to which the “cities law” is silent or permits variations; such regulations require, however, the confirmation of the state authority. The supervision of the state in the affairs of the community is vested, except in particular instances defined by the law, in the president-in-chief (ober-präsident) of Berlin, who is appointed by the sovereign, and, upon appeal, in the minister of the interior. All complaints against decisions in municipal affaire to this authority must be made within a prescribed period. Contribution for cleaning streets and horse-railway tracks 32, 424. 75

When a resolution is passed by the city council or the magistracy which exceeds the limits of its authority, or is unlawful or injurious to the welfare of the state, it becomes the duty of the state supervising authority to cause the chief burgomaster to prevent, for the time being, the carrying out of the measure objected to, and to report at once on the subject of the resolution to that authority, which then renders its decision with a statement of the grounds upon which it is based. When the city council fails or refuses to enter upon the budget the burdens legally resting upon the community, or to make other extraordinary provisions for the same, it devolves upon the state authority to cause such entry to be made, or to itself fix the amount of the extraordinary expenditure. The city council may be dissolved by a decree of the sovereign, in which event a new election must take place within six months, the functions of this body being in the meanwhile performed by commissioners appointed by the minister of the interior.

In case an agreement is not reached between the city council and the magistracy, in matters which the law directs shall be carried into effect by the latter body, the decision rests with the state authority. The consent of this authority is also necessary for the alienation of real estate owned by the city, for the sale or material alteration of objects which possess a particular scientific, historical, or art value, and especially of archives; for loans which impose a debt burden on the community, or increase an already existing one. Its consent is further necessary in order to raise money for municipal needs by the addition of a percentage to certain state taxes; in fixing the compensation of salaried members of the magistracy, and for any changes made in their pensions. The election of all salaried members of the magistracy requires the confirmation of the state authority, that of the chief burgomaster is by the sovereign.

It will be seen that the state has reserved to itself a most extended right of surveillance over and intervention in the local government.

No occasion for its intervention arises, however, in practice, the two municipal bodies working together with a harmony due, no doubt, in a great measure to the peculiar constitution of the permanent executive committees, in which both bodies are represented, and to which committees the greater part of the municipal business is intrusted.

ii.—citizenship, and the classification of voters for municipal purposes.

Citizenship consists in the right to vote, to serve the community in a representative capacity, and in the possession of the qualification requisite for the assumption of an unsalaried office in the communal administration; and this right and capacity is vested in every Prussian, not in active military service, who has attained his 24th year, has resided in the city one year, has received no public alms, and has paid his communal taxes, provided one of the following conditions is fulfilled: he must own a dwelling house in the city, or must pursue a regular avocation as a principal means of support, in which he employs at least two assistants, or must be assessed for the classified income tax, or pay an annual class tax of at least 6 marks.

Citizenship may also be acquired by naturalization, and is lost whenever one of the requisites prescribed ceases to exist—for instance, in case of bankruptcy, or the deprivation of civic honor by judicial sentence, &c.

Honorary citizenship conferred as yet, only upon six indiuiduals, Prince Bismarck, Count Moltke, and Dr. Schliemann being of the number and entailing the performance of no civic duties, may be bestowed by the magistracy with the consent of the city council upon men who have deserved well of the city, irrespective of the particular requisites above stated.

Upon every voting citizen, with the exception of certain categories, devolves the duty of accepting an unsalaried office in the communal administration and representation, and of retaining it for the period of three years. A refusal entails temporary loss of citizenship and an increased burden of taxation.

For the purpose of electing the city council, the voters are divided into three classes according to the amount of taxes they pay (communal, circuit, district, provincial, and state taxes).

The first class is composed of those highest tax-payers, who pay an aggregate of one-third of the entire amount of taxes paid by the entire body of voters. The second class of those highest tax-payers paying the aggregate second third, and the third class of all the other voters.

Statistics of the registration and voting at the biennial elections for the renewal in part of the membership of the city council may be of interest, and will be found in the aggregate, and for the particular classes, in the following table for the past three years:

	Number registered.	Number voting	Percentage voting.
Year 1876.
First class	1,402	733	52.3
Second class	3,787	1,396	36.9
Third class	43,738	3,946	8.1
Total	48,927	6,075	11.5
Year 1878.
First class	910	562	61.76
Second class	6,411	2,466	38.47
Third class	43,762	7,790	17.12
Total	51,083	10,518	20.59
Year 1880.
First class	2,100	1,164	55.43
Second class	9,169	3,171	34.58
Third class	96,610	11,707	12.12
Total	107,879	16,042	14.87

While the voting percentage of the total registration is small, the average for the three biennial elections being only 15.65, it will be seen from the foregoing table that under the classified system obtaining in this city, interest in municipal elections is manifested in a greatly increased degree, as the amount of taxes paid by the individual increases, the average voting percentage of the three classes of voters for the period in question, being for the first class of voters, 56.50; for the second, 36.65, and for the third, 12.45.

In this connection it may be of interest to note that while in our great cities—with a very different municipal suffrage system—the untaxed, or nearly so, exhibit the greatest activity at the polls, the indifference of the taxed is often deplored.

A list of voters, showing their possession of the necessary requisites to be kept by the magistracy, must be corrected annually in the month of July, and remain open to the inspection of the public from the 15th to the 30th of that month, during which period objections to its correctness may be entered by any member of the community. The list must be settled by the city council by the 15th of August, the magistracy assenting; if its assent is refused, the decision rests with the state supervising authority. The name of an inhabitant cannot be stricken from the list without eight days’ notice to him, accompanied by a statement of the grounds on which the action is taken. The election takes place in November, and is preceded by a public notification of two weeks by the magistracy.

iii.—the city council, its election, organization, and jurisdiction.

The qualifications of electors and their classification for the purpose of electing this body have been stated in the foregoing article.

One-half of its members, the entire number depending on the population of the city, for the time being, and now 126, must consist of house-owners (in fee simple, or persons enjoying the rental, or such as have an hereditary right of possession).

The following categories of persons are inelegible:

1. Those officials and authorities who exercise the supervising functions of the state over the city.

2. The members of the magistracy and all communal officials.

3. The clergy, church officers, and teachers in elementary schools.

4. Judicial officers, to which number members of the commercial, industrial, and other courts of a like character are, however, not to be reckoned.

5. The officials of the state attorney’s office.

6. Police officials.

Father and son, as well as brothers, are not eligible at the same time. If such are elected, the elder relative only is admitted.

Members of the city council are elected for the term of six years, and receive no salaries for their services.

At intervals of two years one-third of the members are replaced by a new election.

The chief burgomaster, or a deputy appointed by him, together with two associates elected by the city council, constitute the judges of election in each of the thirty-six election districts. Every voter must declare verbally and distinctly for whom he votes and votes for as many persons as are to be elected. Those persons are elected who, at the first casting of votes, receive the greatest number, and at the same time an absolute majority of all the votes cast. If at the first vote an absolute majority is not received by as many persons as are to be elected, a further election becomes necessary.

The judges of election take from among those persons who have, next to the elected, received the most votes, a number double that of the members still to be elected. The list thus made is then to be regarded as the list of the eligible. At the supplementary election an absolute majority is no longer requisite. Any one elected by more than one of the three classes of voters, or in more than one district, must declare which election he accepts. The newly elected members enter upon the discharge of their duties with the beginning of the new year, until which time those whom they replace continue to act.

The city council has jurisdiction over all communal affairs which do not devolve exclusively upon the magistracy. Their resolutions as to measures, which are to be carried into execution by the magistracy; require its assent, and if no agreement is reached the decision rests with the state authority.

Controlling the expenditure of money, the city council is entitled to see that its resolutions are carried into effect, and to satisfy itself as to the use made of all communal revenues.

The magistracy must be invited to all meetings, and may be represented by a deputy. The city council may demand that the magistracy, whose representative is entitled at all times to be heard, be present. A majority of the members constitute a quorum.

When, in proceedings concerning communal rights and obligations, the interests of any member are in conflict with those of the community, he is debarred from taking part in the same.

In case it becomes necessary for the community to institute an action against the magistracy or any of its members, on account of their official conduct, the state authority must, upon the motion of the city council, appoint legal counsel to conduct the action.

The resolution of the city council and the names of the members present must be entered in a journal kept for the purpose, and must be subscribed by the president and at least three of the members.

If the income from communal property prove insufficient for the needs of the community, the city councils may pass resolutions levying communal taxes. These may consist in an addition to state taxes and also in certain direct or indirect communal taxes, which, however, require the assent of the state authority if newly introduced, increased, or altered in principle.

iv.—the magistracy, its election, organization, and jurisdiction.

The magistracy or magisterial senate constitutes the municipal executive authority, and consists of the following thirty-four members, one-half of which number are salaried: The chief burgomaster, the burgomaster, two syndici (magisterial law counsel), a treasurer, two school councilors, two building councilors, and twenty-five city councilors, seventeen of the latter being the unsalaried members.

The paid members receive the following salaries: the chief burgomaster 30,000, the burgomaster 15,000, the others from 5,700 to 12,000 marks each.

Persons belonging to the following categories are ineligible:

1. Officials who exercise the supervision of the state over the city.

2. City councilmen, also communal subofficials and tax-collectors.

3. The clergy, church officers, and teachers in public schools.

4. Judicial officers, to which number, however, technical members of commercial, industrial, and similar tribunals are not to be reckoned.

5. Officials of the state attorney’s office.

6. Police officials.

Father and son, father-in-law and son-in-law, brothers and brothers-in-law are incapable of being members at the same time. In case the disqualifying relationship arises during the period of service the member who causes it must leave the body. Such relations are also incapable of being members of this body and the city council at the same time. The election of the entire magistracy is by the city council; that of the chief burgomaster and of fifteen other salaried members is for the period of twelve years; that of the burgomaster and the seventeen unsalaried members for the period of six years.

At intervals of three years one-half of the number of unsalaried city councilors is replaced by a new election. Those to be replaced the first time are determined by lot, and are re-eligible. Extraordinary elections to replace excluded members may be held whenever the magistracy, the city council, or the chief president of Berlin consider it necessary, the substitutes to be elected acting only until the end of the six years’ period for which the excluded persons had been elected.

The magistracy is elected as follows: Each member is voted for separately and by ballot. If an absolute majority is not reached at the first ballot, the further election is from among the four persons having the greatest number of votes, and a plurality decides. In case of a tie, the decision is by lot.

The election of the chief burgomaster requires the confirmation of the King; that of all other members of the magistracy, the confimation of the state supervising authority. If it be refused, and a further refusal follow upon a second election, the state authority is entitled to administer the office ad interim by a commission, at the expense of the city, as also when the city council refuse to elect, or again elect the person not confirmed after the first election. This administration by commission continues until an election which can be made at any time, is finally approved by the sovereign.

The president-in-chief of Berlin, or a commissioner appointed by him, administers the oath of office to the chief burgomaster, and he the same oath to the other members of the magistracy at a public session of the city council.

The title of “city elder” may, with the assent of the city council, be bestowed by the magistracy upon such of its members as have honorably discharged the duties of their office for at least nine years. This dignity has been conferred in eight instances.

The chief burgomaster or his deputy presides at the magisterial sessions, and each member of the magistracy has but one vote, the presiding officer deciding in case of a tie. A quorum consists of at least one-third of the members, and resolutions are carried by a majority, the presiding officer referring certain classes of resolutions of an objectionable character, (referred to in the article entitled “Relation of the city government to that of the state”) to the president-in-chief of Berlin for his decision.

The chief burgomaster is the official head of the city, its representative in all its external relations, and conducts and supervises the entire business of the municipal administration.

Upon the entire magisterial body as municipal executive authority devolves, among other duties, the duty of carrying into effect the laws and ordinances, the instructions of superior authorities, the resolutions, if assenting to them, of the city council, the duty of administering the city property and revenues, and the affairs of its institutions.

Upon this body devolves also the duty of appointing, after consultation with the city council, the communal officials, their appointment being for life, except when made for temporary purposes only; and also to apportion and collect communal dues.

Annually, at the latest in October, the magistracy is required to make out a budget of all municipal expenses and revenues that are susceptible of being calculated in advance, which after it has lain open to public scrutiny at prescribed places for a certain period, must then be definitely settled by the city council, a copy of the same being supplied to the supervising authority of the state.

The “cities law” permits the formation of permanent committees (called deputations) for the administration and supervision of individual branches of municipal business, providing that such committees may consist entirely of members of the magistracy, or of members of both municipal bodies and of citizens qualified to vote, but that the assent of both bodies shall be necessary for the formation of mixed committees, the latter remaining, however, entirely subordinate to the magistracy. The chief burgomaster appoints the chairmen of committees.

v.—permanent administrative committees and their work.

In Berlin the permanent committees by which the affairs of the city are for the most part administered, but few branches of business being reserved for the magistracy alone, and but few occasions arising on which it is necessary that this body should act collectively, are mixed, being constituted one-third of members of the magistracy and two-thirds of members of the city council. These committees are assisted in the discharge of their duties by sixty citizens, experts, who are qualified voters appointed by the magistracy with the advice of the city council.

The following are the various branches of business administered by the committees and subcommittees constituted in the manner above indicated:

1. City real property.

2. City lighting.

3. City taxation.

4. City indebtedness.

5. City schools.

6. Library of magistracy and archives.

7. Provincial museums.

8. Churches.

9. The poor.

10. Care of orphans.

11. Workhouse, insane asylum, &c.

12. Frederick William Hospital.

13. Sanitary condition.

14. Parks and gardens.

15. Buildings.

16. Water works.

17. Sewerage.

18. Fire insurance company.

19. Provision for fuel.

20. Provision for stationery.

21. Local police.

22. Street cleaning.

23. Industries.

24. Statistics.

25. Execution for unpaid taxes, &c.

26. Invalids and veterans.

27. Military enrollment.

28. Quartering of soldiers.

29. Registration of births, deaths, and marriages.

30. Funds for the reward and assistance of servants.

31. Independent beneficial institutions under city surveillance.

32. Finance.

Under the heads which follow an effort will be made to give an insight into the working of some of those departments of municipal administration which, in their nature, are of general interest.

vi.—street cleaning and watering.

The cleaning and watering of the streets and squares of Berlin constitute a separate department of municipal administration with an annual budget of 2,000,000 marks, (about $476,190.) At the head of this department stands a permanent administrative committee consisting of twelve persons, four of them being members of the magistracy and eight of the city council. Upon this committee devolves the transaction of the more important business of the department, the determination of the locality and the scope of its operations, the furnishing of the needed material, and the control of revenue and expenditure.

The special conduct of cleaning and watering is intrusted to a technical director, who takes part in the deliberations of the committee, and regulates the work in accordance with the principles there established. The entire corps of inspectors and laborers, and the entire stock of materials are subject to his direction and disposal. He plans the daily service, determines the number of laborers, implements, &c., concludes the contracts for supplies, and audits all bills against the administration.

Six inspectors-in-chief attend to the execution of the work in accordance with the regulations and plan submitted by the director for their guidance. To each of these officials a particular portion of the city is assigned. These more extended districts are subdivided into twenty smaller ones, each of which is placed under the charge of an overseer, to whom a certain number of permanently employed laborers is assigned.

Within their divisions the overseers carry into execution the work as planned for each day of the week; they apportion and supervise the work, control the distribution of implements, look to the proper and timely removal of the sweepings, and set in operation and employ, according to the contract, the sweeping machines and watering carts.

A depot for materials and implements, for the contents of which the overseer is responsible, is centrally located in each division; it is subject to his control, and is replenished, when need arises, from the central implement depot.

Under the present budget, 560 laborers, who are paid 3 marks (about 72 cents) each per day, are employed. These permanent laborers, who receive in addition to their wages, service clothing, must be able-bodied, intelligent, and reputable persons, and are required, in addition to their routine services, to perform such extraordinary work of short duration as may be requisite without being entitled to extra pay therefor.

When peculiar conditions of weather make such course necessary, the permanent corps is reinforced by laborers, who receive 2 marks (about 48 cents) per day.

The permanent laborers, although not serving under contract with the administration, are nevertheless generally uninterruptedly employed for many years. The wages paid, which are high, according to the local standard, make it easy to recruit the force from the labor market, and to select excellent persons.

This circumstance has, in the course of time, made it possible for the administration to enlist a force, which, held by strict discipline to punctuality, obedience, civil behavior, diligence, and order, may in every respect be called a model one.

The appointment of laborers is by the director, and those selected are taken almost exclusively from the married class.

These operations are conducted according to a working plan, an abstract of which is supplied to each overseer. This plan, subdivided into districts, contains all the streets, squares, underground canals, and public closets, which are to be cleaned regularly, according to need, and directs at what interval the routine service is to be performed, and when the extraordinary work is to be done. The working plan is extended to new streets, as the necessity for cleaning them is found after due consideration to exist. As a rule, only those streets which are entirely finished and built upon are regularly cleaned—that is to say, once, twice, and three times in the week, according to the amount of traffic in them, the principal streets being cleaned daily. On the other hand, streets that are unfinished or not entirely built upon receive only an occasional cleaning at undetermined intervals. The entire area of streets and squares, including sidewalks, now cleaned, amounts to about 1,545 acres, of which about 618 acres are cleaned daily. The cleaning of the sidewalks, roadways, and underground canals is regularly performed at night. The work is begun with about four-fifths of the entire force at midnight, and is concluded by 8 o’clock in the morning. During the same time the carting off of dirt and sweeping takes place. This allowance of time is based upon the condition of normal weather. The remaining one-fifth of the force performs, between 8 o’clock in the morning and 8 o’clock in the evening, the day service in the streets, keeping clean the public closets, sidewalks, crossings, &c., removing obstructions to traffic, and in summer filling from the hydrants and working the carts used for watering. For cleaning the market places and other extraordinary service, the night force is also brought into requisition. On the streets of the city paved with asphalt, an area of about 180,000 square yards, and cleaned as other streets are, a number of lads are in addition employed during the day to remove the manure and scatter sand when the streets become slippery.

Sweeping machines are considered an indispensable aid in cleaning the streets rapidly and thoroughly. Those in use are manufactured in this city according to the system of the English engineer, Smith, are drawn by one horse, served by one man, and on an average sweep 6,480 square yards per hour, a performance equivalent to the labor of from twelve to fifteen sturdy men. As a rule, two of these machines are assigned to each division, and, when working, throw the sweepings to the verge of the sidewalks, where they are shoveled up and carted off.

The removal of sweepings is done by contractors who are required to furnish carts sufficient in number to remove them, at the latest, within an hour after the cleaning is completed. On an average, about 786 cubic yards of sweepings are removed daily by about one hundred two-horse carts to points without the city. The contractors are required to provide, at their own expense, the carts, labor to load them, and suitable places at which to deposit them. The manure carted off is at the disposal of the contractor, and is generally sold for a small consideration to the neighboring peasantry, or shipped to a distance to be used for agricultural purposes. In case of heavy falls of snow, the matter to be carted off is from four to five times as large as usual, and additional compensation is paid the contractors by the city.

In order to keep down the dust, the streets are watered several times during the day in summer. For this watering 120 carts are in use at present, and the work is performed by contractors, who are required to keep their carts in operation during at least ten hours daily. The last watering takes place in the evening, in order that the roadway may at the same time be moistened for the work of cleaning to be done at night. The watering of the sidewalks is done by watering-can immediately before the sweeping.

The following figures of the budget, and of the actual income and expenditure for the city street cleaning for the year ending December 31, 1879, show with what approximation to accuracy the estimates are made:

		Budget.	Actual.
receipts.		Marks.	Marks.
Rent for lots		873.00	925.50
Contribution for cleaning streets and horse-railway tracks		32,424.75	38,838.00
Sundry receipts		9,312.50	6,166.40
	Total	42,610.25	45,929.90
expenses.
A. Ordinary:
	Wages	809,824.25	701,402.00
	Clothing	9,217.50	5,100.95
	Implements and materials	183,308.75	154,848.10
	Removal (carting)	548,175.00	484,638.35
	Watering	170,000.00	170,171.60
	Lots and depots	10,701.50	9,224.45
	Public closets and conducts	5,750.75	5,106.63
	Sundry expenses	12,015.00	8,496.00
	Total ordinary expenses	1,748,992.75	1,538,988.08
B. Extraordinary		8,160.00	4,950.00
	Total expenditures	1,757,152.75	1,543,938.08
	Total expenditures less total receipts	1,714,542.50	1,498,008.18

Marks, 4⅕=$1.

vii.—the municipal gas works and public lighting.

From the year 1826 until 1847 a monopoly for the manufacture and sale of gas for public and private lighting was enjoyed in this city by an English company, whose operations have, however, since then been restricted to private supply, subject to the competition of the city gas-works, within the area in which it then operated.

The lighting of the public streets and squares of Berlin is done by the municipality on its own account, and with gas manufactured in its own works, and is generally conceded to be excellent. The amount of light furnished seems everywhere sufficient, and varies according to the needs of the particular locality and the hour of the night, the preference being given to the more frequented parts of the city, the number of burners used being diminished as the night progresses and traffic on the streets decreases. For the purpose of determining the quality of the gas, it is subjected to daily scientific examination, and has been found to be of approximately uniform excellence. A statement of its illuminating power, as established by examination, and of some statistics connected with the lighting of the city, may be of interest. As the result of 307 such observations, with an Argand burner, and an hourly consumption of 5,298 cubic feet, the mean illuminating power was ascertained to be equivalent to that of 17½ English spermaceti candles, with a flame height of 1.772 inches—the maximum of 17.7 occurring four times, the minimum of 16½ candles only twice in the year.

The construction of its gasworks cost the city about $8,800,000. With a total production of about 81,051,010 cubic yards of gas, sold at the low price of about 5.1 cents per cubic yard, the city realized from this source a net profit of about $793,651, being an amount equal to about one-twelfth part of the entire municipal expenditure. This amount is an increase on the profit realized during the preceding year, due, as it is stated, largely to technical improvements in the heating retorts, and the better utilization of secondary products.

The number of burners of the city gas-works in use on the 1st of April last, was 623,374 for private and 11,991 for public lighting—in all, 635,374. Nine per cent. of the total production of gas was lost during the past year by leakage, condensation, &c., being an increase of loss over that of the preceding year, attributable mainly to the disturbance and jarring occasioned by the carrying into execution of the new subsurface sewerage system and other exceptional causes. A saving of 155.2 tons of coal, as compared with the preceding year, notwithstanding the increased production of gas was also effected; the entire amount consumed being 215,903 tons, the ton yielding about 375 cubic yards.

The average cost of coal used, all German, was $4.35 per ton, the aggregate cost of coal consumed being about $939,436.76, of which amount 73.33 per cent. was covered by the sale of secondary products, a more favorable result than ever before obtained. The amounts realized from the sale of these products were the following:

	Marks.	Pf.
From the sale of cokes, breeze, and ashes	2,817,932	54
From the sale of tar	447,366	68
From ammoniacal water	124,288	88
From sundry products	31,621	03
Total	3,418,209	13

The private lighting gas is by no means so generally used as in American cities, the poor largely using the cheaper petroleum, and the wealthy candles and the finer oils.

viii.—berlin sewerage and sewage fields.

The present system for the removal of sewage, and its utilization for agricultural purposes on the neighboring territory purchased by the city, was introduced in the year 1873, and although as yet in complete operation in but a limited portion of the municipal area, has already been attended with most satisfactory results. It is known as the flooding system, and the construction of the requisite works, which are on a gigantic scale and far surpass in magnitude anything of the kind attempted elsewhere, is termed canalizatian. For the purposes of canalization the inner city, embracing an area containing about 700,000 inhabitants, is divided into five independent systems, diverging from a central point, and called radial systems, the construction of which is estimated to cost in the aggregate $7,818,129. These five central systems are to be supplemented by other exterior ones, as necessity therefor arises. The rain-water from the streets and the sewage from the houses is conducted by a net-work of underground sewers of various sizes, the smaller ones consisting of earthen pipes, the larger constructed of brick masonry, to one or sometimes two pumping stations established at low points in the particular radial system, regard being had to these points being as near the outer circumference as possible. At the pumping stations arrangements are provided for turning the product of heavy rainfalls into the river, and also for separating from the sewage, before pumping, the mass of useless and obstructive matter, rags, paper, and the like, that finds its way to the stations, in order to prevent all clogging in the apparatus, and to convey the sewage to the fields in as productive a state as possible. This sewage is forced from the stations by a gigantic pumping apparatus a distance of about 6 miles to the ground provided for its reception, which is some 60 feet higher than the stations.

Land with an aggregate area of 3,857 acres, and costing $557,143, has been purchased by the city to receive the sewage, and further purchases are contemplated. For the better distribution of the fertilizing matter, the fields are intersected with a net-work of ditches of greater or less extent, and furnished with regulating sluice-gates. The productiveness of these fields is enormous, and the vegetables, fruits, and crops of grass, the latter of a particularly good quality for grazing, yielding excellent milk, have already become a source of considerable revenue to the city.

Some data with regard to the working of radial system No. 3, the only one as yet in complete operation, may be of interest.

To prevent choking, in addition to the regular flooding to which the entire system is subjected, the smaller sewers are cleared from time to time in the following manner: Small lines, to which ropes are attached, are first flooded through. To these ropes coarse brushes of globular form are secured and drawn through the channels to remove the deposit of sand and other obstructive matter, the size of the brushes being increased until complete cleaning is accomplished. At certain intervals the sewers are provided with well-holes for the reception of sediment, which communicate with the street above, extend below the level of the sewers, and are readily cleaned. Upon the uninitiated the huge coils of rope, a quarter of a mile or more in length, pulled at night during the brushing process out of the sewers and brought to the surface through the well-holes, creates the impression that the holes are of corresponding depth, whereas the length of rope only indicates the distance to the next well-hole used as the point of departure. Experience has shown that 250 yards of such sewer can be conveniently cleaned, with the removal of from 1½ to 2 cubic yards of sand and other matter by four laborers in the course of the night.

The larger sewers—some of them of sufficient size to admit of four laborers walking in them abreast—are readily cleaned from within. The air of these sewers is said to be good, and that ascending from the well-holes is certainly not offensive, owing probably to the whole system being regularly and frequently flooded from the city water-works. During the past year 655 cubic yards of sand were removed from the sewers; that is to say, about 30 cubic inches per day for each of the 2,702 lots connected with system No. 3. These lots, owing to the system of dwelling in flats prevailing here, have a much larger front than in our cities. The aggregate amount of sewage (closet, kitchen, and rain-water) conveyed to the fields during the past year through the pumping stations of radial system No. 3 was about 6,866,398 cubic yards, a daily average of about 18,812 yards, at a cost of about $25,059.

ix.—care of the poor of the city.

Happily the number of poor, who in our great cities are without any resource whatever, except public alms, is small compared with the army of the indigent who are here preserved from starvation by public charity, and no attempt will be made to describe the elaborate system for relief that exists in this city. Some statistics of municipal work under this head will, however, be added, as of possible value, for purposes of comparison. The total expenditure for the poor during the year ending March 1, 1880, was about $1,535,500, of which about $1,359,983 was from the city treasury, the remaining $175,517 accruing from a capital fund of about $1,484,038, resulting from various charitable bequests, and under municipal control. Assistance in the form of alms was bestowed upon 21,644 persons.

The amount of $266,895 was expended in the care of the sick, numbering 74,304 persons, of whom 27,753 were treated in hospitals, the remaining 46,551 being cared for elsewhere.

The insane poor provided for at the expense of the city in numerous institutions at the end of the year 1879 numbered 1,155; the orphan children, similarly cared for, 3,493 persons.

During the year 661,300 portions of soup were distributed to the poor.

In the city asylums—institutions affording temporary relief only, such as a night’s lodging for the homeless—97,767 men, 4,313 women, and 108 children, in all 102, 188 persons were cared for. A somewhat larger number were cared for in like manner in the houses of refuge provided by a charitable association, the “Asyl-Verein.”

While submitting under the various heads of the foregoing report that which in my humble judgment seemed most excellent, and of more general interest in the administration of the municipal affairs of Berlin, I beg leave to state that it had been my intention to append thereto an article on the so admirably administered police department of this city. In the urgency of other and more pressing official duties, I have, however, not found time for the purpose, but shall be glad to supply a supplementary report, under that title, at a later period, if desired.

In conclusion, I desire to acknowledge the kindly assistance extended me in the execution of your instruction by the chief burgomaster, Mr. Von Forckenbeck, Director Schlossky, and Mr. Podratz, the courteous chief of the magisterial bureau.

I have, &c.,

CHAPMAN COLEMAN,

Second Secretary of Legation.