271 



There is a marked tendeucy iu the population to forsake the coiiutry 

 aud to gather into cities and towns. In Prussia each recurring census 

 had shown some increase in the agricultural population up to 1867, 

 when, for the first time, a positive decrease was shown in all except the 

 factory-districts. The growth of cities has been enormous. In forty 

 years Berlin has expanded her population from 249,000 to 825,000. In 

 Westphalia and on the Ehine a large number of unimportant Yillage>s 

 have become cities of 20,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. In the em^nre there 

 are 32 cities of 50,000 people ; 48 ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 ; 140 

 from 10,000 to 20,000; 307 from 5,000 to 10,000; 1,052 towns under 

 5,000. The population of some of the leading cities is as follows : Ber- 

 lin, 825,389; Hamburg, 240,251; Breslau, 208,025; Dresden, 177,089; 

 Munich, 109,478 ; Cologne, 129,233 ; Magdeburg, 114,552 ; Leipzig, 

 106,925 ; Hanover, 104,248 ; Stuttgart, 91,623, &c. 



The number of habitations is stated at 5,263,000 ; of families, 8,665,000, 

 showing the ratio of dwellings to families to be as 1 to 1.65 ; the ratio 

 of dweiliugs to. individuals is as 1 to 7.80; of families to individuals as 

 1 is to 4.74. The number of dwellings per square mile averages 25; of 

 ftimilies per square mile, 40. The cities and towns embrace 20 per 

 cent, of the dwellings, 32 per cent, of the families, and 31 per cent, of 

 the people; the remainder are in the country. 



Transportation and trade. — On the 1st of January, 1872, the 

 German railways embraced 12,118 miles, of which 7,363 belonged to the 

 government. The capital invested, in 1845, was 301,885 thalers, or 

 ^211,219 per mile ; in 1860, 480,586 thalers, or $336,410 ; in 1870, 553,067 

 thalers, or $387,147. The volume of both transportation and travel has 

 rapidly increased during later years. In 1870 the railroads carried nearly 

 80,000,000 tons of merchandise and 112,889,495 passengers. In 1872 

 the post-ofQce department transported 569,9i)67,075 letters, 24,552,504 

 registered letters, 310,042,987 papers, 40,859,443 packages, 14,758,817 

 and 3,634,502 postal orders, besides 7,215,510 postal travelers. The 

 length of telegraph-wires iu operation was 77,839 miles, of which 

 23,340 were of recent construction. The number of dispatches delivered 

 was 9,626,295, being about one-fourth of the number actually sent over 

 the wires. 



The aggregate transactions of the Prussian banks rose from 810,000,000 

 thalers in 1850 to 9,283,000,000 in 1872. The commercial marine of 

 Germany in 1871 included 179 steamers, 4,943 sail-vessels, with an ag- 

 gregate tonnage of 1,305,372. During that year 68,155 ships, with a 

 tonnage of 8,435,000, entered the German harbors; the clearances 

 embraced 67,451 vessels and 8,364,000 tons. The imports of Hamburg 

 and Bremen rose from 293,803,000 thalers in 1867 to 473,279,000 thalers 

 in 1871; about three-fourths having been received at Hamburg. 



The currency of the empire is now in transition from a silver to a 

 gold standard. By the law of December 4, 1871, a pound of pure gold 

 is to be divided into 139.J pieces, each valued at ten marks. Each mark 

 is divided into 100 pfennige. Nine parts of gold are alloyed with one 

 part of copper. Besides these' the old North German thaler and the 

 South German gulden are used, the former running 30 pieces and the 

 latter 522 pieces to the pound of pure silver. 



By order of August 17, 1868, the metric system of weights and meas- 

 ures was introduced, but with some modifications. The mile of 7,500 

 meters, the scheffel of 50 liters, the schoppen of half a liter, and the 

 centner of 50 kilograms were added to the regular denominations, 

 while the names in some cases were translated into German. Half a 

 kilogram is called a pound ; 1,000 kilograms, or 2,000 j)ounds, consti- 



