MODERN METHODS OF STREET CLEANING 



city in 1870 were greatly extended. Parks were laid 

 out, tenement-house reforms were instituted, encour- 

 agement was given to transit improvements, and public 

 hospitals, city slaughter-houses and markets were built; 

 the water-supply was taken under municipal manage- 

 ment and was greatly extended and improved. A 

 sewerage system was built and a sewage disposal project 

 was initiated which has no parallel for extent and 

 elaborateness of detail. 



A remarkable feature of municipal development in 

 Berlin has been the degree to which public works have 

 been made self-sustaining. It is said that the water 

 works and gas works more than pay for themselves 

 and that the sewage disposal works bring in a con- 

 siderable income toward the payment of their operating 

 expenses. Every department seems to be run nearly 

 as well as though it was a private enterprise. This is 

 in accordance with the German idea of municipal ad- 

 ministration. 



The status of civil engineers and other professional 

 persons employed on municipal public works is quite 

 different in Germany from the status of persons in 

 similar places of responsibility in America. In Ger- 

 many the mayor is an expert in municipal administra- 

 tion and is often appointed for life, with or without a 

 preliminary trial. In those cities where the term of 

 office is limited the mayor is generally appointed for a 

 dozen years or more. It is not uncommon for a mayor 

 to be called from another city where he has made a 

 conspicuous success, to come and take charge of the 

 management of a larger place. The mayor is chosen 

 by the council, an elective body, and not by the people 

 at large. 



108 



