German Empire 213 



braces shown are added, but with variations, as they frequently 

 do not extend up nearly so far as shown. In Mannheim and 

 Frankfort-on-Main cross-braces are generally present ; in Berlin 

 and Leipzig they are mostly wanting. The standards, which seldom 

 exceed eighteen or twenty feet in height, have a neat appearance 

 when newly erected, but they are always most inadequately stayed 

 and frequently have no stays at all, although loaded sometimes 

 with over 200 wires. They are kept straight at first by adjusting 

 the tension of the wires on either side, but often, as might be 

 expected, fail out of shape. There is (October 16, 1894) a single 

 three-inch tube on 23 Kaiserstrasse, Frankfort-on-Main, carrying 

 seven arms and thirty wires, without a stay of any kind ; it contains 

 more curves and angles than a box of drawing instruments. A few 

 roofs off, on No. 27, there is another, carrying two arms and seven 

 wires, almost as bad. On 34 Franzosischestrasse, Berlin, there is a 

 triple standard, carrying eleven long and three short arms and 336 

 wires, provided with only two inadequate and wrongly-placed stays. 

 The tubes are badly bent and leaning in various directions, and 

 the arms are all awry. As seen from 49 Markgrafenstrasse, this 

 standard reminds one of the human figure there is not a straight 

 line in it. Such instances might be multiplied. He would be a 

 bold man who would insure the Prussian overhouse system against 

 a winter's storm accompanied by damp snow, or even an hour's 

 downfall of damp snow unaccompanied by wind. A visitation of 

 damp snow followed by a gale would certainly lay the whole in 

 ruin. There is no provision against the destruction of a span by 

 fire or tempest. The wires are made to balance, one span against 

 another, and there is nothing to save the standards in the event of 

 the stress on one side becoming suddenly much greater than that 

 on the other. In such a contingency the three-inch tubes would 

 collapse like paper and crumple up. The Dutch, who use the 

 same type of fixture, are much wiser in this respect (fig. 83, Dutch 

 section). The work is, nevertheless, very pretty to see. On 31 

 Kl. Fleischergasse, Leipzig, there is a double standard carrying 

 ten long and one short arm and 202 wires, practically without 

 stays, which is perfectly straight and regular. In Berlin, where 

 the overhead wires are necessarily extremely numerous, junction 

 standards consisting of eight or twelve three-inch tubes arranged in 



