Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/458

 442 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

examination and approbation of applications for building per- mits is in the hands of the building inspector. The whole matter was transferred to the city government only on August 6, 1899. Even now all building laws must be presented in brief to the government's representative before being decreed. Fees for inspection are, in Breslau, reckoned on the cubic contents of the buildings : workshops and factories at two marks per one hundred cubic meters, with a minimum of twenty marks and a maximum of two hundred marks ; for dwelling houses, four marks per one hundred cubic meters, with a minimum of sixty marks and a maximum of five hundred marks.

Chemnitz, a city of 206,509 inhabitants, has an organization which may be taken as fairly typical for all the larger Saxon cities with revised laws. The city council is the building authority. At the head is a salaried jurist councilor, with two " assessors " as assistants. Under him are the other members of the department the chief building inspector, a " commissioner," seven controlleurs, and sanitary and plumbing inspectors. More- over, five city councilors and five city officials also belong to the department. For approbation of applications the department may also call in the chief of the fire department, the city physi- cian, the city surveyor, the city engineer, and the department of buildings, as well as the chief of police (whose department is, in Chemnitz, municipal), and the "business" inspector when steam boilers, etc., come into question.

The field of operations of the Chemnitz building department regularly embraces : the making and altering of laws and ordi- nances relating to building; the making of building plans, and of regulations relative to adjoining property ; platting and expropriation of lots ; inspection and approbation of buildings ; inspection and approbation of divisions of building lots; ordi- nances for protection of workmen and of the public during building operations ; oversight of the execution and examination of the completed work ; and the infliction of penalties for viola- tions of laws, ordinances, and regulations. Ordinarily the deci- sions are prepared by the building department, sometimes after reference to the committee, and in rare cases, after reference to the whole city council.