The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-03-06

class. do not mean the freshly rich,
the loud and dressy and assured, but the
earnest. eager travellers and students
whose reputation for being saucy and
charming is exceeded by the fame of their
virtue and the fierce resentment with
which they repel impertinence.
The objective point of the long journey
of which l am writing outline sketches
was Berlin, latterly advancing rapidly IN
temporarily reside abroad. 1t has offered
many advantages-the best schools of
music, the German language in its purity,
cleanliness, discipline, economy. But
there has been a reconstruction of the in
come tax that Germany is not likely to
find profitable in the long run. There was
reason for the revision of the tax. 1t
cut so low as to strike the wages of the Ia
boring man, and was so loose in construc-
ton that the incomes of capitalists were
largely untouched. The new tax exempt,
a sum covering the compensation for
manual labor, and is so severe and
sweeping that evasion by the highest
placed favorites will be well nigh impos-
slble. The point that interests the Amer
can colony is that all persons residing IN
Germany are to be taxed, no matter of
what country they are citizens or what is
the source of their income. The rate of
the tax is, l am informed, fraction over
5 per cent. A citizen of the United States
with an income of $4,000, living in Ger
many, has to pay an income assessment Of
about 81, 500 and that is, of course, in adj
dition to his contributions to the public
treasures at home. If he remains abroad
he is likely to find q country where there
is less liberality in charges. The income
tax will destroy the inducement of econ
omy. A professional gentleman of my
acquaintance in Berlin was asked by the
rtnf tran
and truly said he did not know,
that he received fees, and it
was impracticable to be accurate as to the
annual amount. The question was asked:
what rent do you paw" and he an
swered 1000 marks. "Then," said the
acute official, mo man is likely to pay
more than one-fifth of his income for his
apartments. We shall assess you on an
income of 10000 marks" 1t will be OBJ
served that the German system is thor
ough.
The cost of transportation from Berlin
to Paris is about the same that it is from
New York to Chicago, and the best accom-
modations are inferior to those afforded
by the American sleeping-cars. 1t is the
habit of complacent travellers to say that
European s.eepers are now as good as We
have at home. but it is not go. The Sleep
ers of the Europeans are divided into
staterooms, with narrow hall on
one side, and rather strange ar
rangements at the ends. Ladies who wish
to wash their faces in the morning can
do 1t in hot water only, if they do not
happen to know that they should ask for
bottle of cold water to reduce the tenn
perature of the supply from the engine.
There is a lack of delicacy in some of the
adjustments that gives point to the defense
Americans are enabled to make of their
sleeping-cars. Then, gentlemen are at
liberty to smoke in the hall and their own
compartments, and the consequence is,
the whole car reeks with the fumes of bad
tobacco.
Germany, on the way from the imperial
capital to the Rhine, was a waste of snow.
a broad white blur, varied by dark forests
and the lights of cities; the two whose
names are best known were Hanover and
Dusseldorf The Rhine this time was
indicated by great iron bridge through
which were glimpses of a wide stream,
and beyond pair of gigantic towers-the
famous spires of the Cologne cathedral.
had not before seen them perfected, and
am not certain but they were even more
impressive when unfinished and leaving
something to the imagination.
Paris is a phenomenon, and grows as you
become acquainted with it. There are the
same old voitures with black wheels and
yellow wheels, the same variety in omni-
buses. the huge two-story street cars,
the endless rows of monotonously
excellent houses without front doors, the
familiar landmarks-Notre Dame, the
Arch of Triumph, the Column of July. the
opera-house, the Invalides-the Eifel
tower looming through the misty air. a
shadow piercing the sky; it is beautiful,
and from distance looks frail; and we
hear again the continuous roar of the feet
of multitudinous horses and the prodlg-
ious clamor of wheels. But Paris is chilly.
There is alight fog, and it is a,damp, pene-
trating air we breathe. In Berlin all the
single, and not we'll weather stripped. In
Berlin there are monumental stoves that
impart genial warmth and maintain an
equable temperature. The Partisan fire.
place is small and a provocation. You
can, at great expense, burn your shoes
while your back freezes. But delicious
bread, butter, coffee and eggs are fur
nished, and the beds have an air of COM
fort. Still, Paris is cold, cold world.
The little round tables on the sidewalks
are deserted-no sugar and water and cur
rant syrup and water, or brandy and
water, or black coffee with Zine cham
payne" there now, and no lettering idlers
smoking in groups to see the gay girls go
by in a struggling procession.
France is again among the foremost of
the nations of the earth. The riches of
her resources and the vitality and genius
of her people were never more distinct
than now. There was a time after the
humiliation of 1870 when the gayety of
this marvellous nation was eclipsed, and
each Frenchman was an impersonation of
the general detection. The universal woe
was most pathetic. The exposition at
Paris in 1889 was an expression of revived
strength and recovered tone 1t aided
visibly in the restoration of self-considera-
ton. There never was so successful an
exposition. Then France seemed almost
alone in the world. She was without
allies, and if she had friends they were not
fond. There was the triple alliance, with
Germany at the head. sword in hand, and
there were intrigues against the re-
publlcs by the Bourpons and Bonaparte
and Boulanger. Now all these are swept
away. The pretenders have not ceased
to pretend, but they are powerless. The
wisdom OF Theirs in his last days, declar-
ing the exceptional strength of the re-
public, is at last vindicated. The cheap
prints in the windows of Paris show the
car and President Carnot clasping hands
effuslyely. There is not a treaty of war
like alliance between Russia and France,
but there Is a substantial friendlIness.
The government of Russia has confidence
IN that of France. The car is the friend
of the French. and the pope insists that
the church of Rome shall no longer be
the partisan of the monarchy in France,
but must be sincerely reconciied with the
republic. His craftsmanship has been so
clear in this that it is wonderful the recog-
milton OF his serene intelligence has not
been speedier and heartier The French
people feel at last that they have an army
equal to the assertion of their military
hall