The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-06-10
ODD BERLIN CUSTOMS.

at ana Interested III SUNNI VI thN "'''S WIZ
nary German customs with which he must
inevitably become acquainted. The legal
requirements in some respects are so strict
as to be really annoying, and yet one can
not fail to find them interesting and some
times even amusing. The streets, the shops
and shopping, the public conveyances, and
most ordinary street scenes present novel
and curious features, and one is continually
impressed by the German way of doing
things, if by nothing else.
Let him who would go to Berlin be pre-
pared to have the police inquire into all he
does. If you 20 to hotel for short stay,
your registration there will satisfy this
body of officials as to your business in the
city. If you are to remain some tlme'
within six days after your arrival you must
be reported to the police station in the pre-
cinct in which you are to live. You must
purchase at stationer's certain yellow
blanks and fill them out according to direc-
tions. stating your name in full. the place
from which You come, and your city adj
dress; whether you are married or single,
the day, month, year, and place OF your
birth, and your religion, whether you
are Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish. This
filed out must be signed by your landlady
if YOU are boarding, or landlord, if you are
renting apartments, and then presented at
the police station. When you leave Der
lin, you must fill out another paper, green
this time, exactly the same as the former,
except that you tell where you are going
instead of where you come from, and this
also must be stamped and registered by
the police.
If YOU board, you may not be taxed;
but if you rent apartments, you will surely
be, and heavily too, for Germany needs all
the money she can get, and 1t is not enough
that Americans come over and spend IN
Germany money made at home, but they
must pay taxes on it also. On every one
who rents an apartment four taxes are
levied before he has been resident month
in the city, The first, ''rent tax, Is a
certain per cent. on the rent paid. The
second is a city income tax, the third a
State income tax, and the fourth, and most
unreasonable of all, State Church tax,
which last you must pay unless you are
willing to swear that you are Catholic or
a Jew. These taxes amount in all to III
per cent. of the income you declare your
self to possess, and this income must be at
least four times your rent. Since the po-
lice know what rent you pay, they know
your income, and you cannot by any amount
of protesting get rid of any these four taxes.
Every three months the collector comes,
and YOU must pay whether you will or no.
A fifth tax, called the Cuisines tax, will
also be levied, unless you can satisfactorily
prove that you do not carry on in Germany
any business ofany kind.
The horse-cars and other public convey
ances in Berlin strike the American as
somewhat peculiar. The fares in the
horse-cars vary according to the distance,
the lowest fare being ten pfennigs, or y
cents, and the highest thirty piennigs, or
Z! cents. A fee of five pfennigs is fire.
duently given TO the conductor, because 1t
is well-known fact that their wages are
so low that they could not live without
their fees, and u lady in the evening or on
a stormy day will secure from the conduc-
tor every attention and courtesy by giving
this trifing amount, although it is by no
means necessity Horse-cars in Berlin
are allowed TO carry only specified num-
Der. On each car is distinctly marked how
many setas there are inside, and how many
standing places on each platform, and when
the car is filed it will not stop again for
passengers, for the rules are strictly en-
forced The horse-cars do not stop at any
boint where they are signalled, but only at
intervals of about two blocks. The stop
ping places are marked by an iron pole
with a plate on top bearing the words,
"Pferdelienbahn Hallestelle," or "Horse-
railroad Stopping Place" These signs are
generally painted dark blue, but now and
then a bright red one is seen. These red
ones mark the termini Of the different
stretches" between which you may ride
for given fare. On receiving the fare,
the conductor punches little paper slip,
the color varying with the amount OF the
fare, and gives it TO the passenger, who
must hold it until he leaves the car, for at
any time an oyerseer may jump on and
demand the slips. This is check on the
conductor as well as the passenger, for the
overseer examines the slips to see that each
one is correctly punched for the fare re-
ceiyed. Some of the horse cars have a
double row of seats running lengthwise on
top of them. Only men are allowed to
ride on top, and the travelling American
lady feels this to be very unfair, for fine
views of the busy streets can be obtained
from such an elevated position. Ladies in
Berlin as well as gentlemen jump on and
off the cars while they are in motion, and
they become very skillful in SO doing.
Gentlemen rarely rise and offer lady a
seat, and if the car be full, the latter must
remain standing on the platform. The
horse ear officials all have uniform, and
invariably look neater and better dressed
than do our average conductors and drivers.
Running directly across the city from
east to west is the "City Elevated Railroad"
and around the outside IF the city in two
large loops, northern and southern, is
the ssCircuit Elevated Road" connecting
with the former at its eastern and western
stations. The structure of these roads does
not resemble in the leastthe elevated roads
of New York 1t is far more substantial.
The Berlin roads are constructed on a series
Of fine masonry arches which from dis
taDce appear at once massive and graceful,
and they cannot be said to be in any way
a Disagreement to the city. The stations,
of which there are some seven or eight
within city limits, are immense brick struc-
lures, with fine, high, glass-arched roofs,
and with broad flights Of stone steps Lead
ing up to the platforms above. As with
everything else on the continent, the Berlin
elevated roads are well built and perma-
nent in character, and present none Of the
tawdry, cheap, temporary appearance of
similar roads in some of our American cities.
The cars used are the ordinary European
apartment ears, and most Of the trains carry
three classes, namely, second, third, and
fourth, the first class being used only on