The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-05
IN THE KAISER'S CAPITAL
AN ENGLIshMAN's IMPRESSIONS OF
GERMANY AND THE GERMANS.
Berlin Is Very Dazzling, but ia Some
ways Is Tawdry AIsO-Signs Of
German Simplicity Left.



Berlin! The beastliest capital in Eu-
rope,' That was the encouraging testi-
rnonial of a friend who spent fortnight
there five-and-twenty years ago. But when
7 came to Berlin 1 started and rubbed my
ewes in establishment. These broad streets,
streaming with life these stately palaces,
these rich shops. gorgeous hotels. luxurious
houses. endless wooded parks, lavish pleas
,lres for the allureTnent of every sense-this
the peastliest capital in Europe? Then try
mo with the finest!
The other cities Of Germany-I do not
speak Of Austria-are always possible TO
live in. and sometimes even agreeable; but
they are not brilliant. They all have their
solid dualities; and such necessities of life
as food. beer, tobacco and theatrical en-
+ertainments can be bought in them at con-
sistentIy ridiculous prices, Munich lays it
self out more for art Hanover is healthier,
Frankfurt is the heart Of a more romantic
country, Hamburg is gemmed with lagoons,
Cologne has a fairer building and fairer
river. Nurnberg offers the piquancy of troll
lev ears gliding between fourteenth century
gables and frescOes Berlin is a rather
tasteless. rather unhealthy city, standing in
the middle of a rather featureless plain, on
a decidedly dull and insignificant river, and
presenting no architectural or historical
features of more than ordinary interest.
And yet Berlin is emphaticauy and unmis-
takably one of the great cities of the world.
Berlin has elements of both progress and
order. frugality and splendor. The progress,
it is true, is very orderly and the splendor
IS somewhat frugal-which is to say that
both are German. Progress, indeed, is con-
fined to the material side; you would not
come to the Kaisers capital for the latest
feature in social evolution. But in many
of the little comforts of life Berlin is long
strides ahead of London. Some French
writer or other has found it more like an
American than European city: super
ffcially he was right. The excellence or
the communications, the ingenious little
electrical trifies that every hour save nVe
seconds unnecessary exertion, the wealth
of telephones, the development OF the pen
ny-in-the-slot automatOn the tendency 10
econOnize in every kind of business by
simplifying, by reducing to one prlce-lt All
suggests Broadway, just as mucn as the
disDOsitiOn of foot passengers to push the
stranger off the pavement without apology,
and the apparent determination of tram
down and drive over him. For the hrst
half hour Berlin is not at all unsuggeStVe
OF New York.
NOT LIKE NEW YORK.
But beneath the surface Berlin is not like
New York in the very least. A new time
saver or Iabor-saver will be welcomed
readily enough when the police has passed
it-but you had better not try it before.
Install a tramway down every other street,
certainly-but you had better not forget the
exact specifications as approved by the po-
lice. Electric cars and elevated railways
are very excellent things-only no patentees
or shareholders are allowed to disfgure
the Kaiser's streets by running up overhead
oil
tramway company may want this or that;
but if the police, or the town council, or a
higher authority yet, should prefer that or
this-that or this it has got TO be-. Iele-
phones, if you like, but you won't ind the
state in Germany giving its rights ana
duties away together 10 a company pen
ny-farthing fare for any five stations on the
elevated railway, by all means-only not the
simple and logical conclusion of one rare
and one class for any distance; Tor then
the officer and the private would nave 10
travel in the same carriage. And IL you are
driven over in the street policeman VIII
ALWAYS come and make note OF 1t IN ms
note book and probably the driver Will pc
punished. You might prefer that the pc lcse
man should prevent your deatn lhSted1 oa
avenging it, but that is not the metnou Oh
Berlin The policeman is not there to pre-
vent misconduct, he is there TO write GOWN
particulars of il in book, ana see tnal
il is made hot for somebody next morning.
And as for showing people into the gutter,
we'll if you tend to imagine yourseI IN new
York instead of in Berlin try II with an
officer If a civilian stops in mid-paVement
AS the German has way OF DONG peIns
apparently unable to walk and think at the
Same time-the people behind do not go
round him nor ask him to get on; they Just
push him on. But if you push an oIncer
and DO not apologize, 1t is not mercy ms
right but his duty to draw his sword ana
wound or even kill you. You have lnsulted
the Kings coat in public, and the man VINO
does not wash out the insult IN :, In , o ny
ners at once before he is asked to resign
The streets of Berlin are an epltome OF
the history of Prussia. Go and stand at the
eastern end of Inter den Linden, and you
will begin to realize 1t. All round you IS
a coronet of public buildings not sun Pds SHs'i
for stateliness anywhere outside ParlS ana
Vienna. But notice that as tney are
Younger so they become more pretentiouS
The old buildings are soma ana sollieeiiiie es
very high: they are-aH but the halSer 5
CastIe-made of simple stone. Ii they are
beautiful they are beautiful simply IN Vlr-
tue OF the lines traced by the archlteet'
Thev are fine but they are not more am
bilious than you may see IN almost any
little German town which ever SheIIeTeu
a little German court-Wurzburg, for in
stance, or Bayreuth. In their day Prussia
was but German state among It's equ Is
at the new Reichstag. Ii IS All SplazS Will
gilt The roof and porches ana w3lis are
as thick with florid statuary-goddesses
knights. angeIs-as a treacled tree is thick
with moths at nlghtIah.
TOO MUCH GILT.
Look at the Victory column opposite. 1t
crayls with trophies and allegorical fig-
ures and on top is a gilt goddess, so enor-
nous that you hurry past lest the column
should snap under her. Look at the mon
ument to the old Kaiser; the colossal
bronze figures seem as if they must smash
the marble pedestal to pieces under their
prodigious weight. Everything of the i'm
perial epoch in Berlin is double lifesize;
almost everything is gilt
1t would require q very magnificent city.
indeed. to carry off these tons of bronze
and acres of gold foil. And for all its
progress. Berlin has not yet quite grown
out of the frugal. pinching, half-capital,
half-prOVincial habit of its carrier Ire. It's
electric accumulation tram carS are the
most palatial imaginable, but its OMNIBUS
es with people swarming like bees on TO
their heavy tail boards, are clumsy abor-
lions. and seem purposely designed for the
torture of the scraggy horses. Ihere is q
vast deal of German simplicity left amid
the gorgeousness at Berlin. The ihlergar-
ten is a park unmatched for cool greenery
in any city of the world; you can walk
under trees in it. for miles and miles. But
no influence can make Corso, Hyde
Park q Bots de Boulogne OF IT; you see
fashionable people swelling with pride be-
hind a horse, a harness and groom that
a self-respecting farmer would be ashamed
TO show at market. There is Il music hall
IN Berlin more SumptuOus than any ever
saw in any cOuntry-eighteen turns, lnclud-
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