Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-22

minutes to keep the glass clear of mois-
ture and dust,
The stores usually have small stocks, but
they carry the whole stock in the windows.
Many of the windows are framed in with
shelves or with rolling cupboards which
can be pushed up close to the plate gass.
AS you look at the windows you imagine
the establishment is large. but upon enter
ing find only a counter and a small COM
pattment back Of 1t, with one or two clerks
in charge. IL you ask to see something like
the goods in the window the merchant
rolls back the cupboard and hands you out
the articles, for it is often the only one
he has in stock. II you buy he thanks you,
but IL not. in most cases, he assumes an
injured air and wonders what you mean
by asking the price and handling his goods
without purchasing.
Indeed, / fear to look at any article here
without l am sure Of buying something be-
fore | leave. The merchants arc not ac-
customed to our ways of doing. They make
more OF their business and give you less fer
your money. They expect you to take your
hat OF when you enter the store and keep
it of while there, and you should lay
good Rye when you leave, at which time one
OF the clerks opens the door and bows
you out. The average clerk wears a frock
coat, and in the best stores all the clerks
are dressed in this way.
The crusty customs of Berlin merchants
have made department stores very pop
ular. Tho people are glad to go where they
can look at goods without buying. and
where the merchants advertise that It Is
no trouble to show them.
There have been no department stores in
Germany until late, but there are now two
H. n.-lf, ANNko- "a -vhsnA -ov,I1 ~ N
credit to any American city. Each en-
ploys about $500 hands, with more on
Christmas. The most of the employees are
girls, az well dressed and as hne-looking
as you will see anywhere. They work from
8 o'clock in the morning until 3 in the
evening, with two hours of at moor for
lunch. Their wages are from rs to so
cents a day, and they cat and sleep them
selves.
The department stores do all they can TO
attract custom and visitors. Take Vert
helms. which is the biggest store in Ber-
lin. 1t has a winter garden filled with
palm trees and tropical plants and so COW
cred with ferns that they make a perfect
carpet on each side the path. There is a
fountain in 1t and Seats Under the palms
where the customers can rest and chat
between the intervals OF shopping. In the
summer there is an additional garden and
fountain. The store has a luncheon room
and all the other attractions Of similar
establishments in the United States.
Teitz's department store, which ranks
next to Wertheim's, has an American sofa
fountain, which came from Philadelphia
The fountain is an immense one, made Of
marble ard silver. 1t has about 100 spigots
it furnishes ice cream soda, but the drink
does not compare with our American ar
ticle. This is enc of the few soda foun-
tains in Berlin and it is we'll patronized.
Both of these stores have their photo
graph galleries. with special days for men
women and children. The day / visited
WertheimS was evidently baby day, for d
score and more of babies were waiting Il
be taken. The photographer was a swell
dressed in a long black frock coat and
creased trousers. He showed me his in
Simultaneous apparatus. consisting in parl
of magnesium flash lights operated by cleo
tricity. All his photographs are made in
one-hundredth Of a second, which is espe-
clally good for the babies.
Another feature OF the stores are Their
theater bureaus. Each sells tickets for al
the operas. concerts. varieties and Other
amusements. Teitz has recently added 9
travelling bureau. where you can buy rail-
road and steamship tickets and has round
trip rates all over Europe at reduced
prices.
One of the chief drawbacks in this trade
is the lack of cash carriers or cash boys
The clerks are not allowed to handle money
They merely make out a check for you anC
desks stationed in different parts of the