Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-20
IN THE SWISS CAPITAL
Berne Unlike Any City in Several
Respects.
GIRT BY FINE FORESTS
Cabs Cheap, but Automobiles Found
Expensive.
HANDSOME CAPITOL BUILDING
Garden Produce Displayed for Sale on
the Plaza in Front-The Bear a
National Figure.
HANDSOME CAPITOL BUILDING
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

WILLIAM CthiiS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald
BERNE, Switzerland, August g. 1906
Berne is just such capital as you would
think appropriate for a country like Switz-
erland, plain, solid and quaint, but progress
sive and eminently respectable. 1t Is one
of the least assuming. but at the same time
one of the most beautiful situations in
christendom. being perched upon prOmon-
tory that projects into fertile valley, and
Is surrounded by swift river of steel-blue
water In the shape of sickle. From the
edge of the promontory, which is laid off
in terraces and parks, there is a superb
view of the highest mountain range in
Switzerland, battalion of snow-clad
giants, with Jungfrau in command. There
is similar group of mountains to be seen
from Lake Titcaca in Bolivia, only they
are nearly twice high.
Berne is unlike any other city. In several
respects it is unique The feature of the
business portion is the placing of arcades
colonnades before the first stories of all the
business buildings They are very ugly and
very solid. Instead of graceful columns and
arches as are found in several Spanish and
Italian cities, the front walls of the build
ings are upheld by enormous blocks of
masonry thick enough to support a noun
tain. And the spaces between them. under
the arches, are occupied for the display of
samples of the wares of the merchant who
occupies the adjoining premises; with
benches and a table the arch is turned into
a stting-room or dining-roOm for the
family, and as you pass up and down you
can see what half the town is having for
dinner.
Outside the city several splendid for
ests, thousands of years old. more precious
TO the Swiss than all other possessions, and
they have been intersected by driveways
and walks for pleasure. No city is so well
provided.
Open Street Cars.
We found the first open street cars at
Berne that We have seen in Switzerland,
and 1t is great pleasure to ride around in
them, for they run through the principal
streets and out into the pretty suburbs
Elsewhere the trolley cars have all the
windows permanently fastened down. and
the conductors will not allow the front
doors opened so that they are as hot as
conservatory in midsummer-regular propa-
eating houses. 1t would be great attrac-
ton, 1t seems to me, II the Swiss tramway
managers would put on open cars like those
We have in America. particularly on the
roads that run between the summer resorts
so that ride would be pleasure instead
of hardship, but l suppose it would take
business away from the livery stables and
cabmen. Cabs are very cheap everywhere
in Switzerland-20 cents for a trip of
mile or two and GO cents an hour. Three
matchless woods and parks of Berne one
afternoon and 1t cost us only S1.25 Such a
drive would have cost at least s., If not
more, in any city in the United States but
/ must say that cab fares are about the
only cheap thing that remain in Switzer-
land. Prices for everything else have
doubled in the last ten years.
Automobile riding is very expensive The
garage men will not hitch up one for less
than 50, and they charge S25 for an ordi-
nary excursion during the afternoon. If
you want to take a long trip, say from
Lucerne to Interlaken, which is about
twenty-five miles it will cost $50 or $40
We drove through the new part of Berne
where groups of artistic villas, surrounded
bv funny little gardens, have been erected
during the last few years. Our cabman was
well informed and anxious to communicate
his knowledge He gossiped about the peo-
pie who live in these fine new mansions and
said that at least twenty of them were mil
honaires-in francs however but not in
dollars. When l asked him If they made
their money out of American tourists he
shrugged his shoulders and answered
why not?' But most of them it appears
are manufacturers-what Mr. BRYAN and
other free traders in the United States
would call ''robber barons." Their fine
houses stately groves and glowing gardens
represent the profits of protected industries
And yet they are not all happy.
The most beautiful villa we saw. the
driver said. was erected by rich professor
in the university. He did not make the
money himself but married it. Professors
as rule. have smaller incomes in Switzer-
land than in any part of the world. If any.
one of them gets salary OF $500 year he
may be included among the piutocrats
This particular professor. the cabman said
studied so hard and learned much that
he went crazy, and one day, year two
ago. he wandered out into the forest and
SHOT himself in the head
what good was all his money, and all