The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1910-02-17
MORE ABOUT BERLIN.
DR.. Walsh Writes Another Cosby
Letter and Tells How They Do
Things in That City.
Laws Are Rigldly Enforced But There
is Too Much Officialdom to
Suit the Americans.
Berlin, January q, 1909.

Berlin, January ~, 19U9.
Today is the Kaiser's birthday.
The houses are decorated with flags,
bunting and some with evergreens.
This morning there will be a military
parade and this evening special opera
and illumination and fireworks, they
tell me. The clinics are all closed, so
1 have time to write few of the
many letters I owe. AS my work
begins at 7:l5 a. m. sharp and I must
breakfast and walk to the hospital, l
have to get up early, and you know I
am not used to that. My work ends
at 5 p. NJ, but I don't feel much like
writing letters after that time.
The weather here is not cold, from
IS to so degees usually, when it gets
down to 20 degrees above zero it
seems very cold, as the air is very
damp. Of snow we. have but little,
and the way the German law makes
them clear off the sidewalks would do
your heart good to see. By 8 or 9 in
the morning all the sidewalks are
shoveled and swept or the occupants
of the buildings are fined. The police
can make them clean their walks up to
10 p. m. and start them at a. m.
after a snow storm. They go from
house to house and order the porter
to get to work removing the snow.
The laws regarding the clearing of
streets and walks here could be
adopted by us to our advantage.
When they have law here, it matters
not what it is, they enforce it to the
letter. Sometimes it seems absurd
but on the whole it is to be commend
ed and patterned after.
The laws governing the construction
of buildings as to height, size of
rooms, etc., are fine. No building can
be over six stories and must be fire
proof or at least of slow burning
construction. They don't allow the
crowding of many people in one or
two rooms, even the poor must have
so many cubic feet of air space in
sleeping rooms. The old dilapidated
buildings where you find the criminal
classes in large cities they condemn
and tear down, so these nests do not
exist here the way they do in Paris,
London, New York, Chicago and
other large cities.
The police keep complete records of
tln i~ho IL
Berlin. Every landlord must report
who occupies his rooms and they are
ordered to report to the police. The
police records show the name, age,
parentage, birthplace, present address
and occupation of every person. If
they change address they must report
again the same as at first. The house
owner or landlord is fined for failure
to report new tenants. Tenants are
fined for failure to appear when
ordered by the police. Strangers must
report except those remaining short
time in the hotels. The police always
ask why you came to Berlin, what
you are doing here and how long you
expect to remain. If they have any
suspicious that all is not right or that
the party is undesirable as a resident
of the city, they keep watch to see that
he does no harm. Criminals and
anarchists have a hard time here.
You see very little drunkenness or.
= disorder on the streets. s..-
Any time there is anything going
on where large crowds assemble the
way they mass the police at that
point is wonderful. You will on such
occasions find from ten to forty
policemen to each block. I never
saw such an array in my life. There
will be five times as many as you will
find in New York under similar con-
ditions, and as the police are all ex-
soldiers they make the crowd behaye.
Any disturbance is nipped in the bud.
One would almost think the place
under martial law. The result, how
ever, is good, in that no crowding of
masses of people takes place, so no
one is hurt and traffic is not disturbed.
The fact stands out boldly, however,
that Germany is borne down by red
tape o6cialdom. To an American it
is hard>to believe how an Intelligent
people allow themselves to be treated
as children.
The government has esta blished an
excellent system of fraternal insur-
ance for the working classes which
cares for them when sick or disabled.
buries them when dead, looks after
those dependent upon them and thus
relieves the state of assuming these
duties. I will write you about this
in my next.
Hope you are all we'll. I am except
for slight cold which seems to have