Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-08-29
Things YOu Want to Know

Splendid Berlin. youthful. strong, beauti-
full and pulsing with life, Is a microcosm OF
modern Germany-that new united and
imperial Germany which Bismarck built
upon the foundations Of the newly dis
covered power Of organization. In Berlin
the surviving East Prussian junker
with his immortal retinue of semi
servile peasants is an anachronism. In
Berlin the South German poet-philoso-
pher is overwhelmed. In Berlin the
Thuringlan peasant In his native costume
is almost as unfamiliar as an Iroouois In
dian in warpaint on the streets OF Man
haitian. In othef1 German cities there lin
ger reminiscontly on the stage, actors
who played their part before the final
curtain was rung down on the play OF the
Holy Roman Empire. In other parts OF
Germany there remain old churches old
castles, old costumes old customs which
link the present with the far gone past
OF the pre-Frederician age. But in Berlin
everything is new, everything Ia modern
every thought Is for the future andd every
back is turned upon the past. Beyond
Berlin in the dying bits OF old Germany
men hate the newness of their imperial
capital, but Berlin does not care II knows
that 1t has been created by the modern
imperial Germany. It knows that it typi-
files the spirit Of the reborn fathorland.
and 1t is happy in it's own approval
For Berlin is young. There has been a
Hohenzollern capital here on the banks
of the Spree for some centuries, but the
Berlin of today is as new as II II had
been established upon western prairie.
In appearance. in spirit. and in oil es-
sentials Berlin is more modern than New
York, younger than Chicago. and as new
as Oklahoma City 1t has been called the
most American city in Europe, but Il really
Is the most European OF European cities,
since 1t expresses only the Europe that
now exists. Berlin is the apotheosis of
modern Germany. There are a great many
relics of the day of Frederick the Great,
and not few buildings which would be
considered ancient in America, but they
are swallowed up in the vastness OF the
new Berlin and one does not see them.
Americans too often think that the enor-
nous development OF American cities is pc
culiar to the new world. Germany has
grown even more rapidly than the United
! States, where its area and resources
are taken into consideration, and
1t has shown the same acceleration Of ur-
ban population which has taken place in all
Industrial countries. In 1874 when the en-
pire was established. there were eight towns
In Germany having more than 100000 In
habitants. In 1906 there were forty-ons
towns credited with more than 100000, and
1t is estimated that there are now probably
! three or four others added TO this list In
1871 Berlin had 10000 population. BY 1885,
Berlin reached the million mark the frs
| German city to do so. In that year Chicago
had population Of $4,000. and the ares
now included in the city of New York hat
| 1,91l.O00 inhabitants. The growth of New
York and Chicago has been most wonderful
| but not more-so than that of Berlin. Tht
German capital has kept well in the lead o.
| Chicago and is next TO New York in tn,
| race for the honor of being the largest city
| in the world, having considerably more thar
| 100000 people. Berlin grows like a new
American city, and is therefore nothing
like anything else in Europe, and is
source of perpetual surprise and astonish
ment to Europeans.
The kaiser is building a great milltar!
boulevard from Berlin to the military man
euver field at Doeberitz. The road Begin
at the Brandenurg gate, in the center o
the city, and runs in almost straight lin
twenty five miles to it's destination. Alonl
this new road, laid down over the sane
dunes and pine flats, one finds the Germai
equivalent for American suburban boon
subdlvIsons-whole sections laid out will
streets built. sidewalks laid, lights put up
and waiting only for the builder to cree
chains of apartment houses. Berlin devour
the pine forest In the same way western
\ American cities capture and tame tn
desert or the prairie.
Berlin is the largest city In the worl'
built on a plan arranged with method an
elaboration. The great boulevard system
OF Paris is not to be excelled in all tn
world, but it does not include all Paris an
the greater part of the French city grey
tOpsy-fashion. The upper part OF Man
haitian island is amazingly rectilinear in II
arrangement of streets, but II cannot b
said to have a reasonable justification 10
its severity. Washington is ideally con