The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-01
POOR SUFFERING FROM HIGH PRICES Grave Situation Develops in
 Berlin BAD GERMAN HABIT Too Much Litigation Going on In Courts-Germany Discusses
 Madame Tosilli's Breezy
 Autobiography

Berlin, September SO.-The situation con fronting the laboring population and all persons living on small incomes is grave
 and it is feared that there will be unusual suffering among the poor during the com ing winter.
 The summers unparalleled drouth has
 not yet been relieved, except in limited sections of the northeastern and northern
 provinces of Prussia, and even there the rains were not of such volume as to re-
 cover the serious damage already in ficted upon the growing crops.
 The potato crop. representing the chiei
 food of the poorer classes is In most
 precarious condition. The Prussian gov ernment has just issued its first estimate of the probable yield of this crop, indicat- ing a total of 22,567, 900 tons, which com
 pares with 32.7SO,OOo tons actually harvest ed last year. Potato prices have already advanced 50 to 100 per cent in various parts of the country. Other vegetable prices are at phenominally high lever. The clover and lucerne crops were so damaged by the drouth that a second moving was not even attempted Tn nost parts of the country, while even the nrst mowings were generally very unsatlslac- tory.
 The damage to the crops has now pro-
 ceeded to such a point that it is looked upon as irreparable; the semi-oflclal newspaper has just said that no Substah- tial improvement is to be looked TOT. ihe chambers of commerce and other business organizations are appealing to the govern ment to suspend the duty on Indian corn and ordinary barley not fitted for brewing purposes. It Is also recommended that these products be carried by the railways at half rates, as was recently decided in the case of other feed products. The Prus- sian ministry will in a few days take up and discuss the various relief proposals
 1t is some satisfaction to note that the grain crops have apparently yielded con siderably more than had been believed at the time when they were harvested. Ow- ing to the unusually heavy quality of the grain already threshed out the Prusslan government has increased it's first esti- mates of the probable yield. The wheat crop, which was at first estimated at 2,347, GOO tons, is now placed at 2,42o,VOo tons, or only 57,60O tons less than last years actual yield; while the rye crop IS now placed at S,452,o00 tons, which is .b2,- GOO tons more than the estimate of q month ago, and 411,000 tons more than la-st years crop.
 Excessive litigation is coming to be rec ognized as one of the worst habits or the German people as a whole. statistician has recently found that during the year above 2,500,000 cases at law were or me most trivial character-so-called "baga- telle cases" As consequence of this predilection of the people to appeal to the courts about trihing matters, the number of judges is relatively much greater Tn Germany than in Anglo-Saxon countries. There are not less than 9974 judges in Ger many, or about one for $500 of the popula- tion. In Berlin alone there are ll5S judges.
 Just now the government is occupied with a bill for the reform of judicial rro- cedure, which is in part designed to check excessive litigation.
 One cause for the pressure or Work al the courts is to be found in the fact that mayors of cities and police officials have no judicial functions in Germany. Liti- gation is also encouraged by the reason abeness of lawyers charges, as well as the costs collected by the courts them selves. Lawyers fees are strictly regu- lated in civil cases according to a scale based upon the amount of money involved.
 The publication of the gossipy autobi- ography of Madame Toselli. former crown princess of SaXony,. has been much dis- cussed in Germany, where the book has made a painful impression and has been generally condemned by the newspapers as a grave breach of common loyalty to old friends and relatives. Much curiosity was felt as to what action the Saxon court would take in view of the publication, since the crown princess. under which she receives an annuity of nearly $10,0O0 from the court, contains a clause restraining cbi iDo a former husband It is understood, how ever. from Dresden advices that the King decided at once to take no notice or the book believing that the best course to- ward his former wife would be to let her choose her own way to destroy the rem nants of popularity that she enjoys with the Saxon people.
 The remarkable successes of Amerlcam surgeons in transplanting organs of the human body have awakened much inter- est among German surgeons who are doing similar work. Prof. Hermann Kutt- ner of Breslau university has recently succeeded in giving patient new shoulder joint through transplantation. The patient was suffering from tubar- culosis shoulder joint, which it was round impossible to treat by the usual method of cutting away the diseased tissue. The surgeon therefore decided to transplant joint from a man who had just died from water on the brain. The joint was re- moved six hours after death and kept in a certain solution Is hours at a tempera- ture just above freezing: then, after a bacteriological examination, it was in serted in the place of the tuberculosis shoulder joint both ball and socket of which had been removed. The wound healed without any inflammation develop ing. fs4