Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-04-27
HOW LIFE GOES ON
BEHIND THE LINES
Bread and Water Instead of Cakes
and Ale-The Habits and the
Spirit of Life in War-Torn
Europe

WHO will write the history of the Great
w Peace? Not the peace which will come
after the war, although that will call for
all the great heart and the great mind of
humanity to record; but the peace that &C.
tually exists in Europe. The history
of the war is complicated enough. 1t ranges
from the Kamerun to the Kattegat:' it is a
war of men and machinery and principles and
politics. Probably no man alive today, pos.
sibly no man born in the next half century,
will be free of the taint of the war. And
yet there is a peace in Europe.
Life goes on, not so wanton nor so Won
drous as it was behind the trenches soaring
the fair face of nature. 1t is life of COM
monplaces, of dim sadnesses of bright lights
and of binding tragedies The war sends
it's dreadful report into every town and ham,
let of Europe, but in the fields about the
towns the farmers are turning up the soil.
still smelling with the eternal richness of
earth, and in the by.streets the shops are
still busy with women who bargain for the
days provisioning. Children come from school
and play in the open places and are tucked
into bed with ancient fairy tales and lula
bies. Today. in the years before the war
and In the years to come, some things
remain unchanged.
Small Things Change
But there are differences, and the casual OBJ
server is nightly struck by them. While
the great things resist the small things go
under and new systems of living work them.
selves into the common life The NAVY in
London finds his favorite pub" unaccountably
closed at certain hours, farmer in Bavaria
cannot procure a horse for love or money,
a sempstress in Paris is relieved of paying
rent, and heaven knows she is thankful for
IN
careless about gloves and her hands grow
chapped. She sends to the apothecary for
rosewater and glycerine and there Is none to
be had, for the Government has forbidden its
use. In Lyons a newspaper appears with
three pages (out of four) perfect blanks. In
Berlin women helped to dig a subway; In
France the fields being titled by women
and children, and Engshwomen have been
taken across the Channel to see their sue.
cess.
These are passing items In the great account
which must be made of the upheaval in Eu-
rope following after the first declaration of
war. There is whole history of government
in the ability shown by each country to centre
and control the activities of the civilian popu.
lace while the total energies of the nation
were supposed to be at war. In Germany, a
highly centralized government. we the
in spite of the failings of its governmental sys
tenn we see perfection almost without method
In Russia, which has the form OF autocracy
and the spirit of democracy. and in England.
which has the reverse at times, we quail
fed disaster.
Germany Takes Action
Several months before the war began Prince
Won Buelow warned Germany that the moment
paf bar
be compelled to be self-sustaining. However
Germany may protest now against England's
starvetion policy, the fact is that she expected
1t and prepared against it. Shortly after the
German armies tramped through Belgium mil
lions of cattle and swine were slaughtered by
Government decree. The purpose was to
insura a supply of meat and. far more impor-
tant, to save the corn and other provender
In this case somebody blundered. for the price
of meat went up beyond all limits. Since then
an adjustment has been made. The Govern
ment has a monopoly Of wheat and rye and
supervises the distribution of bread so that
only 2.2 pounds go to a family each week.
Potato flour is officially urged as substitute
for wheat -four; cheap kitchens have been
established, and for those who cannot pay at
all there are free kitchens. Distribution
and economy have solved the food problem In
Germany. and her vast supplies are being
augmented by the reclamation Of $1,000 900
acres Of mooFland, by intensive cultivation
and by taking up large landed estates and
turning them into farms. For all the protests.
the fact Is that good dinner at the Hotel
Adlon. IN Berlin. is stin cheaper than a cor
responding dinner at the hostelIies around
Broad and Chestnut.
What the Government did not do CO.
operation did. Plows are lacking, because
the factories are busy with armament SO
that farmers now share their implements
with each other or rent them. at a very small
cost. from 3 holding company. Like the
community spirit of the medieval ages Is
the temper e the German sEaysat-homs. who
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