The Washington herald., 1917-07-19
BY KARL Won wEIGAND.
(Stan Correspondent of the Inter.
national News Service.)

Copenhagen. July Il. eby maiD-
Money, enough money. will accomplish
wonders even in the severely rationed
Germany. And II there Is one thing
that Is plentiful in Germany today, 1t
is money. Money and connections"
enables a person to eat better than his
neighbor. And despite the severe
prosecution. by the authorities, the
profits of "contraband trade" in
certain articles of food. are so great
that at no time during the war has
this trade been greater in Berlin than
! during Germany's "leanest week."
this spring. With even unskilled labor
getting 50 cents an hour with every
member of the family who wants to.
working. everybody has money and
Is willing to spend 1t for food. 1t
takes time to make connections
| and to get "on to the ropes" in tho
matter of getting more than your
share of the food.
"Gaenze schamlz," or goose fat" "
for the bread Is a delicacy few can
obtain, with geese selling at SIS tv
so each. Goose breast" to many
Germans as great a delicacy as caviar
| to the Russians, is now $3.50 to 81 a
pound. A medium-sized ham costs SIS
to s23.
German People Eat Less.
The German people. perhaps never
| ate less than they do today, and cer-
! tainly never paid as much for ii.
They have gotten through the lean
est weeks" Of three years, between
February and the present time, with
10000 tons Of grains to still come out
| of Rumania, up to July Is, and the
| aid of vegetables and green stuffs
| will get through to the end of August,
| when flour from new crops will begin
| to be available.
| On the whole, 1t Is very difficult to
! form any accurate idea of how much
| or how far the hunger blockade
has touched the vitality OF the Ger.
man nation.
A number of instances came under
/ my personal notice, in which persons
affected with tuberculosis. rapidly
void of fat and died. Had they had
proper food and plenty of 1t they
would probably have lived for years
some of them even recovered, perhaps
Among the healthy and robust, Il
might almost be said that, the enforc-
ed simple life haas improved the ap-
pearance Of the Germans, on the whole
| The equator" or national waist
4
| hundred yards. In many instances ro.
tundy has give way to something like
angularity.
THE Bay window" effect especial
ly in the INA asculine scenery" is dis.
! appearing fast. The big beer tum.
mics, are not so often met with. lr
/ walking about in the workingmen's
districts, was struck, however, by
| the observation that there was an in.
crease Of ''pallor," quite general to
all
No Deaths From Starvation.
| I heard of occasional cases OF
men doing heavy labor collapsing
but not of a single case of death
from actual starvation. That the
lack of milk. butter fats, for Sc
long a period, will not be without
its effect upon the constitution OF
very young children, seems a rea-
| sonable conclusion.
About 100000 children from the
| large cities were scheduled to be
sent to the farms, in the provinces
for the summer both to assist with
the crops and to get the benefit OF
more and better food. Up to the
time I left Germany, over 10000
| had already been sent from Berlin
to East Prussia.
Summing up my personal obser-
walton on the food situation, and
what I judged as being reliable in
| formation from others, would feel
justified in concluding that the col
! lapse of the German people and
their acceptance of dictated terms
| from starvation alone, is still a con-