Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-09-27

| But the lack of servants does not
mean carelessness in the German
way of living. Berlin is as neat and
clean, every corner of it, as though
an army of servants went over il
every morning.
The German is clean. The Ger
/ man woman is perfect housewife
be she rich or poor. And so the lack
OF servants does not mean dirt in
Germany. But it does mean much
harder work on the part of women
| unaccustomed to labor.
How the Women Work
And, many of these women, in
addition to keeping their homes in
order, also turn in to do outside
work. The German woman is Won
derful. 1t seems she cannot work
hard enough for her country and
the kaiser.
Last winter, when a snowfall ii
| Berlin reached unusual proportions
saw, myself, scores of society
girls, wealthy young matrons, ou
In the streets, shoveling snow
working as hard as day laborers.
They were not joking or laugh
ing about 1t, either, as we woulC
do under similar circumstances ovel
here. They were in quiet, deadl!
earnest. They worked regular hours
had their hour for lunch and qui
when the working day was done, no
before.
The German woman may b,
stolid and slow, but she certainl!
can learn quickly for, while l wal
in Berlin, | saw women perform
ing work that, before the war, there
never had been an idea that the.
ever would need do it.
/ saw them digging in the streets
putting in telephone poles, repairing
telephone and telegraph wires, put
ting down car tracks, doing porters
work, running street cars and omni
buses, working on trains, liftins
trunks carrying loads which would
tax mans strength, and all cheer.
fully and uncomplainingly.
| The working woman there is per.
mitted one half loaf of bread 6
week, extra. If she didn't get that
she soon would collapse. Many oil
the women do break down, anyway
! The working women there al
wear oVeralls and caps just like men
Some of them cut their hair short
and others simply pull it back as
plain as they can. They wear nc
corsets, for two reasons, one is, oi
course they can work better, and the
other is that corsets are so terribly
expensive.
Wear Wooden Shoes
The working women wear wooden
shoes as do the children. The WON
ems shoes are like sabots, shaped
like a shoe. But the children veal
fiat boards, hinged in the center
and fitted with straps to hold them
on their feet. The children go with
out stockings except in the very cold
weather.
Last winter the schools were
closed for six weeks in Berlin be-
cause of lack of fuel. No language
except German is staught in the
can speak English never do so. Ir
school all references to other coun-
tries, except what is absolutely .neces.
sary, are omitted.
| have read with interest, since
my return, of the argument in Chi.
cago as to whether the spelling book
containing the eulogy of the kaiser
would be permitted to remain in
tact. 1t makes me laugh when
| think just how long any book would
be allowed to remain undestroyed
in the German empire which con-
tanned the slightest complimentary
reference to President Wilson, King
| George or President Poincaire.
The universities still are open, but
the students. are getting IA much in
ferior grade of education, ! under
stood. The best professors all have
gone to war. Their substitutes who
are doing their best, have not the
learning nor the experience.
Only SKINNED Milk
| cannot understand what Ger
many means. She is permitting her
self to be drained of everything
worth while-her education, the
health of her people, their vitality
everything.
When | say that the babies in Ger
many are given all the milk there is
there-that is true, but it is not milk
such as we buy. 1t is what we call
skinned milk. There is only about
half the nourishment necessary to
keep the babies alive.
All babies, whether their mothers
nurse them or not, are allowed milk
until five months old. This is be-
cause even the strongest mothers
now have not sufficient nourishment
for their babies. 1t is a terrible
thing when you think that in all
Germany, probably, there is hardly
a mother strong enough to give her
infant all the nourishment it needs.
More than ever now, a German
mother wishes to bear seven sons,
for she knows that the seventh, at
least, will be well taken care Of
The kaiser always is godfather to
the seventh son of any woman in
Germany. He sees that that boy is
well taken care of, brought up we'll,
we'll educated and we'll placed in life.
I haven't any idea how many such
boys the kaiser now is interested in,
but there must be host of them.
Heavy Taxes, Too
In addition to the cost of living
being so high, the Germans are be-
ing heavily taxed in other ways.
Postal cards, for instance, which
formerly took a five-pfenning stamp
q pfennigs about equal one of our
centsy, now takes a 7k -pfenning
been raised to 15-pfennigs. Train
fares all over the empire have been
raised about 10 per cent. Omnibus
fares have been raised, but not street
car fares.
But no person rides on street cars
now any more than he can help be-
cause of the many accidents. The
women are not able to run them as
safely as the men. Omnibus travel
also has it's drawbacks for, several
times. l have seen the horses in the
omnibuses running to the suburbs of
Berlin drop exhausted in their tracks
from starvation, and die.
This is not eXaggerated-I have
seen them drop, and, I suppose.
have eaten steaks from those same
horses later.
Fodder is so scarce and high that
people simply cannot get food for
their cattle. There is no pasture.
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