Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-04-27


to food spccuators. An iufuriated
crowd of citizens bombardcd the
Mayors house with CObblestOncs,
smashing all the windows, and would
have lNnChcd him IL the police had not
interGercd. The Attorney General at
Berlin i prosecuting the municipal
authorities Of Friedman and NCukoc-
lin, two large suburbs Of the kaiscr'S
capital. for buying meat, vegetables
and fruit from farmers i'm the Coun-
try at prices greatly exceeding those
instituted 10y tn" Government ana
sharing the profits with the rapa-
ciUus producers. These are but a few
examples CLEANED at random from thu
German newspapers,
Among the subordinate officials With
small salaries corrupt practices are,
Of course, still more common. On
the railroads robbcrics carried out by
the railway officials themselves are
almost daily incidents Carloads Of
food destined 10 supply the men at the
front disappear, clothing and presents
sent TO soldiers by their relatives and
friends AT home never reach their des-
tinatiOn. They are stolen by the rail
road employees and usually sold TO
spectators.
Tho German postal service, formerly
ON" Of the best in the world. has like
wise become utterly uuroliablc. Regis
tered letters and parcels vanish mys-
lerioIsly The Government has insti-
rutcd especially sever" penalties for dis
honest officials hut il seems powerlesS
10 cope with this widespread evil cf-
fcctiyely y Berlin paper estimates that
during the month of January. 1918,
nearly 100 railway aud postOiIicc emf
plONCs were sentenced to terms of Inn
priSOnmcnt varying from siN weeks to
eight years II added that there was no
sign Of the dcprodatious in question di-
miuishing, in spite Of these severe mcaS-
urcs
Crime Fruit of Hunger
All this crime aud corruption Is. as
have already iutmatcd, due to over
two years Of terrible food shortage and
the mistaken policy Of the Government
in dealing with the situation created by
the blockade of Germany by the Allies.
In order to overcome the food shortage
and Couut"ract speculation and protiteer-
ing the Government hNcd maximum
prices for most articles Of food. such
as meat, butter and eggs, ana comman-
dcerod others; for instance, wheat and
all kinds OF grain. at the same time
establishing weekly ratiOus and the
. ticket system. This system would have
worked we'll enough if the ratiOns had
been sufficient and If it had been ap-
pl"d only TO few Of the necessities nt
NE. But th" authorities were forced,
as tho effects of the blo"kad" became
more and more marked To- cytcud 1t to
almost every Kind of food and mcrshau-
dlSe, and the ratiuns being entirely III
adequate to sustain life the starving
population, which could not legally buy
enough TO live on, easily became the
prey OF interruptions dealers, who Of
Tered TO supply them in violation of the
1000 laws at usurious rates.
within the last two years the unlawful
trade in food throughout Germany has
grown from small beginnings to be one
of the most powerful and complicated
criminal organizations the world has
ever seen. According to the Berliner
.Tageblatt, more than 100000 persons are
today more or less directly engaged ia
the Illicit purchase and sale of food in
Berlin alone. This secret trade Is orGan-
iZed in every detail It has its magnates
VINO direct operations from palatial resi-
denccs i'm the Ticrgarteu Strassc and the
Gruncwald, and its army Of employees of
all sorts who obediently carry them out
Great sums Of money are invested i'm II
and enormous profits realized. The OBJ
jcct Of its operations is to supply the
bolAlaNl'll WIN llle 1000 lllt NIO\eIn-
mcnt cannot give them, but at prices
from twenty to thirty times as high as
those fixed by the authorities. The in
vestors belong TO all classes OF society
many Of them are formerly respected
merchants ruined by the Socialstic Gov
ernment restrictions, and not few
hnancers Of repute have been unable 10
resist the temptation of tremendous gain
The buyers and statesmen Of this vast
Illegal business enterprise are, on rhe
other hand, recruited chiefly among the
fraudulent bankrupts and commercial
swindlers Of all sorts who abound IN
great cities. The buyers travel all over
Germany purchasing agricultural prod
uce from the farmers-wheat, barley
oats, meat, butter, cheese and eggs
Grain having long since been comman-
deered by the Government, It constitutes
a criminal offense for the farmer Ia
sell il, But the agents from Berlin Offer
to pay ten and even twenty times az
much as he will get from the authori-
ties and in most cases he breaks tho
law, incurring a sentence of imprison.
ment and heavy fines In case of detec.
ton. Not only the farmers and poor
peasants but also the agrarian nobility
who pretend to be so patriotic and self,
, sacrificing In the Reichstag, sell much
, OF ihe produ'e OF lhelr great estates In
violation Of the law 10 the food traders
Even a great deal of livestock is sold il
this way.
All the mills i'm Germany have beer
placed under Government supervision
and the our produced by them Is sup
piled in fixed quantities TO the bakers
who i'm turn can sell their bread only
to customers presenting bread tickets
The "Schleichhaendler," as the German,
call the unlawful food traders. have
therefore established their own mills n
isolated districts in the country In th'
mountains OF Silesla, or hidden away II
houses In the great cities. In the sam'
way, Il being unlawful 70 slaughter cat
tie without obtaining permission from
: the authorities secret Slaughter house
flourish. A clandcstlne slaughter house