Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-26
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II have a friend at the University
of Heidelburg," said another. HE is
professor, one of the brainiest
men in the country. His salary is
five thousand marks a year. He
had a wife and six children when
the war started. The cost Of living
has steadily gone up, as we all know,
but that professors salary hasn't
advanced one penny. To make ends
meet, he has been taking on extra
work, and he has almost ruined his
health through the strain of over
work combined with insufficient
nourishment, for both he and his
wife had been skimping themselves
on food that their children might
get enough.
Some months ago this professor
! told me that his eldest boy was
within a few months of military
age but he was so undernourished
that IL he were pulled into the army
he would never be able to stand the
strain of active training. They took
him just the same. and two months
| later he died. A few months after
that, the youngest child became sick
| from undernourishment, and he
| died too. Then the mother col
| lapsed from grief and starvation and
when she was taken to the hospital
the professor had to assume entire
care Sf the remaining children be-
sides fulfilling his regular duties.
And now, friends" the speaker
went on, that poor professor has
collapsed, too, and the children are
in the hands of the authorities. l
tell you, men, that there are thou
sands of other families whose cases
are no better than this one. We and
our children are starving while the
| landowners and the prof1teers are
making twenty times what they got
in peace-time and can buy all the
food they want. How long are We
going to stand it, how long?"
There was not a single member
in that group-and they were ap-
parently all strangers to each other
who hesitated to say exactly what
| he felt, and not a single word was
uttered in favor of the government.
After the Russian revolution had
resulted in the overthrow of the
Czar, 1 heard two workmen at the
railroad station discussing condi-
tions. "If we had any sense and
weren't such fools, we'd start the
same thing over here" overheard
| Ol0 ueCldTe. ouT
treating us worse than the Russian
| government"
1 have mentioned before that the
German police, although the most
arrogant in the world, were always
free from corruption in time of
peace, but with the changed living
conditions brought about by the
war, the police yielded to tempta-
| ton and not only exacted tribute
and accepted bribes, but brazenly
appropriated the loot which they re-
covered from thieves and robbers.
| One of the police officers of Ber-
lin openly admitted to me that it
was no longer possible for him to
exist on his one hundred and fifty
marks a month in view of the in
creased prices of food and clothing,
and that he was forced to eke out
livelihood by resorting to corrup-
tion. The food regulations, which
| it was the duty of the police to en-
| force, provided an excellent oppor-
| tunity for bribery. In return for
allowing civilians to purchase or
otherwise obtain more than the al
lotted quantities of food. the police
were able to exhort liberal bonuses.
On the first of August, 1917, three
robbers entered my house. They
| olOlC dDodt iIf0
worth of gold, platinum and silver,
| besides a typewriter, some celluloid
brushes and other articles of little
value. An idea of the lawless con-
| dition of the city may be gathered
from the fact that the band of bur-
glars who had entered my place had
no sooner reached the street than
they were set upon by another band
and relieved of their booty. The
| first group of robbers turned out to
be lads of seventeen and eighteen.
They were so incensed at being
robbed themselves that they made
a clean breast of the affair to the
first policeman they came to and the
! whole lot of them were arrested.
The second group of robbers proved
to be soldiers on furlough.
I applied to the local police sta
tion for the return of my property.
| They exhibited some of 1t to me
but told me that I would have to
obtain 1t through police headquar-
ters. in another part of the city.
A few days later I called there ac-
| cordingiy and was given the celiu-
| loid toilet articles and other things
of nominal value, but the gold, plat
mum and silver were retained by
the police and was made to sign
paper to the effect that was sat-
isfied with the work they had done
in apprehending the burglars and
with the property that had been re-
| turned to me.
The same night the house of Won
Bleichroeder, the banker, q few
doors from mine, was broken into
! by soldier burglars and a large
| quantity of si1ve removed, The
police said they captured the bur-
| glars but restored only a trifIinig
part of the booty to the banker, The