Evening star., 1918-08-08

times and they were compelled to re-
| sort to bribery and extortion to make
both ends meet. The ammunition
/; workers and other wage-earners
| rying on of the war were allowed
! double rations and their increased
earnings enabled them to live COM
fortably. For. the rest. undernour-
| lshment and disease told the story.
7 The city of Berlin was feeding about
ems. what food.
| One Of the things the people missed
most. of course, was their beer. While
\ II was put on sale at s o'clock every
night. only a limited amount was
| available, and as soon as 1t was dis
posed or. only coffee or tea substi-
| tute, without sugar. milk or lemons
could be had
| The scarcity of metals required for
| munitions was evidenced early in the
| war when the interiors and exteriors
OF houses throughout the country
| We're thoroughly ransacked and
everything in the way of copper. brass
| or aluminium fixtures or cooking
| utensils that wasn't absolutely nee
| essary was seized.
most difficult The government had
taken charge of the gold reflneries
and allowed only a small amount to
be distributed each week. Represent
atives of the various arts and pro-
fessions using gold had to stand in
| small share, and very often only those
| who were fortunate enough to be in
the front part of the line got what
they wanted; the others. after re-
| manning In line. perhaps for hours
had to leave with nothing to show
for their pains.
found simpler method / sent
| several large cakes of checolate--at
\ 81 per pound-every week to the girl
who had charge of the gold counter
| and every week she set aside cer-
\ tain amount of gold for me and after
ward sent it to me by registered
| mail. This was not a particularly safe
| method. as even the registered mail
was being constantly robbed and one
considered himself lucky if 25 per
| cent of the packages mailed to him
| arrived.
Horses Drop Exhausted.
Horses were gradually disappearing
from sight when 1 left, early this
year. One saw them lying about the
| streets where they dropped from ex-
haustion. and what disposition was
made of their corpses can well be
| imagined. 1t is quite certain that no
was constantly called upon TO help
fallen horses to their feet.
L hired droschke, one of the few
remaining, to take me for short
ride. The horse refused to move and
! The cabby started to beat him. ask
ed him what the trouble was and he
explained that as the animal was
limited to three pounds of offai food.
simply straw. per day, he couldn't get
much work out of him without beat
ing him. Rather than See the animal
inaltreated l got out and walked.
Dogs, too, nearly vanished from city
life. A man / know. who had kept a
1t had disappeared one night and the
| next day it's skin was found hang ing
on the fence with a sign reading:
Died for the fatherland."
One of the principal articles of fresh
| meat to be seen in the butcher shops
consisted consist Of black crows. They were
selling at IS cents apiece. There was
something ludicrous in the thought
OF the Germans being compelled 70
"eat crow, but there was little to
laugh at in eating it oneself
To obtain oil. prizes were offered to
the school children to collect fruit
seeds from which 1t could be ex-
, the seeds were thus obtained.
The staple item of the diet OF the
n%ays Seen ssTses he asemans asa hhe sha
scarcity of that article resulted in
much suffering. When In the early
months of 1917 potatoes were abso-
lutely unobtainatle hysteHical rumors
.crazed workers. II was reported.
for instance. that one of the German
U-boatS had captured German ship
bound from Ste:tin. on the Baltic. to
England. and that its cargo consisted
, entirely of potatoes-the inference