The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-04-24

or in material.
 We were abused at every turn; we were hated, and we are still hated But the Germans have become so tired of the war and are becoming so acquainted with British determtna- ton and doggedness, shown not only at sea and on the battlefronts, but by the very prisoners the Germans thought to crush with the iron heel and cruelty, that they now let you pass by in the streets of Berlin, and even ride on the trains and tramoars without showing their hatred.
 That the Germans do not wish to heighten our bitterness against them was made plain to me a few weeks before I was liberated. After three years close confinement three times in the course of a few weeks. was invited to the commandments office In Berlin, for no other reason than to give me a good time. That was trans parent, after the period they had made me live in a stable, and the ef- feet on my mind was contrary to that they hoped to bring about I was taken to hotels and feted by an officer of the staff, with the hope that I would take back to England a different taste in my mouth for the Germans. For they have no senti- ment. The feeling that it is not prof itable to endanger by any further cir cuIation of stories of German ill., treatment of Englishmen the com- mercial or pocket prospects of Ger mans prompted this make believe change in the feeling of the high placed.
 | Berlin, say again, is city of mourning. The people outside the uniforms all appear to be dressed in i black.
 The women are thin, pfnched and emaciated through want and mental distress, whilst the children are in a pitiable condition.
 The tramcars continue to run, but the train service is cut down to a great extent. The taxis were rubber less, and had almost entirely disap- peared-
 They could not fill the empty shops any more than they could hide their wonderful development of substitutes. They could not hide the look of hun ger, want, and misery I beheld in the faces of the poorer classes. How could they keep from my knowledge the fact that there was a shortage of fuel when I could see the maze of the city's smokeless chimneys?
 One cannot make e comparison be- tween London and Berlin today. Ii one compared Berlin with a Lanca- shire town like Wigan, Bolton, or Oldham, the verdict would lie with any of these towns for life, industry and conditions generally. Their shops would make Berlin look like a town of famine.
 To go-o out for a meal or for shop ping in Berlin means the carrying of innumerable tickets. A ticket 1: needed for every component of z meal. Even the military official was with had his pockets bulging with cards. The people are sad a heart. They curse the war and tht Kaiser. It surprised me very early on how singularly unpopular tht Kaiser was with the working classes His press agents had made him ap pear to the world as national god II ! and the people prove that he was re spected only in the minds of the peo pie who found it profitable to believ, in him.
 Bribery can obtain practically any . thing from the Germans, and, strang' to relate in the case of a speciall, created history, particularly from tn
 soldiery. Both men and womel would rise in revolt tomorrow bu , for fear. They know that the frs act to rise would be, shot. They knov ? military Junkers have the civilian well watched, and have taken precau tfons against any collective movemen
 that would take very much hand
 ling. The machine-guns would b. 3 turned on any thinking body of Ger ] mans who had the courage of thei ] convictions as readily as they woul
 on the enemy. Few are left but tn
 women to organize revolt; even mu milton workers are disiplined as tn I soldiery. Have not most of them ha
 military training under the system c
 conscription?
 u The railway carriages, like tn 5, houses in Berlin, had been stripped ( s all their brass fittings, while the lei # ter boxes and door bells had bee
 taken from the houses, the windo'
 straps of the carriages had been tal IS en away for other purposes. It Over one of the busiest of Germa If railway tracks to Hanover and Ro st terdam we travelled for a day an a during that journey we passed onl Is three trains on German soil.
 The country appeared denuded
 men. Refreshment bills, fruit stall y and newspaper kiosks which abound IT ed on all principal railway station
 in Germany were empty. Female l;
 bor Is everywhere employed, but eve y then neither women nor children al t. peared plentiful as one scanned u re country.
 y The experienced traveller in Ge
 many could not help but notice u
 absence of these long lines. of wagol lb filed win merchandise. It struc J. one that they had been seized by u h. military, and were to be seen only
 the neighborhood of the frontier wi
 uite different contents from wh le they carrt6d in the days of Germany ne prosperity
 1e The case of a1l honest men, vi
 have been able to study conditio
 in Germany, will make out and c.