Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-06-20
ALL IN BERLIN
EXPECT VICTORY
Mrs. Challis, Back From Ger
many. Declares People
Confident of Winning

New York.-Mrs. Herbert Challis,
wife of the American opera singer,
has just returned to the United
States from Berlin with her two
children and is on the way to her
home in Kansas City after being
away for eight years. She said that
her husband had many inuential
friends among the Prussian aris-
tocracy and said she believed the
report published on April "a, 1917,
that Prince Eitel Friedrich, the sec
ond son of the Kaiser, had died of
typhus fever was true.
Speaking of the conditions in Ger
many. Mrs. Challis said:
The German people know moth
ing of the true war conditions. They
believe that their armies are vic
torious and have no doubt of their
Ultimate triumph. The wounded in
the present offensive are not taken
publicly to the great cities, and as
the people do not wear mourning on
account of the high cost of clothing
there is little to lead them to be-
lieve that the losses of the Germans
are as heavy as they are.
Much Money in Germany
Never before has there been so
much money in Germany. There are
no longer any really poor people,
for every one has received good
wages in the different war work and
there is little time for useless ex-
penditures. In fact it is very hard
to spend money, for there is moth
ing to buy. All food is rationed at
price fixed by the government, and
every one is forbidden to sell any
personal effects or household be-
longings. When l left there L sur
reptitiously sold some of my belong
ings. and when a few of my ac-
quaintances learned that / wished
to dispose of my things they begged
for a chance to buy them. For my
sheets, which / had bought long ago
at a dollar apiece. | received sou,
and a worn-out rug, which was prac-
tically valueless, was bought by two
women who paid me three times
what | paid for it many years ago.
Wool and soap are two articles
that are now entirely unknown in
Germany. Automobiles, too, have be-
come extinct. All clothing is made
of shoddy and one is allowed but
one dress, and that can only be OBJ
tanned by permission of the govern
ment. The people are patient in
they believe it will only be a short
time now until the war is over.
The familiar stout German fig
ure is no longer to be seen. I was
simply aghast when l saw the first
fat man here, for 1 had not seen
one for so long. 1 am now more
than fifty pounds below my average
weight.
1T is really strange to see able
bodied men again. All the men have
been away from Berlin so long that
every one has grown accustomed to
their absence. Only the very old
ones remain, and the children are
not the sturdy youngsters they used
to be.
There is no news of the war to
be had except that favorable to Ger
many. The people hear nothing of
the movement of American troops,
except that they are not being able
to reach their destination and that
at every turn the enemy is being
thWarted. There is never any ques-
ton as to the provocation of Ger
many for entering the war, and the
feeling has always been strong that
had the Belgians not resisted there
would have been little trouble at all.
THE people in the country are
really better off than those in the
city, for. being thrifty, they have
been able to raise enough to main
tain them. The city people have
now converted their courtyards,
which were kept in splendid condi-
ton, into pig pens, and the pig is
the pet of every household"