The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-26

had no durability at all, and it was
 necessary to go through all the riga
 marble of securing another "Bezugs- chein." My porters wife, for instance, paid $4 for some underclothing, she
 told my wife, and the first time she
 washed it all she had left was wad
 of paper.
 | In November, 1917. paid $100 for a suit of clothes which if 1t had been
 made out of cloth of good quality would have been worth about S35. As 1 it was, the tailor frankly admitted that the goods was made of re-worked yarn, and because of the lack of cot ton thread, the seams were worked with a material which looked like pa- per string.
 | This paper string was in general
 use at that time, the department stores | all displaying notices warning cus- ] toners not to carry their parcels by
 the string. Many purchases were no longer wrapped, to save paper, and no purchase amounting to less than S5 was delivered.
 ARTIFICIAL SILK USED Before I left Berlin, artificial silk was the principal fabric obtainable for ladies' wearing apparel Almost every
 woman in the land. princess or maid, was attired in art taffeta. It sold for \ $10 yard. In normal times it would l have been worth from 75 cents to $1. ! In the fall of 1917, a cloth suit was un- obtainable for less than $500. It would | have been worth s25 in normal times.
 All fur skins were needed for soldiers ! wear and the few that were still ob- i tainable for home use in the form of | fur sets sold for from 5000 up. Through spectators. we ob- | tained some initiation soft soap at | S4 per pound. People said it was from human cOrpses. but 1t was the only thing available outside of the substitutes which were soap only in name. A small cake of toi- let soap easily brought 8. A servants plain wooden wardrobe, formerly costing $5. was unOb- 1 tainabIe for less than $50. We paid as high as $S a pound for butter from specu1ator. and my last Christmas dinner in Berlin consisted of small goose, just enough for one meal for three persons, for which I paid &25. How could the poor people exist with such a scale of prices prevailing? To a great extent. wages had in- creased. and this partially met the problem. AS far as official employees went. however. their wages remained pretty much the same as In peace
 times and they were compelled to re- sort to bribery and extortion to make both ends meet. The ammunition workers and other wage earners whose labor was essential to the car rying on of the war were allowed dou- ble rations and their increased earn | ings enabled them to live comfortably | For the rest. under nourishment and l disease told the story. The city of | Berlin was feeding about 500,000 when l l left, but great heavens. what food! | One of the things the people missed
 most, of course, was their beer. While | it was put on sale at D. m. every night
 only a limited amount was available and
 as soon as it was disposed of. only coffee ! or tea substitute, without sugar, milk or
 lemons, could be had
 l SCARCITY OF METALS The scarcity of metals required for munitions was evidenced early in the war when the interiors and exteriors of houses | throughout the country were thoroughly ransacked and everying in the way of
 copper, brass or aluminium fixtures or cooking utensils that wasn't absolutely necessary was seized.
 To secure gold for my work was most difficult. The government had taken charge of the gold refineries and al- lowed only small amount to be dis | tributed each week. Representatives ol the various arts and professions using | gold had to stand in line in the hope Of being allotted small share and very often only those who were fortunate eroUgh to be in the front part of the line got what they wanted. the others, 1 after remaining in line, perhaps for
 hours, had to leave with nothing to show | for their pains.
 l I found a simpler method. I sent sev- l era large cakes of chocolate-at S per pound-every week to the girl who had charge of the gold counter and every week she set aside certain amount of l gold for me and afterwards sent it to | me by registered mail. This was not a particularly safe method, as even the registered mail was being constantly 1 robbed and one considered himself lucky | if twenty-five per cent of the packages mailed to him arrived.
 1 Horses were gradually disappearing