The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-25

t4or with sadness.
On arriving at the station began
tto.nnderstand What-1ny friends at Mu-
mich had told me about North Ger
rxnany's greater prfvation. had
SAaoasnk with me only light luggage
which I myself was able to carry.
kWlfh the exception Of a few old men
who were being employed in transfer
ring light haggage from one train
htuDanother,r porter could be obtain
ed. &,
! On putting my feet on the station
platform L again came face to face
with the high-strung German mental
! ity. Rudeness and coarseness had pc
come natural with every German. The
inspector whose duty 1t was to ex-
anime nv papers on arriving at Ber-
lin station, was insanely angry be-
cause had failed to know that he
was about the premises. The truth Is
that L had looked about, and not Sec
! ing anyone who would question me-
had started towards the outer doors.
Suddenly I felt some one grab me
roughly by the arm, and the attempt
on my part 20 come to sudden stop
coming to my senses, found myself
face to face with an inspector in a
uniform that was SO dilapidated that
it looked very disreputable. Besides
his rude physical act his manner of
speech was so unclean that I would
not dare to even give resume of how
he addressed me.
The man was a foot shorter than
myself in height, and L was greatly
tempted to chaStiSe him severely, but
prudence on my part prevented me
from giving way to equal rudeness-
However, 1 said: my friend, you are
very strong, why waste it as such an
occupation!" He swore that he would
drag me to police headquarters even
lat that time of the night, and was
about to proceed with further physical
,roughness when calmly informed
him that consequences to himself
would be very severe Saying this l
produced from my pocket a batch OF
sealed letters that were addressed to
thigh civil and military officers in Ber-
lin. My rude friend carefully exam
lined the names on these letters and
seemed impressed with them AS If by
magic he became humble and was
even kind enough, to direct me to a
comfortable hotel
O.: NV friend in South Germany had
advised me not to follow suggestions
offered by any person at the railroad
station The German secret service
men everywhere at railroad stations
were in the habit of directing persons
reaching Berlin to certain hotels
where they could be studied anc
Waffhed CLOSELY.
On reaching the outside of the sta
ftion I further realized to what extern
Berlin had felt the pinch of war.
Berlin Feels the Pinch OF War
There were only two horse vehicle:
in front of the station, whose drivers
old men, had the appearance of mel
who did not care whether or not the!
secured patrons. In pre-war day
that time of the night would hav'
seen the Berlin railway station dis
ltrict gay and filled with people, tn
street in front of the station ine'
with carriages, and motor cars, thief
drivers shouting and moving abou
Theoretically. to secure patrons.
approached one of these two driv
ers, and asked him how much h
would charge me to take me to Nc
- - -, which is two mile
distant. He demanded 10 marks
(present value of a. mark is 16 cent
in American money! I decided not t
pay that exhorbitant price. AS
started to walk to my destination
noticed that the two animals tha
were hitched to the old and disrepu
table looking carriages appeared g
lean as the driver that was sitting be
hind. They looked like badly carve
wooden horses and 1 had trouble
persuade myself that there was lii
in them.
Hotels Turned into Hospitals
The Central hotel which 1 entere
was still more desoIate than the al
pearance of the city itself. Certai
circumstances compelled me to NAL
frequent changes and during my ste
in Berlin 1 stopped in fourteen di
1erent hotels. Without even one SIT
gle exception, 1 learned that the pc
Sons or syndicates who controlle
these hotels had been ruined fina,
cially. The top stories above the thi
of twelve out of the fourteen hote
at which 1 stopped, had been cor
Wandered by the military as hosp
tails for the wounded soldiers, and G
ficers, and in none of these hott
were elevators permitted to run at a
While the regular entrances
these hotels were still used for t
guests and patrons, the back e
frances were being used by the he
,pital force. The patrons have Il
the slightest idea as to what is ia
ing place in the stories above the. thi