Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-09-16

4
| get near enough to see what it was that at
tracted so much attention. I heard exclama-
tons of wonder and admiration, and on look
| ing little more closely saw-a bunch OF ba-
nanas which the shopkeeper had just hung up
in the window and which was a novelty to the
Berlners, who for nearly five years have seen
not trace OF this fruit, once so plentiful and
| cheap in the capital.
The smiling faces and little jokes made it
quite evident that the banana was recognized
at its presence was due to the evidence it at
forded that the blockade was thing of the
| past.
Even home fruits were not seen by the peo-
pie last year, all having been requisitioned by
government for the making of jam This year
| there is great improvement. and the barrows
of cherries. temptingly stationed at the street
corners, attract many buyers. The price of
cherries today is chalked UP on boards dis
played by these street vendors as Misc to
MI 80 per pound the latter price being asked for
| the zuckersuess Whitehearts. One wonders what
would have been said by the police of pre-war
! days to these itnerant merchants-or rather
| one does not wonder, one knows quite well
that they would have been moved on with
scant ceremony if they had had the daring to
| appear where they now stand unmoested.
! The revolution practically swept the auto
cratic Berlin policeman out of existence. In
deed have only seen one in the last fortnight.
and he was bent moving cherry barrow
at the corner of the Mittelstrasse and the Erie
drichstrasse, In this. however. he unsuc
cessful, half dozen proetarians informed
him quite crudely that they would damage his
beauty if he insisted on any of his imperial
proceedings, whereupon, following an illustri-
GUS example, he quickly retired to more neu
trail territory. Indeed. one can hardly take
couple of steps in Berlin. where street trading
was once SO strictly forbidden. without coming
across peddlers, mostly in field gray uniform
with a small tray laden with wares suspended
in front of them by strap passed round the
neck. They sell cigars. soap and chocolate and
do roaring trade.
Prices are falling gradually, and chocolate,
half nound. is now to be had for MISC
Us. 6d). The same chocolate fetched from
MOO to M,S0 per pound (f3- 94 before the
from between MIS- and MOO (e3 l5s and
e4 1861 per pound few weeks ago to between
MIS- and MO 15s and SD pound today
Similar changes have occurred in the prices of
coffee soap and indeed of all those articles
which in large or small quantities managed to
slip through the meshes of the blockade.
The demands for ciearets is great that
even the very large quantities of Struggled
ENGLISH and American ciearets are hardly
able to cope with it. English ci"arets still
mand a ready sale as they are much better
than the German cigarets which are not much
lower in price.
The Germans are looking forward very
much to the conscnments of linen which they
hope to receive in the near future All the
hrstclass hotels and restaurants use paper table
cloths as the demand for linen for war pur-
noses long AGO caused the disaDpearance Of
the naperv which formerly set off the dinner
tables Of Berlin with its snowy whiteness.
know of only one restaurant in Berlin where
linen tablecloths are used today, and that is
not of the most expensive.
The head waiter of leading hotel in Inter
den Linden assured me few days AGO that
the paper tablecoths now in use-whch are
certainly very excellent substitutes-are more
expensive than the linen. but that notwithstand
this they will continue to be used for
siderable time. as linen is needed for more in
disnensable purposes
Linen. however. has fallen substantially since
the signing of peace. partly because large
| titles were secretly held by dealers who have
| thrown them on the market Clearing loss
from subsequent comnetition) and partly be
cause the government has released huge stocks
which it had acquired to ensure the necessary
supply during time. Thus the LARGE firms
OF costumers who short time ago could hardly
supply ladv's dress made of linen at less than
M:s,oo0 to M.60oo (e25o to 5000. are now
selling readv-1nade costumes the cheapest of
which costs MSS (92 1851
The fall of prices unquestionably has a
cheering influence on the state of mind of the
population All the same. it is unanimously as
serted that the cost of housekeeping has I'M
dergone hardly any reduction worth speaking
of. This is attributable to the fact that most
of the things which have declined in price,
while they contribute to make life pleasanter
and more enjoyable, do not belong to those that
are indispensable.
Meat. for example. of which there is as
great shortage as ever, so that for weeks to-
gether it cannot be distributed on the cards,
is sold surrepttiously for prices that are as
dear as. if not dearer than, those ruling in the
days Of the war. Potatoes not to be OBJ
they are supplied in the restaurants, which. OF
course, the masses of the people cannot afford
to frequent. Groats. semolina, macaroni. etc,
are distributed by the city only in small guam
titles, and that at prices not much below those
hitherto paid.
1t will. therefore. be seen that the great con-
vulsion. through which Germany has passed
resulted-and is not likely to result for long
time to come-in the restoration of anything
like normal conditions of life. Indeed. there
was truth as we'll as humor in the joke made
by the Berliners when some months ago they
described the Italian lemons (Which made their
way to the capital by the strange and circutous
route of Bohemia) as the first and only fruits
of the revolution.
lat the present rate o fexchange the pound
sterling is equivalent to S4.o6 in American
money, which brings the shilling to little
% cents. The German mark is figured in this
article equal in value to the English shilling.
Editor Bee.l