Abilene weekly reflector., 1920-05-27
WHAT'S DOING IN GERMANY
Henry Holman Gives Situation OF
living There.

Henry kohmHu a Dickinson cOun.
~ man who Is In Germany as agent
Of an eastern company writes 10 his
father from Berlin under date of
April II. giving The following inter.
osfing ncenuui of conditions there
W. have been here three weeks
ana have enjoyed Il very much.
There seems to br plenty of faaa for
The rich hut il Is too high IN price
for The poor 20 get enough 10 be hap
py. Yet there don't seem in be-
many that are suffering very much.
We are living in he hotel and of
course don't see the poor people very
much When we first came here ""
could bus mark fpI ! r cents now
II Is about . cents. \ few months
ago il WIS only ! cent IN American
money Eggs arr about - cents q
dozen ana there are plenty of them
IN fact they are 81 plentiful That we
see ihcm everywhere IN The stores
Butter Is scorce but when Nuu can
nnd Il il COSTS about -. cents for
500 grams tl-lb oz1 Bread Is
about cents pound, roftcp 20 cents
and sugar about : cents Bread
sugar, potatoes and meat are sold oD
tickets ANA The people are allowed
I pounds Of bread. Z, pound meat
and u lh. sugar per week. They
can buy eggs. vegetables poultry ana
everything except bread. sugar, po-
tntoes and meat. IN any quantities aS
long rs they have the money for II.
There is hardly amy milk except for
babies aud they get ! quart day
The government controls the price Of
the staples. bread meat. potatoes
aud sugar. and fixes the price fairly /
low. other things scl from , 20 10
times higher in proportion. For In
stance poultry sells many times high /
er than meats. and oats. which was I
lower than rye or wheat, now sells T
for > times rs much The farmer
soon learned that there i q lot more
money IN producing the things that
are iIot controlled. consequently he IS T
not anxious IN producing the staples.
but gives his best efforts 10 poultry.
eggs vegetables. etc II seems to me
mat If the price Of the staples Is
not increased they will become
.carccr all the time
Living is cheaper for Us than ~
America. but Of course we don't get
'vcrything we might like. We miss
good cream in our coffee, ice cream
ma fruits most. We can afford to
lay 100 marks for a meal. but a
icrman chemist would have to work
! dnys Ia earn that much. \ pair of
hoes * about 800 marks, a hand
,crcbicf about 10 to IS marks. \
idle Oh the street car 3 mark, which
: only cent for MS. and 1t would he
- marks in Pittsburg.
! wrote your cousin in Hamburg
MI had nice detter from him. The
hings you sent him arrived the
ane day my letter reached him. He
Gems mighty grateful for the good
hings You sent him.
Berlin is beautiful city ana ev-
rythng is lovely and green now.
'ou can see that it isn't what 1t
vas 6 years ago, but still II Is very
,retty. The people have been very
ourteous and pleasant in every way.
have learned to talk German pretty
veil in the last three weeks and
I'M sure glad that can talk as much
Is ! can. It has been great help
II my business here When people
ell me talk little different ! tell
hem that | am from Hamburg.
suppose some of them believe 1t at
east. | think the accent has chang
ID since you were here and even you
would talk different than they do
low
We arrived here Just a few days
lfter the recent revolution. Every
hing was tied up then and there I
vas quite lot Of fighting in the
street No trains were running and
,verything was dark. 1t is quiet
lere now but some people look for
more trouble.
We tried to 20 to church Easter
sunday but the chruch was full -
minutes before it started and the
loors closed We went this evening
md the church was pretty full We
ire going on to Austria this Thurs
lay and then to italy and France.