The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1920-04-26
Berlin, ONCE ORDERL.Y :. :.
GROWS SHABBY As VICE
AND CRIME INCREASE
Dance Halls and Resorts Thrive
Unre.trained; Germans Say
They Dance to Forget

Il. Berlin, April 26.-When night
falls in Berlin 1t hides the scars, alrt
and general dilapidation OF the ger
man capital Once upon a time the
Germans were rightly PROUD OIL
their capital; it was, indeed, a city
that went tby clockwork. True, the
vnrd verboten was often before ones
ayes and in ones ears, but everything
,ynrkod a. well that one could for
give the municipal drill sergeant WV
made Berliners obey his Will.
Berlin is badly scared Dy rlne anu
machine gun bullets but the aWiul
condition Of the city is not due TO the
n9hting which took place during the
revolutions and counter-revoiutlons'
like a house abandoned by the ten
ants and neglected by the landlord
berlin has fallen on evil days. Inc
streets. once SO clean and well swept
are now Uttered with paper. Aero
planes are constantly flying over the
CITY dropping thousands of Leaflets
issued BY the government urging tne
neople to do this or that. Carts
drive through the streets; the occu-
Dants throw out more leaflets. People
scramble for them, glance at tnem'
and. then CONTEMPORARY throw them
away. 's
And so the streets are ankle deep
in paper. a
other principal streets are covered
with printed appeals to the popula-
ton. - They become dirty ana torn,
and add to the general unKempt
condition of the city The only IN
terests' of the people are gamoi1ng
and dancing. There Is extraOrdlnary
interest in French racing. There are
many places where one can pet on
the results of racing at Maisons LAT
fitte, .Auteuil and Longchamps. The
interest is sustained by newspaper
shops selling envelopes containing
tins for the French races. Et'.e = s>;1'
y, Always known as one of the most
immoral cities Of Europe, Berlin mas
not changed since its decline. Re-
ligion is rapidly losing its hold on the
people, and the marriage tie IS no
longer respected. ~,r.z.~.r-~s :, .o..1....gss
But it is when night falls that Ber-
lin really let's itself CO.. All over the
center of the city, as we'll as further
out in Charlottenburg, there are In
Vulnerable dancing and drinking
places. These places are supposed to
close at II o'clock, but only the few
better-conducted ones think OF obey
ing instructions. ' -
Close-curtained windows hide
scenes Of extraordinary depravity.
German champagne flows like water.
Berliners will tell you that they
drink and dance to forget. "5tE- If
Like night proving, wolves men
and women haunt the approaches to
the well-known hotels and offer to
conduct strangers to these haunts OF
vice. If one speaks English there Is
a tremendous rush of these parasites.
They crowd around one and literally
fight for the right to lead you to
dancing place. "Come, Engiishman,
come" they call in English. gs,.5,
Americans are also included in this
invitation. for both English and Am
orleans are respected, but, not even
the desire to earn marks will tempt
the pests to speak to a F'renchman.|
The hatred for the French in Ger
many passes all belief. ....r Il
1t is only when the sun begins to|
creep up the sky that the jewellers
stagger out into the streets to face
the pinch ed-saced poor souring the
ashbins for potato Feelings and rot.
ting cabbag eNstalks. >sS'f T.. g%& 4, >,