South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-04-30
HOT MEAL MORE
IMPORTANT THAN
GERMAN UPRISING
Conditions in Berlin During
Kapp Regime Graphically
Told.

LONDON. April 29.-Conditions
in Berlin during the short-lived
Kapp regime are graphically de-
scribcd in am article I'm the Daily
3iail by q. Ward Price. who de-
Clares that foreigners ian Berlin dur
ing the revolution were more
concerned with the problem OF get
ling q warm meal than with the pO-
litical fortunes Of the rival factions.
To most Of them" the article as
serts. the political significance Of
daily events WAS obscure and, in
deed, secondary. The newspaper
correspondents privileged in the
possession OF their Ausweise, or
passes-of which they held three
during the week, according 10 the
various changes Of government
could go out and pass the barriers
q barbed wire, armored cars. ma
chine guns and soldiers armed to
the teeth with rifles, bayonets and
bombs. and would return with the
latest official report from the for
cign ministry or the chancellor's
place, and the latter rJImor from
the corner Of the Wilhelmstr e
which has been the crowd ed forum
Of this weeks political upheaval. II
was their job 10 try 10 follow the
Kaleidoscope changes OF the situa-
tion from hour 20 hour. But what
interested the rest Of the foreign
ers in Berlin far more than whether
Kapp was shot as a traitor, or
whether Trebitsch Lincoln became
German emperor, was the specula-
tiOn as 10 their chances of getting a
hot meal
a Secret Matter.
People would pass on 20 each
other with tho utmost secrecy the
names Of obscure little eating houses
where. in spite OF the general strike.
hey were still serving warm vic
tuals.
War proAteers OF the wealthiest
lurked in their sumptuous suites at
the Adlon, surrounded by all the
luxury OF gilded furniture and thick
pile carpets. scooping potted meat
out OF tins by the light OF a solitary
candle and surrounded by a revoting
litter Of unmade beds. muddled
boots awaiting cleaning, and the
scraps Of the day before yesterday g
cold meals still TO be cleared away.
The walters and chambermaids
at the Adlon did. indeed practice
socialist reprisals upon their CAPT
talist patrons. Although on strike
they would come TO the hotel ev-
cry day in plain clothes 10 glOat
over the havoc which their Austen
ton from work caused, and TO
spoil the Egyptians by chaging them
three marks for the privilege OF
boiling an egg on a methylated
stove in the floor walters pantry.
Guests All Esnvted.
The guests at the Bristol, the
other big hotel on the Linden. were
envied OF all Berlin. for there the
management kept cold meals OF
sparing quantity going at all times,
with the hall page-boys serving as
walters. Urchins Of Is usurped the
functions and the airs OF the digni-
fed wine waiter and gravely advised
diners upon the merits of respective
vinta Ges.
While the junker government
enjoyed it's BRIEF I'VE days OF power
IL was the bolshevists who were the
DOGGY Of Berlin communist rising.
armed bands of wOrkmen. red ter
Tor-such were the alarms which
ran along the Linden. When the
junkers bolted It was their quondam
supporters, the Baltic troops, who
became the peril that kept people
awake at night. They will never
consent 70 evacuate the city, said
some. There will be fighting in the
streets
And then when they did go.
booted by the crowd and replying
with splutters OF machine gun fire
as they marched of, the pessimists
began 10 pIOphesy their early return
10 sack Berlin. Whenever a door
banged loudly or a motor car back
fired some one would exclaim, Tho
BaltiKumS" and when four Of them
did appear again at the Branden-
burg gate and were promptly kill
cd by a bomb and bullets from the
green police on duty there. the 40
Ion put Itself in state OF siege. The
gates were banged 20. the window
shutters drawn down and people
who had not the faintest idea OF
what was going on assured each
other that the 'Baltikms' were at
t7cking the city and that the explo-
sion OF the bomb was the burst OF
their first she'll
And now it seems AS if IL were.
a. last all over till next time. The
communists have not sacked Berlin
or established a soviet republic, but
they have eXtorted concessions from
the old government which are a big
step on the way TO something like
bolshevism. and IL, probably VIII
mot be long before the dWellers in
the AdlOn which juts out so uncom
fortably prominently into the open
space between the BrandenburE
gate and the Linden have 20 put
themselves in state OF siege
sain."