The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1920-07-28
Streets Are Clean, Houses Fresh
ly Painted and People Well
Dressed and Fed.
BUT THERE IS MUCH MISERY
About 10000 Are Out of Work. Prices
Are High, Homes Scarce and
Discomfort GeneraI-Peo-
pie on Rations.

mas been at war for six years Th
streets are clean. the houses freshl
painted, and the people one sees il
the streets look better dressed an,
quite as well fed as the average per
son on the streets of New York.
The Hotel Atlantic is filled will
Americans who pay about 20 per cen
less Tor their rooms than they would
In New York, although these rates ar,
more than double that paid by German
travellers. The restaurants and cafes
which are now open until clever
o'clock at night, are crowded with PEG
pie who appear to have plenty Of
money. The women are plainly
dressed, and the rich gowns of pre-wa1
days have vanished. The Alster, q
charming lake in the center Of the
city, Is covered with small yachts
canoes and rowboats.
Clothing is very expensive bust
ness suit costing 1900 marks, and a
pair of shoes 500 to 1000 marks.
Wooden shoes for the poorer classes
cost from "a to 80 marks, and are
much worn, especially by boys.
The government issues new paper
money. every day in s, 20 and 5O-mark
notes. Business men have to carry
pocketbooks the size of miniature
valises to hold the bills.
The working men earn from so to
60 marks a day, which barely sufhces
to keep them and their families. Every
citizen in Germany has to have cards
for bread, meat, sugar butter. marga-
rine and SOAP
Pork Sells at 20 Marks a Pound.
Meat is 6 marks a pound, and pork
~ marks. butter SO marks, eggs /
mark 20 pfennigs each, and a com
mon kind of bread 5 marks 4 pfennigs
for five-pound loaf For Americans
Who get 40 marks for dollar these
articles are cheap but for the German
they are very dear
Plenty of food of all kinds includ-
ing tea and coffee, can be bought by
what is called in Germany the under
hand system. The restaurants all
have supplies on hand for customers
who can pay high prices, and when
the police hear any hotel or restaurant
has too much food they make raid
and confiscate it.
The working people, and more espe-
cfally the salaried educated classes,
professors, school teachers, clerks. ETC.,
cannot afford to pay for extra food for
their families, and this is one of the
chief causes of the present discomfort
which is prevalent throughout Ger
many. The only contented people are
the prOfiteerss, called "Schebers," who
rank from the millionaire contractors.
who have licenses from the govern
ment to purchase entire cargoes as
they arrive on ships or in freight cars
On the railroad. down to the small
'Scheiber' who makes a living by
aluding the police
Nearly everybody is trying to do a |
title profiteering to augment his in
,Ome.
Strikes occur almost daily in Ham
,urg as the workmen are continually
increases in wages.
10000 Unemployed in City.
The rathaus or town hall, which
vas spattered with bullets during the
ecent Kapp revolution, is now pro-
ected by barbedwire barricades to
revent it being seized by another
evolutionary group.
1t Is estimated there are 10000 I'M
mployed in Hamburg at the present
ime, of whom about 10000 are sea
airing men thrown out of work by the
'erman merchant marine. They are
aid 9 marks a day, which makes a
eavy burden for the taxpayers, who
ill have to give up 40 per cent of 4
leir incomes under the new law COM
lg into force soon. Several encoun-
,rs have occurred in the streets be- y
veen the unemployed and the Reichs-
chr, as the new soldiers are called
no wear gray uniforms and caps If
arry rifles and short swords, and =
ave orders, if attacked. to shoot and
ROW hand grenades and if necessary
' uSc udClllue guns. WHICH are al y
avs kept in readiness for an out Il
-eak. s
Some of the more desperate char s
tiers among the unemployed have =
rmed themselves into bands and go n
'ound the city at night holding up n
,Ople in their houses in stores and =
/ the streets. The Reichswehr have
ders to line these bandits up against II
wall and shoot them when they are nj
ught redhanded. III
The housing problem is a very diff Il
ult one in Hamburg. as thousands
workmen have come into the city Al
ON the smaller towns with their n
miles, the unemployed allowance q
ing larger here than in their own =
stricts. ~
The American Express company and Q
: International Mercantile marine / RI
e the only American firms which S
We so far opened offices in Ham 81
re. IN