Evening star., 1921-05-22

followed by English. the sights of
, Cologne.
Usually an assemblage of Germans
! "hich includes one American re-
proachSS pro that American bitterly for
! the failure of President Wilson's
: iourteen points. one begins. ..fter
tune. to have a feeling of personal
guilt IN the matter. The gentleman
with the liver sausage sandwich fin
. ished il. and. after the usual remarks
concerning the fourteen points. he
said that he Thought it a mistake for
President Wilson to go to France.
Conversational curiosity concerning
America. among German party,
when the talk is not of politics-and
IL more frequently than not is of 9TH
er rna'ters-trends to two questions.
prohibition and taxes. The reiterated
assertion that there is no alcoholic
beverage to be had in the United
States save by underhand methods
brings always one inevitable question.
asked with wide-oDen eyes and ingen-
uous sincerity: But what. then. do
, you drink" Coffee and tea" forms
very poor repartee to this aues
ton Plainly. they don't believe you.
Taxation in Germany.
AS for taxes. the German wants to
know just what is taxed in America.
: thing is taxed A woman told me
that her daughter. few days ago
! advertised in the newspapers that she
had fur neckpiece which she
resentative of the "steuerath," or
local tax office. appeared. The lady
had a fur which she was about to
sell: the government would, OF course,
receive percentage. OF the proceeds
The lady laughed and said that the
tax collector had preceded any possi-
, bile purchasers. He was. however. un-
moved. If the fur was still with her
she showed him that 1t Was-sne
owed the government tax for pos,
sessing it. He had her, coming and
going.
..Lustige Blaetter.'' the popular
humorous magazine. toys with the
none too humorous tax conditions IN
a satire which 1T calls: Cuiled from
the New Tax Forms.
Some of the questions it puts to it's
readers in grave parley are as 1ol-
lows:
your home. and how many windows.
The tax to be paid on these can De
very simply reckoned. Merely multi
ply the number of the doors by the
number of windows. and square tne
result The answer will be the amount
of taxes to be paid in marks.
Question 129-Have you, outside or
the dogs and cats already mentioned
for taxation in another paragraph
other house pets-canary birds. DULL
mice or blindworms? Each OF these
creatures is taxable to the extent OF
200 marks a wear. If there are more
than three the tax is raised propor-
tionateiy; from the fourth to tenth.
300 marks apiece for each pet. and
from the tenth to the sixteenth. 400
marks must be paid. Exempt from
taxation are cockroaches, bedbugs.
lice. feas. tape and meal worms. un-
less these are kept and cared for as
pets or for business purposes"
Question 243-Do you bathe? How
often? Why? At home or. II not.
where II at home in what?
Single baths. taken at home. are
to be announced in the bath-tax
central offices. Alexander place
(room 3Gs. three steps to the right),
between and IL. four days before
taking. With a physicians attesta-
tion as to the necessity of the bath.
and the payment of $50 marks. per-
mission will then be stamped upon
the applicants card. Further stamps
will be put on the card afterward at
the city hall and finance bureau. after
which the bath may proceed. Baths
not merely announced. but actually
taken, demand an after tax. to be paid
not later than twelve hours after con-
summation. Violation of these laws
is punishable by coniscation of all
property, or even more severe penal
ties