The Washington herald., 1922-06-17
AMERICAN VISITORS
FIND BERLIN PRICES
Low.
Goods Are Practically All
limitations, But Don't
Look 1t.
SPENDING sPREEs
Shock Comes When Tourists
Discover Large Export
Tax Imposed.
SPENDING S SPREEs

BERLIN. June lt-Dear Reader,
how would you feel u you walked
into a huge sumptuous department
store this morning and discovered
that overnight all the price tags
had been altered from dollars to
cents.
That is the sensation that greers
the American visitor to Berlin to-
day. With the dollar worth more
than 800 marks. American women
here fnd prices so ridiculously low
that they at once decide the millen-
mum has arrived. Friend husband.
overjoyed to discover Martini cock
tails at 9 cents apiece, generally
anchors himself to a cafe table as
soon as he arrives: but friend wife,
after one look at the shop windows.
starts on joy jag and spending
spree that is guaranteed incurable
until the last stages of an empty
pocketbook are reached.
Acquires Huge Roll.
To begin with. friend wife
changes S10e into German money.
She gets a wad of some 10000
marks. 1t Is about four inches
thick, The historic wad that would
choke a COW is a piker's pile In COM
parison. Furthermore. these Ger
man marks will actually buy things.
Relatively few marks will buy
great deal.
Wife's vanity bag will not hold
II all. so she starts out with a Bos-
ton bag full OF bills. The first shock
comes when she has to paw so
marks for a taxi. But as she peer,
off the bill. normally worth $40. sh.
remembers that II is now only Is
cents. Once the real value Of Ger
man money dawns upon her, the
spending spree starts in earnest.
German shops Equal Any,
German shops are equal. II not
superior. to anything in the world
today. Furs. jewels. leather goods.
under things, sport clothes, per-
fumes. all burst upon friend wife in
dazzling quantities and at and
10 cent store prices. Here Is a beau
tiful shagreen leather weekend ba e.
II is silk lined. The imitation
ivory accessories within are capped
with gold. The price. madame, is
1000 marks. normally $500. now
$3.50.
Here Is tweed golf suit, made
in Germany. but practically indis-
tinguishable from the best Scotch
tweed. Price twelve Americanische
dollars. Here is a rope of amber.
price 80 cents. And il is so good an
imitation that no one back home
will ever think OF setting a match
to its creamy. celluloid loveliness
limitations Rule.
II friend wife is wise she soon
a ~
Is imitation. ersatI. But none of
The hats and frocks have the
jewels have the settings of the Rue
goods have apparently the strength
and durability of Bond street.
Thus. while the American hus-
band explains the mixing of orange
blossom cocktail to the eX-artillery
the Hotel Adlon. friend wife shops
merrily on. And her 500 goes
practically six times as far as it
would anywhere else.
Sad Side to Picture.
But there is a sad side to the pic
ture. 1t Is not until she has bought
some fre trunks full of luxuries
that some one tells friend wife
about the German export tax. The
| allies. in order to collect repara-
tions and prevent Germany from
| flooding the market with w-priced
goods. imposed heavy duties on all
| goods exported. And thus a large
sum Is added to the bill before the
new Berlin clothes and Jewels can
be worn back home.
Yet even after this tax is paid
the total cost of things bought in
Germany is absurdly small-from
the American point of view. The
German. however. cursing the fact
that cigars cost I marks. or more
than l cent apiece. considers post
war Berlin an impossibly expensive
city.