The Washington herald., 1922-09-27


part of the business of the German
housewife to make as much fuss as
possible over her work, IL only to
lend 1t the prestige. Perhaps IL was
an unconscious preparation for
these hard times, when children,
clothes. and kitchen really have be-
come the pivot upon which German
life revolves. The German house
wife has today a problem which
only the sternest, gradual training
of the war has made possible Of
solution. and. even so. more for
tunate nations would hardly con-
slider it satisfactorily solved.
There is, to begin with. always
the price question. 1t is the eternal
topic Of conversation, and naturally.
since for the last few weeks prices
have been getting higher with daily
regularity. Wages move with the
prices. but always little after
them, and for those who do not
have wages and are not factory
owners incomes. of course. remain
increasingly far behind prices.
The other week in Frankfurt, for
instance, butter was 100 marks a
pound at the beginning and l40
at the end. Money speculation at
the same time became imperative.
since higher prices were certain
ty. The only way for the house,
wife to speculate was for her to
buy up supplies of food and hold
them in the certainty that next day
they would become dearer. If she
has any money in hand she does
this. At the present moment thos
who can are buying up cheese, lard.
butter il possible. eggs-at eight
marks apiece-are laying them
down for the winter, which every
body is dreading.
Scarcity of Soap.
The German housewife is trying
to do the same with coal; but the
coal vendors are unwilling to sell
when they know that a little later
on they will get far higher prices
and that any money they may now
receive will quite certainly deteri-
crate in value. Almost everybody
is unwilling to sell. and in a recent
shop assistants strike the shop
keepers gladly took the opportunity
to close the shops for a few days,
during which time their goods in
creased markedly in value.
In the question of SO necessary
commodity as soap. the German
housewife scours the town for an
. h,,., IL ~
two less than 20 or "a marks a
cake. Everybody who is a wife or
mother is securing the town with a
big bag. for things can no longer
be depended upon to be sent home.
And you have to buy. not what you
want. but what opportunity offers
at the moment Tomorrow it will
not be there, or 1t will be much
dearer. You never buy anything
without being told that you are
lucky to get it at that price. since
tomorrow-and then follow the
usual comments.
What applies to food applies to
clothes. Growing children still
grow. and in spite of warnings and
injunctions clothes wear out or get
torn. The German housewife is in
cessantly cutting down or cutting
up old clothes. always with regard
to the fact that she has to balance
repairs against the frightful cost
of sewing cotton. An old sweater.
an old antimacassar. is, diligently
seized upon. carefully unpicked, and
remade into something warm for
the children, whether another
smaller sweater or. perhaps, stock
ings.
Fights Losing Battle.
Shoe repairs area the worst and
the resoling of a pair OF shoes Is
an event in the family. The former
custom of the German bride to have
vast quantities of house-linen and
underclothes has stood her in good
stead in these hard times. but here
again supplies are beginning to run
low. and the cost of new linen or
anv household requisites Is prohib-
itive for any but the longest
purses.
While the German housewife is
fighting a losing battle
with prices, she has also to cope
with the loss or great diminution of
all the contrivances that used to
make German life easy. The gas
for cooking. for instance, is of bad
quality and great expense. Wash
ing, ironing. cooking instead of be-
ing hard things easily manageable,
are now hard things. with the addi-
.ioroI ha-dshin OF Axnense of hear