Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-04-08
THE CITY


whose incomes are now almost moth
ing, and others whose husbands are
doing fairly good business or get
Ting big mark wages in fast-runnlng
factories. Their problems are much
the same as those OF their American
sisters. The prices of everything are
scraping the skies. and most of the
incomes. while they bulk large in
marks. are a bagatelle compared with
their purcha sing values of 1914.
In the first place these German
women ars as thrifty as Dorcas or
Martha, the overworked sister of
Mary They take good care of their
homes and their husbands. They
know what everything costs watch
the ups and downs of exchange and
figure on every purchase to the tenth
of a cent. Nevertheless they have
their troubles all the day through.
have just had A talk with the wife
of a bank Jerk who has nice apart
ment of five rooms and kitchen in
an excellent neighborhood. She has
a family Of four-herself, her hus-
band and two little children. OF
the latter. one is a plump, blue-eyed
girl of eight who wants pieces be-
tween meals and the other scraGgy-
toothed boy OF ten whose capacious
stomach is perpetually empty. This
woman says her troubles begin be-
fore she gets up. and keep on until
she crawls under the red feather pull
blanket commonly used by the better
class here as a winter bed cover.
4. ~
Before the war it was $40 a month
and now it is equal to one of our
cents a week. This is due to the new
housing law by which she pays sew
aral times the pre-war rent in marks.
But the old rent was in gold, and the
present rent is in paper. which has
been so inflated that a 10-mark note
is not worth as much as the paper on
which it is printed.
=. x * =
TIER chief trouble here lies in the
i l. heating. Before the war this
was included in the rent, but now
the tenant must pay for the fuel, and
coal is so high that her heating bill
amounts to 10000 marks q month.
This. in 1914, would have been $1,000
and it is still one-sixth of her hus-
bands income. Even at that she can
have warm water only on two con-
secutive days twice a month. The
water supply and the heat allowance
vary according to the financial stand
ing of the people in each apartment
house, and are regulated by a coun-
ell established by law, consisting of
two tenants elected by those who live
in the building. The council fixes
the days on which the hot water can
he had and all the tenants must pay
for the coal. The family is lucky that
can have a hot bath all around on
these four heating days of the month.
II my friend wants to clean house,
she must either heat the water on
hor expense gas range or put a fire
in the little coal stove which almost
every German kitchen has in addition
She tries to piece out her coal with
the fallen wood which the women
bring on their backs into the city
for sale.
The next big trouble is the market
ing. Most women do this themselves.
shopping from stall to stall and buy
ing only the cheapest. The food costs
too much to trust this to a servant.
The wife of my bank clerk takes two
shopping bags with her and brings
her fish, meat, fruit and vegetables
home in her arms. There is a mar
ket in every district, and it is seldom
too far to walk. She never knows
what she is going to have or what
1t will cost. The prices are often
published, but the mark jumps up
and down every day and may change
while she shops. Yesterday she was
asked 1000 marks for a pound of but
ter. She waited until today to see If
the dollar would not fall and butter
come down. But instead it has
risen and she has bought margarine.
Indeed, butter is an extravaganza for
the wife of a bank clerk who is now
earning less than $40 a month.
It Is the same with food Of all
kinds. What Is expensive today may
seem cheap tomorrow, and the prices
change 80 quickly that many of the
grocers mark their prices on black
boards, rubbing them out and chang
ting the figures as the mark goes up
Or down. My friend says it seldom
goes down, and even then prices go
up or stay where they are. Every
one charges as much as he can and
each seems to be robbing his next
door neighbor.
I'd SO this morning the clerks