The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-05-27

ever produced" colored colonial Of
ficer said the other day, referring to
the fine presence of his troops in
general and their wonderful molars
and CANNES in particular.
Then he added with touch of
dry humor: You see, we come from
long lineage of cannibals.'
aiding in drawing the load. Many
small purchases are delivered this
job for gold rate which Is exceed
ingly small. 1t reminds one of the
human horses common in Japan and
China, the only difference being that
in China they have wheelbarrow
and in Japan a jinrisha for the
are also men and women who carry
loads on their heads. They earn
about two-thirds the amount of
those who pull carts. No one can say
that the Germans are not willing to
work and that both men and wom-
present conditions. In the most
fashionable part of the city I saw
a twohorSe wagon loaded with coal
being emptied by man and a wom-
an. The woman stood in the wagon
and using a scoop shovel filled
two bushel basket with coal She
then lifted up this heavy weight and
placed it on the shoulders and back
of the man who carried 1t into the
building. / was told that her wage
for this work is equal to seven cents
a day.
Buying BY The Multiplication Table
Many other things in addition TO
the taxis have their prices fixed by
multiplication. Books are sold that
way and in some cases, jewelry and
drygoods. The results are not salts
o,to ha ri ~
falls so rapidly that it is impossible
to make the right calculation. A few
weeks ago a German housewife of
my acquaintance bought some linen
for her maid. Today she finds this
linen has trebled in cost and to-
morrow it may be double the price
of today. Three weeks ago l bought
a pair of shoes for what in exchange
equals SITS. Passing the same store
today I see a similar pair for sale
at $4,000 marks which equals three
dollars This seems very little for
pair of good shoes. but it is now
equal to a years wages of servant
girl and it is more than many a gov
eminent official makes IN week.
The members of the Reichstag
would have to work number of
days to get the price of that pair
of shoes.
The mark is continually rising and
falling but the prices go steadily
upward. My typist bought pair
of shoes few weeks ago when the
mark was 10000 to the dollar. They
cost her $4,000 marks or about $1.30.
She found them too small and has
just exchanged them for a larger
pair. She has had to pay $4,000
marks and that Notwithstanding
the mark is only 10000 to the dollar,
twice as high as it was then. If she
had bought two pairs Of shoes at the
time of her purchase, she might sell
one pair now and have the other for
nothing with little profit besides.
,Tippine Mt One-Tenth of a Cent
/ hear daily of instances illustrat
ing the pitiful wages of today. A
manicure girl gets $4,000 marks
week and a plain shirtwaist costs
"a 900 marks which is equal to five
weeks of her wages. This girl has
a cup of coffee at noon that costs
her 700 marks and she has to pay $50
marks to ride on the street car. She
sometimes walks home to save money
but the wear and tear on her shoes
is more than she saves. servant
who works in this hotel gets 10000
marks weekly besides her percentage
and extras. She gets good tips from
the foreigners but mighty little from
Germans as they are toe poor to pay.
She had yesterday a tip of 20 marks
or one tenth of cent. A window
cleaner who washes the glass charges
zoo marks per hour. My typist en-
ployed her and paid her 1,40o marks
at the close of the day. She says
that the womans little boy when he
came to go home with his mother
asked her to buy spme behring's for
supper. She refused as the price CT
two herrings was equal to the earn
ngs of her whole seven hours.
Beating the American Tailor
The value of the mark makes all
goods involving skilled labor exceed
just made s1s5 by patronizing tailor
here in Berlin. The tailor has II
testimonials from kings, mobiles and
dukes and he might be called the
royal tailor of the capital Ct Ger
many. Among his customers are the
and Prince Eitel Friedrich. the Sec
ond son OF the Kaiser. He had the
bulk of the best trade of Berlin be-
fore the war and about the only eX-
ception among his distinguished Gus
toners was the Kaiser himself who
had all his clothes made in England,
the cutters and filters travelling back
and forth from here to London to
measure the royal physique and to
make the fit as he directed.
This tailor is now paying 2k cents
per hour to his workmen according
tariff decides just how much time a
man may use for doing certain kinds
of work and there are 396 items re-
lating to the making of new suits and
37S for alterations and mending. Put
ting in the sleeves has it's allotted
time and so has the making of but
tonholes, the cutting and sewing of
lining, and it is so with every part
of the suit. If man can work fast
he can make two sleeves in the time
allotted for one and double his wages
But everything is rising and these
ter is printed.
Speaking of my profit of s1S5 car
RES me back to breakfast enc
morning at the Cosmos club in Wash
ington when member of the for
eign relations committee of Congress.
of Pennsylvania, a high official of
the geological survey, the leading
librarian of the United States a dip
lomat who has been talked of as a
presidential nominee and for ,Secre-
tary OF State. and myself were dis
cussing the high prices of tailoring
in New York and Washington. Dur
ing this conversation everyone of us
showed that he was wearing clothes
bought before our tailors began to
grow rich and that ntne had on
suit that was less than four years
of age. The only man whose clothes
looked new was the diplomat and
he explained this by saying his suit
had been turned to save buying a
new one. One of the difficulties here
of buying clothes is to get good fit,
but turned suit has the original
fit of the American cutter. l had
two suits pretty we'll worn on the
outside, which had been made by the
highest priced tailor in Washington
at cost of 500 and upward per
suit. I proposed to the imperial
tailor that he turn them. saying that
wanted the cut and that he might
charge what he pleased. This he has
done putting in new lining and find