The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-04-08

| the new housing law by which she
pays several times the prewar rem
in marks. But the old rent was ir
gold, and the present rent is in paper
which has been so inflated that g
! ten mark note is not worth as muci
| as the paper on which it is printed.
o o O
Few Hot Times in Old Berlin.
Her chief trouble here lies in the
| heating. Before the war this was in.
| cluded in the rent, but now the ten
| ant must pay for the fuel and coal is
so high that her heating bill amounts
! to twenty thousand marks month
| This, in 1914. would have been five
| thousand dollars, and it is still one
sixth of her husbands income. Even
at that she can have warm water
! only on two consecutive days twice d
| month. The water supply and the
| heat allowance vary according to the
! financial standing of the people il
| each apartment house, and are regu-
| lated by council 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 be had, and all tho
| tenants must pay for the coal. The
| family is lucky that can have a
hot bath all around on these foui
heating days of the month. If my
| friend wants to clean house, she must
sive gas range or put 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.
Marketing From Hand to Mouth.
The next big trouble is the mar
keting. Most women do this them
selves, shopping from stall to stall
and buying only the cheapest. The
food costs too much to trust this to
servant Tie 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 market in every district,
and it is seldom too far to walk. She
never knows what she is going to
have or what it will cost. The prices
are often published, but the mark
jumps up and down every day and
NAV change while she shops. Yester-
day she was asked two thousand
marks for pound of butter. She
waited until >1day 10 see il the dol
lar 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 ten dollars a
month.
1t is the same with 1000 OF all
kinds What is expensive today may
seem cheap tomorrow, and the prices
change so quickly that many of the
groeers mark their prices on black
boards. rubbing out and changing the
figures as the mark goes up or down.
My friend s/,s it seldom goes down,
and even then prices go UP or stay
where they are. Everyone charges as
much as he can and each seems to
be robbins his next door neighbor.
Pancakes or Raw Potatoes.
And 50 this morning the clerk s
wife tramped on from store to store
trying to find something for dinner.
children would soon be home from
school. She wondered what she could
get cheapest and decided On kartoffel
puffer or potato pancakes. an arti-
Gle of food which takes the place OF
the hot-doGs peddled about in our
cities. she bought ten pounds of po-
ia toes, which cost twenty cents, and
without cooking, scraped some to a
jelly. To this she added little flour
and then sailed to taste. She fried
the cakes in boiled black coffee and
the children thought them delicious
The evening meal of this family Otter
consists OF chopped herring mixed
With little margarine spread upor
bread and they now and then have
some other fish and perhaps twice
beef.