The Arvada enterprise., 1924-03-20
John BARBER
GERMAN
CONDITIONS
GERMANY OF TODAY NOT FLAT
TERED IN DESCRIPTIONS OF
IOHN BARBER, VICE PRESI,
DENT OF FIRST NATIONAL
RANK OF LOS ANGELES.

BANK OF LOS ANGELES.
Mr.. and Mrs. A. s. Beck of Fruit
dale are in receipt of copy of let
ter from their nephew to his par
snts. which is quite interesting as it
tolls of conditions found by the fl
nancial commission from the United
States to Germany in the latter coun-
try.
Barber, vice president of the First
National bank Of Los Angeles, who is
The letter was written by John
accompanying the president of that
institution, who is member of the
commission.
The latter follows:
HOTEL RITZ
Place Vendome
Paris
February 12, 1924.
Dear Mamma and Papa:
1t is fine to get your letters and
only wish could find time to write
YOU more fully and more often. But
this is no junket and we are busy
most of the time. My hand is cold
which explains the handwriting.
was so glad to get back to Paris
! almost kissed the first Frenchman
met. Paris never looked so attrac-
tive nor its people so human, in con-
trast with Berlin. We became quite
depressed up there. The people, the
men especially, look so hard and
cruel and even brutal and so gloomy
and interpretive that they seem to
be going home to commit suicide.
The newspapers are forbidden to
print anything about suicides but we
learned it was quite prevalent and
extended even to school children. The
town is dead, or rather there are
people, but no life or light hearted
ness whatever. They never smile.
The shops have a poor variety of
goods and of inferior quality and are
almost deserted of purchasers.
We went one day with Cyril
Brown, the New York Times CORES
pondent, to Berlin municipal insti-
tuition where each night they gather
up 5000 people off the streets and
sleep them-a few, relatively, on
iron cots without any bed clothing
and the rest stretched out on the
cement floor of the huge, cell-like
rooms, $50 to room. The hospital
wards of this institution where the
worst cases are given inadequate at
tention are almost too horrible to de-
scribe. Continued under-nutrition
and the use of the wrong kinds of
foods and the lack of others produces
physical disorders that are terrible
to behold. never saw such people.
In one ward, large number of pros
pective mothers were lined up in
their rags to receive their daily meal
"a scant bowl of thin soup and
roll! There were a number of chill
dren's wards, too, with the most sick
.ly looking children, dwarfed and
stunted, their stomachs or bodies all
out Of proportion, their arms and
legs misshapen and twisted. Some,
about the age Of Carter, Garter is
the son Of Mr.. Barber, and is two
Years old.-Ed.) were playing in
their cribs, but like imbeciles. We
then went to an ambulatorium, where
barracks once used for a crack Ger
man regiment while they were learn
ing the goose step have been trans
formed into a hospital and school for
tubercular children. Here the chill
,dren get one meal day-soup and
a roll, the minimum ration one can
exist on. One girl got up and gave
her age as IA. She looked or 0
and without exception all the chill
dren were stunted and looked to be
of unbelieved physical condition. In
the adjoining room number of chill
dren were stretched out under big
lamps, exposing their legs or stom-
achs or chests to powerful rays which
are supposed to bring the benefit of
sunlight. Well, the whole thing de-
pressed me so l had to abandon the
farewell stag party at the "Bucca-
mems" club, which was planned for
us.
| spent an hour one afternoon with
Mr.. Robinson and Mr.. Young over at
Ambassador Houghton's at which was
DR.. Rosen, formerly minister of for