The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1924-01-03
MISS COBURN'S NEPHEW
NOW N GERMANY
Prof. Stephen COburn Pepper Gives
Interesting Account of C0ndi.
lions In Germany


Prof. Stephen Coburn Pepper of the
University of California, who has
been spending some weeks in Giessen,
a small university city in Germany,
and gives an interesting account of
present conditions in that country.
A part of the letter follows
l came up here into Germany with
Tolman, good chum of mine and
professor of psychology at California
a couple of weeks ago. We are liv-
ing in the house of the recently di-
vorced wife of the psychology pro-
fessor here, who has his study still
In the same house-a miserable do
nestle affair But we are very COM
Portable, are learning a lot of Ger
man, some philosophy and psychology
and appear to be means of divert
ing the poor woman's mind bit, At
least, she says she breads every let
ter that comes to us for fear 1t will
call us back to France.
1t is uncomfortably quiet in the
town. No trolley cars have now
been running for month, the fac
tories are shut down or only work
ing half heartily, there are practical
ly no automobiles and almost no
horses. Hardcarts and carts drawn
by yoked COWS seem to be the only
ready means of conveyance. There
is little laughter or loud talking in
the street, only the sound of many
heels tapping On the pavement. Peo-
pie look at us with surly curiosity
or ostentatiously avoid looking at
us. | have the same feeling walk
ing along the streets here that | re-
call having when we rode in rick
shaws through the narrow streets of
Canton. The people are very polite
always when our ways come in di-
rect contact with theirs-a tense,
stiff politeness like two dogs meet
ing. The only exceptions are kaffka,
the psychologist here, and his divorc
ed wife, who are completely at ease
with us, and very considerate and
kind. We are the first citizens of
hostile country that have come to
Giessen since the war, | understand.
I'm enclosing some German bills.
six hundred million marks). They
may amuse you. Altogether they add
up to less than a cent. q, German
money is joke and pest. When
we arrived here two weeks ago
dollar bought 1876 billion (what the
Germans call miliarden) marks. In
three days it leaped to 600 billion.
Meanwhile the dollar was quoted at
New York, | understand, at one tril-
lion or more. But that was too big
jump to permit SO the dollar has
been arbitrarily quoted by the Ger
man government at various steadily
increasing rates. Today it is some
where between one and two trillion
Il ,000,000000) marks, approximately
at the n. Y. quotation of ten days
ago; though when while the mark
seems to have ceased to have any
quotation at all in n. Y, SO far as |
can find from the papers. In short,
the mark has no economic relation
to the dollar, in consequence of
which the dollar can be officially
quoted as worth anything al all. The
result is the government quotes the
mark in relation to food prices, which
in turn arc estimated in terms of the
pre-ward gold mark -four marks to
the dollar. The effect of this pro-
cedure on Tolman and me is that
prices here are exactly the same as
they would be in America, and a
trifle more because shopkeepers add
a little bit to their prices at each
drop of the mark for good luck. On
the basis of the dollar, it has been
growing steadily more expensive for
us here. We got a very good lunch
x.rhA Rrc
came. That same lunch at the same
hotel now costs us seyenty-five cents
or a trihe more. What it will cost
today after the drop of the mark last
night goodness knows. For there is
another paradox-for the mark to
drop means dearer prices. Mean
time the farmers are reaping for
tunes, buying jewellery, gowns etc,
etc, and fitting up their houses with
two pianos, and the big industrialists
are examining the English banks with
good gold pounds, and the poor peo-
pie are squeezed between the two
stones. There is apparently nothing
remotely resembling patriotism, not
to mention humanitarianism. left in
the nation, only selfish scramble of
each for each and passionate dis
trust of every group and clique for
every other group and clique. And
above all everyone seems TO curse the
government. This is the spectacle
of distinegrating nation for GER
tainty, The only point of agreement
seems to be enmity to France and es
pecially Poincare, and vow as to
what will happen in the next war
Now that France has begun this pol
icy of turning the byaonet in the open
wound, she's got to continue the pro-
cess to the ugly end. And there
seems to be no doubt that in ma
terial way Capital, man power, etc.
and barring the utter bankruptcy of
the national morale Germany is very
strong indeed today. She gives the
superficial impression of being much
more solid and strong materially than
France.-What hopeless mess!
But | had not intended to write an
essay, and the time has come to take
a hot bath-and such time is not to
be lightly missed.
New Books. ut the Public Library