Evening star., 1932-12-25
GERMANSF|NDY YULE|
BETTER THAN LAST
Beggars More i'm Evidence,
but Retail Trade Shows
Improvement.
BY Cable to The Star.

Dy SdUlt W lIc Quar-.
BERLIN. Germany. December "a
THE third depression Christmas, but
not SO bad as last year"
Quite Unexpectedly even peSsimistS
have had to admit that the Christmas
trade is fairly satisfactory. There are
fewer Christmas trees standing about
Berlin to be bought and cheaper wares
have, to some extent. taken the place
Of better ones. Yet, 1t is expected that
the total national expenditure for this
Christmas will be larger than year
ago.
The department store sales. which
are considered an excellent index, show
conclusive improvement. This sales In
crease contrasts notably with the
street scenes.
Externally German poverty seems to
be greater than it was a year ago.
Beggars, and persons who hide their
beggary under the pretense Of selling
sicians. and little children. badly
clothed, with blue fingers, never before
have been so noticeable.
Even the political parties have taken
to beggary on a wholesale scale and the
tin can collections. which were started
in the last election, have been resumed
as a Christmas custom. Literally
scores of young men representing the
NaZi SWastika. or the Communist red,
or the Nationalist black. white and red
stand about street corners shaking tin
ware in ones face. while old women
beg unashamed in parks.
Children's Plight Serious.
The generalization of little children
is pitiful. Girls Of IL are on the streets.
al~,1<
of from to u years old selling with
the consent of their parents, all sorts
of knicknacks for tiny profits with
which they hope to buy gloves before
the snow falls
Yet this picture is somewhat mis-
leading Reform of the dole system
has resulted in sending many new per-
sons on the streets, particularly the
young. This does not mean that un-
employment Is really larger. Various
sorts of Winter assistance" has been
organized. The largest occurred as a
national drive under the patronage OF
President Paul Won Hindenburg. But
many small organizations are doing
small tasks.
A group Of French people have un-
dertaken to feed few German chill
dren regularly throughout the Winter
The American colony distributed Christ
mas presents to children through the
American church. One charitable or
ganization staged a Christmas festival
for $50 blind beggarS with their dogs
There is no question that behind the
actual misery new hope is arising. Not
only as the opinion of a few bankers
business men and economists, bu-
among the common people. A proof OF
this feeling is the return of consid-
cradle sums Of runaway capital from
abroad. Some of this money gets into
circulation. The rich. who year age
were ashamed to buy. now feel that
their purchases can combat the de-
preston and are again living on a
better scale. Places of amusement in
West Berlin are astonishingly crowded
Trough" Held Reached.
The improved popular feeling is con.
frmed by the Institute for Business
Research, which published recent fig
ures showing that certainly the de-
preston trough has been reached. thai
since Summer the German production
index has slowly risen and that gen
eral consolidation is gradually taking
! place.
Naturally. therefore. toys have come
back in force and rural toy maker:
are living better than at any time since
! 1929 Naturally, with general as Ger
man chancellor, lead soldiers are the
favorites. But that this is not ex'
clusively militarism is shown by the
renewed favor given to lead Indian!
with arrows and tomahawks.
| Another favorite gift is gramophont
! records, while radio receiving sets have
somewhat diminished in popularity
Practical gifts in leather, personal liner
and shoes are popular.
AS a final sign of improvement, one
may note the fact that the number
of plundering raids organized by Com.
munists who wished to incite the peo-
pie against the shops has fallen COM
pletely fiat
One has the impression that the Ger
mans are slowly emerging from three
years of poverty and oppression psy'
t Ghosts.
/ (Copyright 1922