HOW THINGS GO IN BERLIN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12537, 7 May 1915, Page 8

HOW THINGS GO IN BERLIN.

The other day a telegram from Amsterdam announced that serious trouble had arif-en at- Schon-eberg, a division of Berlin, with regard to the municipal distribution and sale of potatoes. The German papers just to hand show that this trouble took place, not only at Sehoneberg," but iu several other divisions as well, and that, but for the timely interference of the police, there would have been a serious riot. The measures taken by the local authorities were quite inadequate to supply the crowds with potatoes, or to pre- - servo order. "Vorwarts" states that the daily scenes at the .municipal sale stalls are intolerable. For hours intending buyers must wait lined up in the mud and rain, and endure a crushing to which no woman ought- to be exposed for a moment. .Many women had their young children with them, and grasped at posts and anything they could get hold of to enable them to stand their ground. One child in her mother's arms was so crushed against- an iron pillar that it was borne away with a gaping wound! There' were numerous cases of women fainting. Ail this happened at the Market ILaIJ in the Wedding district, but it was the same picture at other places. In the district of Neu-Kolin, at soon as it- was anounced that potatoes would be sold by the town authorities, the crowds began to move to the Market. "Vorwarts" says it resembled a "Volkerwauderung." Thousands of persons had to wait for hour; in mud and in tile- pools of the unpaved streets. The potato question is rapidly becoming as acute as the question of cereals. Maximum prices have been settled in numerous localities, but- it is clear that I this does not prevent dealers from with- I holding their stocks. The Federal Council has held several meetings to discuss the question of a general confiscation of the entire stocks of the empire. Nuui-erous) influential bodies are urging them to take this-important step, but it has not yet been taken. All tiiey have done for the present, is to announce that in all probability the maximum prices will have to be raised, and dealers punished, who persist in a- speculative withholding of supplies. The German Town Congress and numerous Chambers of Commerce arc petitioning tiie Federal Council to take an exact census ot' the stock.-: of potatoes and meat available for food, as has already been done in the case of bread cereals. There has been a. good deal of fraud inIhe statements made to the authorities by millers and farmers regarding the quantities if grain and flour iu their possession. A typical case is reported from a place near Hanover where a farmer admitted

in his possession 39cwt. of threshed and 589 of unthreshed corn. It was discovered after the confiscation .that he. actually possessed 365ewt of threshed .-and r 11C0 of unthi'c'slicd corn. ' Berliners of lighter character . bitterly resent the police ukase prohibiting cabaret performances and other musical entertainments at the afternoon teas in the large hotels. They had -become an established insfitution, and were calculated to remove some oi the-"depressoih which had settled down on the- idler classes. All 'sorts of musical artists. - male and female, were engaged to give their services. and especially . I hose whose speciality it was to loud' a cohuiriug of o'ubi-

ous morality to their turns. Berlin flocked.-.to ""these entertainments and prominent among the audiences were certain undesirable elements who at once made their presence felt, to the loss and detriment- of - the. concerts as . ".moral shows.''" Herr-von Jag'ow, tlie'dietatorial Police President of -Berlin, bad been watching the course oi" events, and, com-

ing .to the conclusion (hat afternoon cabarets, «s carried on in 15?riii'i, wwc undesirable places, and not in keeping with (he seriousness- of war, he• -ordered -their instant suppression. : In au article headed "L"ir-voi'thy c[ the Great Time" the "Deuischp "Tageszitung" points out that although the war lias assisted in getting' rid of many repre- | hcnsible outgrowths on fh-e social life of 1 the people., there is si ill much left which I is unworthy of a great people faced with I a crisis in their fate. In addition to the unsavoury cabaret entertainments just mentioned the theatres are fili-ed with "mis-arable burlesque, characterised by the slippeviness of their language, and by jokes of a character winch come as a blow in the face, as a dissonance on the ear of the.soul." Such theatres must be - subjected, says the

,'T'ag-eszeitung," to public pressure. They must be compelled to put on their stages something "worthier of the great time," and something more in harmony with the real temper of 1 he people. •'Out- at the front the-battle is raging, nud our <<. Ms are .pß'eripc; their- blood." At

home the seriousness of the times is press- [ ing heavily on eye and soul.. To give us] these so-called popular, entertainments -is i unworthy; they can only lead to the di-I lution of our moral conceptions." I