DEMORALISATION OF BERLIN

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 245, 10 July 1920, Page 7

DEMORALISATION OF BERLIN

' —*- v : "Demoralisation due to the wretched conditions resulting from phenomenal prices and tho.shortage of. necessaries of life has .wrought a. remarkable change in the people of Borliri, formerly.so well disciplined,' not to eny police ridden," pays the BeiCin correspondent of the Londcai "Telegraph.'.' "So 6erious is tho havoc they liavo caused in the public parks and, the gat-. dens, the cost of the upkeep of which has risen from 8,500,000 marks to 12,000,-. lioo- marks .since last year, lhat it has been decided to tend and patrol many of them no longer. Planting flowers and shrubs, it is pointed out; is a ivasle of money, as 80 or 90' per cent are stolen.. For instance, a public garden .was planted with wallflowers, not one of which remained' the next morning. "In the Tiergarten tho conditions are, appalling, for not only pi'.ants but rhododendrons and other blossoming snrubs are cleared of their flowers. This pilfering is not confined to tho poorer classes; even the rich send their servants in tho ' early morning to replenish . their vases with blooms from tin Tiorgart'ch, wliicli it i 3 impossible to supervise adequately owing to the vast expense involved. Iu some districts the brass taps of drinking fountains' are wrenched off and carried away, and in the Schoeneberg such park fceepors as are retained will, in future, cany weapons in view of :the froquent attacks made on-them."