GERMANY’S CAPITAL

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 120, 14 February 1921, Page 9

GERMANY’S CAPITAL

AFTER FIRST TWO YEARS OF REPUBLICANISM amusements, clothes, eat ING AND DRINKING The German Republic is two years old to-day (wrote the Berlin correspondent.of the Now York "Evening Post on November 10). Two years ago yesteidaj the republic was proclaimed here, two dajs earlier in Bavaria. The day was celebrated quietly by the working population, the rest took virtually no notice of - The strike of electricians, however, ivas supplemented by a strike that was general. Not a car or tram moved in the city. To thoughtful people * day for reflection and taking o • More than at any time since the fateful day does Berlin's exterior approach the normal, it is still by a long nay not the brilliant, clean, orderly city that it was before the war. but lite runs much in the old channels ogamThe streets and parks aro better kept than in most other cities of this size, and the houses, if they lack the suu„ appearance of pre-war days, are a ea. decent, now that the myriad placards and posters of revolutionary and counter-re-volutionary import have been scraped ol . In recent months there has even been a timid revival of the lost art of house painting. . - Notwithstanding the fantastic price of paint, street car companies, too, have been driven at last to paint some their cars in order to save them from retting-an item which serves to improve the collective street picture. The Backwash of the Revolution.

The people of Berlin—aside from strikes, which are hardly "abnormal" any more—go their various normal ways. J-neir amusements, as usual, are music, theatres, movies, and dance halls as ar as they will stand naming, for underneath this cultural upper crust there is a stratum of immoral and licentious activity, of which the subway bookstalls and the "expressionistic" posters are faint outward indications.' This is the backwash of revolution, nioro gruesome even than tho backwash of war. I shall not dwell upon the ' famous night life of Berlin, which goes on behind closed doors and by special dispensation of the police. What one eees of night life on the streets is sadl and tame; an absolute antithesis of the 'brilliance" of the 'fcood old days which 'furnisli the one and only leitmotif of the comedians in vaudeville and cabaret. For the lighting or Berlin is on a war basis still, and even in Untcr den Linden there is an uncomfortable blackness .which encourages the carrying of stout sticks. A notable change has come over the outward' look of the people since the days of tho armistice. .Tim haggard faces and shabby clothes have largely disappeared, except in the quarters of the poor, though there is little of the elegance and tho conservative correctness that are the keynotes in London and New. York. On the other hand, there is nn amus’iig variety in thn style of men’s clothes, ranging from fur-collared to ulsters, and from dudish—almost fem, irine—tight-fitting fancy suits of “latest" cut to the .rough remnants of “service" clothes. Women, with few’ exceptions (mostly foreigners), are wearing style, corresponding to ours of about 1916-17, in an apparently hopeless attempt to “catch up” after having lost track of Baris in 1914.

Uniforms are, of course, much rarer than they ever were, with (he exception of those glorious revolutionary (‘aye when, no 'officer dared to show himself for fear of his life. The officers of the new Reichswehr are never seen, now that tho Reichswehr is in garrisons and police duty is left to the —more or less—regular force. The officers of this militia, in their green uniforms and caps, might bo customs men or game preservers for all one knows, much to their chagrin. Lower officials, down to letter-carriers, who wore ill-fitting and dirty field gray until recently, see,m to have taken their old blue, out of “hock." and furnish the feature, most familiarly representative of the old Germany. At night in the theatres and concerts, there is very little full dress. Even at the opera one may see an appreciable amount only at premieres. Women, even then, wear almost exclusively dark clothes. This, I' suppose, is a heritage of war economy, but if so it is almost the only one, for money is squandered in an almost unheard of degree. Rich Foods and Rare Wines. The greatest part of this extravagance is on food. In any of the expensive "wine restaurants" one may see people devouring the richest and rarest foods, washed down with the finest and oldest wines, and one only wonders where all these delicacies come from in this starved out land. There are more tables with coolers 'beside them than without, and here, too. arc the toilets that one misses elsewhere. For these are, for the most part, the profiteers (war and otherwise) and they spend' their evening, or what is left of it, in gaming clubs or in worse places. Tn the matter of food, indeed, ft great change has taken place since October 1, when the meat card and some of its comrades were abolished. Butcher shops, for the first time since early in .the war, blossom out in sides of beef, spare ribs, and long files of sausages; grocers display and even advertise foods in the greatest variety, and fruits lie—unchained—on open-air stands. Prices are high because there has been a war. AVages are high because there has been a revolution. But obviously there Ims been less revolution than war and prices and wages have not kept equal pace. Two years ago it looked to many persons as though the millennium had come. To-day they know better.-

The following teams will represent the Suburbs Club in the Rifle Club Union Shield matches, which take place nex Saturday at Trentham at ranges 300, 500, and GOO vfil’d Seniors'No. 1.-H. Hunt. C. Whiteman, J L. Turner. J. Smart, P. Bnrehnm, A Harris. IL Boon/ J. Ross. F. V Donald. C. Milroy. Emergencies: Caplin. BellaTeniors No. 2.-T. Caplin, Bellamore. T. PW is Grimrtono, Spencer, Nenl. _V. Rons. H. Snelling. E. O. Lower. AA . Fcltinaliam. Bmcrironcies: Boniface, I«ane., , Tuninrq -Boniface. Tsnnc. Dunn. Hen,lorsnn Hester. Cotfornll. Beognn. Harland. Stewart. L. Torpor. Bmergencies. phoThrnnke. .Ton , '=. C. Wilson.

35 41 3 71 22 31 25 73 C. V. Beegan 31 38 8 71 A. AV. Boniface 39 32 5 70 35 31 10 7b 37 32 6 75 28 75 A. Henderson 37 10 Dep.-Presdt. Smart 42 38 31 35 0 0 73 71 35 A. Harris 33 70 President Fellingham ... 35 39 29 25 •’ Gt Ct 27 3(5 5 68 A. C. Bellamore 31 27 □ 65 29 28 c£ 27 00 12 61 33 26 0 53 17 29 10 55 W. Manning F. 0. Fewer 27 7 10 28 12 0 41 35