GERMANY DAY BY DAY.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 29 March 1917, Page 3

GERMANY DAY BY DAY.

WOMEN LEADERS AT THE

ARMY COMMANDS

By Frederic William Wile, late Berlin Correspondent of .... .''The Daily Mail."

GERMANY has at length begun formally to organise the women of the country to help in the war. Each of the six chief army "commands" throughout the Empire now has a woman attached to it as Directress of the " Division for Women's Service." Hitherto, as in England, war work by women has been entirely voluntary. The Patriotic Auxiliary Service (Mass Levy) Law is not compnisory so far as female labour is concerned. German women, however, have proclaimed that they regard themselves liable for national service under the spirit if not the letter of the law, and it has finally been decided to moboiise their services on a more systematic basis than in the past. FEMINIST LEADERS IN CHARGE None of the countless revolutions in German life produced by the war outstrips in historical importance this official linking up of women with, the military machine. Equally striking is the fact that the directresses of Women's Service, who will hold office in Berlin, Breslau, Madgeburg, Goblenz, Konigsberg, and Karlsruhe, are all feminist leaders and promoters of the women's emancipation movement The directress for the Mark of Bradenburg (the Berlin-Potsdam district) is an able Jewess named Dr. Alice Salomon, who is one of the pioneers of the German women's movement. The main object of the Women's Service Department is to organise female labour for munitions and other work from which men can be liberated for the fighting line. THE FEARLESS FRAU German women are certainly conscious of the new status they have acquired. Last week the Town Council of Lankwitz, near Berlin,, received the following application for employment from a woman : — " Beg respectfully to inquire if you are thinking of installing a woman as night-watch. I am a tall, strong, very energetic, healthy woman. Ido not know the meaning of fear and I understand how to handle firearms. I was formerly employed on the railway. I desire to work, how ever, only at night, because at night I am as sprightly as a fish in water. TANK MODEL IN BERLIN In the Unter den Linden reading room of the Berlin Local Advertiser (Lokal Anzieger) •is now displayed a model of the British tank, and it is attracting immense -crowds of spectators. The Government-controlled newspaper claims that the model was made by German soldiers on the Somme, JAM UNTIL JUNE The German Pood Dictator announces a scheme for " the regular supply .of jam to thecivilian population." It is claimed that by careful organisation a sufficient quantity of dried fruits and sugar beets has been assembled during, the winter to permit the rationing, not only of ! the Army and Navy, but of the | people with jam until May or June 1917, Supplies will be distributed by the communal | authorities through grocers, | Plum aqd apple jam, it is stated, I will be purchaseable at from 7d ! to 8d per lb. The Press is assured that this " war jam " will contain sugar enough to satisfy the most sweet-toothed. ! OLD CLQ MEN'S WOE i There was a pathetic gathering i :of Berlin old clo' men one night \ last week. They assembled' to J hold an indignation and mutual j consolation meeting in conse- i quenoe of the Government-Cloth-ing Office's recent action in taking over the old-clothes ousiness for the duration of the war. It is now illegal for any j person to enter into an old 1 clothes deal either as a buyer or a seller, the traffic being exclusively a Government monopoly I The old clo' men are petitioning the Imperial Chancellor to permit then; to resume their ancienti business, even under some form of restriction, otherwise they will bo blotted entirely o.u.t, oi? existence. They will ask the Gqvernl iiiani to license any old clo' man who can prove that it is his sole source of livelihood. |