BERLIN OF TO-DAY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 23, 27 September 1913, Page 5

BERLIN OF TO-DAY.

MR HENRY WILSON'S TOUR GOME OF HIS IMPRESSIONS. Mr Henry Wilson, of Stratford, who has just returned from a six months' tour of Great Britain and Europe, spent a considerable' portion of his holiday in Germany, a country very much in the eyes of the world at the present time. Mr Wilson, in conversation with a representative of the Tost, was kind enough to give some of his impressions. Mr Wilson said his first impression of the Architecture of Berlin was an exceedingly favorable one. No two of the houses seemed alike, although they were uniform to an extent and seemed all to have been built on one general plan. Hence tuey formed a pleasing contrast to tne dead-looking brick-walled houses in London. In the chief residential quarters the bouses are either in flats or villas, the flats, of course, predominating. Each flat had one or two balconies and these were usually adorned with flowers. In addition, in many cases some green creeper was trained up the front of the house, and. the flowers combined was highly pleasing greenery and the brilliance of the to the eye. The houses themselves j were .very comfortable, but a Tittle expensive. Each'flat had a lift, which worked automatically—if one desired to get to flat No. 3, it was only necessary to place a key in a hole marked "three" and up one went. The authorities are jealous of the appearance of the city, and it is laid down that all buildings shall beof an architecture suited to its surroundings. For example, if a new Block of buildings was being erected on the corner of a j couple of streets in the vicinity of a I church, the architecture of the block had to harmonise with that of the j ecclesiastical building. Mr Wilson could not say who dealt with the matter of architectural harmony, but he : heard that the Kaiser y.fmself attended to it. At any rate, it could bo said that as regards buildings there iwas nothing incongrous—nothing to offend the eye.

The German Capital's Fine Streets called for special mention. A great many of them were covered with Neuschatel asphalt, arid all of them were kept scrupulously clean. Three watercarts following each other go along the streets, and behind each cart is a .< revolving cylinder of indiarubber sweepers, so that by .the time they had finished their work, the : street was., . almost fit to take one's rneals off. In r.io'sl; of [the: streets treejs jwere planted, and the planting reached its highest point in the famous street Unter tier Linten. Between the trees in many streets ramblers were planted, and formed a festoon of flowers from tree.to ree, giving the street quite a gala appearance. Flowers were planted in receptacles along the tram lines, the streets being wide enough to allow 1 for the tram's, the."flowers; arid \2 the ordinary wheel traffic/ • Muctf ' care was taken with these flowers; B 3 soon as one set were finished flowering, another set replaced them. The" tram service was very efficient and cheap; on. one line it was possible to travel for. about twenty miles for the equivalent of a penny. The conductors were civil and obliging. It struck Mr Wilson that All the Citizens v»ere Well-to-do and well dressed;; but how they came to he so was a mystery to him, for

although he made inquiries he could not hear of many manufactures or much trade in the city—it was quite different to the bustle of London. The trains were run on the ordinary overhead traction system, though in one suburb Mr Wilson saw a railless tram, drawing current from overhead wires. He could not help being struck by the amount of statuary in the streets, the pieces ranging from notabilities to classical groups. A feature of Berlin was what was called The Dolls' Alley, a street about half a mile long, adorned on both sides with statues of the present Kaiser's ancestors, dating back to the year 1200. Berliners were apt to make fun of the statuary, and some showed their spite for the Kaiser

I by defacing the statues of his ancestors, knocking off with stones tho inoses, hands, etc. The practice, Mr Wilson thought, was fairly common, for he noticed two such mutilations during his stay. Those mutilations wen l probably the work of the class we would call Socialist, though The German Socialist r is different to Socialists in other countries. The German Socialist party I was composed of well-to-do tradesmen, I who formed a party to work against the agrarian party—land-owners and I those interested in keeping up the (price of food. hi this connection, | Mr Wilson stated that meat was exceptionally dear; and lie reported having ipriced some small eels, which although weighing only about a pound, were being sold at Is lOd each. The Column of Victory, which commemorates the j Prussian victory in The Franco-Prussian War of 1370, lis very elaborate and artisic. Round it are placed the actual cannon taken from the French in that campaign. At I the base were scenes of tho soldiers' | life—the recruit drilling, marching ito war, going into the fight, and the triumphal return. The Column was .typical of a good deal of what there | was in Germany. Mr Wilson visited a museum in Berlin, which was wholly devoted to things pertaining to th© I military air. Thers v.c-rc weapons I

exhibited dating from the earliest times to the most Everything in Berlin .was tfefttfd with militarism. The children played military games, nndthe tramway men; raihvaysutton »,«ters and porters, had all thei km, in the military-system, It wa* ; wonder that the. Kaiser could keep the peace while Ms nation was so thoroughly trained to war. Ihe nation was enthusiastic regarding the forthcoming celebrations in connection with

Ths Contmnary of Emancipaticn,

*.rkin*- the passage of a hundieJ y,ar ß ' B incalPnis S ia freed herse tf.om M domination of Napoleon. Mr W.lgon went to lioar some children singing songs' (prositmably patriotic), ana when they were finished the school inspector addressed the children, complimenting them on their ringing and »lso on the sentiments expressed, ine inspector expressed the hope that the children would, when they grew tip, fight as their forefathers had done to free their country from the heel o Napoleon. .That the feeling was sti strong, said Mr Wilson, was indicated by the fact that the gateways at Berlin and at Potsdam through winch Napoleon.had passed were considered as polluted and would not be re-opened until after the centenary celebrations Another reminder of Napoleon was at Leipsjc, on the scene* of the battle which marked bo beginning of the defeat wjiich ended in retirement t& Elba. The citizens of Leipsic sub'iwribed the necessary nioney and on th« battlefield have built atommemorativfl stone erection which is said to riral the Pvramids as regards size. Mr. Wilson had the privilege of being admitted to .see , On* of the Zeppelin Airships, being; in fact, one of the first foreig- »«■•• permitted to do so, the Germans being rery chary of allowing foreigners to riew their operations as regards aerial matters. Mr Wilson saw a •hip" in- flight, and it seemed to be Managed rery well. One difficulty was that the ships could not be got into' the "sheds in all weathers, and rcrolvingTshedfl; had been built at great cost to enable the ships to be housed in any weather. Mr Wilson was much impressed with the great central German' plain, which was capable of producing

Food for a Great population, th» plain practically stretching from Berlin -to the Hook of Holland. After travelling, through the country it was hardly' possible to resist the conclusion that Holland must in time become part of the German Empire. In Oonclußion, Mr Wilson said Berlin was a city in which one would like to live, and at all events, is worth a visit by anyh.qdy fe ,l;oHn:n.g the Old. World.