GETTING BACK TO NORMAL

Evening Star, Issue 17595, 25 February 1921, Page 6

GETTING BACK TO NORMAL

BERLIN’S EXTRAVAGANCE. Writing in November, the Berlin correspondent'of the New York ‘'Evening Post’ said : The German Republic is two years old to-duy. Two years ago yesterday tho Republic was proclaimed here, two day's earlier m Bavaria. The day was celebrated quietly by the working population; the rest took virtually uo notice of it. The strike of electricians" however, was supplemented by a strike that was almost general. Not a car or train moved in the cily. To thoughtful people it was a day for reltect-km and “ taking stock.” More than at any time since the fateful day does Rerlin's exterior approach the normal. It is still by a long way not the brilliant, clean, orderly cily that it was before tho war, but life runs much in the old channels again. 'The streets and parks arc better kept than in most other cities of this size, and the houses, if they lack the sung appearance of pre-war days, arc at present decent now Unit the myriad placards and posters of revolutionary and counter-revolu-tionary import, have been scraped oil. Jn 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 beer, driven at last to paint- some of their car? in order to save them from rotting—an item which serves to improve the collective street picture. PRO BLR GO THEIR VARIOUS WAYS. The people of Berlin—aside from strikes, which arc hardly “ abnormal” any more go their various normal ways. Their amusements, as usual, are music, theatres, movies, and dance halls—as far 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 " exprcssiomstio ” posters arc faint- outward indications. This is the backwash of revolution, more gruesome even than the backwash of war. I shall not dwell upon tho " famous'' night life of Berlin, which goes on behind closed doors and by special dispensation of (he police. What one secs of night life on the streets is sad and tame; .an absolute antithesis of the “ brilliance,” of the good old days which furnish tho one and only leitmotif of the comedians m vaudeville and cabaret, for the lighting of Berlin is on a. war basis slid, and even in (Inter den Linden ihore is mi uncomfortable blackness which encourages tho carrying of stout slicks. A notable change lias corno over the outward look of the people since the days of I,he armistice. The haggard tacos and shabby clothes have largely disappeared, except in ftic quarters of the poor, though ■there is lilfle of (he elegance and the conservative correctness that are the keynote? in London and New York. On the other hand, there is an amusing variety in the style of men's clothes, ranging from furcollared “pca-jackcts” to ulsters, and from dullish —almost feminine—tight-fitting fancy suits of “latest” cut to the rough remnants of “service” clothes. Women, with few exceptions (mostly foreigners), are wearing styles corresponding to ours of about 19IU--17. in an apparently hopeless attempt to “catch tip” after having lost (rack of Bans in 1914. UNIFORMS ARE RARE. Uniforms are, of course, much rarer than they ever were, with the, exception of those glorious revolutionary days, when no officer dared te show himself tor fear of ins Jilt*. 'The officers of tho new Rcichswchr arc never seen now that the Reichswe.hr is in garrisons, and police duty is left to Ihc—more or less —regular force. The officers of this militia, in their green uniforms and caps, might be Customs men -or game preservers for all one knows, much to their chagrin. Lower official-, down to letter carriers, who wore ill-fitting and dirty field grey until recently, seem to have taken their old blues out of “hock,” and furnish tho feature most, familiarly representative of the old Germany. At night in the theatres and concerts ■there, is very iilfle full dress. Even at (he opera one, may see an appreciable amount only at premieres. Women even then wear almost exclusively dark clolhes. This, I suppose, is a heritage of war economy, but, it so, it is almost the only one, for money is squandered in au almost unheard ol degree.-

The grealost part of (.bis extravagance iron food. In any of the expensive " wino restaurants” one may sco people devouring the richest and rarest foods, washed down wall the finest and oldest wines, and one only wonders where alf these delicacies come from in this starved out land. There are more fables with coolers beside (hem than without, and here, too, arc the toilets (batone misses elsewhere. For those are lor 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 placer,. In the matter of food, indeed, a great change has taken place since October 1. when the moat card and some of its comrades wore abolished. Butcher shops, tor the first time since early in the war, blossom out in sides of beef, spare ribs, ami long files of sausages; grocers display and even advertise foods in the greatest variety, and fruits lie—unchained—on open-air stands.

Trices arc high, because there has been a war. Wages aro high, because there has been a. revolution. But obviously there has been loss revolution than war, and prices and wages have not kept equal pace. Two years ago it looked to many persons as though tho millennium had come. To-day they know better.