PROFITEERING PUNISHED

Evening Star, Issue 18043, 10 August 1922, Page 7

PROFITEERING PUNISHED

TOURISTS GIVE MUNICH A -WIDE BERTH. The danger o f opening one’s mouth tod l wide, wen if it> be .a. city which does and nob a mere mdmaual, is now being very strikingly illustrated m the case ot Munich (writes a correspondent or the Loi| don ‘ Observer V The announcement tbal something like 100,000 Amaticaas mono were eomm fr to Europe this summer, most of whom meant to visit Oijeramin«rg«i, put the Munich people into a groat of excitement. Many a epeculawvo top sto. ■ was added to tho better-class hotels; JRivate houses were, if possible, converted sint) pensions, while pensions proper, in anticipation of great days to como-dajs of paywent in, pounds sterling e,na dollars „ot nd of Him* permaftfcriii gueste. tho art and university student hard pm to it .to find any 60r “ roo ‘ oTftr h-s-uead. Early in tho season tha year there were a great many foreign visiters to 'Munich and the neighborhood, and consequently prices soared up to such an extent that, tho Bavarians groaned about tho Pxemdcn and how they put prices beyond all bounds, and so loudly did they groan that the sound of their lamentations was heard even acrost tho frontiers. People accordingly began to f-hirki “"Well, if such prices are asked in Bavaria, wo had,- better keep away from it,” which they are doing. ‘ A friend of mliiG, vrho wxoto to tno American chaolain in Munich some thies months ego, asking whether it were possible to get a fiat there, was told that an unfurnished fiat was impossible, and a fur-ir-bcd one would cost a small -fortune. True, for the- English and Americans to pay 1,000 to 2,000 marks for a room per night (cay, 15s to 30s) is not eo serious as for those paying In -tho money of other countries, whoso exchange is relatively nuicu lower, or in some oases not than that of -the mark. Rut- even nnghsn and Americana object to being, treated rare Egyptians, to bo spoiled. And now we have tha wsulte-great hotels almost empty, cards with ‘‘Zimmer zum Termicten” to ba wen everywhere, and 3,000 once homeie.,3 students aooommodated with rooms. Hotels do not now ask 1,000 marks or ■more for a room per night, but “What priced room do you want?” So bad has tho reputation of Munich become, howovor, that large conducted partita for Oberammorgau are dterrag their mute, and passing by tho Bavarian capital; I (lee advertisements now of full board and lodging in well-known Bavarian health resorts at 180 marks (about 2s 8d) per day, whereas only a few -weeks ago too same' establishments were asking 1,500 marks a day—cay, 22a 6d.