Life in Germany

Manawatu Times, Volume XL, Issue 13948, 29 July 1918, Page 6

Life in Germany

HOW THE WORK IS BEING DONE. EVERY MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD UTILISED. In tho fourth year of the war tho Germans are, not worrying as to whether tho man of 55 is fit for military or national service, writes Ernest Lionel Fyke (tho last Briton permitted to leave Germany) in tho “San Francisci Chronicle.” Nearly thrpe, years .ago the German High Command adojsted a simple plan for utilising their man-power. All except the maimed, the halt, and the blind wmro roped in to do work of national importance. The streets of Berlin are not crowded with able-bodied citizens strolling along, blissfully believing that the war is being won for them. No, indeed. The High Command gave them a. sort of junior partnership; tho wage was only five shilling a day, it is true, but every Hun was given to understand very plainly indeed that his private feelings and interests did not matter in the least. There are no crowds of comparatively young men flocking into the railway stations at Fricdcrichstrasse, Zoological Gardens, and Lieter Barnsholf. No nimble young porter is waiting to take your luggage pf call a taxicab; there are no taxicabs, for one thing. No ; . a knickcr-bockered, plain-faced Hun female surlily grabs your belongings, throws them into a carriage, and, in common with all Germans, waits with outstretched hand for the tip. ALL MEN UTILISED. Piccadilly and the Strand, with their well-filled restaurants, would cause the average German to go into an apoplectic fit. Liverpool Street and King’s Cross stations at night would make him wonder if the stupid English were not really more idiotic than he ever hoped for. I do not know if the Germans will ever get the opportunity to read this, but. I hope they will. Then, perhaps, another nail will be driven into the coffin of the official liars whose business it is to amke their long-suf-fering countrymen believe that England is at her last gasp. Fancy telling the German War Office a man of certain age is no use to tho nation! Anything on two legs between the ages of 15 and 60 is useful to the Germans. Men of 50 guard tho prison camps, some of them too weak to stand the weight of their rifles. There is no such thing in Germany as a business house pleading that a young man,is^indispensable to them; it would be lese majeste of the worst description. There are no complaisant tribunals to listen with sympathetic ears to the tale of a small wife and a largo family. You cannot do those things in Hunland; sentiment is entirely dead about such matters. Every young man in Germany fit for the trenches has to go; his place is taken by one of the fifty-year-olds. The streets do not teem with halo and hearty men discussing what their brave boys are doing at the front. War is a business with tho Germans, and it is a business in which every German is compelled to take more than a passing interest. ALL CITIZENS EXAMINED. It is the proper utilisation of kia man-power which makes the Gorman such a formidable enemy, .and accounts for the position he is in. to-day. There is no time wasted in discussing whether a man is physically capable of working for the nation at 50 years of age. Two eyes,, two legs, and two arms —that is all the high command asks for. He is soon found work essential to tho winning of tho war. Once a month, nil able-bodied citizens are medically examined, and the doctors are not so obliging ns ours. You are not asked if you have ever suffered from any particular disease. The past does not interest the German. There are over 2,000,000 prisoners of war in Germany, most of them Russians. When I* left Berlin they were still to bo seen about the streets, driving carts, cleaning the streets, repairing the tramways. I do not think the gentle German has any intention of letting them return to their native land yet awhile. Women and children do most of the work in tho big stores. Even the men of 50 and over cannot be employed there. The administrative departments of the Army are carried on by badly wounded men. There are no “cushy” jobs there either. Men up to 45 are put into the trenches, those up to 50 guard linos of communication, escort .prisoners, dig trenches, man the medical services. In Ruhleben we had a mixed collection for a guard. There were commercial travellers, bank clerks, porters, and farmers (who had frequent leave). Highly skilled people like druggists and opticians were all employed in working for tho army. ARMY FOOD APPALLING. The streets of Berlin are not filled with young men who should have been fighting for their country three years ago. Most of those I sa,w during ray uumerous visits to the German capital had been discharged and wore sporting the black and white ribbon of the Iron Cross. There are no “On War Service” badges to bo seen in Berlin. The whole system is so beautifully simple. Either you are in tho army, or, for some very good reason, you are not. You may be on “civil dienst” (civil duty), in which case you receive five marks a day, as compared with the thirty-three pfennigs the private soldier received, although even then you are not guaranteed tho greatest inducement any German can be offered —that of throe square meals a day. Food in the German army is apparently appalling, judging from tho rations I saw supplied to the prison guard in Ruhleben. The food was so bad that the men used to search our offal tubs for scraps left from our meals. From the German point of view the question of man power is purely one of business. I do not think the War Office has ever thought of a man being physically fit for work. If he is able to earn his living in civil life he must be able to work for tho army, so the army takes him. The present age limit in Germany is 48, but men up to 60 are taken by the authorities if required. NATIONAL FEELING VANISHES. National feeling in Germany has oniroly disappeared, or, at any rate, is -Imost imperceptible. The Kaiser-Hin-enburg-Ludendorff conspiracy has ver-awed all free thought in the <-ounry. Elderly women take the exploita- ■ ion of their menfolk quite calmly; they . ealise that the war is the only thing hat matters in Germany now. Mothers illingly allow their boys of 14 and .15 o bo employed on Government work; it releases a man. for the front, and.

Hotel. uHwimiiiii m according to the German idea, that is work of national importance. Boys and girls of comparatively tender years carry on an enormous amount of work in Berlin to-day. Many of tho shops I used to visit were entirely staffed by young people. The waiters in the hotels are young boys and very old men with, perhaps, an occasional discharged soldier. Germany has only ono business on hand to-day; that, is tho winning of the war. Will English people never realise this? Will they aever understand that all German in(erord.s are submerged it; He national interest of emerging successfully from rho war?