In Berlin

In Berlin, one George P. Murdock, young American now circumambulating in Germany, summed up social and economic conditions as follows:

"The economic situation is appalling. Prices are much higher than in 1914 and wages much lower. No fine clothes are seen on the streets. Women are buying only gabardine suits and such things as are calculated to wear forever. The streets are positively crowded with beggars, a new phenomenon for Germany.

"The places of amusement are relatively empty. At the theatre, the one time I went, not more than 10% of the seats were occupied--and it was Sunday, the big night.

"The stores are empty. They are stocked up, but prices are so high people cannot buy. I went into Wertheim's, the big department store, one day during the rush hour. There were about 20 people in the store, and most of them looking around!

"The rate of business failures is naturally enormous. Here in Berlin there has been an average for several weeks of over 40 firms going into bankruptcy every day. One day last week, there were more than 70 failures.

"A Berlin policeman gets 110 marks a month--about $25. He pays from 16 to 24 marks ($3.50 to $4.50) for the cheapest cotton shirt-- 98 cents in any American department store, and other things in proportion. You can imagine how they live! And they are typical.

"Poverty, abject, miserable poverty--there you have it. And much unemployment, to make things worse. In addition to the flocks of beggars, there are many able-bodied men who are out of jobs, selling matches or newspapers on the streets for a few pfennigs.

"Only the Jews have money, and only a few of them. Anti-Semitism runs high. The old wealthy and middle-class people are practically wiped out. A few low-grade nouveaux riches take their place."