Show Gerths With M Mir n v Get Get Food i Hams Worth Only Ony 35 Each Rotund T Grow Crow Angular Staff d Correspondent By Karl of rc the Von Van i. i t International Wiegand News Service d July 18 Money Money Money- I C COPENHAGEN enough money will wUl ac accomplish accomplish ac- ac wonders Even in the severely rationed Germany if It there is one thing that Is plentiful In Germany It is money Money I and connections enables enables en- en I ables a person to eat better than his neighbor And despite the severe i prosecution by the authorities tho profits of contraband trade in certain tam tain articles of food are so great that I at no time during the war war has th trade been greater in Berlin Derlin than durIng during during dur dur- ing Germanys Germany's leanest weeks Th This s spring with even unskilled labor getting getting get get- I ting 50 cents an hour with every member mem niem- ber of the family who wants to work working everybody has money and is willing to spend it for it-for for food It takes time ime to make connections and to get onto the ropes in the matter of getting more than your share of food During May about pounds pound o of butter and lard disappeared in BerlinI Berlin I think I got some of it Instead of two little marbles of butter once a I week In the Adlon I had butter ever everyday every everyday I Iday i day and plenty of It It costs however 2 50 a pound and then went up to 3 I It was an appetizing addition to the breakfast of the dry bread and the stuff christened coffey One lady I wh whom m I know bought fifty pounds or j I butter at one time for which she paid I Th The same lady obtained pounds of fairly white flour at 55 cents I a pound while others I knew had paid as high as 85 cents a pound Counter band eggs were to be had If you knew where to get them sn a. ib u to 25 cents each SUGAR EXPENSIVE Sugar beyond the amount the government government government gov gov- proposed you should have could be obtained now and then at 3 a pound A little coffee was at times forthcoming at 5 and tea tel at 7 57 Contraband Contraband Contraband Con Con- meat was also to be had but that was still more difficult Just before before before be be- fore I left I was invited to the dinner at the home of songbird The centerpiece centerpiece centerpiece center center- piece on the table was a nice roast of ot pork for the four of us It cost 18 There was also some real coffee and real tea Up to the time I left I Jacques Mayo of New Y ork was still giving his gener generous us Sunday night dinners dinners dinners din din- ners to about thirty Americans th the tho cost of which could not have been less than 6 to 8 for each plate Many of the guests at the Adlon and other private hotels have private pantries pantries pantries pan pan- tries of tea bu butter eggs and sugar In their rooms Some also have hams and sausages and even sides of bacon in these private parties A generous tip to the chef and an occasion slice of bacon or ham to the floor waiter walter always assures the unostentatious unostentatious unos unos- preparation of these highly prized additions to the regular breakfast break fast 2 luncheons or 2 50 for a four- four course dinner It is not un unusual sual ir r n the tle dining room r ta see ee persons take taie from their pockets pockets-a a little round nickel box containing butter for the day wita I possibly a few lumps of sugar A year ago many Germans who now hamster as this illegal obtaining of food Is called would have considered it highly unpatriotic to take more food than the ration cards called for but the duration of the war ar has tended to tode de destroy detroy troy much of that selfish sentiment There has been much searching of f houses and a number of ot times sides of bacon hams and other ar articles ar- ar tides of food have been found under mattresses and even between tine line quilts In beds FOODSTUFFS STORED It was the general belief among the working classes of East Cast Berlin and North Berlin as the old sections of the Kaisers Kaiser's capital are known that had houses in te fashionable west pantries fun full of foodstuffs which led ledI to the fear during the strike In th the tho I middle of April that the west might be stormed Generally speaking I found that the I food situation in the country and in the provinces was very much better than thanin in Berlin and some of the other larger I I i I I i r cities It was also better in Bavaria I Ithan than in north Germany I have seen numerous letters from people in small villages saying that they were getting along very well vell an and were not suffering nor even enduring great privations On the other hand in Berlin I know families families families fam fam- of ot the better middle class where like Mother Hubbard the went to the empty cupboard many a morning and had not the slightest idea what she could provide for the family for the day especially this spring when potatoes were unobtainable for fora a time I. I I or gose fat forthe forthe for the bread is a delicacy few can obtain with geese selling at from 15 to 25 25 each A medium sized h ham m costs 25 to 35 People perhaps never ate less than they do today and certainly never paid as much for it They have gotten gotten gotten got got- ten through the leanest weel weeks s of of three years between I February and the present time timo and with tons of grain still to come out of Rumania up I to July 15 and with the aid of vegetables vegetables vege vege- tables and green stuffs will get through i to the end of August when flour from the new crops will begin to be avail avail- able A number of Instances came under my personal notice in which persons affected with tuberculosis rapidly grew worse on the diet largely devoid of fats and died Had they had proper food and plenty of it they probably would have lived for years some of them even recovered perhaps I ROBUST GROW THINNER Among the healthy and robust It I might almost be said that the enforced simple life has Improved the appearance appearance appearance appear appear- ance of the Germans on the whole The equator or national waistline of Germany has shrunken en many hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred yards In many instances ro rotundity rotundity rotundity ro- ro has given way to something like angularity I The bay window effect especially in the is dIsappearing disappearing disappearing fast The big beer tummies are not so often met with In walking i about the working mens men's district I Iwas Iwas Iwas was struck however by the observation observation observation tion that there was an Increase in palI pallor pal pal- I I lor br quite general to all of occasional cases of men doing heavy labor collapsing but n not nt t of a single case of death from actual starvation That the lack of milk butter butter butter but but- ter and fats for so long a period will not be without its effect upon the constitution constitution constitution con con- of ot very young children seems a r reasonable conclusion I About children from the I large cities were scheduled to be sent I to the farms In the provinces for the summer both to assist with the crops and to get pet the benefit of more and better better better bet bet- ter food Up to the time I left lert Germany Germany Germany Ger Ger- many over had already been sent from Berlin to East Prussia I Summing up my personal o observation observation serva- serva tion of the food situation and what T I judged as- as being T r reliable U ll bIe information from others othes others I 1 would feel Justified in concluding that th the collapse of the German people and their acceptance I of dictated terms from salvation alone is still a c considerable distance oft off t I |