Paris, Feb, 13.
In view of the highly coloured stories which appear to be disseminated by German agencies in the Far East as to. the condition of Germany's enemies, T should like to bear my humble testimony that Paris is not ing the throes of cholera, that President Poincaré has not been assassinated, and that we have not seen the remarkable spectacle of French senators and deputies kissing the Kaiser's magnanimous hand.
From the point of view of the man in the street, Paris at the present moment: much better off than Berlin. Business is slack, undoubtedly, and the war is not only costing about thirty million francs a day, but has made a large hole in the ordinary revenue. The theatres are under a cloud, and there are no public conveyances after 11.15 at night.
On the surface, we are told, Berlin is as gay as ever. This certainly cannot be said of Paris, and yet, on the other hand, Berlin is being rationed in war bread, and Paris has all it wants of those long, appetizing loaves, or rather rolls, which, to those who have become accustomed to them, are better than any bread in' the world. Coal is still scarce and dear, but, seneral, the obtainable at normal secs necessaries are rei in of life
Berlin has the shadow and Paris the substance.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.