The situation in Berlin at the end of February is thus described by the "Qbserver" correspondent:—The political victory gained over the Entente in respect of the extradition of war criminals has naturally stiffened the Germans' backs considerably, and they are beginning to believe that all the rest is only a matter of time.
I would venture to mention a personal matter which may interest English people proposing to come to Berlin. The landlord of the flat in which I live has just told me, firstly, that in view of the attitude of the Morning Post" towards Germany its correspondent cannot expect consideration at the hands of the Germans; secondly, that England has squeezed so much out of Germany that it is only right that Germans should get as much as possible out of Englishmen if they have the opportunity; and, thirdly, unless I pay my rent in shillings instead of in German marks I must turn out when my lease expires at the end of September.
Tack or Disaster.
Germans are perpetually talking about impending disaster. They are always on the eve of catastrophes. They are tottering on the verge of the precipice. They are faced with starvation, They are threatened with national disaster in consequence of lack of coal to keep industries working and to supply energy. The Empire is about to be overrun by the Bolsheviks. All kinds of terrible things are to happen unless the situation is saved by a miracle, Even the fact that German money is worth practically nothing abroad does not seem to trouble the general public much, unless it be that the importation of foreign luxuries is delayed. The depreciation of the German mark is, on the contrary, gaily exploited by the Germans, who can thus gain enormous sums marks, which have still considerable value within the country, by selling to neighbouring countries everything that is saleable. What does it matter if a few million insignificant i habitants suffer hunger and cold if only a few hundred persons make millions of marks by the sole of produce of German soil?
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.