1 Amerikftfahrt des Pr'mtec. Heinrlchr von Preussen . " '". iK ' r'ill WVf T Vf
' - - I ' L ;.. JJ n-'g-i !ii . ., - , ...
BERLIN SOUVENIR POSTAL CARD.
(Copyright, 1W8, bv Frank O. Carpenter.)
LB
IERLIN. March 4. (Special Cor
respondence of The Dee.) In the
capital of the German empire, In
the heart of KYIedrlchstrasse,
within a block of Voter Urn Lin
den and a fevr minutes' walk of the Thler
;;arten, I write of the American invasion. It
.is all around me. I find it in every street
tnd every block. It sticks out like a. plmplo
on one's nose and here In the busiest part of
tha city It assumes the size of a big red boll.
Over tbere at the right is a shop with the
American shield above the door. It bears
the stars and stripes In red, white and
blue, and below It are Dutch figures lean
ing over a ship rail, looking out at the
sea. Thtt Is our own American line tout
ing for its Red Star boats, and tho Gorman
travel across the Atlantic.
Next door Is a hat store. The most
fashionable shapes are American, and the
. beat are made by two well known New
.York firms. They are considered superior
to any others, and $5 American derbies
are worn by the swells. There are Amer
ican tailor ehopa In different parts of Ber
lin, and our styles now vie with those of
Paris end London.
But look at those girls who are now
coming up street. See the Jaunty one at
the right. She has a hat with a little
American flag draped around It. I hear her
Talking as she goes by. Her features are
German and her speech la that of the lower
class Berlineae. She la aping the Ameri
can to be In the fashion. That is so with
n any girls in Berlin. Since the kalEer has
been courting President Roosevelt and
Prince Henry has visited America, pictures
of Mr. Roosevelt and the prince, painted on
tha American flag, and of Mlsa Alice Roose
velt, have been sold In the Illustrated
postal card stores, and the milliners have
labeled their new bonneta and hats "echt
Aruerlcanlscbe."
Even American diamonds are sold hero.
I mean flash diamonds of tho paste variety.
There la store Just beyond the steam
ship office where crowds are always look
ing In at tho windows. That store be
longs to a man named Talt, who Is bet
ter known In continental Europe than any
other American Jeweler. He sells nothing
but diamonds, and that at a uniform price
of a dollar and a half, no matter If the
atone be as big as a buckeye or as small
us a pea. Ho brings out the shine with a
blase of electric lights so great that you
van warm your' hands or, the show win
dows, or rather you could were It not tor
tho servant who stands on the street
. polishing them. This man has shops In
most of the big cilia, and he Is one of the
surest advertisers. At the time Prince
Heu.T was In Chicago he put a full-page
advertisement In the leading newspaper
of Berlin, of which the following la a
translation.
"Eighty par cent of the American ladles
who attended Prince Hrnry'a reception last
Bight wore Talt'a diamonds."
rtuch advertising Is new here, and In con
. aoctloir with the erase for American things
It created somewhat of a sensation.
la the same connection was the adver
tisement of a well known American enoe,
a full-page announcement stating that at
the time Alice Roosevelt broke the bottle
of champagne with which ahe named the
. kaiser's yacht she had on these shoes. . .
Speaking of the American shoe, one of
the beat shot, stores In Europe la right
here on Freldrlchstrssse. Come with me
lows) the street to tha corner of Lclpslger
strasse and take a look at it. H Is In a big
. building belonging to the Equitable Life
Insurance company of New York, and H
, sella nothing but American shoea. There
are a dosen other places In the city where
ur shoea are aold, but none which does a
. busiaras like this. It Is crowded from
morning till night and It Is a poor dsy
whea Its sales do not run up to 4.000
marks. It tyas been open but only two
years, and has done a big business from
the start. It sells only for cash, and Its
methods are altogether American, even to
His - negro bootblack imported from New
fork, whs shines your shoes while yon
salt. It has two makes of shoes, and
Mils them at a fixed pries of 14.60 a pair.
American Invasion of
which Is Just $1 more than the same shoe
costs auywbero In the United States.
I dropped Into this store the other day
and had a .hat with the proprietor. He
Is a young New Jerseylte of 25 years of
ago, enthusiastic as to the prospects for
Amr-rlr.au, trade. Here la his story as It
came cut in response to" my questions:
"About three years or ro ago my father
and I sold out our shoe business Ir. New
ark, N. J., and looked around for a place
to open another. My father bad been In
Ihc habit of ccming to Europe every sura
men on a. count of the rheumatism, and in
looking about come to the conclusion that
Europe might be a gcod place for an up-to-date
shoe stcre. He now visited the
chief clt Its and finally decided to open one
In Vienna. He tried to rent a place there,
but ad soon as th. people found what he
was about to do they raised the rent, and
2.000 of the Vleanesse shoemakers held a
meeting and threatened to wreck the store
If It should be opened. He then came to
Berlin and finally rented this place. He
cabled me to send on e. stock of shoes. I
did so. We sold from $400 to $1,000 worth
a day at tho start, and have been doing
better right along. We have since estab
lished ahoe stores In Frankf jrt-on-tbe-Min
and In Hamburg. They are aljo do
ln: well."
"What is the ' difference between the
American and the German shoe?" I asked.
"There Is no comparison," was the
reply. "The German shoes la-ki shape,
style and comfort; all of which the Amer
ican shce has. The Germans have learned
the difference, and they am now trying to
imitate cur shoes. They come here and
buy samples for models. They have Im-
ported our shoemaking machinery, bat they
have not succeeded aa yet. They have some
. big factories, but none so large aa ours.
They ought to be able to manufacture more
cheaply, but cannot, although their men
receive only ono-fourth as high wages as
oura. They work more slowly and cannot
get the work out of their machines."
"Will the Germans pay high prices for
American gcoda?" I asked.
"Yes, If the gcods are worth it. The people-know
what they want, and lh:y pay
well for everything. I thought prices were
low here before I came over. They are not.
Men's clothing, If you take the fit and
atyle into account, costs less In New York
than In Berlin. I can have a suit made
here for 12 marks, or $20, but It will not
have any better stuff, nor fit as well aa a
ready-made suit which I can get. In New
York for from $12 to $18. A suit made
to order at $25 In New York la better than
. any you can get here made to order for
$35. It is the same with women's clothing.
As to prices the kinds it shoes we are
aelling for $4.60 were formerly sold for
$5, $6 and $7 a pair. Then only the rl;h
bought them. Now they are used by the
middle classes as well."
"One word more about the American
ahoe. Consul General Mason cf Berlin has
dene as much aa any man In our consular
service to introduce It. He began to urge
its sale six years ago, and at last got our
leading factoriea to send several drum-
. mers and finally to establish stores in some
of the chief cities. He ssys that there are
alx or eight big German cities where shoe
stores like this In Berlin could be profitably
established. These are. Cologne, Brestau,
Dresden, Lelpslg, Munich. Stuttgart and
Strnaburg.
It la strange that we should be giving
the Germans, one of the chief musical peo
ples, musical instruments. It la neverthe
less true. The grapbophone, gramophone
and the phonograph are all sold in large
quantities. The grapbophone people have
their cylinders put up In boxea, covered
with a picture of (he Anierl' an flag; and
when the empreaa ef Germany bought a ma
chine for the crown prince last year the
reoorda thus boxed were sent to the palace.
The manager of tbe German graphophone
company, at my request, told me how that
Bale was made. Said he: "The advances
came from the royal family and not front
us. One Jay one of the empress' ladles in
waiting came In one of the royal carriages
to our offlce on Krlederlchstrasse ami
asked that some machines bs sent to the
CORNER IN FREDERICHSTRASS&
palace for examination on the morning
following. We sent several, and with them
one of our best looking German employes
to show how they worked.
"This was done at the palace In tho
presence of the empress, the crown prince
and others. The empress wanted one of the
cheaper machines, but the crown prince
Insisted on the best and got !t. The money
for It waa paid r-t once, And within a few
weeks others werj ordered, so that now a
half dozen are owned by the royal family.
I am told that his majesty, the kaiser, now
and then uses them, and that his favorite
tunea are our plantation melodies."
Tbe Americans appreciate the advantage
of location better than the Germans. They
are rapidly getting hold of tbo best corners
in Berlin for their different business en
terprises. This Is so with the shoe store
abrve mentioned. It Is on the corner of
the two chief retail streets. The rent Is
high,, but it pays. The building, whi -h as
I have said belongs to an American insur
ance company, Is one of the best In Ber
lin. It has many Americana n it. Includ
ing the United States consulate general
and several American newspaper corres
pondents. Tbe kodak is sold on a corner
further up street, and an American cash
register company has another corner with
windows full of catchy advertisements of
. Its machines. One of our chief typewriters
has another prominent corner, where you
can see pretty German girls clicking away
on American iL&chlnes at any business hour
of the day, and thj American-German
Graphophone company has altj a corner
filled with these red, white and blue boxes
containing Its records.
One reason for ohooslng an expensive lo
cation is the advertisement. Tho Germans
have their own laws as to sue1) matters,
and all billboard advertisements have to
be submitted to the cltj architects before
they can bo put up. No one can put out a
sign without such consent. Advertising Is
not done on the walla. Real estate boards
are not put up iu the vacant lots, and
when a circus comes to town It has to bo
contented with little round towers which
have been put up at the street corners for
advertising purposes. When Buffalo Bill
gave a show In Berlin be could find no place
for his show bills, and when the Barnum
circus came some years ago it solved the
problem by buying up store windows 1.4 d
store fronts and putting tbe pictures In
side the stores. This was not liked by the
other Oerman merchants, but It was a new
thing, and at that time no law had been
enacted against It.
One must be careful how his advertise
ments are worded. . There is a law against
stating anything which cannot be sub
stantiated, and he who docs so is liable to
be sued for unfair competition. I have
from , Bralnard H. Warner, Jr., our consul
at Leipslc, a translation of the law of un
fair competition. It provides, In the first
place, that any falsehood In an advertise
ment concerning the method of production,
source of supply, or character of the wares
subjects the person making It to a fine of
$367. Second, that spreading a false report
concerning a competitor is punished with
a similar fine, or Imprisonment for ono
year. And third, any deception aa to
quality of goods. Including falsa weight,
la punished for every Infringement with a
fine of $35. The same law prohibits a clerk
from divulging a business secret while em
ployed, and any competitor who takea ad
vantage of such Information Is also liable
to punishment. Tbo fine In this case la
3.000 marks, or $714.
Indeed, an American who comes to Ger
many to do business has many things to
learn. There are new laws for everything,
snd he needs legal advice st every step.
One American who is In trade hero recently '
wanted to remodel bis store and throw four
or five rooms into one. He asked tor com
petitive bids from several builders on the
understanding that the lowest bidder wan
to have the Job. Ha awarded it accord
ingly, and then, one of the other bidders
brought suit against him for the lime and
labor employed In making the (lans he had
aubmltted. The Aaiericau fought the suit
and lost It. Ho not only had to pay $100 to
the unsuccessful bidder, but also the costs
of the suit and the fees of the plaintiff's
lawyer.
The man who loses a lawsuit In Ger
many meat not only pay the cot,ta. but
also the fees of his opponent. The logirt
fees are flxed for each case, nnd H107 arj
very low. One can hire a good lawyer f o
ono day for $12.P0. and thj drawing up of
papers costs little more tuan tho charges
for ordinary clerical hire in the United
States.
Berlin has now a good electric car sj-s-tem.
Tho cars are of the American pat
tern, many of them having been made In
St. Louis. They are sent here in pieces,
and are put together by the German me
chanics. Each oir seats twenty-eight pass
engers, and there are a certain number
of standing places on the platforms. N)
smoking Is allowed In the cats, but then
Is on the wall outside a little brass sheir
with grooved holes Into which cigars can
be stuck by those who wish to go Inside
Each groove has Its number, and the
thrifty German after coming out lights u?
bis cigar and finishes his smoke. The
American would threw away tho cigar; tin
German smokes it to (he end, although ho
dees it In sections.
The crdinary street ear fare Is 10 pfen
nigs, or 2V4 of our cents. In some cases
an extra fare is charged where the courso
Is long, but I hove ridden several miles
for 10 pfennig. This seems to be the rate
all over Germany and is Just half that ef
our American rate. Indeed, I doubt if you
will find a city where transportation Is'
cheaper than hero. Friedrichs rssse Is too
narrow for tram cars, and a large part of
its transit Is on omnlbusses, which charge
a cent and a quarter a trip.. These busses
run every minute. The footboards are
very low, and cne can Jump on or off with
out stopping the omnibu?. There are simi
lar vehicles on Unter den Linden.
I like the cab system here. Not only In
Berlin, but in most of tha German cities
there are cabs known as taxameters. Each
cab has a sort of cyclometer arrangement
on It, a clock-like affair, which is Just be
hind the driver, and so that the man who
rides in the cab can watch the !iands go
around. Indicating how many miles he hss
traveled and how much the fare Ib. You
pay E0 pfennigs, or 124 cents for the
first half mile, and 10 pfennigs for each
additional quarter of a mile. There is an
other part of the machine which registers
the fare for waiting, so that one can tell
Just exactly what he ought to pay at any
point during the ride. Baggage may be
taken on top of sucn cabs, and tbe charges
are from 6 cents to 25 cents, according to
the weight of the trunks, the former being
the ctarge up to fifty-five pounds, and the
latter that for a box weighing 220 pounds.
Everything Is paid for according to tariff,
and there is no extortion like that of New
York and some other American cities.
FRANK O. CARPENTER.
Pointed Paragraphs
Cupid Is slways shooting and continually
making Mrs.
Some men would rather lose a friend than
the best of an argument.
Carelessness with parlor matches causes
a few fires and many divorces.
It takes a dog aad the boy who owns him
to form a mutual admiration society,
. There's quite a difference between keep
ing boarders and having boarders keep you
Some men do not hesitate to break a
promise, becauvo It la so easy to make an
other. There are occasional moments In every
old bachelor's lifo when he is glad he never
married.
The wise girl doesn't waste her time on
the youug man who wastes his lime kissing
her hand.
The country has turned out some great
men and there are a lot of others in office
that should be turned out.
Tbe truest and best friend a man ean havo
Is a wife who does her best to keep him tn
the straight and narrow path. Chicago '
News.
