Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, March 15, 1903, Page 34

American Invasion of Germany BERLIN SOUVENIR POSTAL CARD. (Copyright, 1908 bv ¥'rank (. Carpenter.) R ERLIN, March 4.-—(Special Cor- respondence of The Bee.)—In the capital of the German empire, in the heart of Friedrichstrasse, within a block of Unter den Lin- den and a few minutes’ walk of the Thier- parten, 1 write of the American invasion. It is all around me. I find it in every strect und every block. It sticks out like g pimple on one's nose and here in the busiest part of the city it assumes the gize of a big red boil. Over there at the right is a shop with the American ghield 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 rall, leoking out at the sea. That is our own American line tout- ing for its Red Star boats, and the German travel across the Atlantic. Next door is a hat store. The most vashionable shapes are American, and the best are made by two well known New York firms, They are considered supericr to any others, and $5 American derbles are worn by the swells. There are Amer- ican tailor shops in different parts of Ber- lin, and our styles now vie with those of Parls »nd 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 is that of the lower ciass Berlinese. She is aping the Ameri- can to be in the fashion. That is so with many girls in Berlin. Since the kaiser has been courting President Roosevelt and Prince Henry has visited America, pictures of Mr. Rocsevelt and the prince, painted on the American flag, and of Miss Alice Rocse- velt, have been sold In the illustrated postal card stores, and the milliners have labeled thelr new bonnets and hats ‘“‘echt Anericanische.” Even American diamonds are sold here. I mean flash diamonds of the paste variety. There is a store just beyond the steam- ship office where crowds are always look- ing in at the windows. That store be- longs to a man named Tait, who is bet- ter known in continental Europe than any other American jeweler. He sells nothing but dlamonds, and that at a uniform price of a dollar and a half, no matter if the stone be as big as a buckeye or as small as a pea. He brings out the shine with a blaze of electric lights so great that you can warm your hands on the show win- dows, or rather you could were it not for the servant who stands on the street polishing them. This man has shops in most of the big cities, and he is one of the great advertisers. At the time Prince Hew'y was in Chicago he put a full-page advertisement in the leading newspaper of Berlin, of which the following is a translation. “Righty ver cent of the American ladies who attended Prince Henry's reception last alght wore Tait's diamonds.” Ruch advertising is new here, and in con- nectiow with the craze for American things it created somewhat of a sensation. In the same connection was ihe adver- tisement of a well known American snoe, a full-page announcement stating that st the time Alice Roosevelt broke the bottle of champagne with which she named the kaiser's yacht she had on these shoes. Speaking of the Ameriean shoe, one of the best shoc stores in Europe is right here on Freidrichstrasse. Come with me down the street to the cerner of Leipsiger- strasse and take a look at it. It is in a big building belonging to the Equitable Life {nsurance company of New York, and It sells nothing but American shoes. There are a dosen other places in the clty where our shoes are sold, but ncne which does a business like this. It is crowded from morning till night and it is a poor day when its sales do not rum up to 4,000 marks, It has been open but omnly two and has done a big business from the start. It sells only for cash, and its methods are altogether American, even to the negro bootblack imported from New fork, whe shines your shoes while you walt. It has two makes of shoes, and sells them at a fixed price of $4.50 a palr, which is just $1 more than the same shoe costs anywhere in the United States. I dropped Into this store the other day and had a chat with the proprietor. He is a young New Jerseyite of 25 years of age, enthusiastic as to the prospects for Am(»rlvanl trade. Here is his story as it came cut in response 1o my questionsa: “About three years or ro ago my father and I sold out our shoe business ir. New- ark, N. J., and looked arouna for a place to open another. My father bad bheen in the habit of ceming to Europe every sum- men on account 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 cities and finally decided to open one in Vienna. He tried to rent a place there, but 2s soon as the peopls found what he was about to do they ralsed the rent, and 2,000 of the Viennesse shcemakers held a meeting and threatened to wreck the store it it should be opened. He then came to Berlin and finally rented this place. He cabled me to send on a stock of shoes. I did so. We sold from $400 to $1,000 worth a day at the start, and have been doing better right along. We have since estab- lished shoe stores in Frankfort-on-the- Main and in Hamburg. They are also do- ing well.” “What is the difference betwcen the American and the German shoe?' I asked. “There is no comparison,” was the reply. ‘“The German shoes lacks shape, style and comfort; ali of which the Amer- fcan shce has. The Germans have learned the difference, and they are now trying to imitate cur shoes. They come here and buy samples for models. They ahave im- ported our shoemaking machinery, bat they bave not suceeeded as yet. They have some big factories, but none so large as ours. They ought to be able to manufacture more cheaply, but cannot, although their men receive only one-fourth as high wages as ours. They work more slowly and cannot get the work out of thelr machines.” “Will the Germans pay high prices for American gcods?”’ I asked. “Yes, if the gcods are worth it. The peo- ple- know what they want, and th:y pay well for everything. I thcught prices were low here before I came over. They are not. Men's clothing, if you take the fit and style into account, costs less in New York than in Berlin. I can have a suit made here for 12 marks, or $30, but it will not have any better stuff, nor fit as well as a ready-made suit which I can ge! in New York for from $12 to $18. A suit made to order at $26 in New York is 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 Jf shoes we are selling for $4.50 were formerly sold for $5, $6 and $7 a pair. Then oaly the ri:h bought them. Now they are used by the middle classes as well.” “One word more about the American shoe. Consul General Mason cf Berlin has done as much as any man jn our consular service to introduce it. He hegan to urge its sale six years ago, and at last got our leading factories to send several drum- mers and finally to cstablish stores in some of the chief cities. He says that there are six or eight big German cities where shoe slores like this in Berlin could be profitably established. These are. Cologne, Breslau, Dresden, Leipsig, Munich, Stuttgart and Strasburg. It is strange that we should be giving the Germans, one of the chief musical peo- ples, musical instruments. It is neverthe- less true. The graphophone, gramophone and the phonograph are all sold in large quantities. The graphophone people have their cylinders put up in boxes, covered with a picture of the American flag; and when the empress of Germany bought a ma- chine for the crown prince last year the records thus boxed were sent to the palace. The manager of the German graphophone company, at my request, told me how that sale was made, Said he: came from the royal family and not from us. One Jay one of the empress’ ladies in weiting came in one of the royal carriages to our office on Friederichstrasse and asked that some machines be sent to the “The adva~ces’ CORNER IN FREDERICHSTRASSE. 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 the 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 was paid at once, and within a few weeks others were ordered, so that now a half dozen are owned by the royal family. I am told that his majesty, the kalser, now and then uses them, and that his favorite tunes are our plantation melodies.” The Americans appreciate the advantage of location better than the Germans. They are rapidly getting hold of the best corners in Berlin for their different business en- terprises. This is so with the shoe store abcve mentioned. It is on the corner of the two chief retail streets. The rent 1s 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 Americans in it, includ- ing the United States consulate general and several American newspaper corres- pondents. The kodak is sold on a corner further up street, and an American cash register company bhas 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 nachines at any business hour of the day, and th: American-German Graphophone company has alco a corner filled with these red, white and blue boxes containing its records. One reason for choosing an expensive lo- ration is the advertisement. The Germans have their own laws as to sue“ matters, and all billboard advertisements have to be submitted to the city architects before they can be put up. No one can put out a sign without such comsent. Advertising is not done on the walls. Real estate boards are not put up in the vacant lots, and when a circus comes to town it has to be 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 he 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 cad store fronts and putting the pictures in- side the stores. This was not liked by the other German 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 does so is liable to be sued for unfair competition. I have from Brainard H. Warner, jr., our consul at Leipsic, a translation of the law of un- fair competition. It provides, in the first place, that any falserood 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 one year. And third, any deception as to quality of goods, including false weight, is punished for every infringement with a fine of $35. The same law prohibits a clerk from divuiging a business se.ret while em- ployed, and any competitors who takes ad- vantage of such information is also liable to punishment. The fine in this case is 3,000 marks, or $714. Indeed, an American who comes to Ger- many te do business has many things to learn. There are new laws for everything, and he needs legal advice at every step. One American who is in trade here recently wanted to remodel his store and throw four or five reoms iuto one. He asked for com- petitive bids from several builders on the understanding that the lowest bidder was to have the job. He awarded it accord- ingly, and then one of the other bidders brought suit against him for the time and labor employed in making the plans he had submitted. The American fought the suit and lost it. He 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 mvst not only pay the costs, but also the fees of his opponent. The legm fees are fixed for each case, and they ar» very low. One can hire a gocd lawyer fo-* one day fo_r $12.50, and the drawing up of rapers costs little more tuan the charges for ordinary clerical hire in the United States. Berlin has now a good electric car 8y8- tem. The cars are of the American pat- tern, many of them having been made in St. Louis. They are sent here in plieces, and are put together by the German me- chanics. Each oar seats twenty-eight pass- engers, and there are a certain number of standing places on the platforms. N» smoking is alluwed in the cars, but ther: is on the wall outside a little brass shel! with grooved holes into which cigars can be stuck by those who wish to go instde. Each groove has its number, and the thrifty German after coming out lights up his cigar and finishes his smoke. The American wculd throw away the cigar; th» German smokes it to the end, although he dces it in sections. The crdinary street car fare is 10 pfen- nigs, or 2% of our cents. In some cases an extra fare is charged where the course is long, but I kave ridden several miles for 10 pfennige. 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 wher transportation is cheaper than here. Friedrichs rasse is too narrow for tram cars, and a large part of its transit is on omnibusses, 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 omnibus. The e are simi- lar vehicles on Unter den Linden. I like the cab system here. Not only in Berlin, but in most of the German cities there are cabs known as taxameters. Each cab has a sort of cyclométer 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 hands go around, indicating how many miles he has traveled and how much the fare is. You pay &0 pfennigs, or 12% 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 the 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 1 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 G. CARPENTER. Pointed Paragraphs Cupid is always shoeting 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 and the boy who owns him to form a mutual admiration soclety, There's quite a difference between keep- ing boarders and having boarders keep you Some men do not hesitate to break a promise, because it is so easy to make an- other. There are occasional moments in every old bachelor's lifc when he is glad he never married. The wise girl doesn’t waste her time on the young man who wastes his time 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. The truest and best friend a man ean have is a wife who does her best to keep him in the straight and narrow path.—Chicago News.