January 17, 1918 
LAND & WATER 
II 
only we present a united front at home. Militaiy victory is 
assured ; no one can possibly snatch it from us." That 
is the appeal that goes home ; Eucken and Harden are 
but voices crying in the wilderness. 
" The Bolsheviks of Neukolla " 
The latest public sensation in Germany is the action of the 
municipal authorities of Neukolln, a prevailingly working- 
class district in Greater Berliii, There are many munition 
works, large and small, in Neukolln, and in order to keep their 
workpeople in good humour, the- larger works buy up pro- 
visions and sell them at nominal rates to their employees, 
thereby supplomenting the scanty rations allowed by tin; 
:mthorities. In order to obtain these additional supplies 
till' larger concerns, such ;xs the General Electric Company of 
Berlin, regardless of the maximum prices fixed by law, pay 
w hatfver is demanded if only they can obtain the provisions. 
Wliat is the result ? That the municipalities coming on the 
market to purchase eatables for their citizens, are forced to 
outbid the wealthy companies, so they, too, exceed the 
maximum prices for corn and flour, potatoes and vegetables, 
milk and cheese, meat and sausages. Competition thus 
becomes fierce ; prices are sent up to dizzy heights, and the 
Jaw is broken. This has been going on for some considerable 
time, and at length the corporation of Neuk<>lln, linding its 
linauces seriously affectetl and its conscience a little uneasy, 
jirt-part'd for jiresentation to the hood Controller, a long 
iniinorandum on thtst- abuses. This action won the applause 
"f many jxople, including Maximihan Harden, who named 
the city fathers " the Bolsheviks of Neukolln." 
It was also intended to bring the document to the notice of 
the Part\' Leaders of the Imperial Parliament and of various 
nfhcial bodies besides. But no sooner had the Eood Controller 
sien the nature of the memorandum then he prohibited its 
l>ubhcation on pain of severe penalties. Nevertheless, the 
Socialist Vorudrls got hold of it and gave to the world what 
it described as a " document bearing testimony to the shame 
of our age." Instead of pouring oil on the troubled waters, 
the German Food Controller, who is a Junker to his finger 
tips, now threatens to take action against corporations 
which have transgressed the maximum prices laws, and if 
need be, to clap all their members into prison. Yet the 
(iermans tolerate such a Food Controller I Little wonder 
indeed that, incredible as it may sound, there are still outlving 
parts in Germany where the Junkers pay no taxes. Such a 
privilege is theirs, for example, in the town of Rostock. 
> 
An Entertaining Story 
To illustrate the straits to which Germans are put in regard 
to food, the following story which appeared in the LeiprAi^er 
Volkszeitune^oi January 2nd,ma5- be given. It is only necessarv 
to add by way of explanation that maiiy town-dwellers a 
few months ago would go to the countryside in order to bring 
home what food they could obtain. The practice became so 
extensive that it threatened to develop into a public danger. 
The police stepped in and forbade all such excursions, and 
now whenever they discover a culprit, they not only punish 
him severely, but in addition seize his supplies. So much 
by way of introduction. The story comes from W'iedenbriick, 
a countr\' place in Saxony : 
It has tx-en observed of late that ladies, slender as pines, cnme 
by an early train into the country from the neighboiirinj^ 
industrial centres, and that when they depart by the last 
train in the evening they have become wonclrou.s .stout, more 
especially in the bust. Yhe irregular shape of two such busts 
aroused the suspicions of a constable, who entered into con- 
versation with the owners. But the agitatio)i of the ladies 
and their contradictory statements only confirmed the 
officer's suspicions, and he arrested them. . At tlic p(jlice 
station the ladies were searched, and it was discovered that 
one owed her apparent stoutness to seven pounds of meat 
and a quantity of butter concealed under her clothing, while 
the other had on a blouse which was so made that fifty 
oggj could be safely carried within it. 
The Husbandmen— II 
By Centurion* 
from the haw i 
son hue of bl' 
It was ek\ 
turning tiie h 
IT was one c>i iiio?c late autumn day?; wlien the '' wind- 
falls " of the orcljard are gathered into the cider-press, 
and the farmyard is filled with the aroma of the pomace ; 
when the last sheaf of com has been harvested ujxjn the 
-I iddles and the final spekc has been driven into the thatch ; 
ulirn the " lands " are ploughed and cleaned of couch under 
theteethof the drag, and the earth is dressed for thesowing of 
the winter wheat. A red sun shone through the autumnal 
mists f)f the morning, d\eing them to a flagrant glow ; in the 
f:ir di-Jtnnce the fan-shajJcd elms stoixl out in a sharp black 
lit 11 III' upon the grey screen of vapour. The fall of the 
l^.ii Was far advanced," but tufts of Old Man's Beard still 
Inmg on the hedgerows like fleece ; a few leaves of briar 
decorated the intricate pattern of twisted elder, pallid ash, 
and spiked hawthorn. The one touch of bright colour came 
li's, which glowed with the dark crim- 
tlie hedge-tops. 
k in the morning. An old man was 
:i swede-cutter in a gablwl barn whose 
high n )of was supported by oak rafters and tie-beams festooned 
with cobwebs. The open doorway of tht- bam commanded a 
\ iew of the fields which slojied upwards from the edge of the 
t;irm\:ir'!. One of those fields was marked by deep furrows 
II 'I 1:1 1.1 miIl s of newlv-turned earth, all cut with a 
Miaigiitness ot line that marked the work of a skilled plough- 
man. A man was advancing down the middle of one of the 
" lands " with a cradle-sliaped box slung against his waist 
in front of him ; he dipped his right hand into the box, and 
desi ribing with each step he took a semicirctflar movement 
with his liand lie scattered the seed in front of him. With 
just those gestures bygone men had sown these same fields for ■ 
;i thousjind years before him. There was a slow, even rhythm 
about the movement of Jiis liands and feet as though he were 
meastiring out j)accs on the land. 
The old man at the swede-cutter paused a liioment to 
w.itrh Jiis progress. " It be joike ahcient toimes, sowing 
wi' h;md." he said, reflectively. " This cas'altv weather liev 
made the CTound t<x) jiard for the drills. And them tr.actors 
- I don't hold wi' em. They be no good on wet heavy soil 
-they kneads it like dough. They be all very well for the 
light. l)rasliy soil up Faringdon way. But give me that boy 
I )an'ell and his two harSes, licy, thatcher ? " 
• stories by " rentnrion " appc.ir exclusively in Land & Water. 
'"fipvrieht in the t'nitwl St;ih', .,f An.irl. •■> i.ii-. 
The thatcher who was'mounted on a ladder against a rick 
just outside the barn-door looked down. 
" 1 me, old Jarge. It be the zame wi' thatching. I don't 
hold wi' these new tin sheds. If ye wants to keep a rick 
warm, there's nothing like a good thatch and the work of 
a man's hands. Here, Wilham Tuck, hand me up some of 
those 'elms. . . .Aye, but I forgot that wooden leg o' yonrn. 
It bo a clever piece of carpentry, but it can't climb a ladder, 
I'll warrant." 
He dc-scended tfie ladder and gathered np some fabrics oE 
combed straw, each piece a foot wide and three feet in length, 
:md carried them np the ladder in a forked stick known as 
a " shuttle." Arrived at the top, he proceeded to laV them 
flat against the sloping roof of the lick. For some seconds 
nothing was heard but the tap of his mallet as he drove in 
his " spx-'kes " of cleft hazel at regular intervals into the rick. 
He was laying the " yelms " like the tiles of a roof, each one 
overlapping the other. 
Tlie old man watched him. " Eli Riddick do know lii.s 
job and mun make dree pound a week at it in these times. 
Thatchers be so scarce. But maister never ought to hev 
left thuck rick unthatched all this time. 'Twas tempting 
Providence — and the justices. I heerd on a varmer as was 
fined twenty pound for 't t'other day." 
Meanwhile, the object of his original meditations, his son 
Daniel, a stout " boy " of fifty-five, was ploughing the field 
next to that in which the sower pursued the even tenor of his 
way. He had placed a stick in the middle of the far end of 
the field, and returning to the near end had hooked in his team 
to the ploiigh. Ih' had " set " his plough somewhat as a car- 
j)enter sets his plane, ha\'iug by an adjustment of screws and 
bolts got a distance of nine inches horizontally between the 
right wheel and the coulter, and anotJier distance of four 
inches vertically between the cotflter and the bottom of the 
wheel. H<^ then shifted a bolt in the iron head-draught of 
the plough lo correct the " pull " of the off horse. This 
done, he took a handle of th;> plough in each kind, together 
with the reins, and, with the light toucli that was neither a 
push nor a pressure he guided the plough straight aliead 
with his eye. on the distant observation-post. The turn- 
furrow of tlit> ])lough threw up a ripi^le of brown eartli, which, 
as it tin"ned over, showed an iridescent gleam wh(>re the pres- 
stne of the steel had polislied it. .\s tlie nodding horses and 
the jiloughman diminished towards their objective they were 
lolliivvrfl h\' a letinnc of looks and starlings, who swooped 
