Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 129, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1915 — TWO TEUTONIC CAPITALS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TWO TEUTONIC CAPITALS

WHEN Petrograd was a swamp and Berlin was a straggling procession of huts in the midst of a hopelessly melancholy sand waste, Vienna was an age-old defensive outwork of western civilization. Vienna was a village before the Christian era, an outpost of Roman civilization, and within its walls one of the noblest of the Ro-, man emperors died —Marcus'Aurelius, in the year 180, and the password which he gave from his deathbed was “Aequanlmitas.” When Europe, readjusted to renewed efforts of civilization after an infusion of Germanic blood, started again with freshened strength upon its destiny, Vienna became the guaranty of its security toward the East, says the National Geographic Society. Vienna has its charms of age, of beautiful situation and of a delightful folk-character. It lies some two miles distapt from the “Blue Danube,” upon the river Wien, which gives the city its name. It is builded in two concentric circles; within, the old town, with its public buildings and private residences, still the aristocratic heart of the empire; and without, the residential and manufacturing suburbs. Where the old fortifications once stood now runs one of the most impressive boulevards to be found the world around —the Ringstrasse. Splendor of the Ringstrasse. In massive lengths, there stretches around this street such an array of structures as have probably never been equaled upon a single thoroughfare before. There are vistas of unsurpassed architectural splendor along this demarcation of old and new Vienna, and the solid stone and masonry* piles are brought into a friendly relief by the broad avenue, handsome

parks and large, airy squares. ~A city with such avenues as the Ringstrasse must perforce • react upon its people, accustomed to daily associations with its chaste beauty, to inspire in them the elegance which is its own. Among the war capitals of Europe, Vienna, Franz Josefs Kalserstadt, the home of pleasure and of the most sorrowing of emperors; product of the East and the West, with the one lissome and dreamy, with the other hopeful and sentimental; gray-wise, gracious, light-hearted, brilliant Vienna according to the wondering reports of the correspondents—is the least inclined to break with gayety, to sink into the heavy lethargy and depression of the stern business of war. The Viennese have spent centuries in practicing under all conditions the arts of happiness. They have learned to mock at overearnestness, at fearfulness, at the serious courting of dreariness in the guise of duty? Friendliness, sentiment, beauty, grace and music on every hand conspire to make Vienna the “Lotus-flow-er City" of the earth. “There is only one imperial City," the Viennese say, “and that etty is Vienna." Like Washington, more an accom-

plishment of careful planning than the outcome of unconscious growth, Berlin, third greatest among the war capitals and sixth among the cities of the world, Is a solid city of splendid spacing, where everything is of plaster, asphalt, steel and cement, and where everything is new. Prior to the war it was the first city in Europe for revelry. Life never ceased upon its central streets. When the hurrying crowds of workers sought their places of employment in the morning, they regularly met a throng, heavy-lidded and leisurely, going home. There is a saying that the genuine Berliner never sleeps. However this may be, there are always places for him to go in thiscity where theaters, concert halls, cabarets, dance halls, cases and similar places are of luxurious growth. Seat of the imperial court and parliament, a focal point of German science, art and general culture, home of German military art, financial center of the empire, rich in manufactures, and one of Europe’s greatest marts for international exchange, Berlin is a place of international significance ranking with London. Enjoyment Under Protection. In this city there is pleasure on every and all ill chance is eliminated by the government. A man may not be robbed by cab drivers, hotels, shopkeepers, or by his servants. He may not walk over railway tracks, and it is illegal for him to block the path of street traffic to his and its detriment; in other words, he is without the law when successfully exposing himself to the dangers of vehicular collision.' A jealous system of laws and of police regulations are met at 'every turn for his protection. Berlin has a Luna park, brought to the capital on the Spree by an Ameri

can The same lavish use of bright paints and brighter lights are found in it that characterize our original Luna parks, but the shoot-the-chutes, the scenic railways and so on have been, modified by the police until not even a thrill remains, much less an element, of danger. Enter den Linden (Under the Lindens) is the .heart of Berlin. It is one of the most impressive avenues in the world; and, only about five-eighths of a mile in length, it is one of the very widest streets to be found in any city (198 feet), and on its sides are massed two double lines of massive architecture. It is a thoroughly cosmopolitan street, upon which every tongue is spoken and where each human variation may be seen. Berlin lies upon the languid little Spee, a dull stream in the midst of a> flat, melancholy sand waste. Though very new in both its imperial and. metropolitan dignities, the city is yet a place of wonderful libraries, museums, art collections and statuary. Its streets, squares, granite building* and parks are filled with some of the sculptor’s and modeler’s noblest For the most these plastic work* breathe martial spirit. - — _ -

THE SCHWARZENBERGPLATZ, VIENNA

Bird’s-Eye View of Berlin