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Our German Critics

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Parent Issue
Day
10
Month
July
Year
1903
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Seemingly skeptical as to whether ■they have gained sufficient knowledge to repay them for their seven weeks' tour through the United States, the ■delegatlon of forty -seven Germana sent to this country by the kaiser to study American agrlcultural methods recently left for their natlve land, says the New York Times. Before they left they gathered at the Hotel Belvedere In New i'ork the other day at an Informal luncheon tendered to John fichulte of the United States department of agrlculture, who accompanied them officlally. After the luncheon Erich Speek von Fluegge, Imperial counselor on economy and the kalser's personal repreentative, was Interviewed. "This Is a big country, a great counIry, a wonderful country," he eald. "We admire it very, very much. But most of all do we admire the people. They have been so kind, so hospitable, to us. You have magnifleent schools, nd the men in charge of them appear to me to be very, very clever men. We marveled at the means you have for supporting your institutions of iearnlng. The agricultural experimental farms especially interested us, for, you know, we came here to learn about your methods of agriculture." "May I say that you are leavlng this country v.-ith impressions that will improve your knowledge of agricultural things in general?" the reporter asked. "No, no; don't say anything about that. Don't say anything about that at all," quickly answered Von Fluegge, haking his head energetically and bolding up hls hands. "But you can print in big letters how much we appreciate the hospitality- the splendld hospltality - of the Americana." Rittineister Lemcke, who, besides beIng a captain of cavalry. Is the owner of a feudal estáte comprising 0,000 acres, was, indignant over sleeping car accornmodations on American rallroads. In a loud tone he declared: "The Pullman accommodations were dirty and filthy- too bad for ntterance. We dldn't want flrst class Pullmans. but we wanted at least comfort;1. ' Ie accommodations. And then those dirty negro servants who made up our beds, they were sometblng vile." He was not satisfied with the meals lther. "With tremendous sums of money we could purchase meals that were not at all adequate or satisfactory," he said. "At other times the meals we got for less money were very good." On Rittmelster Lemcke's estáte are large forests, and he was especially interested in American woodlands. "American farmers," he sald, "are dolng away with wood in their big forests entlrely without thought of the future. In the west we found big piles of wood decaying and not used because it had been cut down without necessity. So long as the American farmer makes money today he does not think of the future. Wlthin ten years they will have to be importlng tlieir building wood from Germany. Our forests will never glve out. The cutting is regulated by the government." Mr. Gain, also a large feudal estáte holder, said he was golng to come back In two years and buy up a lot of land In the west and cultívate it. "I will have to use fertllizers though," he said. "The farmers in this country are explolting the soil without discrimination, and in six years lt will be much less productive than it is now. Then they will have to send to many for fertilizers." What impressed itself deepest on the inlnd of Karl Fuhnnann, a student at Berlin university, was the lack of beer drinking In the American colleges and universities. "I liked your American nniversities very much," he said. "They are very well put together. But there Is one thing that tüey miss, and tbat beer. The students here can't have the enthusiasm we have in our Germán schools by drinking water. It Is beer that lnspired them. "The beer they have here is bad. Even what is called imported beer %n't Hke i-hat we have ther. Toe an't drink three glasses of the beer here without feellng tue effects. That is because there is more alcohol in lt. The imported beer has a lot of alcohol put in it so that it wlll st::nd the pasiage. And the cigars you have here! You can't buy a cis.'ir tbat is .;ny good for less than 2ö cents, and 1 wouldu't give a twenty cent cigar to my coachman." The Iunchoon was a happy afïalr with much humorous talking and some Ing. Tho Gerrnans evlilently tbink a great deal of Mr. gebulte. They gave him a bandeóme silver tea set and tnany compüments. Then they stood up, and, amid a babel of "Hoclis!" and CÜnking glasses. tboy drank bis health.