sses, you find notices that forbid
children to play in the Hof, and command people not to loiter or to
make any noise on the stairs. Carpet-beating and shaking, which is
constantly and vigorously carried on, is only allowed on certain days
of the week and at certain hours. When there is a house porter he is
not as important and conspicuous as the French concierge. In my
experience he has usually gone out and thoughtfully left the front
door ajar. He is not a universal institution even in Berlin.

Taxes vary in different parts of Germany. In Saxony a man spending
L500 a year pays altogether L60 for Income tax, Municipal rates,
Water, School, and Church rates. In Berlin the Income tax is not an
Imperial (Reichs) tax, but a _Landes_ tax, and amounts to L15 on an
income of L500. Smaller incomes pay less and larger ones more, in
proportion varying from about 2 to 4 per cent. Besides this _Staats_
tax there is a municipal tax of exactly the same amount in Berlin and
Charlottenberg. But there are towns in Prussia where it is less;
others, mostly in the Western Provinces, where it is more,
considerably more in some cases. The water rate is paid by the house
owners, and the tenant pays it in his rent. There are no school taxes.
The church tax is compulsory on members of the _Landeskirche_. When a
man has no capital his income tax is levied on his yearly expenses;
but the man whose income is derived from capital pays a higher tax
than the man who has none. The German, too, pays a great deal to the
State indirectly; for nearly everything he requires is taxed. But the
three things he loves best, tobacco, beer, and music, he gets
cheap--cheaper than he can in a Free Trade country; so he pays for
everything else as best he can, and tries to look pleasant. "But the
burden is almost more than we can bear," said one thoughtful German to
me when I told him how greatly English people admired their municipal
enterprise, and the admirable provision made in Berlin for the very
poor.

Last time I went to Germany I actually made the acquaintance of one
German who did not smoke, and on various occasions I was in the
society of others who did not smoke for some hours. In the Berlin
tramcars smoking is strictly forbidden, but I did not observe that
this rule was strictly enforced. In fact, my attention was drawn to it
one day by finding my neighbour's cigar unpleasantly strong. One
cigar in a tramcar, however, is nothing at all, and should not