Notes

Eight thousand pitiless brewery workers went on strike in Berlin whose populace became exposed to a beer famine. Frantic efforts were made by cafe, restaurant and beer hall proprietors to secure large quantities of Miinchner and Wurzburger from Bavaria and elsewhere to tide their beer-drinkers over tha crisis.

Lieutenant Thormann and Dr. Grandel, charged with plotting the murder of General von Seeckt (TIME, Jan. 28), were acquitted by a jury which stated that evidence of a serious con-spiracy was nonexistent. The German press, excepting the Nationalist journals, condemned the verdict. The Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung said that it "must cause painful amazement throughout the world." The year 1923 was written off the books of German banks with a sigh-- of relief. No dividends were voted and many annual statements appeared with merely technical balanced debits and credits. The banks were stated, however, to be in good shape; since the stabilization of the mark was effected, many were said to have large reserves of foreign currencies. An important feature of the statements issued is that all realty was written off. The Deutsche Bank, for example, valued its numerous buildings at approximately the same number of marks as in 1913; in those days the marks were each worth $8,000,000, today they are worth about 1/4 of a cent. A Potsdam confectioner displayed a picture of Frederick the Great in a show case. Police saw it. In they went and ordered the confectioner to remove it forthwith, stating that it was "a blot on the municipal landscape."