Joseph Altekoester letter to Bernard Rustemeyer - October 28, 1923

Transcript

Hamm October 28, 1923 Mr. Bernhard Rustemeier in Loose Creek B. M. Osage Co. Mo. Nord Amerika My Dear Loyal Neighbor, Bernard Rustemeier! After much procrastination I am finally getting around to writing to you about a few things. Several years ago, I came across your letter to my brother Heinrich in the rest home and also saw a picture of you and your dear wife. This brought to mind the days of my childhood, when we lived so gedillisch happily together with the Rustemeyer family. The good relationship that we had as neighbors cannot be praised enough I still recall so clearly the hours when we teamed up and together hauled wood out of the forest of Mr. Hildebrandes. And remember one day how we took my deceased mother's cooked chicken and ate it in the woods. I remember clearly when you bade my mother farewell at her sickbed. We never have had neighbors such as the Rustemeier family been. The current neighbor to your birthplace put on a new roof last summer. I am a secretary with the railroad and don't get to Koerbecke very often, but every time I go there I am reminded of the Rustemeier family, and my brother and I speak of you. I cannot adequately describe how drastically the people and the times have chafed since you left. Contented community life in Germany is a thing of the past. The only money we have is rapidly devalued, which plunges us into misery every day. I started a letter to your brother Joseph which I will mail in a few days. Its contents will certainly be of interest to you, and I ask you to visit Joseph and read the letter. I wrote to him about a year and a half ago but have received no answer. My eighteen year old son, and my twelve year old daughter were thinking that perhaps your brother died in the meantime. I have only the two grown children besides three who died in infancy. In 86-89 I learned the wheelwright trade in Neheim. From 92 t0 93 I was a soldier with infantry regiment No. 7, where I became ill and was discharged. In 95 I received the ....already as not ... .... During the winter of 95-96 I was a bailiff in Wesel. On March 17, 1896 I stepped in as an apprentice Lademeister with the streetcar line. After I took an exam on Lademeister following ten monthly training sessions I became statsma...Lademeister in 98. The next year I became Lademeister supervisor and, after that, the secretary of the streetcar line. It cost me dearly but with God's help I reached my goal. Had the war not come along, I would be sitting pretty today. In spite of my thriftiness and Stre...tuns I am having a bitter struggle with worry about the food supply. I always say, in answer to the question asked by myself and suffering people, that the one who has control of a landed estate need not worry about food. The following will illustrate how little German agriculture in unoccupied territory gives to the inhabitants of the occupied industrial section. Some four or five weeks ago, I wrote to my brother Anton's oldest son, about 26-28 years of age, and asked him to be so kind as to obtain for me 10 bte of potatoes. In the event that they themselves did not have that many to spare, he should approach my brother Franz, who came through the whole town anyway and who in any case would be helpful to him and deliver this quantity. I had searched the markets throughout my associate who lives in Koerbecke and works her in Hamm, and heard by word of mouth that the potatoes appear bad. I could not get any. I leave it to you to discern what kind of an answer this is or how this is of benefit to us. But I have to note that my brother Anton has bought so much land that he has had, for about 10-15 years, three heavy horses, and behind the house towards Rumps, opposite the garden, a huge herd of cattle. But I ask you not to write anything about this to Koerbecke. Lord, forgive them; for they know not what they do. A well known adage has it that "the more the devil has, the more he wants." But, for God's sake, don't read that to mean that my brother Anton and his family are some kind of devil. I let people be as they are. The German economy has the trumps in the hand, and will deal with him too with every trick in the book. Koerbecke has changed dramatically. I have already been here in Hamm, between Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund, for over 28 years, and therefore right in the middle of the occupied Jewish district, where 15 million people live in one group. With that, I will close. Please greet your loved one, whom I don't know, but especially your brother. Hopefully you and they are still hale and hearty. Hoping that, just like you, I perhaps will soon receive a letter, I remain with many German greetings, the Joseph Altekoester Family in Hamm, Westphalia, Maerkische Str. 6 Germany Pardon my writing paper. Hard times teach thrift. Commerce and Industry Today's Economic Figures Dollar (official) - 64,837,500 M[ark] 1 Goldmark (1 Dollar through 4,2). - 15,437,500,000 M Goldzollaufgeld until 23 October. - 93,599,999,900 M 1 Goldzollmark - 936,000,000 M Silver - 1,000,000,000 M National bank discound - 90% Notes in circulation - 28,228,815,494,419,000 Debt as of 30 September - 46,844 Billion Postcards, domestic, as of October 20 - 2,000,000 M Postcards, foreign, as of October 20. - 4,000,000 M Letters, domestic, as of October 20.. 4,000,000 M Letters, foreign as of Oct 20 - 10,000,000 M Performenverkehrindex as of October 25 - 1,500,000,000 M Dealing in Goods index as of Oct 25 - 3,000,000,000 Wholesale index as of Oct 23 - 14,600,000,000 Cost of Living index as of Oct 22 - 3,045,000,000 Local phone call - 50,000,000 Bookseller index as of Oct. 25 - 16,000,000,000 Book publisher inder (?) as of Oct 24 - 600,000,000 Land Tax index 137,000,000 Medicin Tax index as of Oct 20 in the besieged district - 38,700,000 % Kleinhandelsmultiplikator (revised daily). - 16,000,000,000 National currency conversion tax as of Oct 25. - 15,000,000,000 Electricity for lights and power (1 kilowatt) and Gas (1 stere): reckoned at day's end on the basis of the Goldmark. BERLIN STOCK MARKET REPORT - Berlin, 26 Okt. (Telegr.) After a long period of continually stronger gains, which was produced mainly because the market value was adjusted for inflation, unpleasant political conditions began to exert a bigger influence on the structuring of the stock market. The market was unsteady, but this initially resulted in improvement especially for the securities that were standing relatively low in the exchange. Also, specific special securities such as Scheidemantel, Siemens & Halste Nordd, Wool, and Basalt still rose higher than 300 billion. On the other hand, heavy mentanwerte and other leading industry values had to take heavy losses. However they did not close over 300 billion and for the most part stayed considerably under that figure. Activity was slow. The predominant reluctance to buy went on to cause a general fall in the market, and so the initial gains could not be established everywhere. Foreign currency was predominantly established by yesterday's standing, so that the allocation for the leading places was reckoned at 20% less than yesterday. BERLIN PRODUCTION REPORT --S Berlin, October 26. In the goods market, enterprise was again in narrow straits, and the domestic demand remained low. There is not much to report about individual articles in these circumstances. There is an ongoing heavy demand for rye flour and less for wheat flour. This was the chief basis for a stronger demand for Rye and less interest in wheat. For the first time, the prices were established on a stable basis and saw little change.