AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2448, 29 April 1915, Page 3

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

THE PRESENT CONDITION PRAGUE IN TIME OF WAR Prague, February 7. I found the Bohemian capital in a considerable bustle, because the 6econd portion of tho Landsturm had just been called up and gone into barraoks, after having had to undergo their medical examination and weeding-out at tho end of last year. The youngest—that is, men between twenty-four and twentyseven—havo had to go into barracks first. Those between twenty-eight and thirty were sent a week ago, and tho oldest men—those between thirty-one and thirty-six—will take the field on February 15 throughout Austria, the Hungarians joining '» fortnight later. In Prague, as in Budapest, a civic guard has been enrolled to assist the polios, or rather reinforoe them, their ranks being depleted by so many having gone to the front. Here the civic guards are unarmed, having only an armlet to distinguish them from ordinary civilians. The Hungarian guards in Budapest, however, were armed with a gun and a bayonet, and thus equipped, wearing ordinary overcoats and bowler hats, they presented a sufficiently droll appearance when mounting guard in front of public buildings. Food is cheaper here than in the south of Austria, and it is possible to dine in a very good restaurant for Kr.1.50, with a remarkably largo choice of dishes, very well served, and very good and cheap light wines, all which does not look like scarcity of food. One evening I was dining at the same table as a very young officer, to whom I had an introduction. I began to speak to him about the number of savings banks which I |had notice in Prague, more than in any other part of Austria.

The Gzeoh Troops, "Yes," he said, "but it is mostly tho Germans who save, and not the Bohemians. There are 25,000 Germann her© out of a population of 600,000. . To prove the thriftinesa and clannishness of the German population he instanced a small manufacturing town in Bohemia, with an entirely or almost entirely German population, where various forms of saving existed and flourished which are apparently unknown in other parts of the country. After having thus broken the ice I ventured to question the officer abut ito ytn>!stent_ rumour concerning the lack .of discipline of the Czech troops. "Yes," he said, "we Germans (ha meant ? German-speaking Austrians), "have not always the very easiest task when we are in charge of regiments mainly composed of Slavs. After what has happened one wonders what some of these troops will do when they-come in touch with the enbmy." "Is it true," I asked, "that whole regiments have had to be punished for insubordination? And is it true that in the case of one regiment they really did slfoot every tenth man in order to make an example of it?" "Yes," he admitted, "that did happen in the case of the 111 th Regiment, and :in two other infantry regiments something similar happened recently, so the regiments were dispatched to the south of Hungary as a punishment. They'were the 1 6th and the 26th.". ."What happened?" I asked. "At a certain moment a subaltern unfurled a red flag, with an inscription in Czech: 'Have we any right to fight against our Russian brothers ?" and it said that a great many soldiers joined in the demonstration. They' did not shout or make any noise, but none tho less you could see they sympathised."

The National Liberal Club. Perhaps the most interesting conver-. sation which I had with anyone in Aus-tria-HungaryV however, Was: with the editor of a Prague paper, a man who had spent two years in London, where he acted as correspondent for a Viennese journal. During his stay in London he told me that he was continually in and out of the National Liberal Club, many of whose members he named, including one former Cabinet Minister. _ He had evidently listened very attentively to the conversations going on in this club, which, of course, he took to be representative of English public opinion* Now, the National Liberal Club, I believe, used to have more German and Austrian members than any other London club, and if the conversations which these Germans and Austrians overheard there are considered by them as much more representative and much more important than they really are this'is no matter for surprise. It may, however, tend to explain some of the views almost universally held by both Germans and Austrians concerning England, views which the course of events is falsifying. This journalist admitted that he was handsomely treated by tho members of the National Liberal Club, many of whom Were great friends of his. Nevertheless, he could not have spoken of them with greater contempt than he did. "All they care for," he said, ''is to find positions for themselves or their relations —easy jobs. You may be sure," he added, "that not many of them are no,w to be found in the trenches. They are worse than the Jews, and have no more patriotism than the gipsies." "What do you think will be the result of this war?" I askeii. "Together with Germany wo shall smash England."

"Do you really believe that?" I said. "I do)" he replied. "The voluntary system is not doing as well as the English, assert. Had' they ordered compulsory service six months ago they might by now have had an army which' would have threatened the German lines, but fortunately for us they have not done so, and ail their colonial troops they require for Egypt. Germany getting Turkey into the war was a strategio gain. We have 1 eaten England in diplomacy, and we beat her on the battlefield. Believe me, I know England better than you do, and I know her Government, and her laws are not made at-Westminster but in the National Liberal Club. I learned more in that club about the rottenness of her Army and Navy than if I had been in the War Office or the Admiralty." These > views have at any rate this much of interest, in that they are widely received in Austria.

Bleeding to Death. Prague, 1 may say, and Bohemia in general, have had to receive a great many refugees, especially from Galicia. Jews in kaftans are to be seen everywhere, their ca'rap being, as in Graz, 6omowhero outside the town. Attempts have been made to employ some of these Galician refugees as metal and textile workers, in order to take the place of some of the many men called up for the army. ( They were not a success, however, and now no more of them are being taken in Prague, especially as thoj bring so much disease with them that it was feared they might infect some of the few skilled factory workers still remaining. ' Metal and textile factories are fully occupied, and it .goes without saying that the Skoda factories at Pilsen, where the motor cannon No. 35 is made, are very busy. On the other hand, many glassworks, potteries, and cement works are either doing nothing at all or working very short time, and with only a lew hands. In Prague, as in other Austro-Hungariaai towns which I lmve been visiting, there aro military hospitals everywhere, and all seem full. In other words, Austria and Hungary are hloeding to death.