HUNGARY AS IT IS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 162, 3 April 1919, Page 6

HUNGARY AS IT IS

INSIDE IiLIMPSE OF STARVING CHAOTIC COUNTKY HOW BOLSHEVISM SPROUTED

First-hand information concerning conditions in Hungary were recently given to the London "Times" in the following article by nn Englishman, who was detiiined in that country during the war, and remained there for six weeks after the revolution occurred. Lifo in Budapest continued gay and thoughtless right up to the moment of Bulgaria's surrender. Up to that time the Hungarian people believed they had won the war, and it i-Ksravnted them not a little that their stiff-necked opponents were so loth to recognise the tuct. • • • The revolution came and went with the elemental force and swiftness of a cyclone. In the space of five hour? the whole fabric of the former Hap-jburs Monarchy was swept away, ihat it was attended )>v practically no bloodshed was owing to the fact thai: it took the form of a national tetivnl-lhe ieshral of Hungary's emancipation from the hated Austrian yoke. It was more like a Nice carnival than anything else. Hags and flowers were, everywhere. The war at last ended, and Hungary was at last free -these two facts sufficed! It .was fnitunate that this joy at the national liberation served to veil the bitterness of Hie national defeat. For three weeks after this the troops from the front poured through the capital in an unending stream. Halt-slarveti, dirty, and in rags, the soldiers had to make their way.. as best they could, to their homes. The demobilisation was mtite unorganised. The men arrived packed in the carri.i<res. hanging on all round them and huddled along the roofs. Though they had been travelling tor davs, there was no organisation to stiriih- them with food. Hundreds fell of from sheer exhaustion. .In a tunnel outside Budapest W deiul bodies were picked i;p in one day. It tjtbs a ead lwmeC °Wheii the rush was over trouble began in the country. The soldiers had retained their nrnis and betjan looting the villages for food. Then they went deerstalking in the rich we-erves of the ilacrvar aristocracy, and ehot Hie cows and 'sheep in the fields when they were tiroi of venison. Rome castles were burneil down, and still more were looted, bur. tbese were usually enses whore the landlord was an absentee. Where he was known and respected no harm wa< done In his property. In general, when I Irtt Kiinewy on December 15 the conditions in the country wore improving. Peasants' Views Decisive.

The attitude of the peasant will Hecido the fate of Hungary. But his mental outlook is one of the hardest taps to gauge. His thirst is lor the land, nnd there is no question that he will cet it. The nobles will not oppose him, and the Church has already thrown her vast lanes into the raoltingnot. But he has no conception of political issues. The "Nomzeti Tonnes" (i.e., National 4ssem'bly) send out members to popur iarise their Republican theories anions the peasants. One of these gentlemen told a friend of mine that, after spenfl. ing the better part of an evening talking to the village ciders on tho advantages of the Kepublic, an old man, after whispered consultation with his friends, got lip and thanked him for his trouble in coining, but-could he tell them who was poinf to lie King of the new Eepublic In° Budapest itself order was quickly restored. This was largely due to (he attitude of labour, which vas one of the surprises of the situation. At the time of the revolution the rabbi? attempted to loot some factories containing stores for the troops. The workmen met the intruders with rifle fire. One of the owners, when he had recovered from his astonishment, called the men together and thanked them. He was greeted with derision. The men pointed out to him that the factory now belonged to them, and it was quite natural they should defend their own property! Where the owner was popular the men usually offered to keep him on as manager, at a monthly salary; where he was disliked he was simpiv kicked out! It must be confessed that this method of appropriation can claim the advantage of directness and extreme simplicity. The same thing was observable on the trams, where the soldiers had taken the habit of jumping r.a nnd off without paying. So long as it was only tho company that was defrauded the tramwaymen remained indifferent, but as soon as the Revolution tcok place the company was disnoseoi of, and the tramwaymen insisted on stiict payment. Whatever may be the civic morality of this attitude on the part of the workmen, it has certainly been a main factor in th« preservation of order.

Mad Raising of Wages. But there is another aspect of the problem of (he working man. wlnch is much more ominous, and that is the un-heard-of wising of wages since the revolution. I use the term, "raising visedly, for it is not a "rise in wages, but an artificial forcing up of puces. The ordinary policeman, who used o earn JC6 a month, had his wages sudcenly raised to .£2S a month A police inspector I know of jumped from AJJ to .£720 a year! He himself described it. as madness. A leading physician told me he had to pay his chauffeur .£32 a month and provide him with a fourroomed flat into the- bargain! Afto months of waiting 1 managed tci seeme a ton of coal for the winter. The coal cost me &. but I had to pay a man M to cart it half a mile to my hous ? ! The Government-is spending millions in this extravagant fashion, and every one knows it cannot go on. Aβ it is, the unlimited production of paper money lms *o deteriorated its exuh.inje value Hint to-ilav. one receives .£1 for a Hundred crowns, instead of M. Til London it is impossible to change Hungarian notes, for' nobody,will touch them. _ Hungary, like most other countries, in sulTerim.' severely from the dearth of coal Factories hnve been shut down for months; the train service is reduced almost to the point of extinction; gas is allowed only at certain hours, and tho capital may bo plunged in darkness a.t any moment. The' que-tion of food is now becoming acute. The old Hungarian Mate prol;ablv contained sufficient food to provision the country till next years harvest. But the Czechs. Eun.nnmns, and Serbs, as tliev advance inlo Hungary, come into possession of various commodities, such is potatoes, grain, coal, rojlilif-stoek, etc Thus as Hungary diminishes, so does the possibility of her averting tho spectre of famine. I was assured that under present conditions it will be imfor Hungary to feed her population beyond Hie month of Jlarcn. Apathy and Bolshevism,

Perhaps the most striking feature of tho present situation is the apiithy and exhaustion that are apparent everywhere. In Hungary no one does any work. Iho peasant will not work. He worked, last year he says, from morning to nißlit, 'and everything he had was taken from him. 'I'lie disbanded soldier will nut work. He has been toiling, he euys. for four years for his country, and now it is up to his country to do something for him. The shopkeepers stand idle in their shops, for they, have nothing to sell. Ihe utmost efforts of Hie Government havo failed to produce even tho semblance ot an army, in spite of the high pay offered. The land, the people, even the very animals, are tired out. Apathy and exhaustion are everywhere. It will be apparent from (he above description that Bolshevism has already penetrated into Hungary It is a bloodless Bolshevism, but none the less sinister on that necount. It is bloodless only because it is unopposed. Hungary is 100 exhausted to oppose anything, lint the methods of the Bolshevist are creeping, in. Before I left Budapest they had ho-iin tho system of forced donations. Carls went from door to door collecting food for tho ncedlv soldiers. Ofhcmls visited every Hat collecting coles.. Other officials followed to requisition your spare bedroom, it you had one.