AUSTRIA’S PLIGHT

Evening Star, Issue 19804, 1 March 1928, Page 12

AUSTRIA’S PLIGHT

STATE LACKS SIDNEY FIGHT FOR RECOVERY STRUGGLING PEOPLE. One who travels From Switzerland through Austria to the Adriatic Sea and then up over the mountains into tiio hinterland soon learns that no socalled treaty of peace, whethcr it be Versailles, Trianon, St, Germain, or any other, has succeeded in pacifying the minds or satisfying the requirements of the people most affected (writes Adolf Ivoshland, in the San Francisco ‘Chronicle’). The people of Austria are very pool'. They are still struggling for existence alter nearly ten years of peace, such as it is. The mutilated old Empire, which is now a mere shadow of its former expanse, harbors within its boundaries the overwhelming beauty of the Alps, the incomparable Danube, and the charm of fine and interesting cities. True, there is now a homogeneous population, purely Germanic, within the boundaries of present Austria. However, the State lacks in essential

raw materials and lias not money enough to give its people a proper foundation for rebuilding and developing their shattered industries and their fortunes. The ordinary people are a sturdy, industrious folk who cling to the traditions of their faith, who. believe in work and sobriety and who meekly go their way, satisfied to have enough to exist. The cultured people of Austria are in a class by themselves. Nearly all arc good musicians. Almost every former army officer f have met plays exceedingly well piano or violin. All speak a number of _ languages. Their personal charm, their exquisite manners, their open-hearted ness and geniality are winsome qualities that capture the stranger. HIDING THE 111 POVERTY. While they have always been socially exclusive, once they do take a stranger into their homes their hospitality cannot be exceeded. However, in but rare instances docs a visitor find access to these homes. It must be one who is quite close to them in understanding, for they are proud and do not wish to show how poor and miserable they have become. 1 was in the home* of former high army officers and of the nobility, peopA who formerly lived in affluent circumstances, where there is not so much as a rug to cover the floors, where there are the merest necessary kitchen utensils, where the furniture is the simplest and cheapest and just enough for the members of the family; where all the old objects of art have disappeared with the heirlooms, one by on? going their way' in exchange for bread. ' ahesei people are undergoing a

.strenuous struggle in the etfort to rehabilitate themselves. _ The men may have boon and may still bo heroes, hut real heroines are the women. They scrub their floors, they secretly take in washing, which they do at night, and they do any and all kinds of hard labor to help their husbands make both ends meet. The pension money of a former Austrian army officer is but a meagre sum, and so they look to the most varied vocations for a livelihood. This is made more difficult for thorn by reason of the laws governing trade and professions, which require that a man may not exercise a certain business unless he has gone through the required number of years of apprenticeship, and this regardless of whether or not he may already have mastered the subject. For instance, I know one former lieutenant-colonel who is a master in the art of photography, besides being a graduate of a conservatory of music, a painter and etcher, a botanist and entymologist. His nearest approach to a living was through photography. He had to apprentice himself to an established studio for 100 Austrian shillings—that is, 15 dollars a month. 1 have seen him travel ninety miles on a bicycle over miserable country roads, or walk many miles in the 1 roasting i summer heat with a heavy camera on Ibis back on errands of business, all included in his job as apprentice. FIGHT AGAINST ODDS. He is not the exception. 1 know others glad to have a few hours’ workcarrying loads in the markets or selling tickets at some show, or clerking—in

fact, doing anything legitimate that comes their way. They do not lose caste for the reason that nearly all are in the same boat. It’s a. wonderful revelation of spirit, hut it is pitiful to see what effort is expended against tremendous odds. The Austrian cities are trying to revive something of the glories Of the past. The people are fond of good music, and one gels it at their operas and concerts. The great music and dramatic festival weeks at Salzburg inspire that charming city to new life during the summer, only to fall back into_ a somnolent winter. Vienna, boasts of one of the' finest operas in Europe, and the beauty of the city and the natural grace and attractiveness of the women of Vienna please the stranger and present a colorful life. Efforts to stimulate the business of the country are made through fairs and exhibits. The teapot revolution of July, which might easily have grown into unrestrained anarchy, has its aftermath in the debates of the Parliament and in the court trials of those accused of violence. The country population _ and the city population away from Vienna in time would have made a counterrevolution had Vienna fallen into the hands of the anarchists. The country is now organised through its “heiinwelir ” (home guards) to maintain order and to prevent an occurrence of such a chaotic state of affairs as befell them in Juhr.