Wichita eagle., 1889-12-27
A PROFITABLE CHARITY.
CHEAP RESTAURANTS FOR THE
POOR OF AusTRiA'S CAPITAL

Prices Paid and the Custonms-How
the Places Arc Bun.
What Mrs Frank Snoad described as {
burning need Of the working classes in Lon
don, and what has been put into practice, as
a solitary experiment. in Battersea, has ex-
listed in Vienna on an elaborate scale for not
less than seventeen years, and is just now un-
dergoing further expansion.
An association, under the patronage Of the
Empress Elisabeth, called Erster Wiener
| Volkskuchen- Verein. opened in 1873 a CEN
| trail cooking kitchen for the benefit of the
| poorer classes 1t has now Eve such kitchens
in different districts Of the city. Several
district associations, founded later on the
same principle, have established five more
such kitchens. among them one where food Ia
| cooked according to the jewish rites, SO that
altogether ten cooking kitchens exist at the
| present moment in this capital The parent
| institution recently transferred its offices and
one of its kitchens to spacious building Of
| Its own, erected at the cost of 40, 900 forms,
| while the other kitchens and eating houses
| are still in hired premises
METHOD OF ORGANIZATION.
These kitchens are distinct from the soup
kitchens, OF which we have many in Vienna.
| As to these it is unnecessary to say more than
that soup, tea, coffee and bread are served
| morning and evening at fixed prices. Sew
eral million cups of tea are thus yearly sold,
and the institution, which is worked by the
Soup Kitchen association, has been self sup
porting from the beginning.
The Wiener Volkskuchen Verein has S7S
life members Tor founders), who gave 500
forms each; ordinary members subscribe
yearly between and S forms @ to 10 shill-
ings). The 10000 forms spent on tie new
building were provided in commemoration
of the emperor's jubilee of forty years' reign.
The kitchen appointments are provided from
the founders donations, and the association
requires no monetary help to carry it on; in
deed, it even makes a small profit, which
amounted in the year 1858 to ], S23 forms
about e1S2). This surplus will be used in
increasing the quantity of meat and dainties
supplied to the customers The money turned
over in 1888 was not less than 400, 900 forms
(e4O, 1000, and this sum, as all the others ]
shall use, refers only to the five kitchens kept
by the Erster Wiener Volkskuchsn Verein.
so that the total must be doubled if applied
to all the kitchens existing in Vienna.
The association is under the management
of committee Of ladies and gentlemen.
Meals are served in each of the kitchens three
times day-from to S in the morning,
from half-past II till 2, and from till half
past in the evening On each occasion two
lady members Of the committee, or two MEM
bers Of supporting committee" of young
ladies, can be seen in the kitchen during the
whole time it is open. One Of the ladies sells
tickets, without which no customer can be
served; while the other lady superintends the
serving out Of the dishes, corresponding to
the tickets, by the paid servants Of the asso-
citation. There are tickets for one kreuzer
equal to the fifth part of a penny, for which
ten decigrams Of good bread can be bought;
there are tickets for three kreuzers (the price
of plate of soup, for four kreuzers tthe
price Of plate of vegetables, for nine krea,-
GERS tthe price of a portion of meat, with
vegetables, and for eight kreuzers the price
of a portion of ''mehlspeisen'1. The greatest
sum any visitor can spend in kitchen at
dinner time is twenty-five heuzers -four
pence farthing, as the menu for each day
consists Of soup, meat with vegetables, joints
and sweets; but 1t has never occurred that
customer has required two sorts Of meat, a.
the best appetite can be satisfied with one.
FEEDING 10000 EACH DAT.
The average cost of q dinner at these
kitchens is eighteen heuzers Nhreepence
three farthings,, including bread; and the
average cost Of a supper IS ten kreuxers
twopence), and for that . piece Of meat, |
with vegetables, left from dinner, can be
had, es Of fresh cooked dishes only vegetable !
soup is served in the evening, besides tea and
bread, as at breakfast In the morning What !
variety of dishes, however, is in the yearly |
menu of the association A calendar is pub
ished, giving the four dishes prepared for |
dinner for each day Of the year. Not less
than fifteen kinds Of soup, sixteen different |
vegetables, fifteen kinds Of ordinary meat,
five Of roast meat, two of fish, six OF salads,
and twenty-nine of "Mehlspeisen," are men
toned in this list, az well as in tho hist of re
cipes published by the association for the use
of its own cooks and Of those who voluntarily
assist in the cooking in order to learn the art.
The portions are regulated by weight and
measure, and care is taken that the food
shall be as savory, palatable, nouishing and
wholesome a. can be found on Tho table ot
any middle class family. There il no broken
meat and no drippings from restaurants on
the houses Of the rich, as the cooking htch-
ems of the poor can afford to buy good art
ticle in the cheapest market.
Nearly 5000 persons sit down to dinner
every day in the five kitchens of the Central
association aud 5,0eo more In the other kitch-
ems. and nobody is able to distinguish between
the workman who pays for his dinner out OF
his earnings and the poor student or needy
man, woman or child who are given the
tickets by the Vienna burgomaster, the As
sociation for the Relief OF Students, the So
ciety for the Feeding Of Hungry School Chill
dren, or by some benevolent private fndt
vidual 1t Is becoming the fashion in Vienna
to give aims in the form of tickets for the
VolkskucheD instead Of in money Whoever
snters one OF the kitchens must be either pro
vided with ticket or must buT 1t, and be
can then sit DOWN in q warm and well venti-
ated room, al clean table and be treated in
} manner that can give him no feeling Of
humiliation. Whoever likes to take home
food In his own vessels can do SO three times
day. The number of kitchens is constantly
SO that the poorer districts will
'oon have two OF three eech.-Visana Letter
"a London Standard
Literal.