New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-01-10
THE NEW VIENNA.
HOW TIE ANNEXATION OF TIE SubChD'
WAS ACCOMPLISHED.

The Austrian capital has taken leai o :.
Chicago's book 1t has to-day accohl eno"
long contemplated act Of territorial enlarsen'n'
| T. has ANNEXED its various suburbs until It's area
is more than three times greater thah IL vac
Yesterday the city covered fifty-lve square kilo.
metres to-day it covers l7S square Kilometres ""1
is half as large as London, more than TWICE. 10
large as Paris, and almost three tunes oie sn'
of Berlin It's population is also considerably III
crcascd though not I'm equal ratio with It's are''
The additional population secured by trf''ori",
enlargement is about 100000, making the 'o'.i
in the city to-day about 100000. In the oiu
city there were ten districts; IN the ahheAe"
portion there were forty-nine suburban comm"n'S'
Some Of these were large and prosperous to""'
and others were favorte resorts in the Suh'ei-
| time of excursion parties and pleasureSeehers
| Chief among them were IIcrnals, Doebling, Ot-
| tallring, lietzing, Dornbach, lletzendori anu
Blumgaren. The palace and park OF ochoeii-
brunn are now within the city limits, ana 30 is
the summer palace of the Archbishop of Vienna az
St Veit The Kahlcnbcrg and Leopoldsoerg nave
DISC been taken into the city.
The old Excise wall has not yet been demolished
entirely but the last remains of it will soon dis
orpear in connection with the works for the new
Metropolitan railways This wall, which encom-
nassed the city and was frontcd with narrow
bands of Turkish and Hungarian raiders. The
peopIe Of Vienna had not yet recovered from the
alarm caused by the Ottomans in 1888 when Black
Nustapha and his army besicged the city Tor
| three months. As bit Of poetic justice that
noted chcftans skull and the crimson SILK rope
with which he was srangcd are now the property
OF the city and form conspicuous display IN the
Nuricpal Museum The original mud wall was
built IN sixteen days, the Burgomaster and all
| ablc-bodicd men in the town working on II nlght
| and day Prince Eugene OF Savoy was at that
time Commandment of Vienna, and he was inclined
TO look upon the work with some contempt. But
at any rate IL had me eject OF inspiring the
citizens with confidence. and with ieehh2 OF
security. About thirty-iyc years later ms muo
wall was replaced by the solid stone structure
| which has stood until the present time. Even
! tbi, never amounted TO anything for defensive
purposes. I'm 1906 and in 1909 1t presented
scarcely any obstacle TO the French invasion.
Perhaps its most important part in military opera
ton. was played during the revolution OF 1898.
At that time the revoutionists were inside the
city. and they made effective use of the wall Ill
their struggle to keep the troops out The lat
ter however. succeeded at last in forcing their way
into tine city through the openings in the wall az
which excise duties have been collected ever since
| the wall was built.
The new order of things in the capital has gone
into effect without much ceremony IL was III
tended to mark the occasion with great puphc
demonstration in honor Of the Emperor, TO whose
energetic promotion the whole reform is due. IL
was he who planned the enlargement of the city
| and carried the scheme through in spite OF the
vehement opposition of nearly everybody In inc
suburbs which have been annexed But he mas
% singular dislike OF publicity, and it was made
| tim
not bc pleasing 10 him. Therefore it was aban-
doncd The new order Of things, the actual ces-
.ltion of tie excise duties at the old wall, came
into force at midnight last night Some time
before that hour throngs of sightSecrs began 20
Gather about all the eatcways IN the wall and
long lines of market carts were III waiting for the
| n on,cnt when they could pass through without
paving toll These excise duties have always been
hated Ivy the people. more perhaps for the prin-
cipc Of the thing and the vcXa,ion caused by
| having 10 pay II than for the actual amount OF
the tan Every vehicle drawn b" one horse was
taxed four krcutzcrs. and every one drawn by
two horses eight krcutzrrs All the principal
articles Of food brought into the city some fifty
four in number. were also taxed. The officials
At the gate. as a rule. played the parts of in
qu,stors ard subjected market carts and pedler'
with baskets TO close scrutiny Fines were int.
|
,rtirlrs in secretly. Certain taxes will still
he levied at the boundaries of the enlarged city.
| but only on nine articles, ,he chief of which are
meat beer and vine
The moment the hour Of midnight struck
| -rcat shout Of rejoicing went mp from all the
crowd that had Gathered The customs officers
at once retired from their pests aud let the wait
! ng train of carriages, carts and t1mcars pass
! in free. Nm extra force of mounted police were IN
| attendance e. maintain order. but their services
| were not rcedcd. Indeed. they were themselves
responsible for the only disturbance that occurred
! This Was where they arrested man for shouting
! ont that everything in Vienna was now going 70
cost uorc When lie crowd saw him arrested FOR
! This free and not untrrthfu expression of opinion
! they REGARDED him rs martyr and took him up ana
| repeated his words thousand fold. In fact to-
day that is the almost universal comment upon
the situation. and far rs the annexed district
is concerned it is very largely true. Hitherto
these suburbs were entirely free from excise duties
on articles brought in from the surrounding
| country. Now they will have 10 pay taxes
| nine of the principal articles OF consumption.
! Nor will the residents of the old part of the
city cain much If anything, since the articles on
! which they have been paying toll did not to any
! ct nsidcrablc extent come from the annexed
suburbs, but from the country beyond The
omnibus and tramway companies will of course
gain by the abolition of tolls, and 90 will many
people who travel from part of the city to
another in cabs and clriageS The general
opinion is however, that the consolidation of all
| the metropolitan boroughs into one municipality
will have a beneficial effect. Ard ore point which
must not ~ overlooked and which is by no means
Insignificant is this That it is very pleasing to
the pride Of the Ncncse to have their city ranked
in statistical tables rs 50 much larger and more
populous than before. There is even among
European capitals the same jealousy regarding size
that is rcpucd to exist among some American
| cities