Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-03

Bohenlians TO have their language co-ordin-
ate with that of the Germans. The Ger
mans protest and fils petitions against the
| law. The ministry. probably to prevent
dilatory proceedings propose that only one
of these petitions be read and printed. Such
| a motion was made in the reichsrath No
vcmber "a. Whereupon there began a
scene of disorder and violence unparalleled
| in the history of modern legislative bodies.
Surely this is no good ground for the dis
rrption of a great empire. -
The truth is tflht the real reasons for the
scenes of the past week lie deep down IN
| the very nature OF the Austrian empire.
The popular IDEA Of that empire is a very
vogue one. Not one educated man in ten
can tell what peoples constitute the bulk
! Of the popnla ton. In the first place the
empire is really the Austro-Hungarian en-
| pire and consists of the Austrian empire
| ard the Hungarian monarchy. Franz Jo--
seph being both Emperor Of Austria and
King of Hungary: -
. Much Mixed.
The population of the Austrian empire is
made up not chiefly of Germans. but of
Slavs The Germans constitute not more
| than 40 per cent of the population, while
| the Slavs make up 30 per cent. the other
| 10 per cent being Romantic peoples italians
and others). Hungary similarly has only
| IL per cent of Germans. The Hungarians
| or Masyars pronounced Mahdyars), as
| they cali themselves make 30 per cent of
! ire GODuIdtlOH, NIlle Tue SltNS toHSlitutc
| % per cent.
| The trouble at present is between the
! Austrian Germans and Slavs. Hungary
peoplCs being only indirectly involved. Be
| sides these races. there are in both Austria
| and Hungary Jews, Gipsies. Armenians. etc.
| But for the population of the whole Aus
| tro- HUNGARIAN empire 1T will be seen una,
there are four great divisionS-SlaVs. Ger
mans, Magyars and Romantics. Now. one
thing that most of us do not realize about
! iris empire is that the differences between
| these peoples are fundamental and vital.
T have been in each Of the four dlHerent
"a nitals of these four reopleS-frasue' VI
erna Ruda Pesth and Triast-and each one
WAS a distinct surprise to me-
T went first to Prague. coming there
| from Germany. My idea of the CITY was
that 1t was an interesting old place. win
st.me lingering remnants of the times wheh
At was really Pohen1ian. To my astohisn-
| nent-and const erratfon-l found ina. IL
| was today Bohemian In every way. 1 ne
hotels and houses had Bohemian names
| the streets had Bohemian names alone. the
| papers were in Bohemian. the people talked
bohemian almost entirely. and only rareiy
| did I hear German spoken or suggested IN
any way The people were extremely
bright and vivarious. differing from the
| Germans in nearly every respect. In fact
| the whole city was utterly un-German me
[ real race to which the people belonged !
found out one day accidentally. L was
looking for a street, which on my German
map was called "Eisenstasse.' Suddenly
ran upon a street that bore double name
which ] recognized as being almost 1denti-
| cal with two words in another language
/ knew In that other language these two
words meant Iron street. Looking on
my map. I saw that "Eisenstasse' and
"Iron street" were really the same. And
the other language by which 1 had identi-
fled the name was Russian.
German Spoken.
Then going to Vienna expected from my
;,,D ,.oer tn find a II
| of races Instead found that the whole
city was almost entirely German. except
| for the lively character and disposition of
| the people At Buda Pesth / did not know
what to expect What really found, how
ever. was city more Hungarian than
Vienna was German or Prague bohemian.
In Prague nearly everybody could speak
German. while in Buda Pesth only a limit
ed portion of the people knew a word of
German. I often could not find my way
| on account of not speaking Hungarian. In
| the book stores and news stands even the
German publications formed only very
small element Triest I thought would be
German. as it seemed to have a German
name. AS a matter of fact I had more
difficulty in getting along in Triest than
did in either Prague or Ruda Pesth, be-
cause in Triest a person who could speak
German was rare exception. Every
thing was Italian. Storekeepers could not
speak German and even my Ia ndlord knew
| but little of that language. The people
We're Italians through and through, as
much Italians as the Venetians or Floren-
| tines The city was even built in the close
concentrated style Of Italian cities, many
streets being simply a succession of mar
row staircaSeS up hill.
Now the present political relations of
these four races is about this: In Hungary
the races are comparatively well united
and there are no great internal dissensions
but between Hungary and Austria there
are continual discussions. Few people real
hny III
| the other peoples Of Europe. For my own
part, l always supposed that the Magyars
! We're branch of the Slav race like the
Poles and Russians and Bohemians, and
while in Buda Pesth 1 tried to find some
resemblance between the Hungarian lam
guage and that of Bohemia and Russia
but l could not find any. And it was no
wonder, for 1 learned that the Hungarians
were not Slavs they were not even Indo-
ArYans. but were a branch of the Mongo-
| mans They are kin to the Chinese, Siam
csc Tartars and. other similar peoples.
Their nearests relatives in language are the
Turks. who are also Mongolians So diff
1erent are theI Hungarians and Slavs. not
only In origin, but, also in other ways, that
IN the Hungarian revolution of 1913 the
siavs opposed the revolution and fought
against Hungary. even the Croatians: who
| i've IN Hungary siding with the Magyars'
enemies. -"
The MaRyars.
AS matter, Of fact, however, the Mag
vars are today essentially Europeans. In
| deed. Hungary is IN some respects the most
progressive part 6f the Austro- Hungarian
empire. 1t produces most Of the empires
grain. four-ffths of its wine and great
quantities of minerals. Its material
development has been very rapid in many
ways. Buda Pesth is a most delightful
city. far ahead Of Vienna, in the opinion
OF many travellers, 1t being essentially new
ana up to date. In one respect 1t stands
| without rival on the continent. The peo-
pie Of Paris. Berlin, Vienna, st. Petersburg
and other big European cities live In huge
apartment houses. house that is occupied
by only one family being very rare But In
Buda Pesth you see succession of broad,