The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-28
vIENNA's CURIOUS TAX.
The "SpcrrgeId" works Almost Like
Curfew-u lis Costly 10 Open Doors
nj Night.
From the London Express.

Curfew-It Is Costly 10 Open Doors
mt Night.
From the London Express.
Vienna, Dec 14.--If English towns.
like Vienna, paid tribute to walk
abroad after nightfali the reign of the
janitor would be short.
Vienna has a form of personal import
| duty unduplicated in any other city in
the world. 1t Is the "spergeld," or
door opening tax. Incredible as it may
seem, the entire population Of Vienna,
| number upward of 100000, are inn
prisoned in their own homes between
the hours of 10 p. IN. and a. m. They
can only obtain access TO or egress
from their houses by paying at least
twopence to the janitor, or "house
MASTER as the viennese style him.
Vienna is built on the fiat system.
Mulionaires' and working classes alike
| live in dwellings of this kind. The
heart Of the city Is the most fashion,
able, and fancy prices are demanded
for living quarters. landlord may
| get as much as ESQ year for four
| rooms on the fifth floor.
AS a rule the fiat houses have five or
six floors, with four fats on each floor.
mus III is not unusual TO ma l0U per-
| sons living under one roof.
| For all these flats there Is one COM
mon entrance from the street. and after
10 y. m. this door Is bolted and barred.
| Persons passing in or out after 10 p. m.
must pay twopence until midnight and
| fourpence from that hour until a IN.
| An ExssperatinR Tax.
This exasperating impost must be
| paid every time one passes through
| the doorway, without exception. In a
thousand and one ways the system
| makes itself unpleasant in the ex-
| treme. If a man has occasion to go
in and out half a dozen times after
| 10 p. m, 1t costs him shilling.
IL you dine with a friend and stay
after the hour for closing. you must
| pay twopence to get out of his house
! and twopence more to get into your
own. If you receive a telegram dur
| ing the night, 1t costs twopence for
the telegraph boy to enter. If you go
out to post letter 1t costs twopence
to reach the open air and the same
amount to return.
Naturally, the "house master" Is the
| despot of Vienna. All persons bow to
his will. The theaters begin at z or
| 1880, that playgoers who have spent
from three to ten shillings for their
seats may escape the house masters
lOlis ne SlTtSlS OI fltUIld are dS
| quiet as those of provincial town
after $3.50 o'clock. Blame the house
master.
Persons usually liberal in other re-
spects have strong natural aversion
to paying this irritating but unavoid-
able tax. Those who go out to dine
for guinea will hurry home before 10
o'clock merely to avoid 1t.
The house master has what many
raI "a Ia
is officially intrusted with the task of
collecting and keeping duplicate copies
of the forms on which every individ-
ual in the house must report to the
police his age, birthplace, and religion,
his exact occupation and other per-
sonal details which the Austrian au>
thorities insist upon knowing.
The House Spy.
But the knowledge OF the house mas
ter does not end here. From the little
guard room which he occupies at the
foot Of the stairs he sees every one
who goes in and out from morning
until night. He invariably ascertains
with astonishing accuracy the amount
of each tenants income, the features
of his family life and what kind of
visitors call upon him.
His far-reaching power enables him
to terrorize every servant in the
house into entering his Intelligence
department. Thus he spies on the in
nermost life of the unhappy subjects
in his FIVE hoored kingdom. A tenant
who habitually comes home after 10
o'clock is denounced to his neighbors
as a dissipated vagabond while a ten
ant who never stirs abroad after the
front door is closed is ridiculous as
man who looks twice at twopence
In some cases the house master is
f..I
English friend of mine found to his
cost. since he was obliged to move
from an apartment that he particu-
larly liked, and which was best suited
to his purposes, because he could not
venture TO speak with the least sharp.
ness to the man at the door. even
though he was remiss in his duties.
The reason was that the fiathouse was
owned by one of the railways which
belong to the state. This fact constl-
tuted the house master of my friends
fiat a state official to insult whom In
Vienna Is a very serious offense. A
repTimand for delaying letters at the
door would be construed into an in
suit, and as the Englishman could not
stand delay and did not want to get
into trouble, he had to move his be-
longings elsewhere at some expense
That particular tram line was owned
by the state.
There are thousands OF people IN
Vienna who live In such terror Of their
house master that they never make
an apple tart without giving him half
OF IL.
Some day history will record the
efforts Of the man (yet to appear who
led the Viennese out Of bondage and
gave them-lntch keysl
-s-e~s--
"A News Average. -Hustling Edi-
tor--"FIow many murders did that man