Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-04
VIENNA IS LEARNING
TRUTKABOUT WAR.
Austrian Leaders Preferred
Conflict With Russia to
Revolution.
MILAN ADVICES TELL
OF ABUSE OF SLAVS
High Living Cost and Poor Housing
Conditions Cause Mutterings of
Rebellion, It Is Said.
Foreign Correspondence Of The Star.

Foreign Correspondents Of The Star.
MILAN. Italy. September 22.-Little
by little In these distressful hours the
people of Vienna are learning the true
inwardness Of this war. They did not
understand at the time the signifi-
canoe Of the visits made by the German
emperor in early spring to Emperor
Francis Joseph and to the late Arch
duke Francis Ferdinand. It Is extreme
ly doubtful whether the kaiser divulg-
ed the whole extent of his plans to
the emperor. who had always been firm
for peace and wished to end his days
in quiet.
But there is little doubt that when
the kaiser met the late archduke at
Miramare and the Konospicht the arch
duke. accepted the kaiser's views that
the moment had come to strike against
the rising power of Russia and Of the
Slav races generally in the near east.
The kaiser had a meeting with the
King of Italy at Venice on his way to
Corfu and is believed to have given
him some general hints of his views on
the subject of crushing Russia, but IL
is improbable that the king got any
definite idea what was really afoot.
Nor is 1t likely that Emperor Francis
Joseph's consent to the war against
Servia, or indeed, to any hostile enter.
prise. would have been obtained had II
not been for the double assassination
at Sarajevo.
Though the emperor had been deeply
incensed at the action Of the archduke
ereign rights. on a semi-regal tour in
provinces whose loyalty was very du.
bious, and though he loved the. late
archduke least of ell the imperial fam
lily, he was made to feel that the in
suit to the imperial house implied by
blood.
Faced Grave Crisis.
Austria must have been aware OF the
folly of the war. The only feasible ex-
PLANTATION Of her act is that she was
faced by a grave internal crisis. For
three years prices of ordinary COM
modities have been rising steadily
Since Christmas the question of ways
and means has become pressing. even
for the well-to-do. as
Added to this, the lack of housing
accommodation In both Vienna and
Budapest was causing great discon-
tent. This lack of accommodation was
more irritating, perhaps. to the better
class workman and the small ofdcial
always hoped that some plan would be
found to meet the demand for cheaper
meat and that the daily loaf would
take on the proportions of former
years.
But the sight of the constant demo.
lition of all the old landmarks, tbs
tearing down of the small fiat tina,
had served the needs of his fathers be.
fore him. and the erection Of palatial
residences yexed him nightly.
that had been besieged. The unhoused
many OF whom were sleeping in huti
in the vineyard around the city be-
cause they could not obtain shelter
made common cause with the rougher
elements OF the city.
Preferred War to Revolution. :.
1t is possible that the statesmen who
were sufficiently astute to guess what
the war would mean. felt that it was
a choice between popular disturbances
and war. They preferred the latter
alternative. as they have always be-
lieved that the numerous nations that
composed the monarchy would be weld
ed into one when summoned to defend
their fatherland. They forgot that pro-
Slav feeling had been working silently,
but none the less effectually, in the dis
anected provinces, and they fondly be-
lieved that their somewhat harsh meth
DDS OF repression had really suppressed
the sedition that has been seething
in the frontier lands.
At the time of the assassination of
the Archduke Francis Ferdinand Bes-
MIA and Herzegovina were thoroughly
distracted. The annexed provinces
were no doubt rendered discontinued
by Servian successes in the Balkan
wars. but tact on the part of the
Austrian officials might have ayerted
the danger. Instead of this they were
harshly dealt with.
During the period between the as
sassination and the outbreak of the
war arrests of prominent Bosnian citi-
Gems were of daily occurrence. Mayors
of cities. heads of communes, were sub
jected to domiciliary visits, their writ
ing tables emptied of their contents by
tnsolent soldiers, and they themselves
subjected to house arrest. When 1t
was discovered that nothing could be
lowed to go forth again, but no kind of
apology was, offered them for such
high-handed treatment.
Wounded in Tents.
Day after day it was announced in
Vienna that there was no news from
the Servian front. Trains Of wounded.
however. came up from the south daily
They unloaded their sad burdens in the
wilds of the Prater through. which the
Vienna Circle railway runs and the
men were laid in hastily erected tents
amid the thick foliage Of the trees.
News came, too, Of disease-cholera
or dysentery-among the men who had
gone to the front. Presently the troops
sent south and southeast were hastily
summoned back.
A young officer came to see me at the
early hour of in the morning. Why
are you called back2" asked.
I'VE have decided not to waste fur
Their shot and powder on the Servians."
he said, they are already defeated and
not worth troubling about
He had been at a point on the Hun
garian frontier and had seen nothing
Of the fighting. but fully believed the
circulated by the military Az
thorities. who made this excuse for the
double purpose Of misleading the pub
lie and of Transferring their forces to-