Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-11-07
RED CROSS DELIVERS MAIL.
Wounded Soldiers Secure Letters Thru
Efforts Of Society.
Correspondence Of The Associated

VI Nc A90OCl6GGO
Press.l
Venice, Nov. Thru the efforts of
the Red Cross Society. some twenty
thousand letters and post cards from
Austro- Hungarian war prisoners In
Russia and Servia, have already been
delivered to their relatives and friends
at home. The correspondence from both
countries comes thru Roumania. The
letters, of course. are read by the Of
fetal censors in the country where they
are written. The Austrian papers ad-
NIT that the correspondence on the
whole gives the impression that the
prisoners are being well treated In
Russia the wounded receive medical at
tention. and a grand-duke visited them
in hospital at Moscow. Nearly all the
unwounded and those who have recov-
cred from their injuries are being sent
to Omsk in Siberia. 1t is thought that
later they may be put to work in the
mines there. but nothing definite has
been heard as to this.
For special benefit Of the middle-class
of unemployed in Vienna, the Austrian
women's franchise committee have
organized citizens war dinners A
substantial meal Of two courses, nicely
prepared and served, Is supplied Tor
forty hellers 6 cents}. Dining rooms
have been provided at various centers
where the meal is served between noon
and half past one o'clock daily; or the
food can be taken home il desired, but
persons must bring their own dishes for
the purpose. Among the classes bene-
fitted by this form of relief are musi-
clans. artists. engineers. teachers, COM
mercial clerks and shop assistants of
both sexes.
Austrian smokers will soon have to
be content with home grown tobaccos
since imports from abroad have been
entirely stopped and the stock OF for
eign brands on hand in the government
stores are not very large
The director OF the Austrian Tabak-
reggie is credited with saying that the
public have been showing their loyalty
by rejecting all tobaccos, cigase and
cigarettes manufactured in England or
France. Both there and in Budapest
the tatlors' associations met and
solemnly pledged themselves not to
make up any English cloth.
Several weeks later than usual the
Vienna theaters have begun to open
their doors. and most Of them are now
giving more or less regular perform
ances. But the two court stages-the
Imperial Opera House and the Hofburg
Theater-are still closed. This is due
to disputes over the salaries of the
performers. Fearing that the season
might not be very successful and pre-
suInabiy anxious to spare the emperor's
private purse from any great losses, the
court chamberlain's department tried to
reduce the scale Of salaries paid to the
better classes of performers 1t was
proposed to fix the maximum remun-
GRAFTON of the chief actors and singers
at $4,000 crowns a year ($3.s00). and
the minimum as 1920 crowns ($1, 440).
No attempt was made to reduce the
wages paid to the chorus girls and
supers, and stage mechanics and other
employees.
The court officials argued that their
proposal was quite fair, as 1t was only
intended to give four performances a
week. But two or. three Of the highly
paid artists offered such determined OBJ
position to accepting any reduction in
their salaries that 1t was found i'm
possible to reopen either opera or
theater. The quarrel at last became ex-
tremely acrimonious, and the names Of
the singers who were standing out for
their regular high salaries were freely
mentioned in the papers. at last it was
stated that they had yielded to the
representations of the minor actors and
stage employees. who were threatened
with starvation. and agreed to accept
the lower scale of remuneration. But
SO far neither opera nor Burg theater
has been re-opened.