Omaha daily bee., 1914-11-22
RED CROSS DELIVERS MAIL
Twenty Thousand Letters and Post
cards Handled for Prisoners.
AUSTRIANs ARE FARING WELL
Good Treatment--ThinEs Are
Again Running Smoothly
in vienna.

Correspondence OF The Associated Press)
VENICE. Nov. 8.--ThrouRh the efforts
OF the Red Cross society some 5000 let
tiers and post cards from Austro-Hungar-
ian war prisoners in Russia and servia
have already been delivered TO their rel
atives and friends at home. The cor
respondence from both countries comes
through Roumania The letters. Of course
are read by the official ocnsors IN the
country where they are written. The
Austrian papers admit that the CORES
pondence on the whole gives the impress
sion that the prisoners are being well
treated In Russia the wounded receive
medical attention, and a grand duke Wis
ited them in a hospital az Moscow. Nearly
all the unwounded and those who have
recovered from their injuries are being
sent 90 Omsk In Siberia. II Is thought
that later they may be put 10 work In
the mines there. but nothing definie has
been heard as to this.
For special benefl, o she middle class
Of unemployed q o. the Austrian
Women's Franch $50 h,,tee have or
ganlzed "Cit4r6t iianers" a sub
stantlal meal %. .t .urses, nicely pre-
pared and scrtcu - supplied for forty
hellers (eight ceRtsL Dining rooms have
been provided at Various centers. where
tho meal IL served between noon and
! 30 O'clock daily; or the food can be
taken home II desired. but persons must
bring their own dishes for the purpose
Among the classes benefited by this form
OF relief are musicians. artists. engineers,
teachers. commercial clerks and shop as
sistants Of both sexes
Tobacco supply Low.
Austrian smokers will soon have 60 be
content with homegrown tobaceos. since
imports from abroad have been entirely
stopped and the stock OF foreign brands
on hand in the government stores are
not very large.
The director OF the Austrian Tabakre-
gle lie credited with saying that the pub
lie have been showing their loyalty by
rejecting all tobaccos. cigars and cigar
cites manufactured In England or France.
Both there and in Budapest the taiiors's
associations met and solemnly pledged
themselves not 10 make I'D any English
cloth.
Several weeks later than usual the
Vienna theaters have begun 10 open their
doors. and most Of them are now giving
more or less regular performances But
the two court stages-the Imperial Opera
house and the Hofburg theater-are still
closed This Is due to disputes over tho
salaries OF the performers. Fearing that
the season might not be very successful
and presumably anxious 10 spare the en-
peror's private purse from any great
losses. the court chamberlain's depart
mcnt tried 20 reduce the scale OF salaries
paid to the better classes OF performers.
II was proposed 90 fix the maximum
remuneration OF the chief actors and
singers az 1900 crowns a year Cs, e0O)
and the minimum at 7.9Oo crowns Csi lad,
No attempt was made 70 reduce the
wages paid 10 the chorus girls and s,Ipcrs
and stage. mechanics and other employees.
=. PROPOSAL quite Fair.
: The court officials argued that their
proposal was quite fair. a. II was only
intended 20 give four performances a
week. But two or three OF the highly
paid artists offered such determined OPP
position to accepting any. reduction in
their salaries that Il was found impossi-
BILE 10 reopen either opera or theater. The
quarrel az last became extremely acri-
monlous. and the names OF the singers
who were standing out for their regular
high salaries were freely mentioned IN
the papers At last II 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 re-
enumeration But 80 far neither opera
nor burg lheater have been reopeued