The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-02-28
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which It assumes to dominate. while the
Italians, who have a persistent ambition
to control the fringe OF the AdriatiC
coast. are greatly outnumbered there.
Only u little more than half. or about
81 per cent Of the cJ.GO.laD people Of Hum
gary are HunSarians. Ur rather Mag
vars. But a privileged few among them
are the complete masters OF all the rest
In CialaCia the 5000. Poles control the
government and prescribe the Polish
language for the schools of the 2.oohVt
Ruthcnians S1t65 Jews and a few hun
drcd thousand more Of the nou-Polish
races which form Il majority of the pop
ulatiOn.
IN Bohemia and Moravia the Germans.
who are hardly L bad third IF the In
habitantS. long held absolute sway. and
in the courts and schools they crammed
German down the unwilling thrOats of
two-t birds of the people. Eut lately the
Czechs have been able to gain an equal
ity for their language. and now the poor
postmaster and other officials must stand
ready to answer questions in either Ger
man or CZechish.
The Bitter Strife of the Races.
Austrian currency is fearfully and
wonderfully made. The value Of the
money Is printed in German. Czech. Pol
ish. Serbo-Croatian, Slovcne, Italian and
ROumanan. But that is not all. may
be seen by turning it over, when il will
be found that the back of the imperial
bank note is printed in Hungarian,
Thug the empire not only is filled with
conflict of tongues. some twenty Ian
guages being more or less recognized Of
fcially. but II fs also rended by insane
jealousies. The strife is bitter and petty
beyond the imagination OF any one who
has not been an unhappy witness to it.
On many of the railway lines to Wen
ma from the suter world the traveller Is
likely to find the bills OF fare in the sta,
ton restaurants printed In a local
tongue as well as in German. Presume
bly, there arc Poles. Czechs. Slovenes
and Croats who would stsrve rather than
order their food from a German bill.
The lingual discord extends to the very
name of the towns along the way, each
rare insisting OF a different designation
and refusing TO recognize the other. In
such Instances tho lot of the railway
mail clerk hardly can be happy one.
For he must remember as he sorts and
bags his letters that Praha Is the same
as Prague, Brno as Brunn. Postojna as
Lenberg, Zadar as lara. Dubrovnik as
Ragusa, kator as Cattaro. Pozsony as
Pressburg and Rieka as Fiume.
When | went to Austerlitz It was mo-
town vanish at my approach and to ind
myself in Slawkow. But II Is more be.
wildcring still the moment train crosses
the boundary between Austria and Hun
gary. Thenceforth the guard calls out
only the Hungarian names OF the sta
tons. and the listening passenger who
bought a ticket in Austria for Stuhl-
weissenberS is expected to know that
Nagyszombat really is only Tyrnau and
that certain kind of vocal explosion
stands for Satoraljaujhely.
When arrived In Vienna. one morning
at s O'Clock, and was passing through
the North Station, ! had the good for
tune to meet the personiicatIon Of Fran
els Joseph's polyglot empire. He was a
tall man in a tall cap. standing behind a
counter fully fifty feet from the human
stream amid which 1 was floating out OF
the train shed. Never mlstaking me
even at that distance. he hailed me in
pleasing English and invited me to step
up to his counter for the customs exam
nation.
While I stood there waiting for my
baggage TO be brought up and opened for
inspection. the tall man continued to hall
the passing travellers and each In his own
language. Without once missing his
guess. Ruthenians, Poles. Bohemians.
Hungarians, Slovenes. Slovaks, Croats
Roumanians, Serbians, Italians. and I