The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-02-28

| know what not. all were out out OF that
! herd Of humanity as deftly as a cowboy
cuts out a certain steer in herd OF cat
/ tie on the plains.
ventured to ask the human Tower OF
! Ba bel how many languages he had on his
, tongue. oh" ne Trodestly answered.
St 6ot eh9" '5s OF Ss Is
| as ready and fluent in the remaining six
teen as in ENGLISH. he has no need to
take up Esperanto.
Nor need that humble placeholder
blush for his accomplishment in the
! presence of the Emperor. who Is himself
no mean linCuist. having from his youth
! spoken all the principal languages of his
empire. This ever has been one OF the
| first objects in the education of Haps-
/ burg princes and even princesses. For
| example. Napoleon's Empress. Marie
Louise. had no less than nine varieties
| of p-attle in her early girlhoOd.
II ! had wondered before my expert
ence in the Vienna station. I could have
wondered no longer why Francis Joseph
alone among sOvereigns addresses his
proclamations to my peoples" There
in the Nord Rahnhof saw the subjects
| of German monarch arriving at their
capital. most of them descendants from
monarchy, and yet they were not eN-
peCted to respond or understand II hailed
In the language of the imperial court
Travelling from Vienna in every direc-
ton except due west. a passenger soon
leaves behind him German-speaking Aus
tria. Toward the south he comes in five
the road to Budapest. 1t is only forty
five minutes to the Hungarians. while
northward 1t is hardly more than an hour
to the Czechs in Morav!a.
1t Is passing strange that, in a war
which many describe as a race struggle
between Teuton and Slav the Teuton Is
in alliance not only with the Turk but
also with the great Slav empire Of Aus
fro A,,ct ~ 10
man. Hungary Is only half Magyar and
the dual monarchy Is really Slav.
The Slavs. however. are so divided
against themselves that the Germans OF
control the government between them.
Language. civilization and religion are
the barriers to the unity of the Slavic
family. Thus in Austrian Poland, the
Poles and Ruthenians not only differ in
speech but also are alienated by ancient
customs and prejudices and worship un-
der different crosses: The conflict OF
line of cleavage between the Slavs every
where, except. indeed. where Mahomet-
anism comes into make confusion worse
COMPOUNDED.
Democracy probably would draw those
separated peoples together In a genera
ton and weld them together In century.
but autocracy has served only to keep
them estranged: for in the division Of
the people the monarchy ever has found
its strength.
A HapsbufE Trust.
The empire is not a nation in the sense
that the United States Is a nation. al
though the latter springs from racial
origins even more diverse The empire
is a mere pool or merger-a Hapsbuyg
trust.
Although the Hapsburgs emerged from
their native Swiss mountain and gradu.
ated from mere neighborhood robbers
almost $50 years ago, although for six
Nd
seated just where Francis Joseph sits at
his desk today in the crowded down.
town section of Vienna, where palaces
and churches and shops rise side by side
and trade and fashion touch elbows
their rule still is much like that of alien
conquerors. They are always Hapsburgs
before they are Teutons or Austrians
For their family tradition il older than
that OF any national tradition. Once
they wers Roman emperors. next they
were German emperors and now they