South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-05-07
LITTLE Of WAR IS
HEARD IN TALK IN
VIENNA STREETS
Considerable Secrecy Also
About Military Preparations
Fear Held That Jew viii
Present Problem After War.

VIENNA. May There Is consid-
cradle secrecy about the military
preparations an around Vienna. Elk
cursions are entirely suspended 10 the
forests and 10 the popular Kahlenberg
ard Leopoldsberg. two hills rising 10
about 1.5OO feet and sloping down
precipituously 10 the Danube. The
guns mounted in and around the old
monastery on The summit OF the Leo
poldsberg could hurl down death into
the broad valley OF the Danube and
the approaches TO Vienna. SO Tar
they merely frOwn.
IN one station close TO the capital,
] saw about 200 KaiseTjaeger, the Aus
trian equivalent for the French 'Chas-
seurs Alpin." They have a similar
uniform TO that OF the infantry but on
their collars there is an edclweiss next
20 the stars dcnOting their rank and
a saucy feather cOckade IN their caps.
They are great favoritcs with the
Viennese. and are mostly Tyrolese.
The tone here is very unlike the
Berlin note. From the bOastful and
optimistic German the transition 10 an
almost phlegmatic and subdued Aus
trian is most marked. In Germany
some war conversation was always al
ways going on loud enough 10 be
heard BY everybody in the cOmpart-
ment, but i'm Austria / travelled at
least four consecutive hours without
hearing a single serious reference to
the war.
In Passau, at the frontier we all
bought Austrian papers The "Neue
Freie Prcsse," Austrians leading jour
nal. made itself the echo of little com
plants about excessive exports of
fOOdstuffs to Germany. My vis-a-vls
a lady, assured me that -four was at
Sc hellers about , cents, instead Of
As hellers in peace time.
The other day I was chatting with
a surgeon i'm the Landsturm He had
been stationed in Moravia in "a little
town Of 1900 inhabitants. Many
hundreds OF wounded and sick at
tended at his hospital. and most pitt
able being the cases Of frozen limbs.
Fear Galicia Slush.
Most OF our soldiers said he,
enjoy hard frozen snow. Even our
Niennese boys speak well of it, Their
horror is the slush of the Gahcian
reads. Austrian prisoners sent to 81
IBERIA were insufficiently equipped to
meet the cold. The mortality among
them is enormous.
With him I strolled yesterday down
the Mariahilferstrasse which the
Niennese claim to be the finest shop
ping street in the world. 1t was sun
n.y. and everything seemed smiling
There were hardly any men about, but
the Niennese ladies had come out in
great numbers. Many society people
have dismissed their servants, and the
housewives shop themselves.
A-cOurt equippage passed and 1 no
ticed the men taking off their hats and
50 me ladies waving their handker-
chiefs TO the occupant. It was Arch
duke Eugene, perhaps the most pop
ular prince Of the imperial house
coming from SchOnbrunn, the emper-
Or's residence
Tho best hotels here are filled with
rich Galician landowners and Jewish
manufacturers from BukOwina and
Galicia. The minor hotels are crowd
ed With middle class. refugees, but
those latter are being drafted into
smaller towns i'm the other crown
lands. IL mas been amusing to see
how some of the German towns pro-
tested in vain against this unsupported
Slavonic invasion instituted 10y the
home government itself
When 1 looked down from my win
dow onto that beautiful Ringstrasse,
the Vienna grand boulevard. L could
hardly believe my eyes Where in
usual times the smart corso of cen
trail Europe moves. one long and sad
procession Of Polish. Jewish. and
'ther refugees PASSED incesSantly
Just under our window were the most
Nt+N+'~'-f f'tifl'N Va y lflllltir anu IL was
a strange sight TO see Polish Jews
with their long coats and side curls
gazing into the most eXtrav8gant art
and florist shops Vienna possesses.
jew viii BE Problem.
mere lies one Of the biggest prob
lens that Austrla--if il surNiVes-will
have To face after the war" said the
surgeon. We may have TO count
with partial loss of GaIicia but 1
may tell YOU at once that we shall
not mourn oVermuch So long as we
retain at least part of the naptha wells
and the salt mines The monarchy
viii then have strongest and more
natural frontiers. The RutbenianS
were difficult Co get on with. even in
peace time, and we wish them good
luck under Russian regime. he Pol
ish peasant refugee will return one
way or the other. but what of the
Jews? There are thousands, nay hum
dreds of thousands in such towns as
Prague. Vienna, Graz and Brunn
Famine? 1 do not believe there
viii be such a thing You have read
of riots i'm the fOreign press, Well
they were scrambles of housewives in
front of two or three bakers shops.
The pinch is undoubtedly felt I'm the
lower middle class. the professional
class We Nienese are not a saving
people and love our amuSements anc
our fine pastry. When the latter came
10 lie scarce terrible stories we're cir
culated by the Niennese concierge
and our housewives got "a bit nervous.
They are calming down now and re-
covering their humor"
As TO feeling in general, i find there
ls no great ill-Will towards England
and none towards France.
our war is with Russia not with
France or England." they say
Serbia is no more the subject of
house talk. There is one ma
ton generally mistrusted in the whole
of The monarchy and it VIII be cas-
ily be guessed which it is. ON this
point Slavs and Germans seem to
agree
49, 49, -