The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-06-23
IS CRITICAL SITUATION
Crises Confronting Aus
tria Is Similar to Rus
sian Downfall.
PEOPLES OUTCRY
Troops Refuse to Attack
Rioting Masses That
Flock Streets of
Vienna.

reports received here today were in
terpreted as showing that the situa-
ton which confronts Austria Hun
gary lis analogous only to the politi-
cal unrest and sufferngs which
brought on the Russian revolution.
Austro hungarian troops sent TO
restore order in Vienna and Buda-
pest have refused to attack the riot
ing masses, who are marching the
streets in large centers shouting their
hatred of Germany. The leaders OF
the mobs are workmen, who have de-
serted the munition plants to join the
nopulace in a demand for bread and
peace.
The internal disorders are said TO
have spread to the armies In the field.
German regiments which have been
sandWichd in with the Austrians have
been warned against the possibility
OF widespread revolt, according TO
dispatches from Swiss and italian
sources.
The reported resignation of DIR. Won
Solder, the Austrian premier. is re-
garded as a certain indication that
the German kaiser's grip on the
! Vienna government is at least tenn
porarily weakened, DR.. Won Seidlsr
is OF German origin and is credited
with having been q willing tool of the
Berlin authorities.
NEW anu tADfnet.
The selection of a new Austrian
premier and a new cabinet, If. in
| fact. the old one has resigned, is a
subject upon which diplomats will
not venture to speculate. owing to
! the great confusion. One authority
| said
/ Anything is likely to happen in
Austria now 1t Is difficult to see how
Emperor Charles can find men with
4 EfIfTtHlanY ~ n frir
/ in the war much longer
! General Ludendorff. of the German
larmfes, apparently endeavored to stem,
! the hungertide in Austria with a
promise of an increased supply OF
grain from Bessarabia and the
Ukraine. The message only Infatuated
the starving masses to greater vio-
lence, as already 1t had been learned
+ lnat supplies from this source had
been shut off. All shipments OF grain
from The Ukraine were stopped some
weeks ago through the refusal of tha
| Berlin government to abide by the
agreement with the Ukrainian Rada.
/ Ludendorff Is said TO have evaded
responsibility for not assisting Austria
! before this TO cope with the food
problem by the statement that only
April and May from Ukraine to sup
! ply the German reserves on the west
/ ern front. He added that this supply
/ had been exhausted.
Cabied excerpts from Vienna news
! papers tell that Austrian Socialist 3
are again demanding peace and in
sist that negotiations be entered into
| Immediately.
! The general situation as related to
the Central Powers and Russia with
| particular reference to Austria Hun
gary, was surveyed at a series OF con-
ferences held here today in which
representatives of the British French
and Italian embassies participated.
| DIR. Thomas G. Masaryk, president of
the Czecho- Slavak national council.
took a prominent part in all of the
discussions
Doesn't Favor Propaganda
| President Wilson, il is understood
does not consider 1t advisable to make
another public appeal which could be
used as propaganda in Austria Hun
| gary.
The United States is no longer
seeking peace by diplomacy or COM
promise. But in the movement to
recruit foreign legion from the sub
jects of the disgruntled nationals OF
the dual empires most effective
weapon against continued German
domination in Austria Hungary is be-
lieved TO have been found.
| 1t is now known that the amend
| ment to the military appropriations
! bin authorizing a Slavic legion in the
United States was drafted at the sug-
gestion of Secretary of State Robert
Lansing The amendment was writ
ten by Senator Hitchcock, chairman
of the foreign relations committee
and a member of the military affairs
| committee.
Senator Hitchcock today expressed
qualification at the enthusiasm with
which the idea of a Slavic legion
had been received. He believes that
through such an agency a formidable
contingent. can be added to the fight
ing forces of the nation, as well as
providing a means of winning the
Slavic peoples now under the domino
ton of the central empires to the sup
mort Of the "a lNed causa