New-York tribune., 1918-03-21
Austrian Famine
Predicted From
Official Figures
Slav Papers Say Wheat
Shortage Is 100000
Hundredweight

The famine in Austria will, h. !.
astrous by spring, according to ~. :.
counts in the slav press. Toward ~.
md OF December the food dictator M;s ~
lster General Hoeffer, declared hon.. l
the food commission that it wop,a.
necessary to count with shorta.... :.
100000 hundredweights of wh...
which is to say that, with ali ~
possible restrictions imposed uoo, ..s .s'
distribution of foodstuffs, Austr;. ..:~ .au
have to get 100000 hundredwe;.s..
Of foodstuifs somewhere if sbe :
hold out till next harvest. That ~
resents food for almost a month r. :.
reality the situation is much mor. -.
ical. and the shortage, accordioss s',., "
the calculation of experts. viii hs ', "
most three times the shortage aan;..N, y; -,
by Hoeffer. The provisions m n,s:ea ms:es
the latter based his Calculation. "u.cn
so extremely optimistic that thsv sa S.0
never be realized. S' ssh
The harvest of last wear wa, w.
poor. I he wheat turned out wall MY ~.
the yield is very small. This is cn;ts NV
natural. the fields not HAVING fs'.u hs"n
manured for the last three vssra sssa
There is great shortage of hands -:
well as of horses. Most of the a..;
cultural work is done by the Russan
prisoners of war.
Although the normal harvest is 1so.
100000 hundredweights. this year w /
will amount to 100000 to S1oAo'
600 at the most. Prospects in HIM.
gary are admittedly bad. In Rumans
the harvest is medium. The, potato
crop is worse than ever before.
Rumania Saved Them
Last year the famine would h,u
broken out already in April were i
not for the Rumanian harvest. Austri.
got $4,000 wagons of grain, and still
the scarcity was great. The disturb.
. ances caused by the food crisis in Bo.
hemia Gin Prague, Prostejov, Trutnow
Plzen, Brno, Moravska, Ostrava) ara
J known. At PlZen the rioters tore ont
the rails of the railroad. In Morayska,
| Ostrava, the whole county was literaly
plundered.
The prices Of foodstuffs reach FAB.
ulous heights. In Bohemia one paw
16 to 80 crowns for kilo of -four and
l to crowns for kilo of potatoes
In Vienna the prices are still higher
one kilo Of coffee, 80 crowns. NATURALLY
the prices called maximum" are much
lower than those quoted here--only no.
body wants to sell anything at these
prices.
Money has lost all value. In Pragus
paper money is called "dysentery."
The coal crisis is also very grave Til
winter.
Numbers given to the Deputies IN
the Reichsrag by Homann, manager d.
the Ministry of Public Works, are dis.
astrous-still, they are too optimistic,
and should not be dwelt on. The
. crisis in transportation has slightly
improved, thanks to the constructios
of wagons, but the shortage Of per.
sonnel, especially trainmen, still exists
Most pressing. however, is the shortss.
of miners, whose productiveness hos
decreased by 80 per cent.
Defeat Before Revolution
In short, we may expect grave de.
velopments difiiculties and riots. But
not revolutions; not, at least, before
a defeat of some importance.
Austria has now begun to apply til
, method which was so successful in Ger
many, namely, the division of all pop
, ulation into two classes; one consist
ing of the soldiers at and behind th
,, firing line, together with all lsbo
working for the army, and the oths
!, consisting of all civilian population
properly speaking. The first class |
we'll provided for. we'll nourlsned
:, at least. TIE other class is fam
ishing with hunger, but does no
:, dare to revolt, having fallen into Hn'
.. of lethargy and physical, as well = !
! moral, apathy. That is why even u
Germany one can meet soldiers ieay
: ing for the front gay and conen.eO
while the civilian population IS suuel
ing cruelty. The morale OF the Gelnai
army has not yet been shaken:
:, In Austria the discomfort IS e s',aa'
. even at the front. but especiaii! y, y.
,, hind the firing line. where even . lo' .
y soldiers are poorly fed. In the ml!l'ss' ~
hospitals greater number OF ~ ~
- wounded die from exhaustion a.,
', from their wounds. 1t is now pfops'''
y to follow the example of Germany ~ y
Z to improve, to the detriment OF !. y
civilian population, the feeding ., o, ;" =
soldiers behind the firing lines div '
the labor working for the army
Vienna Kept Satisfied
One of the most important aim; ND !
the food administration is 70 sss'i s1ss
! the capital Before everything =, s,''
II is necessary to keep Vienna qusss iss. !
would be therefore great mis.sas rs. seor
Judge the food situation OF ,a;.,s .as III /
archy according to the cono'''V"'
Vienna. of val
r The situation of the prisoner. .s,,;Il, ., ii.
n especially the Russians IS .mnlere ss
# With the exception of those e,rE,s. drse .
in the fields they are slowly .S!e;d J!d III
e hunger. In the camp of Wegs.ud Nv dsii
n lower Austria) the records sn0s ssr
n an average Of forty men ay'hs s.,sa "a eu
;. vation. The Russians are .ss,s s.,s ,hsl
5 ployed on the Italian front, x.;Sse,to,, xSs.,,
s, arc forced to construct leii,es .hs snes1
e often exposed to the fire OF wv :