The Washington herald., 1918-03-11
Austrian People Gasping,
Ready for Revolution
Monarchy Explain Czernin's Anxiety to
Negotiate with PresidentiWilson.


late to regulate the impossible prices.
Thread Is unobtainable, and most tall
ors refuse to undertake repairs except
for customers who bring their own
thread. That the situation has become
too desperate for any attempt at con-
cealment Is best shown by the appeal
issued to the press by q high medical
officer on the General Stan, announc-
ing that the army authorities can no
longer supply sufficient underclothing
for the troops IN the field. and would.
therefore, welcome secondhand gifts
from patriotic individuals
Intimately connected with the food
problem Is the problem of distribution.
As In Germany and Russia, the rail-
ways Of Austria-Hungary are going to
rack and ruin as a result Of the stress
Of war. The permanent way Is de-
teriorating, rolling-stock can be neither
repaired nor replaced, labor has grown
steadily scarcer.
Mine Labor Depleted.
The army chiefs, as Is now pub
Hcly admitted. took away far too
many men from the mines, and only
replaced them when 1t was already
too late to make good the arrears. In
October the Hungarian premier had
to admit in the house that the import
Of coal from Austria and Germany to
Hungary was subject to almost in
superable dih1culties.' Easy-going Of
ficialdom proved utterly unequal to
the strain Budapest found itself
without street lighting, and In mid
December the whole gas supply Of
the city suddenly gave out. Graz, the
second German city Of Austria, al
though on the main line to the south,
found itself plunged in darkness for
lack Of fuel Difficulties Of fuel and
lighting have become chronic In the
various towns, and have been rem
dered more acute by phenomenal falls
Of snow.
FOR many weeks past the Hun
garian press has only had a paper
reserve Of two or three days-a fact
which IL doubtless less disturbing to
the government than its many other
troubles. Even before Christmas the
outspoken Arbeiter Zeitung was writ
ing Of difficulties under which the
whole economic system Is threatening
to collapse. and was freely comparing
the intolerable confusion and mis-
CAASo VI NhC dh6POAA Will lIl6
situation which precipitated the revo-
luton in Russia
Desperate n to Finances.
Meanwhile the financial situation
Is absolutely desperate. The gold re-
serve has sunk to $0.oo0.000. Heavy
loans from German banks alone rem
der It possible to make any foreign
purchases at all An kinds Of ru-
mors are ahoat as to the amount of
paper money in circulation There
has been persistent over-speeulation
on the bourses Of Vienna and Buda-
pest"
Discussing the recent general
strikes and the revolutionary move
ment, the same authority said:
For months past both Austria and
Hungary have been in q state of
chronic political crisis, each govern
ment living from hand to mouth, with
out an assured position in parliament.
and faced = an array Of thorny and
hopelessly intertwined problems. The
desperate economic situation, and the
practical certainty that the true facts
have been distorted and kept back by
a bureaucracy which was never very
efficient at the best Of times, COM
bined with political stagnation and
disorganization to produce an atmos-
phere surcharged with electricity.
Causes Of UpheavaL
The explosion came as a result of
two events-the sabre-rattling Of the
German Gen. Won Hoffman at the
Brest negotiations, and the announce
ment that the -four ration throughout
Austria was about to be reduced by
half. The idea that the prevailing
misery might needlessly be extended
still further for the sake Of Pan-Ger-
man annexationist designs was intol-
cradle to the masses. and the strike
spread with great rapidity through
the Industrial centers of lower Aus
tria- At first II undoubtedly suited
the game Of Vienna to impress upon
Berlin the gravity Of the internal SIT
uation and the consequent objections
to the despatch Of Austrian troops to
France, while at the same time 1t did
not suit the game of the Socialist
leaders to proceed to extremities
against Count Czernin, who 10 known
to be hard beset by the military party
IN Germany.
But despite the grim silence fol-
lowing the censor's first outburst of
candor. there are already signs that
the ofacial Socialist leaders are not
finding 1t easy to control their follow
ers, and that something very like
bolshevikism II spreading through
the masses. The most significant
feature Of al IL the fact that the
movement centers among the German
working classes and the Magyar pro-
letariat Of Budapest In other words,
Il II not national, but economic and
sosial, and 1t Affects large sections of