The sun., 1918-10-27
Ancient Interpreta-
ton of Letters on
Hapsburg Armorial
Bearings About to
Be Realized

a, T., L, ", U, which inquire on the arInOrlal
bearings of the sovereign house of Austria,
has furnished subject for discussion
and conjecture. These cabalistic letters,
which may be described as the heraldic
motto of Emperor Charles, are 10 be found
on all palaces and buildings belonging to
the crown, and were first used for this
particular purpose in 1902 by Emperor
Albert l., son of Rudolf of Hapsburg.
According TO some the initials stood
for 'Albertas Electus ImperatOr Opt
mus Vivat,' the V being often used as q
in MEDIEVAL script. According TO others
they were intended to mean 'Ausrie Est
Imperare Orb Universe" But there is
an old time and popular saying, accord
ing to which the letters stand for German
instead of for Latin words, and are to
the effect that "Alle Erst Ist 0estreieh
Verdorben,' which may be translated as
cit is Austria who viii 90 under Tor per-
ish) first
Case Is Different in Austria.
To-day the sixteen nationalities sub
ject TO the sceptre that has come down TO
Emperor Charles from Emperor Charlie
magne through eleven centuries are more
than ever convinced that the German In
depreciation of the letters is the correct
one, and that Austria as an empire IL
about to go under, the first of the Central
or enemy Powers. For although Bull
caria has withdrawn from her alliance
with the two kaisers and surrendered &c
the Entente, her monarchy thus far re-
mains intact and may be permitted 10 con-
tinue its existence after making certain
territorial sacrifices. But with the Dual
Empire the case is different. President
Wilson's reply TO the Austrian note last
week, a reply Endorsed by France and
Great Britain commits the Powers of the
Entente to the dismemberment not alone
of Austria, but also Of Hungary.
Austria has always been unenyiably
celebrated for her hesitancy, her unre-
liability and, above all, for her unpunc-
tuality. She has always been too late, no
mxtter whether on the battlefield or in her
affairs of state These shortcomings were
. source of mingled evaporation and
contempt TO the first Napoleon and to
the Iron Chancellor, Prince Bismarck, as
well as of despair to the sovereign States
of southern Germany, who IN the SIX
weeks war of 1866 we're left 10 face The
Prussians unaided, although they had es-
poused the cause of the house of, Haps-
burg. f-.s 49,. --. -- e-- o. -
Emperor's Coacession Too Late. --.
Had Emperor Charles issued at the be-
ginning of the present year his pledge to
federalize the various nations subject to
his crown, granting to each Of them home
rule, he might have saved the greater por-
ton of his twin monarchies. His proc
elamation making this concession last
week came too late to be of avail For
Che Powers Of the Entente have definitely
and officially committed themselves to the
full independence Of the czecho-Siopaks
of Austria and of Hungary, and have
recognized the Czeeho- Siovak provisional
Government, with Prof. Thomas G.
Masaryk, the Bohemian patriot, as Presi-
dent, with Milan Stefanik, the celebrated
astronomer, who has fought his way up
from a mere private to the rank of Gen.
eral in the French army in the present
war, as Minister of National Defence, and
with DIR. Edward Benes as Minister of
Foreign Affairs and Of the Interior.
An army Of Czecho-Slovaks recruited
from among former soldiers serving by.
sompulsion In the Austrian and Hunga-.
rian forces has been defending the cause Of
the Entente in Siberia and Russia. An
other large contingent of Czecho- Sloraks
is undergoing military training under its
own flag here in the New World. Many
thousands more of them have been for
the past three or four years on the French
front, and while the latest proclamation
# the provisional Government is dated
-