The Washington herald., 1918-03-24
Austria Appears Filled
With Industrial Unrest
Workmen Dissatisfied. With War HardshifS
Striking to Enforce Early Peace Without
Annexations, According to Editor

or in tobacco; both combined surely
too much of burden to besE And it
could have only happened oying to a
lack OF divination on the psrt of the
gentlemen in the high ofieS who fail
ed to consider the effect u this might
have upon the critical Situation at
Brest-Litovsk. ~
Attitude OF Hfnman.
The otherwise good-nttured Austrian
population, so much accustomed to
want of every description. is not likely
to be driven to such desperate step
by reason Of mere spEysical -shortcom-
ings; such an action required a
psychological impeths, which, in this
instance, consisted IN the tiredness of
the war and the prevailing immediate
peace prospects on the basis of TrotZ-
ky's policy.
Il stands to reafon that this sponta-
neously developed dissatisfaction had
also something NJ do with the be-
havior of Gen. VI Hoffman at Brest-
Litovsk, who rf4esented the policy
of Pan-GermarI f. Reports from
Berlin of a cris8 the Brest-Litovsk
peace cOnferend dE the rest in show
ing up the ac iHitts of the annexa-
tionists 8
The real a8d Immediate cause of
the strike n Wiener-Neustadt is
still unknownB It IS being stated that
among the e 1plOyes Of these factories
were many u Extreme radicals who had
come in cor tact with Russian prison.
eTs of uar# also employed there and
who are III sympathy with the Boil
sheviki. Al other fact worth consid-
eTing Il Il 80 many Czechs are also
among th8 regular employees.
All this "A would not obviate the fact
| that The real motive which led TO
| the sffikA was due 10 a strong desire
| for peace& While the Czechs, as a
rule. do Eot care whore such move
ment onLe began. may lead to in the
end thef German wOrkmen are better
discfplinId and more orderly. And
whiie tic Czechs may hold that
I Trotzi<yf would he a poor statesman
| IL he ffflecF to avail himself of such
diSf1rha noes in Austia, Germans. 20
straI4h3 for their aims. and unless
| thsT aae provoked, they will avoid
unsece3sary violence or needless
| anarchE.
: Theyl never lose sight of the Pill
abflity1 of .the Austrian authorities,
who ntay be remiss in precautionary
| poIicics but who. when confronted
| by c9rtain situations always know
how d improvise matters at the criti-
| cal hour. There Is no such thing
| lCnoWn in Austria as rigid adherence
I'd prtncipIes. They always practice
foreivenes when they think thereby
! "a avoid a still worse situation.
To all appearances there will be
no revolution in Austria. When
Irotkky returns to Brest-Litovsk on
I1n1hry % he will see in Count
Cxerhin, not statesman whose
sc1tknes had been upset, but one emf
renHy in favor of peace without an
ue<etion afterthoughts. At this hour
I'VE shah not vouch for the next one
ne government granted everything
me 1trikers demanded.
|onnt Czernin accepted. in prin-
cIcle also peace with Poland minus
anrtxations as he promised to the
w1rk kingmen. The oppressive civil
ian war service law will be abol-
<1ea. likewise the militarism of in
11ftriaI establishments. Woman
@uHage was granted. improvements
n nlimentation promised: in short,
etffything was done to deprive the
mas Bes of a pretense for animosity.
tese promises were made not
1I>rA to the party leaders, but also
70 committee of the working
[nfr council so a to enable them
20 Ibduce their constituents to take
10 3vonk again. It will now have
- Ia shown whether the bona-fde
ord r-Ioving element represent the
<*@I Iority Of the workingmen or the