Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-04-17
VIENNA IS MUCH
CHANGED BY WAR
Prices Are High, Life Is Dull,
and Commodities Are
Very Scarce

Vienna, Austria-After Al years
war, Vienna has lost much of her old
charms. Once amongst the cleanest,
in all Europe, the Austrian capital is
now dirty, dingy, and depressing. The
prevailing gloom is intensified by the
closing of all stores at 4 o'clock. in
order to save heating and light. CATS
and restaurants remain open until !
or 9, hut the street-car service stops
at o'clock. But as a matter of fact.
the real active life of the city ceases
very soon after 4.
Cabs are not as scace as few
weeks ago, but their fares are stlli
excrbitant. Legally, the drivers are
Permitted to charge three TO TOUT
times the sum registered by the taxi
meter, but as a rule they do not hesl-
tate to demand double or treble TINS
rate. All the hotels are crowded, ana
guests are glad to get bathroom 70
sleep in. But even the best eStaollsn-
ments appear extremely shabby COM
pared with peace times. There is no
soap for cleaning purposes, and no
material for the repair OF orokena -, AZ
ticles of furniture. NotWlths!ahuIhe
these deficiencies the landlords nav
raised their prices enormously Oo'i'
for rooms and food
Hotels Exorbitnnt
First-class hotels on the ttlns
strasse. such as the Bristol ana I'M
neriaI have instituted a uniform table
~, shatn 70 st % crowns head NE bill
of fare includes a small portion ol
SOUP. one meat dish with Two NeSe
tables, and a very small a a,,,psii pIItrT aIiant-
ity supplies. the quality of the loou -
far from satisfying, as 1t is pTepaItu
without any proper fats. ana thc cVrt ~
sequence is that the guest le"ttS Ne, 'i, hr
sat down. At Sacher's, one %i ,ts
most famous dining resorts IN EuroPe'
excellent food can still be had, thal -,
IL the. price is no object; far aI ls q Com COM
paratively Simple meal there.
Like the hotels, the cafes. ana res
taurants are alw avs crowoel. e
ing at the well-dressed peopae' hoan
difficult to imagine there has oeen
any war. and still more dlntcutt 10
believe that it has ended in the totai
breaking UP of the proud, arlstocra Az Az.
monarchy of Austria-Hungary. VI
able restaurants and safes never talk
of the war One hears scraps OF con-
yersation about last nights opera or
theater, the eNtraVaEant cost
clothes but more than anything else
of the alarming cost and scarcity Oh
food, Oddly enough, some OF the lot
merlv commonest articles OF 1000 are
now the hardest to get. Az sacncr :
the guest can obtain no bread, even
with the most urgent entreaties. put
he can be served with all the palats-
chinken'' he desires, though this ia
vorite Vienna dish-a glorihed pan
cake filled with jam-requlres nne
is that visitors in the best hotels and
restaurants come to table with their
own supply of bread. Butter again
is almost unattainable except LOT ehe
war profiteers and other rich people.
1t costs round about so crowns
pound, and more often over SO crowns.
This is something like twenty ,hve
times peace prices. AS FOR mix tnere
is simply none, that is for ordinary
persons. no matter how much one Is
Imperial Palace Closed
The disappearance of the monarchy
with all its pomp and show has done
much to dull the social life of Vienna.
No more do the idlers gather in the
great courtyard of the Hotourg 70
see the daily changing, of the guaro
at l o'clock and perhaps eaten
of the imperial family at the. palace
windows. The gloomy. but impress
sive Hofburg is shut up, and the tnor-
oughfare through its outer and inner
courts from the Ringstrasse to the
Kohlmarkt, which has been open 10
rich and poor on foot or in pehlcles
of any kind, day and night Tor gen
eratiCns. is now entirely closed. Ihe
HapsbuIgs were not half SO exclusive
a. the present democratic rulers of
German Austria, and they were Ger
tainly much more considerate of the
welfare of the citizens, who now nave
to make a detour of half a mile at
least to get from the Ringstrasse to
the center of the city.
But if the gay life in the fashion
able districts of the capital shows lit
tie traces of the war, the suburbs tell
very different story. Lieutenant
Colonel Summerhayes. the first Brit
ish officer to enter Vienna after the
war, told a representative of The
Christian Sicence Monitor that the
condition of the poorest classes was
indescriba BILE. The colonel said he
had never seen such abject misery as
in Vienna at the present time. The
official allowance of coal is only 40
pounds a week, whilst the supply of
gas is equally restricted. The amount
allowed, in fact, furnishes light for
five hours a day, which leaves moth
ing for cooking. Consequently people
who can get no coal, and there are
many such, if they use gas for cook
ing have to go to bed as soon as
darkness sets in. Indeed, q responsible
official in one of the largest Vienna
banks told a representative of The
Christian Science Monitor that he and
his family were obliged to go to bed
at o'clock every evening. 1t seems
well-nigh impossible to believe that
such conditions can exist in what was
once one of the gayest capitals in
Europe.