Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-17
CROWNDROPS DA|[Y'
WHILE PRICES COUP.
VIENNA |SSTR|CKEN.
Its Outward Appearances a
Great Bluff on Its Actual
Conditions.

VIENNA, October 90 Correspond
ence of the Associated Press).-Out-
wardly, Vienna is the same as before
the war, but actually this great city is
stricken. Dozens of theaters and
operas are open. cafes and music halls
are crowded, but a very large part of
the population is in poverty. lacking
not only food and clothing, but place
to live. The streets are thronged.
shops opened. shop windows filled
with the articles of luxury for which
Vienna is famous, but the better part
of the stock is to be found in the win
dows. :
Virtually everything is priced In
hundreds of crowns. Austrian money,
paper only. and ,unbacked by precious
metal. goes steadily down. Even the
swarms of beggars that infest the
streets look reproachfuHy at anything
less than the pink piece Of paper that
indicates two crowns. 1t costs hun
dred crowns to go few blocks by
carriage, taxicabs being few and al
most prohibitive even in the deprecf-
ated money. while the street porters,
old men who act as messengers and
carriers, will not cross the street for
less than twenty crowns.
Once the best dressed town in the
world, Vienna is plain to the point Of
shabbinesS. Most of the women wear
unnlistakable homemade gowns and
the mems clothing shows the mark of
wear, the cleaner, the member and
often the tailors who turn the I'M
wcarable inside out.
at would cost me four months sal
arr to buy new suit OF clothes now.
remarked q foreign Office official. as
he smiled at his flve-year-old serge,
land must eat occasionally"
State Pensioners Starving.
The other day there was a great
demonstration Of state pensioners be-
fore the house of parliament and some
of the cases cited by the deputation to
the government were pitiful. These
pensioners said they were starving. :
Meantime the press openly charges
that backdoor or Illicit trade in food
supplies and other commodities sup
posedly under government control is
Vienna is suffering from lack of
housing facilities. The population is
estimated at 200 600 to 100000 more
than in normal times. The city gov
eminent lately has taken a few half
hearted steps in an effort to bring
relief. A large number of so-called
hotels of rather evil reputation are
to be cleaned out of there present oc-
cupants and turned over as lodging
for the poor. The same order expels
from their premises, often nearly
palatial, and conf1scates for. public
housing purposes the homes Of the
rich demi-monde. Also 1t Is contem-
plated to make use of some Of the
splendid and practically unoccupIed
private palaces.
The papers and the more spirited
and farseeing men are sounding the
alarm Of a fue1less winter The inter-
allied coal commission has been try:
ing to provide at least q modicum of
fuel for city utilities. but they adrfit
NAL supply. All around the city the
beautiful forests are being cut down
for ffrewood. and fuel Is the one de-
mand. q
The hotels answer the query Of
every guest or prospective guest. moi
we do not hope to have heat or hot
water. only fire for cooking. =.
All through the months since the
peace conference began the ,Vienesse
high and low have said with simple
faith: when the peace is signed
things win mend" They cannot ex-
plain exactly how or why, but they
have conjured themselves with the
idea that some sort Of miracle win
occur. But the peace has been signed
and nevertheless the crown goes
down day by day and prices go up
and everything is az bad as ever. Now
they say: '"The reparations commits
sion. All. yes, the commission. They
will fix things"