Norwich bulletin., 1920-02-26
IN THE DAYS NEWS
Vienna,

A 'tcity of the dead is gruesome; a city of the dying is more appalling and the latter phrase describes the Vienna of today.
 ITO recall Vienna as it was-gay, musical and dancing-is only to heighten the contrast" says a bulletin from the Washington headquarters Of tIe National Geographic Society.
 4'ReGoIlections of the 'prettist sight in Europe when thousands of children joined the Procession in the Prater at Whitsuntide, only emphasizes the poignant tradgedy of those other thou sands, now in hospitals, too weak and sick to cry for food.
 The Prater, three times the size of WashiRgtons Rock Creek Park, sym bolized the Fiennese love of outdoors, which a climate of changeful variety could not quench There, scarcely out of earshot Of each other, the famous military bands played music which later was to be hummed by home going American theatre audiences. Tame deer were as plentiful as the friendly squirrels of Richmond's Capitol Park.
 ''Fouth city of Europe before the war, as large as our own Chicago, Vienna seems doomed, not to tempor- ary sufI erIngs, like many another European c-ty, but to permanent dis ability. She was important principally for being the seat of government of an empire of some 50,000,000 people and rich natural resources. Thus she was like Washington, D., C., only her accertion of prestige, culture, and popularity extended from Roman times.
 While the population of Austria Hungary was but half that of the United States, Vienna was the art, musical and tourist center of popu- lation fairly comparable to that of the United States.
 Therefore Vienna's position today may be likened to that of Washington, should the American Capitol suddenly become the chief city of an area equal only to tha of Virginia, with a popula- tion little more than that of Pennsyl- Yania, To complete the comparison, one must imagine this Virginia rim med with new born and none too friendly nations That would mean its nine millions of people could not buy foodstuffs, coal, or raw materials from adjoining states. That is Fienna's S plight today.
 Vienna ,abounds in relics of her former glory. Such reminder is St. ! Stephens, the St. Peters of Austria, i which has been a Viennese shrine for seven centuries. The older tower, now ! replaced by q spire half as high as the 1 Eiffel Tower, was the home of Vienna s early fire department.
 i By climbing 700 steps the fire watchers reached a platform where i there were four telescopes, sweeping 1 every point of the compass. Each quadrant, covered by one telescope, was divided into sections, enabling the nh tn 6ata 1 ity of the fire. House owners in each section corresponding to these sectors were listed in great books by the side 1 of each telescope, and as soon as the 1 observer determined which house was ablaze he ~wrote the name on a slip of paper. threw it down a long pipe, to a janitor below, and by him the fire was reported to the city authorft- ies.
 Legend, as well as quaint fact, ad- heres to many of the landmarks o1 Vienna. To the south of the city is a beautiful cross the. Spinnerinn am Kreuz. The site was a rendezvous for | tourists because of the panorama of the city it afforded. Though the pre- sent cross is more than five centuries old, it replaced simpler crucifx | which is said to havz been placed there by a woman whose husband went away on one of the Crusades While he was abroad she went to this point every day to spin and to pray 1 When he returned she erected the cross, as an act of gratitude, with the money she earned by spinning. ] "Only a few years before the World War Vienna embarked upon municipa ownership to an unprecedented scale Not only did the city own her electric and gas lighting plants, her street railways, and warehouses. but also her breWeries, pawnshops, and undertak- l ing establishments.
 "As befits a city to which the west ern world owes debt of gratitude be- cause it was the buIwark against the Turks, Vienna was heavily fortified The pulling down of these fortffca- 1 tions made room for the extensive park system With the demolition ot l the inner ring of forts space was given | for the Ring-strasse, or boulevard which has a two mile circumference and is about 150 feet wide. Around this circle, or, more accurately, octa- gon, run street cars, passing various sections given over to different phases of city life, such as the Opera, the business street, the city palace of the former Emperor, and so on.
 l Vienna is not on the Danube, but is connected with the rivers course several miles away, by a canal.''