The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1920-09-27
vienna PEOPLE
HELD FAST IN
Grip OF POVERTY

Viii VI VuLlu
Washington, Sept 27. - ALI classes
of citizens of Vienna have become
street seavengers. according to
graphic report on the distress to
which the once proud Viennese have
been reduced made public here to-
day. The report was written on the
ground by an investigator. 1t fol-
lows:
There is one telitale sign of the
pitiful poverty that exists beneath
the gay veneer of Vienna as it
strives 20 maintain its swagger of be-
fore the war. 1t is the habit the peo-
pie have formed of picking up every
thing they come upon in the streets.
ITO the casual observer, Vienna is
just as gay in the old days. Its
shop windows are filled with the ad
mirable goods which drew buyers
from all parts of Europe years ago
the days gone by.
An Glasses Do 1t.
''But at a second glance old and
young, shabby and well dressed, will
! Do seen to stop and pick Vi some
bit from the sidewalk or street, slip
on. Sometimes it is the feeble old
man snatching the butt of a cigarette
but not always SO. Bully as often
well dressed women will stoop to
I
and thrust it into her pocket.
"A fallen twig from one of the
trees on the shaded boulevard lies
upon the ground but for a few sec
onds and any bit of metal is salvaged
I by the ever-stooping pedestrians, who
find some value in almost anything
that is dropped on the streets.
Not a scrap of paper escapes at
tention and to see the picking up
process repeated a dozen times in a
few blocks tells only too plainly that
there is dire need beneath the sur
face of Vienna, which will always be
ance as the resolute people can make
lit.
Seek Paper and Feelings.
"In the railroad yards, where once
the poor swarmed gathering Jumps
of coal from passing trains, women
and children search TO bits of paper
Shrown from passenger cars. Even
an orange peel does not go to waste.
Never before were the tracks SO
clean of every bit of wod and iron
and refuse from trains.
"One train stopping just outside
the station was surrounded by the
usual swarms of children, frail and
eager. A passenger leaning out
little girl. There was the usual fran
tic scramble but the little girl Sc
cured the prize. She unwrapped it,
not with the eagerness of child
care The infoil inside the wrapper
was folded with great pains and
placed inside her dress. 1t was more
precious to the candy famished child
per to she folded but it fell from the
pocket of her ragged little apron.
"At once there was a scramble as
violent as for the chocolate itself
went the coveted bit Of crumpied
paper. 1t would help to serve as
fuel, he said. HIS mother and sister
also were hunting bits of sticks and
paper, he said, for there was no
other fuel to be had.
Resurrect Old Styles.
There is hint of the underlying
poverty too in the crowds that throng
the streets. There are women, un-
imistakably of the higher class, wear
ling the leg of mutton sleeves of the
nineties. The material, costly with
out question, looks strangely out of
Fplace in this day of different styles.
And in the city, which was always a
formidable rival of Paris, there are
that's which adorned the beauties of a
decade ago.
ut is as though the likeness IN an
old family album had stepped forth
Unto the streets where one expects to
find the last word in fashion. The
iclothes have been resurrected from
attics and ragLbags by rich and poor
ialfke, for there is nothing to be had
to-day. When money will buy nc
meat, no bread but the blacklist and
coarsest, adulterated to the utmost
point of edibility, there is little
choice.
TN the slums there is no conceal.
,nnent of the ravages of poverty
Gaunt men and women. hoping vain.
lily for work, are unable to provide
for still more feeble children, bese
by the diseases that come with hung
er. Without fuel or fire for food
as hos
Carried Of a Forest.
at was an army of such desperate
people, fully 10000 that broke bold
lily through the lines of guards ant
forest just outside the city. TIL
guards, themselves hungry, could no
find the heart to stop the lines o
people that broke through draggin,
branches and stumps of the ono
'It was a hopeless task, the Amer
leans decided. to feed all the des
titute. but to every hospital which
WAS given medical aid and the foo
that would help to rebuild the pa
ttients. Aid was given only to con
Germs where Austrian officials them
iselveS were found to be doing thei
utmost with their small resources.
likewise in the distribution o
clothing and other relief materia
it was supplied through the Austrian
Sdhlz~HllOllc lllebl "tGe uelplISs LlleIfl
selves Under the system establishe
by Major Robert Davis of Engle
wood, N. J., the relief of Vienna /
steadily progressing, while but
mere hand full of Americans hav
been required to handle the situa
Etion.
I'm the mean time a harvest
coming on and the great city ha
iheen enabled to exist by being helpe
TN its own desperate efforts by tn
few necessities the Americans had t
give"
NEnNEIJNT nT ADDrr