The Washington herald., 1920-12-28
We may be personally defeated, but our
principles never-Garrison.
Helping Austria.

ii
about 100000 people, will have exhausted
its native food supply by mid February In
both the winters of 1910 and 1920, the American
government indirectly financed three-fourths of the
cost OF saving Austria from famine in exactly SINH
lar situations.
During the same period American charity has
continuously fed from $4,000 to 100000 Austrian
children. Beyond any doubt the situation of the
Austrian people and the Austrian state TODAY is
CRITICAL and it will be equally critical every year at
this time for the next twenty years unless some
proper settlement OF the Austrian question is ar
lived at.
n reparations commission consisting of nine
members from different governments sits constantly
IN Vienna, endeavoring to discover a method by
which the state of Austria can be developed in such
fashion that it will be able to pay indemnity. 1t
has even advanced plan by which the world shall
loan to Austria $2soooo,ooo over a period of five
years, so as to guarantee the stability of the state
.yThe commission expresses the optimistic hope
that this measure, combined with internal recon-
stTuction, will render Austria selfsupportng able to
Pzy indemnities and remove this menace to the sta
6ility Of Central and Eastern Europe. 1t is sug-
sested that the United States should participate in
these financial proposals.
In announcing the plan to raise this sum Sir
William Goode, of the Austrian Reparations Com
rission, has commented on the difficulty of raising
money in European countries already overburdened
with taxes and debts.
;: Sooner or later it will develop that it is pos
sible to raise only fraction in Europe and the I'M
preston Will be allowed to go forth that unless
America which is able to do so, provides the rest
We will have on heads the responsibility for
the disintegration OF the Austrian state and the
misery of the Austrian people.
iS To call boJt Al:
recognize the facts in the case and place the re-
sponsibility for Austria's plight where it belongs
, The present Austria is dependent for its support
on the surrounding states many of which were fer
nnerly part OF the Austro-Hungarian Empire
:. The racial hatreds which imperial authority held
in sbeyance, are now given full play and Vienna
and the little Austrian state are hemmed in by hos
tile tariff regulations and thwarted in the struggle
tor lie by the refusal of those states which have
food surplus to supply Austria even in exchange for
manufactured products.
= The territory composing Jugo-Slavia, which for
nerly fed Vienna is ovcrstocked with foodstuHs
Yet will not cooperate The Czcchs have refused
to enter agreement with Austria to supply coal
IN return for fabricated products. The entente
allies are deaf to the appeals of Austria to be al
lowed to unite with Germany
o. And while conditions so rapidly from bad %
"OISe repa1auonS commission sits Vienna
Scanning Austrian assets in the futile hope of COL
lecting an indemnify
There is in all this good deal of wringinc of
hands and calling upon heaven to witness this dis
essing spectacle, but there very little action on
the part of those who could do most to remedy the
situation
If the French, the Serbs, the Czcchs. the Ru
nanisns and the Italians are in panic over the i'm
pending collapse of Austria and the chaos in Cen
tfal Europe which would follow, why don't they do
something? There are several things they might
do less difficult than raising loan of $4,000 600
and far more effective.
, For example France might abandon her policy
ot splitting up into separate states districts with
German population and allow Austria to unite with
Germany and thus strengthen the Catholic bloc
against Russia and give Austria chance to survive
Or the Czechs, the Poles, the Serbs the Ru-
rnanians, the Hungarians, might make a serious
move to form customs union which would permit
trade to flow naturally and would give Vienna
chance to rehabilitate its commercial life
Another very excellent thing that these powers
might do would be to withdraw their useless repara
tons commission from Vienna and forget it and the
whole question OF Austrian reparations
!, All these suggestions are possible and any one
OF them would do more for Austria than the pro
posed loan. If the powers concerned are not in
chned to do any of these things, it is pertinent to
inquire why the United States should be asked to
pay the bill for their political diversions
If Mr.. Harding is making such list there
as no one more eligible to head it as "desery-