Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-01-24
VIENNA JOLLY
CITY IN SPITE
OF DISTRESS
Cold and Hunger Fail to Put
Out Ardor of People Freed
of War.
MANY CHANGES SEEN
By FRANK E. MASON,

BY FRANK E. MASON,
Special Correspondent International News
Service.
VIENNA, Jan. 24.-Vienna, cold and
hungry, is still doing its best to be
jolly and gay When the Berlin populace
is underfed it is irritable and cantanke-
rous; If you brush against a man in
the street or crowd against him in the
subway he will turn and growl at you
or curse
But the Vienna resident smiles and
is unendingly courteous He cheerfully
informs you that the last week he has
had only bread and coffee.
You can not go from Berlin to Vi
emma without being forcibly reminded
of the fable of the thrifty ant who Ia
bored all sumner providing for winter,
and the cricket who chirped carefree and
happy, with no thought for the morrow
Berlin, with a stern hand and unjm-
aginative precision. gathers and doles
cut her quantum Of food. Vienna feasts
and makes merry when her resources
permit; when the provisions are gone
she fasts, but ia still merry.
OILCLOTH SPREAD
FOR ROYAL PEOPLE.
In Berlin I have sat between a princess
of international name and a countess at
dinner in the home Of a prominent Ger
man at a table laid with oilcloth. In
Berlin restaurants you eat from tho
board table top; the luxurious hotels
have paper tablecloths. Cloth is not
used because the available soap quickly
transforms a tablecloth into the appear
ance of a fiShnet
Vienna has less soap than Berlin, yet
you wiz find the best table linen in
use in even the little cheap restaurants.
Food is to be had In Vienna If you
have money to pay for it. Foreigners
do not etarve, because with the low
value Of tho crown a meal costs you
less here than in New York. You pay
hfty crowns, about 40 cents, for the meat
course in the best hotel But 90 crowns
Is more than the average man in Vienna
earns in a day.
The rich have both variety and plenty.
The poor find It difficult to get even
their card allowance Of bread. The
children of the poor are the most pitt
able objects in Vienna; the American
Children's Relief has saved the lives of
hundreds of them. Beggars accost you
increasingly with tales of sick and starry
ing parents or dying children.
PEOPLE OF VIENNA
CAN'T KEEP WARM.
One is most miserable in Vienna be-
cause he can never get warm. AS they
have not been heated for weeks, the
hotel rooms are damp, which makes them
seem colder than the street.
The city is crowded to OVERLOOKING and
1t is almost impossible to get hotel
rooms. When the tri-weekly Prague
train arrives, a taxi and carriage race
starts for the Grand hotel. The word
hpaD naSSad Ovar annfraI that
the Grand hotel is in spots heated. Be
cause I hadn't offered what he considered
an adequate bonus for getting there
first, my coachman was slow, and nine
carriages and two taxis were lined up
before the Grand when ! arrived all
from the same train. Not even a bath
room to be had. The drivers waited
for they are accustomed to the nightly
program of driving their charges from
midnight until dawn, stopping at hotel
after hotel in search of a room
Vienna is filed with foreigners, of
whom the Italians and French are the
most numerous, taking advantage of the
low value of the Austrian currency
Leather goods, for which Vienna is
famous, has increased 1000 per cent
in price in the last three months The
merchants are Withholding their best
rapidly from day to day that it is bet
ter to have their capital in merchandise
than in money.
AMUSEMENT PLACES ~
CONSTANTLY CROWDED.
The opera house and the theaters are
sold out days in advance. Five or six
symphony concerts and recitals a day
are crowded to the doors. Vienna re-
quires music as we'll as food to live;
Desires, a room always gets warm when
1t is crowded full Of people and a warm
place in Vienna needs no further attrac
zion.
The theater performances begin be-
tween 4 and 6 o'clock and they are all
closed before s. By $3.50 or 8 O'Clock
you will find block after block of large
apartment buildings totally dark: every
one In bed. You have electric light and
may turn 1T on. But woe to the family
whose meter shows that they have burned
more than the very limited number of
kilowatt hours rationed to them. Their
wires are cut and they get no more
current until next spring
Vienna has not lost her pride; she is
threadbare, bur still chic Hungry and
cold, she meets her troubles like a
thoroughbred, with patience and cheer
full smile