The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1920-01-01
VIENNA bees j. 6.
To HELP IN FOOD
Must Also Have Raw Materials
to Start Factories.
PEOPLE ACTUALLY STARVING
Fashionable Streets Lined With Rag
sed 5eegars Crying for Something
to Eat-lnvaIid Soldiers Lie
on the Pavements.

Vienna Dec. 29.-Austria waits an
humble supplicant, at Americas door
sObbing Save us ere we die" The
next two months are reckoned as the
most critical, as the most severe con-
ditiOns will be experienced in that
period. If all promises are fulfilled
the country is assured of half ration,
which will not be sufficient TO support
human existence until the end of Jan
uary.
The credits which have been ar
ranged by Chancellor Renner in Paris
may enable the nation to carry on a
little further. The entente mission
is endeavOring to save Austria from
perishing, but the situation improves
momentarily only to collapse again.
Experts are of the opinion that the
country can survive only ii sufficient
credit is granted to buy raw materials
and resume manufacturing.
Ragged in Fine Streets.
In the fashionable quarters of vi
emma the streets are crowded with
ragged. barefooted, hollow-eyed chill
dren accosting passers-by pitifully for
food or clothing.
On the payements lie invalid sol
diers and beggars, exposing the stumps
of limbs still suppurating from lack
Of medical aid. Not more than a hun
dred yards away, in the big hotels, sit
uverfed, bIoated "schlechendler," fill
thy ghouls, sucking the last drops of
the lifeblOod of Austria and response
Bile for at least half of the existing
misery by reason of their speculation,
which keeps the prices of necessities
o. life beyond the reach of any except
the very rich. They eat the best, not
counting the cost.
Give us bread !" rings through Aus
tria. but bread is not to be had. The
cafes are filed with persons eating
pastries made from chestnut flour. The
greatest suffering is among the middle
and lower classes. those who on mis-
cradle pittances have to keep up APP
pearances, and therefore must often
go without food. For their daughters
1t is either the street or starvation.
$1,000 Out of Work.
In Vienna there are 10000 unem-
pluyed tramping the streets looking
for work. But few factories are work
ing as Il result of the lack of coal. One
skilled mechanic said:
y work six hours day, five days
a week, but | haven't tasted meat in
two months. | have lived mainly on
sour cabbage. Thank God, my wife
Is dead and have no children. God
pity those who are married and have
children"
In the poorer quarters there are
their whole lives and many are dying
for lack Of this important food staple,
In some cases shoes are purchased
with tins of preserved milk. As win
ter grips the country worse conditions
are coming. People are facing death
by freezing Even the CZechS, sworn
enemies of the Austrans, are relaxing
their hostility in view of the sorry
plight of the people and sending them
some fuel as a New Years gift.
TO add to the terrors of cold and
famine, an epidemic of typhus and
scurvy has broken out. The shadow
of death hangs over the city and what
was once the gayest of European CAPT
tails is rapidly being depOpulated.
Christmas a Sad Day.
Christmas was sad festival for
the Viennese Less than per cent of
the people had meat on that day. Sour
cabbage and n few crusts Of mouldy
bread were the mainstays of the re-
mainder. Dogs and cats are disap-
pearing, being killed and eaten, and
horsefesh has come to be esteemed
great deicacy, available only for the
wealthy.
A general crime wave has added to
the horrors of life in the capital. Shops
and private houses have been looted,
despite the activity of the police, and
arriving freight trains are now provid-
ed with strong guards as a result of
many ear robberies. Billboards and in
some cases houses have been torn
down by desperate poor persons to be
used as fuel.