Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1920-12-27
BY Dorothy Thompson,

Vienna, Dec. 29.- In Vienna
they say politely to strangers. "Oh.
have you come to study our mis-
ery?"
1t has become quite a task -
taking visitors to make the rounds
of the great relief organizations, to
see the thousands of pallid, listless
children who stand every noon. cup
lr ha+ad, before the palace that
once housed the Austrian emperor,
and Is now a food kitchen of the
american Relief committee, or to
WISH the hospitals and see the grue
some sight of children with bent
legs protruding abdomens and
huge heads - the victims of ri
kits, that horrible disease of NAL
nutrition
but was net in Vienna to study
It's misery" l was only a casual
visitor, and though saw much of
this wretchedness en- masse under
the chaperonage of the American
lted Cross, the joint distribution
committee and the Friends those
things which made the misery of
Vienna most real to me We're tbe
small observations which one is
able to make every day.
for instance, in regard to beg
sars' In Its halcyen dayys Vienna
was singularly free from mendi-
cants. Coming into Austria from,
ltaly one of the first things which
one missed were the 'Lazzaroni },
VINO whine at every corner in Ven
ice and Rome.
Boggars Everywhere.
But now Vienna is crowded with
heggars and street vendors and
from a study of their faces it is
possible to make very interesting
observation about them. They are
unquestionably the most infelli-
gent beggars in the world. They
are worth studying, for their his
tory Is one with the history of the
city.
every day on the famous Njen-
hese promenade the Karntnarriner
| you may meet the wreck of what
!
was once a man. There are great
aar ksockets where once his ewes
looked out. Empty sleeves hang
at ms sides, and a dog leads him
by leash around his waist. pitt
iul people who pass by drop a few
lives. nc
But his face, you will notice
wrecked and marred as it is. is
no ordinary face. And if Won in.
| qulfe ABOUT him. perhaps you NAV
iearn his story. This is how if was
told to me by the maitre d,botoI
where l stopped.
Ach, yes. l know him well five
years ago. Then he was a cantai,,
from well-known family. Very
| handsome. He used to come bare
OFTEN for dinner with his nrettv
wife. He lost his arms ana bie
eyes in the last year of the war
When his wife saw him in the hos.
pltal she Went home and shot her.
sell Probably he would have gone
the same way, but he had a child
His pension is only a few kronen a
month. He has friends of influ-
ence, but what are they in Vienna :?
NO one except the profiteers has
money enough to help their friends
80 ne Degs to support his child. If
is well he is blind, perhaps. 7
should hate to have him see me -
who used to take his coat in the
old days"
Once Beau BrummcI.
Beside the Grand hotel man
sits, selling newspapers. A news
paper in Vienna costs one kronen
eighty helars. If you buy from
him and offer him two kronen /
hope you will not take the change,
because il is from that twenty he
lars that he manages to live. [
got his story from his former coif-
feur For in the days before the
war he was the Beau Brummel of
Vienna. All the fashionable cafes
knew him, and the young bloods
copied his waistcoats and cravats
and every week he came to the
.coiffeurs to have his beard dressed
and his hair marcelled.
what can one do?" asked the
coiffeur "Vienna is full of these
people who used to live on their
incomes. who have no profession
or trade. and whose friends are as
, Impoverished as themselves"
The man who sells shoestrings
on the Opera Ring was once a pro-
fessor Before you judge the sac
rifice Of his self-respect too harsh
ly, recollect that an eminent vi
ennese scientist starved to death
not so long ago.
l talked about these beggars to
Max Winter, the vice-mayor of vi
emma. His eyes took fire.
"Oh, yes he said THAT is the
most terrible tragedy of my coun-
, try We are losing our self re-
spect. The things which our pres.
ent condition is doing to our bad.
les is nothing compared with wha
: / it is doing to our souls. We are
finding that the best commodity
I which we have to offer in tht
worlds market is our wretched'
ness. SO we display it for sale
, Vienna is still a great center. Ev
, cry hotel is crowded, for the MAI
from Constantinople, who wants t
bargain with a man from Norway
stiu meets him in Vienna. Thesi
men who come to Vienna for trad
: and a good time do not like to SCI
> misery Haunted in their faces.
They will not concern themselve
with the fate of Vienna's scientist
After spending a few days il