The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-04-25
HUNGARY RAMPANT
 WITH BROTHERS
Penury and Extravagance Side by Side in Aston
 ishing Fashion
Ry MARK FACET


 Budapest March l.-(Special 1t is by | -raV Velling through what are still known 1 Is the Centra, Empires that the demoral- | 2ing effects of war are most wildly re- alized There is still, l imagine pre- | vaiing notion that war is a bad business
 or the loser only which is at any rate rartly due to the different way in which var affects v.ctors and vanauishe1. Thus tanuuished nations, at least all who were worth anything. have always restricted their use of laxuries, whereas victor na- tons have always been inclined to be ex- sravagant after war thinking that their victories dispensed them from any measure of prudence. restraint or saN- ing.
 Now. however both victor and van
 u;shed seem to be finding that war does not pay Both are realizing that war Ices not create anything substantially valuable. In the past it may have hap pened that some ination has, in sense aenefited by war, just as an individual may, in a sense, benefit by pocket-pick- ing. But the individual merely transfers to his pocket what ought to be in some one else's pocket, and produces nothing Similarly in the past nation can only have acquired wealah which ought to have been that of some other nation. and did not produce or create wealth. In the one case, therefore society was not bettered, and in the other case the world as a whole was no better off than before, always snpposng 1t not to have been any worse off
 There is one classl in the world today who would certainly dispute the asser- ton that war does not pay-war prof ,teers, who seem at present a greater
 'courge in vanquished than in victor lands They are verify one of the po5,- var plaques which havd descended upon Europe; and just as even neutral lands are being troubled with the epidemics following on the war so they are being troubled with prohteers. although in both cases to q less extent than belligerent countries
 Nowhere, perhaps, can these carrion crows be better observed than in Vienna, Budapest and throughout Germany. All the large hotels in the Austrian and Hun sarian capitals are overfilled with war profitees whose business is seldom, If eVer avowabe They are of all nation alities, and it would be hard to say whether any particular nationality pre- dominates One generalization may be made however, war profiteers usually come from a country whose money is worth a great deal now to another coun- try whose exchange stands very much be- low par. Thus a Swiss who can buy lOJ Austrian kronen for frs. and for time for frs. 1.50 Gnstead of for frs. lG3) ar rives in Vienna with, let us say. 50,0O0 Swiss francs Allowing frs. for 100 lSro- nen he has 2,500.000 krcnen. On an Amer ican arrives with S50.000, and receives therefor 150o0.O0O kronen. With these sums they buy up whatever kind of valuables they may fancy-gold, platinum, precious stones 5eweldy, paintings. sil- yer. furniture, carpets furs, old lace. motor cars or even houses and landed property.
 Recently heaerd of a Swiss who went to Germany and bought an estate there for 5OO. .0O0 marks, which in Swiss money. was only frs. 25.000. All kinds of fac tories are also being bought up. but in Germany more than in Austria or Hun gary: and while rows of houses in Buda- pest Munich Berlin and Vienna are passing into the hands of foreign owners. The governments seem powerless to pre- vent their countries being thus drained rot merely of vaiuables and luxury arsi- cles, but also of necessaries such as fur niture and bedding. ard, what is worst of all. the sellers of these valuables and of landed and other property often leave the price paid them in some fareign bark where it escapes taxation That is to say, supposlng an Austrian receives s5p0Oo0 for his property this sum will be credited to him in some American bank and he will merely receive the in- terest upon it. Stamps are also much sought after by certain profiteers. and thee is hardly stamp collector in Aug fria, Hungary or Germany whose collec- ton has not been rifed The other day ar American departed from Budapest taking with him incredible quantities or stamps.
 Again. pork butchers assistant, with an extensive first hand acquaintance with law courts and prisons. has contrived to get so rich that he has now entered his own horses for the spring races at Buda- pest On the other hand. the Hungar9 masnate whose landed property is per haps in territory now lost to Hungary, have been reduced to selling their Turls- ish swords with bejeweled handles and the pearl clasps of their princely gar ments- pearl clasps. dating back to the time of the Medici.
 And in Budapest are war profteers paying $500 kronen and more for a hat to adorn the head of some actress and some other fancy sum for a palace for dancing girl to live in, while thousands of young children are without milk to drink and thousands of mothers without bread to eat.
 Copyright by the Edward Marshall Syndicate, Inc.)
 The ring g-necked pheasant of China has been introduced into New Jersey to make a battle against Japanese beetles.