Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-07
VIENNA DOWN AND OUT,
BUDAPEST IS EXALTED
Only After Being in Former Gay
Capital Several Days Does
One See Her Plight

Conditions AZ Vienna and Budapesf
formerly the proud capitals r the Hap--
burg Empire, bat now reduced by de-
feat 10 misery and inagnIfcsnoe are
compared by the correspondent ~ The
London Times" he writes:
"lf il vas always easy 70 draw . con-
trast between Vienna and Budapest the
task today is easier than ever. The tVo
cities are now spiritually the antitbesls
the one Of the other, with the balance 20
far as material comforts are concerned.
heavily in favor Of Budapest.
The casual stranger coming 70 Vienna
would not. perhaps realize ~ inst into
what plight the city has fallen. 50 long
as he remains in the wealthy quarters
Of the town he viii find shops still stock
cd with furs, jewelry, leatherwork goods
and the hundred and one articles Of luxury
that one finds only IN q proud capital.
he viii find the opera and theaters n
full swing: he viii find the same crowds
in the countless cafes, the same lu11IrIous
hotels But dIsIll1sIonment comes quickly
''When I left Vienna three days ago
the population was undergoing 8 reduced
weekly ration which allotted or grams
(about . pounds OF bread ana l25 grams
II poundl of cooking -four 10 hard WORK
ers, and 5S7 grams q little over ole
Dound) OF bread and l25 grams OF cooking
-four 10 other people. The children even
OF well-to-do people apply 70 be fed sc the
Kitchens instituted BY the American ami
other charitable missions.
f.Nourishing food is the universal
desideratum. To quote a personal eX-
perience: | brought with me % EiennA
a year ago several tins OF dripping. some
Of winch I have employed IS dubbIn on
the ieaky paper shoes that one buys there
in exchange for equally worthless paper
money. An Austrian friend wss horrlhed
at such prufusiOn. and, acting on MS hint,
I now find that Il one wants 70 see an
official quickly or get anything done, .
tin Of dripping has al the persuasive
el0quence OF the soverelgns which Sher-
lock Holmes used TO handle abstractedly be-
fore dilatory hanson cab d1vers.
In Budapest the food conditions are
distinctly better. Such rationIng as exists
IS more honored IN the breach than IN the
observance. Meatless days are unknown,
and If the poor do not get regular supply
of bread. and if sugar and potatoes are
practically understandable, the workmen
are somehow obtaining 3 sufnciency OK
vegetables and other farm products.
''In Vienna one csnnot walk fifty yarJis
down the Ring without being aecosted
BY beggarS. Apart from war cripples, |
have never vet seen q beggar in Budapest
This fact is significant Of the entirely
different spirit 3nImatlng she two coun-
tries today The Austrian Is utterly down
and out. He appears 10 have no ePergy
left except TO sit N cafes and reSd the
newspapers during the day time and -
listen to music IN the same csIeS during
the evening
With very few exceptions the govern
ment IS equally spineleSS, and the con
d'tiops IN general are not unlike what
obtained here under the ksroiyl regime.
The provinces are IA no mood to $40 4
capitaf where the soldiers and workmeus
councils have long instituted = system of
Bolshevism au lait, and il Vienna avoids
falling into the same abyss as did Buds-
pest it viii be due more 20 the apsthy even
Of the revolutioparies than 70 any energetic
counter measure Of their opponents.
Budapest Is IN very different frsTne
Of mind. The reaction from Bolshevism
and the departure OF the Rumsniaas
have induced a strongly national, even
chauvinistic, temper among the people
Sensible clear thinking men, such rs the
Prime Minister, NJ. Huszar, or Admirs.
Horthv, may see well enough what Is il
Hungarys interest. but large sections "a
people, including even business men. speak
freely Of the inevitable revanche against
the RumanianS and of the certitude that
the Slovaks viii soon come back Sgain
to Hungary.
"One should not, perhaps, take this
exaltation too seriously, but it cannot
have escaped notice that among the
conditions of recognition of the HuSzar
Sir George Clerk laid doRu
that the Hungarians were 60 abstain from
making any attack upon their neightsors
and were to respect the provisional boun-
darieS of the country pending the final
by the peace conference
The conclusion of peace and the restoration
Of normal conditions with a democraticalh
elected Parliament viii doubtless do much
10 turn mems minds into more peace.
iul channels, but an impartial observer
Is hound to record the present nations
excitement and even 70 admire the elastic.
Ity Of temperament which can so quickk
recover from three months of enemy oc
supation superimposed upon the lonf
months Of Bolshevism under Coun
Aarolvi and Bella Kun.
Lost something Try a classified Al