Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1921-06-17
AUSTRIAN MUSIC
SUFFERS BY war
Large Royalties From United
States Held Up.
CUSTODIAN NOW HOLDS FEES

CUSTODIAN NOW HOLDS FEES
Leo Fall and Franz Lehar Are Trying
to Get Possession Of Their Money
Are MIIIlonaires on Paper, but 10
Royalties Are Paid In Crowns at the
Pre-war Rate II viii Mean Heavy
loss-Works Of Enemy Authors Now
Unprotected.
Austria Is an export country for ORA
matte literature, chiefly comic plays
and musical comedies and for music In
general. Before the war the success
OF certain types of plays of Viennese
origin, especially Operettas, depended
entirely on the reception In the United
States and England. Royalties Of many
thousands of dollars used to flow regu.
larry to Vienna from overseas. When
the United States entered the war this
was stopped and all royalties were
treated as property Of alien enemies
and put under the supervision Of the
public trustee. Since the conclusion e
peace several well-known Austrian au-
thors-among them Leo Fall and Frans
Lehar-have repeatedly tried to get
into the possession Of their money,
which increased In value from day 70
day with the rising exchange rate Of
the dollar. Hitherto all these efforts
appear to have failed.
1t has been reported here that Amer
lea Intends to release the seQueStered
property Of private persons Of former
ly hostile countries. But 1t has become
doubtful whether they would derive
much benefit from the realization q
this promise, as it is intended, accord
Ing to the latest news, to pay The
money not to the different owners d.
rect, but to the Austrian government.
which is supposed to receive the sums
in dollars and to hand them over 70
the interested parties in crowns at The
pre-war rate Of exchange.
MlliionaIres In Paper Crowns.
Although a profitable transaction 10
the state, this would be but a ps0e
consolation for the ultimate recefvero
Of the money, considering that the
crown has today less than one one-hun.
dredth part of its normal value. The
patience Of writer's and composers, whe
were once accustomed to incomes in
dollars, Is therefore put to hard
proof. Theoretically they are multi
millionaires in crowns, but practically
it is quite uncertain whether they will
ever see these millions.
Still, they would soon forget this bad
luck If they could find sufficient COM
pensation In new connections with the
United States. AS soon as the war was
over American theatrical managers and
publishers agents made their appear
ance in Vienna and purchased Austrian
literary and musical works. 1t looked
at first as If with the reopening Of the
gates of the dollar paradise new
period Of prosperity had arrived for
popular authors. But there arose an
other difficulty. This time 1t was the
copyright question. America takes the
position that the copyright agreements
were violated during the war by Ger
many and Austria anil that they have
not yet been re-established. This
means that In the United States the
works of German and Austrian authsru
are now unprotected.
Trying to Protect AuthorA
A big American publishers firm has
recently sent a circular letter to sew.
eral Austrian and German authors q
the foremost rank, in which II alludeS
to this difficulty. The firm says that u
has done what 1t could to bring about
a favorable decision In America and
that 1t has so far in vain invited the
German authors and their Austrian
colleagues to lodge joint protest win
their respective governments.
The American government, the fVt-
ter proceeds, will not protect the Ger
man and Austrian works until Amert
can works are assured the same prO'
lection In these two countries. A
things stand at present 1t is dangerous
for American publishers to risk much
money for printing German or Aus
TRAN works, because In case Of success
any other firm could come out with Q
copy Of the edition. To remove this
condition the firm in question declares
the closest cooperation Of the Ger.
man and Austrian authors 10 indtS.
pensable.
In the meantime an attempt IL being
made to assure some Of the most popu.
lar Austrian authors their royalties.
whose payment has been prevented By
the war. 1t is said that In the case u
Lehar alone they amount to about
10000, or from 100000 to aO0W
paper crowns.