The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-04-18
'VULGAR DISPLAY
 1. OF RICHES HAUNT
 ! WRETCHED SQUALOR
Vienna Is City of Extremes. Wealthy Carouse in Almost Drunken lndencency.
 People Are Starving
By Associated Press

By Associated Press
 Vienna, April 17.-Vulgar display of extravagance in food and clothing is a nightly picture at the gay restaurants here while only a few blocks away hun gry and .scantily clothed persons are pe- ing poorly fed in community kitchens. Visitors to Vienna are shocked by this paradoxical, economic condition. Others are either hardened to the contradictory sights or, In their inability to alter either extreme, can only shut their eyes to them.
 Crowded theatres and operas at tre- mendously advanced prices. concerts sold out in advance, masked ball following masked ball in an endless riot against the coming of Lent, cabarets whose risQue dancers would bring out the po- lice in New York and where nothing to drink but wine is served. cafes and res taurants with never empty table, not a room to be had in the big hotels whose prices go up from week to week-that is one picture On its reverse, foreign re- lief straining itself and demanding un- teasing contributions in aid of a suffer ing populace.
 WINE BATH FOR PIG
 In Austria 1t IS the custom on New Years Eve to bring squealing sucking pigs to public dining rooms and the red ribbon with which they are decorated is distributed in bits to guests as talismans for the coming year. The newspapers report that in one fashionable resort woman seized the pig and bathed it in cooler full of wine. Other women caught the original idea and initiated it to the cost of many bottles That restaurant, Accidentally, has had it's license suspend Cd for constant violation of the food and closing regulations.
 Viennese claim that in ell these re- sorts where display and expenditure of the most vulgar kind are evidenced not one real Austrian can be found, that they have not the money. They say they are supported by the horde of profiteers of every race and every na ationality that tnfest and infect the city. A recent dem construction of the populace is acknowl- edged to have been inspired by this prod igal display of extravagance and ready money on the part of this small element Of the population.
 The working men demand the govern nent shall suppress profiteering and eliminate the sheba (profiteering whole saler or middleman) and the sleichandler Gllicit trader) in an effort to lower the daily mounting cost of living, else they will undertake to do so on their own account They carried a miniature gall lows in recent demonstration,
 FROTH WITH PRIDE
 ;rhe authorities and thoughtful Aus-- trians acknowledge that this superficial froth of extravaganza and display is do- ing great harm to the city and the country. Casual travellers who spend a few days in the inner city visit these gorgeous resorts and see the high-class restaurants crowded at every meal tea dances in the afternoon, exceptionally well-dressed men and women and the dis { play of furs and jewels and articles of luxury in the shop windows probably un- eXcelled in any capital, are hard to con- vince that beneath this veneer lies wide spread privation and in certain strata actual bitter suffering.
 Some 100000 children are being fed one nourishing meal day by American charity Through American aid the hos pitalss are being refurnshed with long absent necessities. Nearly 100000 Aus trian children are charity guests in other countries. Indeed, the charity of all ncn- suffering peoples is being extended boun- tifully to this country, regardless of creed or race and all investigators who dig deeply into conditions acknowledge it is needed.
 But lot infrequently the visitor, es- pecially the American, when he is told this, gazes on the evidence of wealth and well-being about him and remarks that it might be we'll to spend some Of this money at home instead of demand ing aid from other lands One answer IS that this phase of Vienna life brings money in and keeps it circulating. An other is that the temperament of people must be considered.
 WILD GAMBLING
 The billboards are filled with announce nents of redouts (masked or fancy dress balls). Wine is always served at these affairs at high prices. Among those about to occur, the star event is one at the State Opera for the benefit of the pension fund of the singers and musi- clans. The boxes, long since sold, went Tor from 20,000 to 2S.O00 crowns each ana single tickets of admission for 1000 Even in deprecated Austrian currency 20,0o0 crowns represents about 90 per fectly good American dollars or a good many balanced ration meals such as Amer1cans are giving Viennas children Much of the money thus spent comes from wild speculation on the stock ex- change that has followed the constantly 1luctuating crown, and from wide open speculation in foreign monies theoretic- ally prohibited but in full operation in cafes and restaurants and well covered private offices.
 One American told the correspondent that in the Black exchange. a little street where these operators gather and trade, he saw one man with s2OD OU American money, and who admitted he had made 100000 crowns a day on specu lation.I The possibilities of this money market are made plain in one weeks crown quotations against dollars. Private sales were made on Wednesday at yuo crowns to the dollar. The market closed on Saturday with dollars at 632
 Fluctuations in the stock market of thousands of crowns per share are com monplace Men with foreign money smuggled in and out of other countries as the ~exchange rate varies, fatten on speculation and for them all Vienna is the mecca.
 CoIacfivo Tr,rn;rr.<;or