The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1921-02-03
POVERTY DRIVES TO
WHOLESALE THIETERY
People of Budapest Are Stealing Wood
in Great Guam
titles.

Budapest, Feb. MANY of the poor
people of this city are being driven to
wholesale thievery by the fuel short
age. The recent theft of 25 carloads of
wood from one train of 100 carloads, as
it entered the city, shows the extent to
which the stealing is going on.
Wood is so scarce that when wag-
onload is driven through the streets
people stop and gaze after it until it is
out of sight.
Daring small boys are ever on the
alert for a stray piece of wood or any
thing that will give heat at home. They
scamper after every passing wood wag-
on but are soon frightened away by
long whips in the hands of two women
who sit on guard astride the load,
The operation of unloading a ton of
Hungary's inferior brown coal before
house attracts many neighbors who
make a pathetic picture as they watch
basketful after basketful after basket
full disappear into the coal bin of the
more fortunate one
Because of the urgency to obtain
fuel, by dishonest means, if honest
ones are OF no avail, the juvenile courts
were never so crowded with youthful
offenders.
The scarcity of fuel grows more acute
daily as winter advances. The street
railway service has been sharply cur
tailed and people wait for hours ex-
posed to the bitter cold. The worst OPP
Grated American streetcar never toler-
ated such crowding
Gas factories are provided with coal
for only "a hours at time and the gas
is turned on now only at noon and aft
er o'clock. Only one light is permitted
in a room and not more than three.
rooms in a house or single apartment
may be lighted at the same time Even
at the most expensive hotels there is
no running hot water. Saturday is
bathing day. On other days baths can
only be had at the public baths for
which Budapest is famous.
One of the latest and most drastic
steps of the new government is the de
portation of undesirable citizens, those
suspected of bolsheyik tendencies or
who are known to be opposed to the
present form of government. Hundreds
of these have come to Hungary since
the outbreak of the war Now their
houses and flats are being comman-
deered and turned over to homeless ref
ugees from Pennsylvania and other see
tions who have been living in freight
cars in the railroad yards.
The majority of the people have
parted company with the last of their
articles of jewelry and the dealers
from other lands are not getting many
takers Of their offers Of fabulous prices
for gold and silver. What is called the
state exchange bureau, a sort of ma
tional pawnshop, has paid as hight as
$4,000 crowns for a kilogram (of go
poundsl Of scrap gold and dealers are
offering 100000 crowns in an effort
to coax another kilogram from people
who may be boarding their precious
metal. For pure gold 250,O00 crowns
a kilogram is offered with no takers.
The explanation is that most of the
gold has been smuggled to other coun-
tries where the money has more value.
The Hungarian newspapers print a
to 10000 laborers of Hunga
rian origin in the United States to
desist from their reported intention TO
return to their native land at this time.
The papers say that the economic crisis
in America can never be as bad as il is
here and urged their countrymen not
to further embarrass Hungary's unem
ployment problem.
As if the country's cup OF misery
was not full il is now visited by an
epidemic of hoof and mouth disease
and people are prohibited from buying
cattle from neighboring states. All
are closely watched and all
cattle within 20 kilometers Of the bor-
der must be registered with the health !