Arizona republican., 1922-03-08
Returned Traveller Gives Graphic
Outline Of Conditions In Europe

r 3. Reed of Appleton Wis, dean
of Wisconsin newspapermen and
former owner and publisher OF the
Appleton Post Crescent, who with his
daughter is spending the winter
months in Phoenix, has given The
Republican for publication the toll
lowing account of conditions in Eu-
rome as seen by Ernest Mailer. gem
eral manager of the Kimberley Clark
company, one of the largest paper
manufacturing companies in the
United States. Mr.. Mailer was born
in Austria, and is thoroughly ac-
uuainted with the countries OF Whlch
he speaks. His account. taken from |
the Appleton Post Crescent, follows:
Il left Appleton November Is and
arrived in Cherbourg. France, No
yember 21" Mr.. Mailer said. "One
| of the first incidents that attracted
my attention in France was q bag
gage man who wanted to charge
woman 100 francs for hauling her
trunk. He finally settled for two
! francs. I went from Cherbough TO
Paris in an unheated and untidy ran
road coach In Paris the hotel clerk
| TO whom had wired for reservations
told me there was no room. Finally
] Wi1cn ne saw IlO lIlOlEJ AOA NiASCAh'AfGf
he showed me my suite which con
sisted of bedroom, living room and
| bath at a moderate rate per day.
Everything in France is done by
craft. Nothing is done straight and
honest. The French workingman ex-
poets America to do something for
him. His attitude is that he saved
the world and for this service he
should live in clover the rest of his
life.
"Tha prevalence OF mourning attire
In Paris impresses the visitor with
the awful price of war. One out OF
every four women you meet Is IN
black. From Paris went to Germany
bv wav of the Black Forest, with
which section / was previously fam
iliar. found German railroad trains
In perfect condition. Track crews
were working every two miles. Cob
BILE stones at the station were clean
and polished. Wagon roads crossing
the track were smooth and hard
Yards in the towns and villages were
filled with coal and building opera
tions were in full swing. The land
gave evidence of intensive farming
but one was strongly aware Of the
absence of cattle. which by the peace
treaty, Germany was forced to turn
over to Belgium and France.
Berlin is the same city as previ-
ously. One is impressed with its
street cars, automobiles and good po-
lice system. Quite apparent Is the
absence Of full uniformed German Of
Gicers such as walked the streets be-
fore the war but the populace seems
, happy that they are gone. In 1874 an
American dollar was worth four Ger
man marks but is 1921 IL was worth
200 marks. A room with bath in the
, best hotel in the city cost 20 marks
, or SIS in 1914. Now the rate Is ZOO
, marks or only as cents.
Lack OF proper care of soldiers
! crippled in the war is one of the most
.. noticeable things in Berlin. Every
, 80 feet along the Wilhelmsstrasse or
Inter den Linden one found men with
arms and legs off lying in the street.
Now and then you would see a blind
: soldier guarded by a Red Cross dog.
Others exhibited great sores caused
? by gas burns and large NUMBER
] trembled with shell shock.
S Germany is now 65 per cent ell
ffcient compared with her 1914 stand
ard. This is not bad when ii Is re-
nembered her money has dropped 0e
u times in value Germany can compete
strongly with the rest of the world
I It will not be possible for us III
g America TO compete with Germany
= and still retain our high standard OF
living.
"A railroad conductor in Germany
got l50 marks per month In 1914
: or $40.
$ From Germany l went to Austria
t This country in 1914 had population
o OF so, 1000, 900 and a national debt o.
/, 50. 900 100000. Now it has 6,000,OO'
q people and national debt OF si6,'
9 600, 100000. From this ii Is easy Z
e see how hopeless the financial condi
!. ton OF Austria is. In 1914 81 wa
5 worth five Austrian kronen, now 1t i
n worth 5000 kronen. Austria nov
: consumes $4,000 tons Of wheat an
J, nuaIly but she only produces 900
I tons on its own soil.
3 'Tn the Versailles conference on
of the IA points. that OF national sen
- determination, was applied to Austria
y IIovd George and Clemenceau wante
Y, to divide Austria into buffer state
/ and Wilson's idea fitted right in wit
l. this program so that several dlsunc
le nations now exist in place OF tn
m Austria. OF 1914. OF all OF these
y Czecho- -Slovakia is the richest. II
- population is SIS per cent Czesh an
a. the balance is Slovak, Hungarian an
- German. This is due to the Czec
= leader who by his pleas at the peac
conference did a modern gerrymanu
ering stunt, got the richest part
-; Austria and still retained small ma
iority of one nationality.
"TN-rol was another Austrian Pre-
- vince liberated by the peace ccnIeI
n, ence. That is, Italy just took It ltal
de changed the names of it's towns froi
r German to Italian, thereby maxim
or the country Italian. Austria propt
ke has only 6 .0O0, 600 people. and its car
ty ital city, Vienna, has one third IN
he entire population. Nothing is lei
s. to the Austrians but their nations
OF debt and their capital. II any OF
nd in America is socialistically incline
ID, he should go over and see this cour
he try where the mass are now in cor
ma troll. With its comparatively sma
s. population one twenty-fourth OF i
X people are on the government pa
ar, roll. A man in Austria who had 100
600 kronen or $4,000 in 1914 now
- worth s62. Socialism believes in chea
a railroad fares. l made 125 mile tr1
To in Austria and my fare was z cent
he Yet coal costs $3.50 ton, just u
10 as we paid here in the mills la
ell year. Another law provides that e'
he eryone is entitled to home and th'
r. rents must not go up. Rent on
yn certain office suite in Vienna in 10
H. was 81 200. In 1921 il was 75 cent
he That explains why owners of Il
nd largest buildings in the city may
en- found working in grocery stores, col
n Quoting street cars or serving as DO
re- tevs on trains. In Austria today it
ne. impossible to own property enoui
av to make a living from its income.