The Washington herald., 1922-02-13
AUSTRIAN PRICES
RISE 1000 PER Cent.
DURING PAST YEAR.
Advance in Cost of Neces-
stiles Is Driving Peo-
pie to Dispair.
SOLUTION SOUGHT
House Rents an Exception to
General List, Which Show
Enormous Advances.
SOLUTION SOUGHT
lForeiEn Correspondent Of the Evening Post
and The Washington Herald.D

(ForeiEn Correspondent Of the Evening Post
and The Washington Herald.D
VIENNA. Feb. 12.-1t Is now two
months since Austria, the most pitt
full and beggarly country in the
whole world, began making heroic
attempts to save itself. After
many bitter and painful disappoint-
ments it has had to give up its
deep-rooted faith in the promises
of others, even in the promise OF
the hishly-respected but in reality
very problematlcal league of ma
tions.
For the time being. however,
Austria's efforts remind one of old
Baron Munchausen, when he was
trying to pull himself out OF the
bog with his own pigtaiI. But pos
| sibly our optimists will win the
day, for among them are numbered
all our vigorous and energetic men.
foremost being the present Aus
trian Finance Minister, DR.. Curt
Ter. with whom the right and the
power of existence is an uncon-
vertible dogma, while only the
means of developing this power are
still a problem.
Jump In Living Costs.
The official statistics published at
the close of the year give one an
opportunity of taking stock of the
kind OF bog in which poor Austria
finds itself. The picture Is abso-
lutely appalling: the figures spell
disaster" The Federal Statistical
Office, which. according to the tes-
timony of housewives, who surely
know best, always takes an optim-
istic view. has published the sched-
ule for the whole year 1921. SO that
prices can be compared. Taking as
basis the figure 100. we find that
the necessary outlay for the food
which modern science pronounces
just sufficient to keep a man alive
has increased since January. 1921,
from 100 to 942. showing that In
Austria every indispensable object
costs ten times as much as it did
year ago.
Some of the figures from the
schedule show the enormity of this
fact. Thus. prices have risen from
100 to 1924 for bread: to 1,04l for
potatoes; to 571 for flour; to s57
for rice; to 6s7 for sugar; to ia
for lard; to 3s3 for beef (this low
figure is deceptive. the price OF
meat having been high out of all
l.167 for condensed milk: to S7l
for coal; to s23 for nrewood. In
effective figures the statistical ac-
counts show that while man
spent 1864 crowns for food in jan
uary, 1921, he has to hnd 1858
crowns to pay for the same COM
modities in January, 1922.
Gruesome state of Affairs.
OF course, il we compare prices
with what they were before the
war the state OF affairs is stili
more gruesome. II for the basis of
the schedule we take the month OF
July. 1914, and the figure X1 as the
index. the proportionate figures are
sos for nourishment: LIS for
clothing; $40 for fuel and light
ing: for house rent 1--WE have
law to protect tenants); 252 for
other Indispensable objects Ohe
doctor. tram cars. etC.). The aver
age increase of prices is l to 594
In other words. Austria, but most
certainly Vienna. was 500 times
more expensive in December, 1921,
than before the war.
Another painful truth must be
added. In 1921 the state still con-
tributed largely toward the cost of
the most important victuals-hour,
bread. and fat. II Austria's fnan-
ces are to be restored to something
like normal state, this system of
contributing toward the support of
the entire population, aliens and
all, must be abolished. The, be-
ginning has already been made.
Henceforth a loaf of brown bread.
weighing very little over two
pounds, which in December cost "A
crowns, will cost 316 crowns. When
this is realized standard prices IN
the world money market will very
nearly have been reached.
We are. however, incurring the
danger that retail merchants will
endeavor to raise the prices of all
other goods to a level with the
price of bread. The latter is justi-
fed because the government has to
pay for imported -four according to
the rate of exchange. while the re-
tail trade has long ago adapted its
prices to the world market. II the
trade can be checked and the eX-
pertinent succeeds the influence on
the purchasing power of our money
ought to be of inestimable valr"
With the exception of house
rents, there are very few things In
Austria that, cost less than 900
times their price before the war.
Americans will be surprised to
learn that stocks traded on change
are among fhesa axnantions