Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-12-18

WRECK SOCIAL
LIFE IN VIENNA
Jobless Professionals
Pick Rich as Targets
for Heavy Demands.
BY NORMAN n. MATSON.
Special Dispatch to This Tribune

t ~ 'tNN 1NH' ts'SAAHf
Vienna, Dec. 17.-Blackmail, ac-
commonplace in the upper circles of
Niennese society. Before the war.
blackmail was resorted TO chiefly by
the demi-monde who extorted money
from some respectable middle-aged
maj by threatening to tell his wife.
Now the blackmailer is a man. gen
orally a poor jobIess professional man.
The victim is the wife or daughter of
n Of the multi millionaires. Not a
week passes that some beautiful fur
coated woman does not call upon q
certain high police officer to beg for
help against one Of the new black
mailers. They are generally advised
to see an attorney before taking di-
rect action. Exposure means ruin and
a capable lawyer can frequently set
tie the affair on a lump sum basis.
Artist Takes Hand
Recently the wife of one of Nienna's
richest men met a well known artist.
This one needed money. He invited
the mn TO his studio. She came
twice, and both times he iInplored her
to observe her entrance and departure
and to count the hours between. Then
one day in Il discreet little cafe he
told her frankly all about it and in
formed her that his price was
80, 600, 900 kroneE, otherwise he would
inform her husband. She paid.
Then there was the young wife Of
a broker who met a charming. bur
impecunious architect. He wrote
letters. His first request for a loan
to buy books was readily granted.
Then the kronen began to fab on the
exchanges. The lower it fell the
higher went his demands. She sold
her jewels. her furs and signed notes.
Finally she went to the lawyer who
specializes in these cases and he bribed
the architect out of Vienna by paying
his fare to Rome and agreeing to keep
him there for a year while he studied.
Still there is another case of a
17-year-old girl. After he had written
to her cultured young admirer (of the
new poor of course). he forced her to
become his mistress by threatening 70
show the letters to her father. She.
too, brought her satchels full Of paper
money to the cafe to keep him quiet
and finally tried suicide by gas. For
tunately the blackmailer in this case
was present when she confessed to the
he told her parents, who for
gave her, and the police ousted the
blackmailer across the border.
Daily Practice
These are only isolated instances.
The police say Matchmaking has be
come a daily practice, and they declare
it to be one of the signs Of general
decay Of European morals.
In the last three months about
40, 900 foreigners fled Vienna. As i
result the 200 hotels are more than
half empty. Many Of the smaller
hotels have from 20 to 60 rooms and
have only two or three Of them oc-
Many others and practically
all those in the suburbs have closed.
The tourist industry was almost the
only flourishing and profitable industry
Of Vienna. To re-estabIish it. the
hotel men urge greatly reduced luxury
taxes, designed particularly to check
the foreigner, lower transportation
passport restrictions.
Berlin. say returning Niennese, is
now one-sixth rs costly as Vienna. 4
good hotel o is 10000 kronen, (1G
while in Vienna it costs at
least a dollar.
The difficulties OF running ii hotel
without guests are many, but the most
striking n is that met by those hotels
equipped with central heating. With
coal selling BY the pound. like bread,
t seems grotesque to heat IL whole
building SO TINT radiators in the room
IF Nr. Perkins, of Grand Rapids,
Mich, may be kept warm.