Evening star., 1924-06-08
- :
Vienna. COMES. BACK
AS CENTER OF GAYETY
City Which Suffered Acutely Dur
ing and After War Regains
Vivid, Colcrful Life.
ECONOMIC SITUATION GOOD
Capital Once More Cultural and
Commerce Stronghold.
ECONOMIC SITUATION GOOD
RN a. Il. DECKER.

Bf a. X. DECKER.
Correspondence OF The Star and Chicago Daily
News.
VIENNA. Australia, May Before
the world war the Austro- Hungarian
empire was self-sulficing. A high
tariff wall protected home industries.
Wages were low and housing of the
poorer classes was not good. Still
prices were low and life could be
enjoyed. The people were gay and
carefree. Vienna was a.riot of life
and color. Schoenbruenp, Laxenburg
and the Hofburg were places of pomp
and ceremony as castles of Emperor
Franz Josef. 1t was then that the
slender, blond Viennese earned their
reputation for beauty and culture.
The war wrought great changes.
Schoenbruenn castle has been turned
INTO museum and the grounds are
not too well kept.
LaXenburg castle, once the resi-
dence of Emperor Charles. has been
looted by private company to which
II was rented, and the Hofbure. for
meriy the main castle has been trans
formed into a museum. tenement
house and bazaar. Even the
stanchest republican feels at the Hof-
hurg that he is in the midst of
tragedy. a place of splendor gone
forever. Doubtless. the heavy up
keep cost juStifies the commercializ-
ing of the huge buildings, but one
cannot help ones regrets.
Vienna Grows Red.
With the division of the empire into
succession states an economic unit
was cut apar0 and the nationalism
of the new states prevented the ex-
change of goods. Austria maintained
the old tariff of the big empire. There
was even added a scheme of import
and export restrictions. The country
rose slowly from the poverty brought
on by the war. Internal strife and
sharp political divisions separated the
city from the country. Vienna be-
came red" and the country white.
But the traditional gayety OF the
Viennese was not to be killed AS
economic conditions improved the
capital took a new lease on life. To-
day Vienna is well on it's way back
to its former ways of music, laughter
and Joy In GrinZing the "Heurigers
have placed green branches over their
doors. BY this sign one is invited
There the Niennese sit on long
benches in the open air. drinking and
singing. Accordions and violins play
Strauss waltzes, airs and retralns
from the latest Lehar musical com
edy. 1t is all in the most friendly
spirit; there are never brawls
Cafes Always Filled.
In the city the ring cafes are
filed with regular patrons, who oc-
cupy the same chairs day after day.
There are hundreds of cafes. In them
the viennese passes a large part of
his time There he transacts busi-
-, 60 f~ta IL,
plays chess. reads the papers and
talks politics: It is all done Insooo,er over
lump of whipped cream or over
raspberry sirup, called soda him
beer" Il
The whipped cream, the cake and
the sugar are tending to make the
Viennese obese. During the war and |
for years afterwavd they We're on an |
enforced determination coffee sweet |
ened with saccharine and no "slagob- |
ers" or whipped cream. There was |
no cake, and, indeed. often no bread |
no more of starvation and want. In |
many of the cafes there is music, al
though the taxes are 40 per cent even
where there is only piano.
The cabarets and bars are well pat
runized although champagne costs
ST. a bottle. Austrians can afford
the cabarets, and foreigners seek the
remote corners where bar drinks can
be had for so cents or 81. The drinks
are nearly all imita ton and as dan
eerous as in prohibition country
like the United States.
Vanishing of the "Schieber."
The stabilization of the crown
has about caused to vanish from
Austria that strange type known as
pictured in the caricatures as an ex-
trenRely fat Galician eating a glut-
toms meal. In the days following the
war he monopolized the hotels, the
cabarets and the restaurants. He
was in part the cause of the aversion
cialism. He bought up stocks of all
sorts Of goods and held them for high
prices, but increased production and
the stabiliZation of the crown have
about ended his activities in Vienna
He went to Berlin when the mark
collapsed and was heading for Paris
when the franc was wayering.
Vienna has come back to the eN-
tent of the whipped cream whose re-
appearance inspired Richard Strauss
to prepare a ballet called "Schlago-
bers." for the state opera as part of
MAY festival. The former black |
mess prepared from blackberry leaves
has been replaced by real coffee
But it is in the matter of dress that
the viennese have improved most.
The days of paper suits and paper
blouses are gone. the Viennese hope.
never to reappear. Several classes of
society were ruined by the war and
the revolution and to earn their liv-
ing many women who had never
known what 1t was to work began
sewing at home. Many claim that
Vienna is becoming rival of Paris
in women's fashions. Vienna is near
or to the eastern markets and often
has ideas more approaching the
balkan in dress. Indeed. many think
that Vienna is on it's way to its old
position as the center of culture and
commerce for southern central Eu-