Evening star., 1926-04-25

disintegra ton of the old Haps-
burg monarchy, the Austrian
fragment which survived enacted a
law proclaiming that Austria was and
declared itself part of the German
Reich. Six months later the Paris
Peace Conference in its wisdom ruled
that Austria should not be German.
but Austrian. Thus against it's will
Austria had forced upon her the sta
tts or an independent nation. In all
study OF existing conditions in central
Europe, this fact must be reckoned
with first
But Austria began life reluctantly.
without enthusiasm, without any sense
OF nationality. The Austrian people
haG an imperial sense they had a con
ception of playing the largest part in
great empire. of being the master
race among Poles, Czechs, Italians,
Slars and Ruma mans who made up
the pOlyglot national entity of the
Hapsburg monarchy. But there was
not any acute or vital Austrian patri-
otism or sentiment which was cen
tered upon the Austrian fragment,
and when the empire went the ma
tIonal sentiment disappeared
There Is not in Europe today more
moving. a more impressive, a sadder
thing than this ruined Austrian en-
pire as one sees il at Vienna. Here
is n great capital. which for four CEN
turies has played an enormous role
in Europe and domino ting part I'm
an empire which in 1914 numbered
5O.o00.O 900 of people and contained an
area greater than that of France and
Belgium and Holland.
Dynasty Is Vanished.
But of All this mighty structure
nothing is left There is no political
party. no group of men. nothing po-
litically significant which dreams of
the restoration of the Hapsburg dy-
nasty, that even thinks of the posi-
bility of the restoration of the an
cient monarchy. Francis Joseph took
to his grave the last of the imperiaI
and the dynastic sentiment. The i'm
perial world has lived and died. and
it's death was like death in huma n
life-a complete and irrevOca BILE ter
mination.
Yet here are even millions of peo.
ple-two millions of them-living in a
vast city with all the tradition and
circumsta noes of great capital.
These millions find themselves con-
demned to live in q state which they
do not love. under political and eco.
nOmic conditions which appear to-
tally impossible And. as conse.
quence. one faces today the single uni
versal unvarying belief that union
with Germany is inesCa pa BILE that
Anschluss. as it is here named. repre-
sents the destiny of Austria.
But. again. there is an anomaly.
The critics of the Treaty of Versailles
in and out OF Germany have combined
TO attack the prohibition of Austria n
mir i
NAL of the right of self elf-determination.
as a moral wrong. as cruel injustice.
One might expect to find here in
Vienna. then. passionate resentment.
bitter and enduring anger, the sort of
patriotic longing for union with the
rest of the German race which marked
the feelings of the Poles in Posen, the
Italians in the Trentino, the people of
AlSaceLOrraine.
Resigned to Union.
Nothing could really be more mex
act. The people of Vienna. of Aus
tria. all of them. believe that union
with Germany is inevitable, is the
single solution of their impossible
problems. But this feeling is not horn
of passion or of enthusia SIN. it is
rather born of resignation.
One may. then. dismiss. 1 believe,
all arguments for Austrian union
based upon familiar analogies. ba sad
upon self-determination. upon the di
vine right of people to seek their own
unity. Austria has always been will
ing to he independent if France and
Britain and the United States and
1taly-all the couptries which made
the treaties at Paris and thus willed.
as some of them continue to will. that
Austria and Germany should not
unite-give her the necessary aid to
sta nd on her own feet. 1t is because
these countries do not supply the aid,
because Austria believes that what
might be possible in theory Is impos-
sble in practice, that union with Ger
many is accepted universally.
Then. broadly speaking, one must
go outside the usual political and ra.
cial circumstances to find any expla-
nation of Austrian conditions. Fun
damentally. Ii is in economic. not in
political or racial. reasons that one
must find the true clue to present con-
ditions Vienna, two decades ago. was
a city of more than two millions of
inhabitants situated at the meeting
place of the East and West. one of
the great trading. banking. distribut-
ing centers of Europe as 1t was the
political center of an empire of so ,000.-
economic factors, represented one of
the most complete and self-sufficing in
dustrial units in the world.
Had Own Necessities.
Austria Hungary had economically.
industrially, commercially every
thing-coal, iron. grain-and in
striking if restricted degree it resem-
bled the United States. But then
came the war and the peace treaties.
and in place of this single unit there
were created many. Between all the
component parts of this ancient unit
were created tariff walls. What was
left then of Austria was little
mountain state. quite like Switzer-
land. save that it contained a city
nearly as large as Paris. which had
lived and could live only as the eco
nomic center of Eastern Europe. The
distributing center remained, but all
the lines of distribution were closed
by new frontiers and new tariff walls.
Much has been said of the Balkan
izing of middle Europe, but no one
even in Vienna believes that the po-
ltical separations could have been
escaped. The fatal blunder at Paris
was that nothing was done to pre-
serve the economic as contrasted with
the political connections between
these parts of the old empire.
The result was that Austria was
told to live, commanded to live. for
hidden the single association which
might make life possible, and nothing
was done in any way to supply the
foundations of this existence.
What has been the consequence?
Today Vienna, with a population of
1000 900, has a total of unemployed
which certainly passes 100000. Pro-
portionately 1t is nearly three times
as large as that British unernploy-
ment which bulks so large in the
eyes of the world. Austrian imports
in 1924 exceeded exports by $780,
600 900, which on the basis of United
States population would mean an ex-
cess of imnorts over exports as large