Evening star., 1928-04-22
BY FRANK II. SIMONDS.

rope which remains, almost 10
years after the close Of hoStil-
ties, prostrated, helpless and hopeless.
One feels definitely the enormous and
enduring consequences of the doctrine
of self-determination which President
Wilson launched at the heads Of Eu-
rope in his memorable Fourteen Points.
Vienna was destroyed by the doctrine
of self-deternlination.
Fourteen years ago Vienna was the
capital of a state Of more than 50,-
600 000 It's 100000 inhabitants did
the business of an empire larger in
area than Germany and with a greater
population than France. Its palaces
and buildings furnished the political
equipment. It's banks and stores did
the business. not only of the empire.
but of all Europe from the Alps to the
Black Sea and from Bohemia to Greece.
Walled In by Tariffs.
Today the City of Vienna remains. It's
population has hardly diminished. its
palaces and public buildings endure. its
banks and business houses survive. But
it is the capital of mountain state
with an area and population less than
Ohio. On all sides 1t is walled in by
tariff barriers, coinciding with new
frontiers. The railway lines remain, out
the traffic follows other routes. the
river is nearly empty of boats Within
the city limits 100000 people exist,
always on the boundary line between
bare living and actual misery.
Those who had power. influence, au-
thority, before the war. who possessed
wealth in the provinces and real estate
in the capital. live within narrow quar-
ters, selling day by day more of th@r
possessions. Their estates are beyond
the frontiers. Their real estate, regu-
lated by a Socialist city government, no
longer pays them rent II they would
sell it the special tax absorbS most of
the price Against them there is
waged. increasingly. the final campaign
of a class war which seeks to destroy
an ancient aristocracy without resource
for resistance
AS to the masses. what shall one say
of them? On the whole their con6i-
tions are better than before the war,
Yet. for huge number, unemployment
Is either constant or frequent. City
revenues are applied to paying the vast
army OF the unemployed but while the
burden is terrific, their remedy for the
disease is lacking. In fact. while the
aristocracy dies and disappears the
people subsist on. the very edge of
misery which might again become uni
versal
Vienna is without a reason for
existence II lived as the financial.
political business and cultural center
Of southeastern Europe, II was the
only rival of Paris as an international
capital on the European continent
Today Prague Budapest and Belgrade
share its power and have inherited its
trade and financial activities. Vienna
Is city OF empty parliamentS. empty
banks. stores. theaters and opera
houses The clients are gone.
Remedy Is Lacking.
For the complete ruin which has ex-
tended in all directions there is no
discoverable remedy For each par
tial solution there Is a political veto
immediate and absolute. II one group
proposes mot with enthusiasm, for the
Austrian hates the German. the Prus-
sian. far more profoundly than does the
Frenchmanl union OF Austria with the
Reich, Instantly French, Italian. Czecho-
sloyak voices are raised in indignant
protest
AAa4S OAA4IA N4t4l NESEUlAly. tlaAS proc
eSS of anSchluSS, which fills the Euro
pean press from time to time. would
bring Germany TO the frontiers OF Hun
gary, 10 the edge of the Still smolder-
ing Balkans. II would almost isolate
CzechoSlovakia. make it hardly more
than an economic and political outcaSt
in the German world II would restore
Germany 10 the population it had In
1914 IL would bring a great Teutof1}e.
state to the crest OF the Brenner and
Italy would again have TO fear. not
merely for the Tyrol but for TrieSt
itself
II, from other quarters, q solution Is
urged which would enviSage the reStora-
ton OF common tariff frontiers between
the Austrian, Czech and Hungarian
fragments of the old HapSburg empire.
italian protest is Just as instant Ger
many. with similar energy. opposes an
evolution which might destroy all