Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-24
MD STEYR FACES.
MONEY TROUBLES
Bank Failure CrippIes Auto
Plant, Austrian Towns
Industrial Heart.

eteyr, Austria, faces fiscal difficulty
Because bank failed which controlled
Austria's largest automobile plant, stu
ated there. The plant was the indus
trial heart of Steyr. When the heart"
recently stopped beating hundreds of
employees were thrown out of work and
the city's finances suffered
"Steyr is a city of about $4,000 peo-
pie, located about 40 miles south of the
Czechoslovak border and about 90 miles
west of Vienna. For more than 500
years the city has made weapons; more
recently it has manufactured automo-
biles and bicycles says a bulletin from
the National Geographic Society.
I'm spite of modern snokestacks from
factories in its suburbs, Steyr has man
aged to maintain its rank among the
picture towns of Austria. The main
portion of the city occupies a tongue
of land with the Ems Rive washing
its suoth sea wall, and the Steyr River
its north wall At the end of the
tongue bridges connect the city with
Ennsdorf. a suburb on the opposite side
of the Ems and with Steyrdorf, across
the Steyr.
1.-THE railroad station is in Ennsdorf.
A 10-minute taxi ride from the station
to the public square, the center of life
in Steyr. discloses a medley of medieval
and modern sights. For about of the
last 10 minutes the auto passes spa
cious parkway with shaded walks.
Castle and Cathedral Dominate.
Another minute or two is consumed
crossing the Ems Bridge, under which
swarm small river boats. Then come
streets that take one back to centuries
before America was discovered Steep
gabled houses of three and four stories
line the clean, cobbled streets. Above
them rises the graceful tower OF a
gothic cathedral and the bulk of its
nave. Steyr Castle (Schloss Steyr1 Is
situated near the end of the tongue.
THE square gradually opens for
block and then its sides run parallel
for two or three blocks, so that
bird's-eye view suggests the sharp end
of stubby pencil.
Milk "Maids" at SIS.
"The square, too, is hemmed in by
fine old buildings. Here is gem of
the fifteenth century, its weatherbeaten
facade adorned with a sign eXtolling
the quality of Holsters served in a res
taurant on its first floor. Next door Is
a laundry where proprietors admit, in
large letters, that they use strong
chemicals to clean your clothes. FIRE.
quent rows of kegs, piled in front of
curtained windows, indicate that pro-
hibition has not touched Steyr.
Hotels in the square furnish COM
Portable rooms and interesting piano.
ramas. From the windows of upper
stories one may look down upon urban,
suburban and rural SteyriteS. The
peasant men wear clothes like those
seen in the streets of Vienna, but now
and then peasant will appear in gar
mentS of a bygone fashions Modern
styles adorn some of the women folk,
but there are milk maids (some are
maids of IS years. in voluminous, sole
length skirts. These women are often
seen between the shafts of diminutive
dog carts, but more often they are
directing their canine charges.
Industrial Suburb Is City's Pulse.
THE Rathaus Getty hall) has stood,
notwithstanding the haranguing of city
fathers in its great council chambers,
for nearly two centuries. Facing it is
the Lowen Wirtshaus Lion Restau-
rant). Nearby is the Dominikanes
Kirche. built 800 years ago. Its pres
ent interior was adorned while George
Washington and his army nearly froze
at Valley Forge.
IAN architectural gem of the city is
the Parish Church, begun nearly half a
century before Americas discovery and
completed 100 years later.
"All these historic relics of Steyr oc-
cupy the Ems side of the tongue
Nearly half of the old town bordering
the Steyr is a parkway.
"Steyrdorf, across the Steyr, is the
manufacturing suburb and pulse of the
city. Steyr was first mentioned in his
toric documents in 985. BY the twelfth
century its fine swords and other
weapons, made from iron mined near
the city, were shipped to all parts of
Europe"