The Washington times., 1934-02-19
True TO
Type
Remember 1914
Keep Quiet
and Pray
BY GILBERT SELDES

I got tired of Engelbert Dol
fuss about six months ago
when I found that the Is best
newspapermen in Austria be-
tween them could only find
one word to say about him.
They called him the diminu-
tive chancellor" A degree of
latitude under six feet myself,
I have nothing against the lit
tie people, but it seemed to
me that once in while some
thing ought to be said of the
head of a state beyond the fact
that he wasn't the tall man
In the circus.
And it was not the fault of
the newsmen. Any one of them
would have been glad to say
something new and different
about Dollfuss; that he was
mastery. for instance. But
there was nothing to say.
It occurs to me that toward
the middle of last month the
chancellor must have called in
the official interpreter and
asked, What does this word
mean-diminutive," and the in
terpreter, blushing little, an
swered, "Excellenz, it means
small" So the chancellor de-
cided that if the American
newspapers had said he was
small, he was going to be small.
But the word "diminutive" sug-
gests something else; something
like diminished or grown too
small for the occasion. Per
haps the chancellor has heard
of that.
The Old Fear
This is what is called "per-
Sonal reaction" to the events in
Vienna. I am afraid that the
need there was for a man COM
bining the force of Napoleon
and the political strategy Of a
Disraeli. The sympathy OF
the world was all with Dollfuss
when he was trying to prevent
the Nazis from swamping Aus
tria; it was lost when he deter
mined that the only way for
him was to break down the
organized strength of all the
liberals. And the minute that
happened, Austria ceased to
function as an independent
country and became a weapon
in a European struggle be-
tween two systems of govern
ment-reactionary and radical.
What happens there in the
next few days will be deter
mined not so much by Aus
trians as by italians, Germans,
Frenchmen and British.
Remember 1914, and pray!
1 passed through the center
of the world (Forty-Second st.
and Fifth Ave-, according to
good New Yorkers) either be-
fore or after the riots in front
of the office Of the Austrian
Consul, and the small crowd I
saw gave me no clue to what
was going on. But hall a
block away I heard a man say,
not angrily. but earnestly, we
got to live" When I heard OF
the riot, it occurred to me that
this man had uttered the real
reason for it.
Propaganda Coming
We are not perfectly inocu--
lated against a sacred war, at
best, The anti-toXin We re-
ceived between 1920 and 1925
has lost it's potency, and a good
European war would proDaoly
stir our sluggish pulse until we
got to such a state that we
would fall for any propaganda.
The war of democracy against
autocracy would be quickly Tor
gotten and the next war would
be presented to us as a war OF
civilization against Red radical
ism. or a war of the oppressed
against their oppressors.
There would be plenty Of
money at stake, too. If the Reds
win. if the Blacks win. If
stable government is disrupted
If dictators take all of Eu-
rope. Obviously we have to
fight on the side of our own
civilization! I don't, so far, be-
lieve a word of it. I wish I were
sure I could hold out against a
year of propaganda.
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