Evening star., 1934-03-07

HtS 10 uHOtftSF W u ccf fcc W
dispatches by Sir Philip Gibbs, Dho
is visiting the capitals OF Europe
for surrey OF the possibilities OF
another ,pdr.
BY SIR PHILIP GIBBS, X. b. E.
VIENNA, March 7 (by Radio).-
I arrived in Austria on the day when
the German truce to NaZi violence
expired and when Theodor Habicht.
who had delivered the ultimatum,
was expected to unleash violent forces
against the Dollfuss government.
There was a renewed sense of
tension in this tragic city. where the
peoples nerves are on edge and no
one knows what will happen next.
sat that evening in the room Of
high official. who talked to me
with one hand on the telephone,
which kept ringing every minute. He
was being asked anxious questions, as
I could tell from his answers.
1t was not true that the German
Nazis had crossed the frontier. Aus
trian troops we're not massd on the
border of Czechoslovakia. Precau-
tions had, of course. been taken on
the German frontier. No incidents
had been reported anywhere. Habicht
had done a very foolish thing in
issuing the ultimatum An ultimatum
was ridiculous if not followed by
action.
Great Internal Agony.
Across the telephone this Austrian
| offio ial, who seemed to have all the
| latest reports, smiled at me and
shrugged his shoulders. Certainly
Hablcht had made himself ridiculous.
But there is nothing else in this
Austrian situation at which one can
smile. And even that may not be
amusing for long One does not know
what forces of violence may be wait
ing to explode
Germany is not going to surrender
her attempt to Nazify Austria unless
she gets great concessions elsewhere.
Ihe internal situation in Austria is
! not, to say the least, reassuring to
those who wish we'll to these people
who once were light hearted folk. I
| have talked with many persons and
they tell only of anguish, fear and
grave anxiety. After the recent events,
when they shed each others blood, only
fortnight ago, there is great agony
IN thousands of homes and hearts.
Women are waiting to learn the fate
OF their men who are prisoners or
still in hiding. Their own fate is
tragic. AS the wives of Social Demo-
Gratis they are without means of live
lihood now that their men are not get
ting wages or unemployed relief, even
if not under arrest.
There IS hunger in many Austrian
homes and nerve-Shattered children
need the rescue Of charity. which is
slow in coming. or which their parents
refuse to accept because of pride and
bitterness beyond all words.
Guild System Proposed.
The Frau Dollfuss fund, helped by
the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna,
! who is eager for clemency and for
giveness, if it is possible, on both sides
which seems impossible just now
does not reach out yet to the places
where working folk are in very dire
misery but still feel resentful. This
must be said: The government is
anxious to win the confidence of the
working classes by fair promises and
pledges of a future system of govern
ment in which their interests will be
safeguarded and in which they will
have a share.
It is proposed to establish a guild
system, with workers and employers
consulting together for their common
interests. This plan has been ex-
planned to me and is now being pre-
pared. But plans for government and
theoretical systems are not of absorb
ing interest at time when there is
no sense of security and when Aus
tria is not only bleeding from internal
strife but is a political battlefield on
which the great powers are maneu-
vering for position, with tremendous
ard sinister purposes.
have to write cautiously. Words
now are almost as dangerous as sparks
near q powder magazine, and this
little country. cut to pieces by the
very powers which now are most des-
perate to defend its independence, is
the flash point of Europe. I will leave
my own conviction and apprehensions
on one side in this dispatch and report
Only WnaC mas Deeu tOlO me ny Hlell
who are watching this situation with
acute anxiety.
Austria Essentially Catholic.
In the first place, what is the posi-
| ton of Chancellor Dollfuss and his
Heimwehr supporters? Are they able
to maintain their policy of national
independence against the German in
| f1uence penetrating Austria and
against the hostile forces in their
own country? BY one Of their own
spokesmen I am told that there is
some danger and even a certainty
that groups of Social Democrats will
go over to the Nazis out of bitterness
for what has happened. But he does
| not think that the working classes as
whole will be lured into a faith
! which they hate inStinctively.
1t must not be forgotten that Aus
tria is essentially Catholic country
and that it's Christian Socialists,
among whom are the peasants, de-
test the Nazi philosophy, with Its
pagan element, race arrogance and
ideas of forming national religion.
Dollfuss himself is a Catholic and, I
am told, something of a mystic. In