The Washington times., 1934-03-19
HEIR PROPOSES
Cooperative
UNION IDEA
Prince Charming Grants First
Interview; Believes the Old
European Beliefs Dead
(Continued from Page y

Otto Won Hapsburg until today
has never revealed his own
thoughts. He has made no public
declaration of any kind. He has
kept so quiet that Europe, which
has known his family for $50
years, today knows next to moth
ing about the man who tomorrow
might mount the throne Of Aus
tria and play a decisive role in
the fate of this continent.
Today Otto, no longer a boy,
but man impressively conscious
Of his responsibilities. declares that
his mission, the mission Of the
house Of Hapsburg. is to bring
peace to Europe.
Never Interviewed
His majesty received me in
0udience.
It was specifically q private
audience.
He has never given an inter
view.
In the castle yard there is no
dgn Of life.
The walls are thick. They
speak Of age, great age, but not
@s old as the dynasty whose last
representatives chose these walls
for their refuge in exile. Archduke
Otto said:
"SureIy no one can imagine
that the prospect of assuming
the burdens Of government at a
time like this in Europe could be
pleaSurable, it is only because /
feel the absolute obligation Of
the task that God has assigned
TO us that I am prepared to &C
cept It,"
The feeling with which His
Majesty spoke left no room for
doubt about the sincerity Of his
religious convictions. Sincerity
animated his whole personality.
He continued:
81 am prepared to accept it,
too, because I feel that only by
the restoration to Austria Of
the traditions of Austria, tradi-
tions which bound Austria and
our family together for $50
years, will it be possible to lead
the people of Austria back to
their original place as cOnServa-
tors Of the best in German cul-
Eure.
RAPS THE NAZIS
"'NatiOnal socialism Is not
German. 1t is brutal. Germans
are not brutal by nature. The
Germany that made Germany
great in history was the Ger
many Of culture.
81 feel convinced that there
are many National Socialists in
Austria today who are only
National Socialist because they
are dissatisfied with the Repub-
ican system, and long for some
thing different, but until now
have believed that o change
for the better could only come
by following the lead Of the
rev0luti0nistS in Germany.
His own remarks were candid,
informed, discreet. It was diff
cult to remember that the speaker
was only 81. He declared:
"The most important thing to
be conserved in the world is, Of
course, peace. But the conserve
tiOn Of peace is for Central Eu-
rope even more important per-
haps than for any other part
Of the Continent.
Central Europe suffered
more from the last war than
any other section.
Restoration is not reaction.
Restoration means the preServa-
vati0n Of the things that were
good in the past and their ap-
plicatiOn to the situation that
now exists.
"But there are new forms
Of state organization which
have arisen as q consequence of
the new conditions under which
men live. The most interesting
Of these new forms Of state to
my mind is the cooperative
state.
There are possibilities in the
cooperative state for . develop
ment Of professional, industrial
representation and an economic
reorganization Of society which
seem to me to bear the seeds Of
success.
LEAD THE WAY
THAT would mean, in effect,
that Austria would become Aus
Gria again; that its independence
would be firmly established, and
Herewith the peace Of Europe
preserved. And not only that,
for feel that this old Austria
retaining all that is good from
the past, and refreshed by all
that Is good in the cooperative
state, could much more effect
lively than all its predecessors,
bring about an economic under.
standing among all the former
states Of the AuStrO-Hungarian
empire, which would 90 far to
repair the wounds made by the
war.
II speak strictly Of economic
understanding, but it has al
ready become apparent to every
state in Central and Southeast
ern Europe that without such
an economic understanding NO
recovery and no permanent
mAaNA IL UnsSihla And raanA Il