Evening star., 1937-02-14
STAID FINANCING GUIDES
AUSTRIA BACK TO NORMAL
Vienna Once More Reflects Solidarity,
Triumphing Over Seemingly in
surmOuntable Odds.

vinces Us of the futility Of these
efforts to control the economy of q
Nation. Take as an example a Ger
man who, for some business reason,
has to remit $50 to New York. Do
you know how many different off,
cial permits he requires? About IS.
I must say that the 5000 clerks who
are employed to handle all that red
tape are amazingly efficient, and they
get through it very expeditiously, but
it would seem so much simpler Just
to go to the post Office and buy a
money order.
Suppose a German firm ships a car
load Of goods to Rumania, routed via
CZechoslovakia. Payment for the
goods is easy, because Germany and
Rumania have clearing agreement.
German goods sent to Rumania are
paid for by the German government,
and Rumanian wheat and oil sent to
Germany are paid for by the Ru-
manian government. Transporta-
ton on the German railways at one
end Of the journey and on the Ru-
manian railways at the other end
is paid for in the same way.
Illegal to Buy Exchange.
'But there is no legal way of pay
ing the freight on the Czech railways
There is no clearing arrangement
between Germany and Czechoslovakia,
and it is illegal to purchase Czech
exchange. The difficulty has been
solved in the most ridiculous fashion
imaginable. The shipper buys SNUG
gled bootleg Czech crowns, and then
smuggles them into Czechoslovakia
and pays his freight with them. This
offense is punishable with death un-
der German law, but it is done every
day and the government knows it.
1t is tolerated because the government
sees that there is no way of shipping
the goods otherwise.
This is the sort of absurdity that
DR.. Schachts ingenious schemes lead
to, and that is why We have decided
in Austria that we won't resort to
them"
A very prominent banker informed
me that the collapse of the Schacht
system can be looked for any day now.
Schacht, he said, does not really ap-
prove of these artificial methods, but,
for prestige purposes. the Hitler gov
eminent has insisted on keeping the
mark at a hctive parity with gold.
Hitler Power Feared.
But a few articles in the Nazi
press and a few speeches by Hitler
and his supporters would suffice TO
persuade the German people that
devaluation of the mark was desirable,
and even that it was stroke of Hit
lerian genius" my informant de-
clared.
There is a considerable unemploy-
nlent problem in Austria The latest
! figures show about 100000 out of
work, which is much higher than a
year ago, but is not proportionately
greater than in many other coun.
/ tries.
One reason for this is" was in,
formed by an official, that Austria has
declined to launch into a gigantic
rearmament program. Many Austrians
! have urged it, as means of furnish
ing employment and at the same time
strengthening our defenses. But We
prefer, as method Of giving work to
the workless, to concentrate on build
ing roads. which will attract tourists
and help keep our trade balance even.
We do not need a powerful army,
because We have no aggressive de-
signs. Such force as we have is for
the preservation of internal order, and
to make others think twice before
attacking u.s.
(Copyright, 1877