Evening star., 1937-02-14
BY WILLIAM BIRD.
"a "AAAANA oAAsDs
7 YIENNA.-This Is a city Of
\ ! strange contrasts and strange

Y YIENNA.-This Is city OF
" strange contrasts and strange
" reversals. Before the war,
when I first visited it, it Wed
with Paris for brilliance and gayety,
and, in fact. when the festivities Of
the Hapsburg court were taken into
account, it probably could be said to
surpass. Paris.
My next visit, in 1921, brought me
to a city of incredible drabness and
poverty. reminding one almost Of
scenes from the 'Beggers' Opera. :"
The streets were thronged with stary-
ing mendicants. Inhabitants of FASH
ionable apartments, though still per-
mitted to remain in their homes for
little or no rent, often did not have
money enough to buy coal. They
sought frantically to rent furnished
rooms to foreign visitors, to get money
for such poor food as was to be had
in the depleted markets.
For 10 years after that, it was al
most commonplace to say that Aus
tria could never recover and could
continue to live only by charity in the
form Of unredeemable loans from the
League Of Nations or foreign powers.
In 1881 the collapse Of the largest pri-
vate bank in this part of Europe, the
Rothschild- controlled Credit Anstalt,
appeared to give the coup de grace to
Austrian credit. The refusal Of
France, Italy and other powers to
consent to a customs union with Ger
many made things look desperate.
Catastrophes Nearly Dominant.
Then came Hitler's accession to
power. his intensive Nazi propaganda,
designed to draw Austria into the Ger
man empire; the assassination of
Premier Dollfuss, following the bloody
suppression of socialism. What coun-
try Of 100000 people could be ex-
pected to survive such series of Ca
tastrophes? 6.
Yet come back to Vienna today
and find a totally different picture.
Business has come back to a COM
Portable normal. The budget Is bal
anced, and no loans-not even inter-
nal loans-have been made for three
years. Interest on both internal and
external loans is being paid promptly.
The stock market is active and strong,
and Austria's credit is now so good
that the government is planning to
launch a loan of about $50, 600, 900 to
consolidate the floating debt and re-
build the highway system.
And while Austria Is now under q
dictatorial regime, this financial re-
covery has been accomplished by what
bankers call classical" financial meth
DDS, and not by the ingenious but COM
plicated devices and subterfuges that
have been employed in other coun.
tries, notably Germany.
Took Hands-Off Attitude.
I have had the opportunity to NEE
some of the leading men in the Aus.
trian National Bank and also in the
Schuschnigg government, and have
asked them how they succeeded In
pulling Austria out of its financial anc
economic difficulties without depart.
ing. except for very brief period, from
the time-honored principles Of free ex.
change. The answer to this question
is interesting because of the light il
throws on Germany's present economic
plight.
I'VE haven't really done anything,
a high official of the commerce de-
partment told me, land that is prob
ably the secret of our success. We triet
a few experiments with controlled
economy, but soon came to the conclu
ion that 1t really didn't help matters
What has been happening in Ger
many for the past few years con