AUSTRIAN ANXIETY.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15768, 8 December 1916, Page 8

AUSTRIAN ANXIETY.

DISTRESS IN VIENNA'

(SrZCIALLT WIUTTEX FOK ; 'T3E TRESS.")

(Br Mrs Julian - Graxde.)

BERNE, September 30

Despite the strictness with which th o Austro-liungarian Press is ccnsored and the Austrian frontier virtually sealed, even to neutrals, I occasionally contriv e still to obtain direct and trustworthy information about the course of events in the Dual Monarchy. A fortnight ago the city of A ienna was short of bread. 1 lie bakers had not enough flour, and for five days people had to eat whatever they could get, but often had to do without bread. Women went to their neighbours to ask if they could spare a little bread for the children. A deputation waited upon the much-tried Burgemieister, Dr. Weisskirchner, askiutr him to do something to remedy the breadless state of things, but all he could do was to apply to the Prime Minister, Home Secretary, and other 'Ministers, to do their 'best to procure a supply of flour for V ienna. The Ministers replied that transport was difficult, and that the farmers had to dig potatoes, sow winter crops, and do much other work besides, which could not be delayed.

The shortage of bread Iml to wild rumours, among others that there was to be a breadless day every week, and that the Viennese bakers were not to be allowed, to bake more than twice weekly. These reports caused so much alarm that, despite the prohibition of public meetings, crowds gathered in the public squares to discuss tho situation, and the authorities were greatly perturbed. To quiet the populace and to reassure them, Dr. Weisskirchner then convened a meeting of the Viennese City Council, at which he tried partly to explain the shortage of bread by the fact that a great number of Viennese families had returned to the capital all at oncc, with their children, for the reopening of the schools. Imagine what must be the state of the victualling of Vienna if the return of even several thousand families could really cause tho supply of bread to run short for five days, and this in a city of over 2,000,000 inhabitants.

In tlio meantime the authorities have informed the public that anyone going to a cafo or restaurant of any description must take his bread with him or go without bread. Any proprietor of a cafe or restaurant supplying bread to a guest is punishable by it. fine not exceeding 2000 kronen or imprisonment not exceeding three months; and in certain cases the fine may be as much as 5000 kronen. This regulation concerning bread applies not to Vienna alone, but to all Lower Austria. One class of the population is especially hardly hit by it—bachelors. It must be remembered that in Vienna the custom is for them to live in rooms and take all their meals in cafes or restaurants. Now that neither cafe nor restaurant can supply them with a crumb of bread, what are they to do? It is actually suggested that there ought to be special "bachelor bread cards" for the benefit of this worthy class of population, in order that they may not go "hungry to bed."

Tho Viennese Press, however, is scarcely allowed to comment on this new bread ordinance; and oven at the meeting of the City Fathers on September S&nd, -when Councillor Granitch dealt at length with tho question of tho scarcity of bread and flour in Vienna, and gave instances of the distress prevalent among -working-class families, the entire speech was suppressed by the censor, -who allowed nothing to b e mentioned save the bare fact- of its having been delivered. The scarcity of bread caused many people t® flock to the so-called "people's Kitchens," onU' to find that tne ToodJ made them ill- This has given rise to a demand for communal kitchens to supply food to a certain number of professional people's households, and also to those who are doing severe physical labour. The entire food question, in short, not in Vienna alono hut throughout Austria and Hungary, has become so acute that, after commandeering the whole Hungarian harvest, and regulating the entire trade in meat and cattle and taking various other severe and high-handed measures, the Government has finally decided to creato a State Food Supply Offico. attached to the Homo Secretary's office, and with tao chief of a department in the Home uitice, Oskar llitter von Keller, at its head. Meanwhile Dr. Weisskirchner, Burgermeistcr of Vienna, has been obliged to do something to soothe the people- Being unable to procure them sufficient bread, he is assuring th»m that "1-50 truckloads of potatoes aro on their way"—from Russian Poland; and that another hundred truckloads arc going to be despatched as fast as possible—also from Russian Poland. What the Poles aie to do without their potatoes is not stated. Not only are there to bo people's kitcheus and travelling kitchens in the Austrian capital and large provincial cities, but tne large Viennese banks, the Ministry of Railways, and the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, and the large labour associations, such as tho cigarette makers, have, clubbed together to establish their own kitchens and common dining-rooms. For instance, the Anglo-Austrian Bank has such a kitchen and dining-room, where tho higher officials dine daily for 2 kronen (about Is lOd) each, lady clerks paving only kr. 1.80, and errand boys only 90 heller. Up to last July everyone's dinner used to cost kr. 1.60, but since July prices have had to be rais.ed, and even as it is the bank has to make up the difference between the tost of the food supplied to errand boys and messengers, and the price they actually pay. The Austrian Ministry of Commerce has also one of these common dining-rooms for its staff, the old post office savings bank building, being used for this purpose. The City of Vienna now feeds free about 6U.WH) persons daily in various public restaurants —feeds them, that is to say. as well as it can with the scanty variety of high-priced means of nourishment at its disDossl.

To eke out the supplies of provisions the card-system is being adopted -in Austria, the system which has so long been in force in Germany. Fat and butter cards, for instance, have just been introduced into Vienna and Lower Austria, allowing; ICO grammes (not quite 4oz) of butter per week per person, and half this amount for ciildren of over one year aud under three. This, of course, meant a rush of people to buy fat and butter, but butter cards and fat cards do not produce either butter or fat. and supplies were soon exhausted, so that none but the earliest comers obtained anything. Meanwhile the queues of people standing outside the provisions shops of all descriptions have become not only a public nuisance and a constant obstruction of traffic, but with the winter months approaching, threaten to become a danger to the health of the women and children obliged to stand waiting often for Lours in the cold and damp. The evil, indeed, is so great that the Municipality of Vienna is considering what can possibly be done to put an end to it- The women stand

for hours in the cold to buy a few ounces of butter, which are not enough to compensate for all the fatigue caused by the long waiting. Conditions in Germany may be bad, but conditions in Austria are far worse. Tbo Finance Minister does not know where to find the money to pay the interest on the last Austrian. "War Loan, while at tho same time he is issuing xirospectuses to .Swiss banks extolling the advantages of subscribing to the present Austrian War Loan. AT the general meeting of one of tho principal Austrian companies, the Austrian Lloyd, it transpired that at the end of i9lo tho company was kr -J. 017.840 in debt. By calling up all tie remainder of the capital reserve fund, it had been able to cover part of this debt (kr. 3,260,234'), but the Government subsidy for 1914 was still unpaid. As a distinguished diplomatist recently returned from Vienna Temarked to me. "Germany may hold out another winter, but it is hard to see how Austria-Hungary can do so."