A STRONG MAN

Evening Star, Issue 21636, 3 February 1934, Page 3

A STRONG MAN

AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR AMERICAN PORTRAIT There are other statesmen in Europe : besides Adblp Hitler who believe that * - 6.bd helps to mhko their policies. There i ’ is, for example, Engelbert Dollfuss, the Austrian Chancellor. ' ’ Dollfuss’s stature—fifty-nine inches ovef all—is proportioned to the size of the nation that he governs. But his ' cocksureness, his courage, his skill as a strategist are Napoleonic (states a \ writer in the ‘ Literary Digest ’). He /: has literally lifted Austria out of the ’ oblivion to which the Treaty of . St. . Germain consigned it and elbowed a ' place for it again on the map of , Europe. And if. you were to ask Dollfuss himself how he did it he would probably take you—if you deserved that much attention—around to his favourite Viennese church and point •to the altar and tell you that “ there is the answer.” . Dollfuss, once his mind is made up, is one of the most stubborn politicians in Europe. But his stubbornness is from no mere mental twist. It is born, as he might tell you, of meditation and .of prayer. When Dollfuss has a more-than-ordinary problem—his days are filled with them—he tackles it like other . politicians, only with more energy arid generally with more insight. If the answer jdoes not come at his desk he picks up his hat and cane and slips ’ around to the church. And however • much or widely he is hated, he is never laughed at—either for his conclusions or for the faith which has helped him to reach them. Of all the nations that made war Austria .was most comprehensively dissected by the peace.' Who was literally dismembered, carved up, and left a place on the map scarcely largo enough in which to die. Then, strangely enough, the Powers suddenly emerged into the post-war world with the conviction that she must survive, i The remarkable fact is riot that these . injections (the loans) kept Austria alive, but, rather, that despite this accumulated indebtedness the financial > state of the nation has improved during the last twelve months. It is probably true that.tho economic situation is at least 15 per cent, better than it was when Dollfuss took office. This is apparent from the figures on money in circulation, national bank rediscounts, and trade balances. Austria at present has a national Budget more jiearly in balance than most nations in Europe, perhaps than any other nation. The currency is stable. The trade balance has been improved through em- : bargoes on imports and the levying of huge import duties. ■ Meanwhile, with Dollfuss holding Hitler at bay, a good deal of inter-, national scene-shifting is going on to the end that Austria’s place in the European economic picture may be improved. But the first step towards such a , permanent reconstruction requires that Adolf Hitler should be kept in leash at the Austrian frontier. That is_ why - Engelbert Dollfuss —all fifty-nine inches of him—has become a world figure. The cause that he represents is more than Austrian. It is the cause likewise of England and France and the Little Entente. His success or failure is lik’ely to involve the economic and political future of a considerable area . of Europe. There is even some reason to agree with those who believe that it may involve the result of the conin the making—between Fascism and Democracy.