SEVERE DISTRESS IN AUSTRIA.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14658, 16 July 1918, Page 5

SEVERE DISTRESS IN AUSTRIA.

EYE-WITNESS'S STORY.

(By F.. Sefton Delraer.)

ANNEMASSE (Bjanco-Swiss . V. ". Frontier), June 16---famine is.;irot too strongs -word for tho, stale m; -, which. . considerable; poi-. tions- , of tho Austrian. p,o£uk\tiGn BJw. Hud - thcmsetyes. .1 -feel cpn^dent t:fta£ the time is at hand, when faminer— stark, mediaeval, famine — is about to . jcftn the. Entente notonljr as a political -but alfeo as >a military-; ally N againsi; Germany att,^ Austria, ... -■.•';; \y t ;-, '..,."■'■. .^..,'^V. X liav^ just received^ frpin sources th^t I ,ipust; not! reveal but for f the-, honeitj" and : ajitliQiatic nature, of wlijcji '"X r cd.g personally youqh, 'a- aeries of oral statJßr" menta^.d^rect . from Vienna aud Stym jqcordingV . observations, . njade.^ !ii} :JAmtiii^. up to almost tlic end of Apni. : ; , , My informant said: "The' great: masses of the Austriau' people aye more ' thauw^aVrsick.: -No longer db/ they* talS?; of-.j iheir '.'■ success., -or 5 . non-success ••- " th6y"; talk i and tKiuk of r but;, bread!; TJieji: moral vis.so low that tho GovemV m,enj; isr afraid - of Bolshevism. ;• ,vil{. catt^ not' Cell vyou : ivhat ; ' v?& m Austria haVe Buffered this last y=ettr 'and : of the deeds jdono- through hunger that are Hyhiapered about. ■ , .; i,. . v ; ,v, ' . :■■.[; •■■^.- ■ , {''A^vhola issue of the Arbeiter Zei- J ; turig was confiscated la«t March lest it should speak of events (abominable to .hear. .; lt x demanded {investigation . into two .horrible- o^sos of murder of prisoners of war^by i their fellow-workmen jin the gasworks m th.6 16th municipal district of Vienna^ and accused .the.- ...work' nien of eating part of tho bodies. P,o not; think this - is sensationtmongerhig or tho fantastic invention of tW wobi I kne\y si member of the To\v'n Council appoii\ted to inquires iiito the matter, and it was clear, foe^maintained,; that at }ea.st t\vo aucjli' iusta,ncsß oi ; Cannibalism had occurred ,at the gasworks, ono at the? eii3i-,of l)eceinbeK •-. andL the other last Mai'cii.- It was i;efesred • tp/ m Parliament but hiished, up iv ; the Press m Vienna itself. The wildest and most gruesome-; and. exaggerated rupiors; got abroad, -and people'; shuddei^^;tp. pass through the streets of . the rsiiburbp after dark. It is m, tho outer -91*.! factory districts oif Vienna, as ypu know, .tha> most of tho workmen >„ live „at»d where theie h most disaffect^p. .'.The Austrian Government /.feari!) nothing niore than ! thq .spread .<)f,. %)lslxeyistic ideas among- these people, and it is a 'matter o£ common knowledge -in Austria; that all Austrian prisoners rettirnring from. Russia ' are quarantined f on three, weeks at til© frontier to make siu'e »that they are politically clean> and unlikely to infect comrades at. home ■ with the leprosy of Bolshevism. They are given 14 days' leave and then put back m the 'army, ■ They are amazed 'to find themselves iii a land of famine, and lament their stupidity m returning to Austria. 'Oh, if we' had only known!' they say. 'Wild horses "tooiild not have o;ot us to cross ; |h.e Carpathians again.' Strange to say, fron^all I pah make' out the German soldiers returning from" .Russia .'are much more infected' by Bolshevism than ' their less educated Austrian comrades. . : !

"The bad liiul insiillicieiit food is at the vpot/ of all^the revolt. T\vas .present •»t ' (ivtvA fivo. weeks agb A ' oil ,v journey through Styi-ia,; whcjV the- lood, ; Tiots 'broke out: there. , The workmen' hi the munition factories struck. r Th«y "ftia'rciied to thp town 'hail and; fluiig' their loaves at the wii\db\ji"s t as <i protest against t.|ie bad stuff thait was mr/the bread!,' which, (was iuiade of maize plentifully ;nixed wi'tli iloui^ I votiif the ba^k of tives and ground into powder. . That is the liorrilble compound, eupheunslrcally knoAvn as maizo '' bread, that Alislria ; is ' at present Jiving "on. .Other workmen? r majrclied: through the to\m •WnU' :^with loaves smashed the', windows 'of, all. 'the cafes and shops! anflf bftoiv (p^ui}diei ; ed U:o buiMiings and scattered the conleJhts m . th« «ti^e<jt. iSiiniJaa* outbreaks : Ikave , taken placij m ot^er toAyns less 'loyal than Grass, viol* Graa is said t9' be> the^ most G-evmair town ; in 'Austria. And i*oi a woi'd-of it dp they idaro "to. put m, tjie papers; 'Give "us, . bread "!'•' the 'w'ork^tieii shouted as. tlxey mai-cliwl . tjirou^h- .tTie starving! town^ Thii i>cyHc^ "ofterwai-ds gathered wp the loare^ lynig. in :tfre mud, mi 4 ihey were &eiT(e'd ; 6iiijis extra ration to- tlie pppulation.' Imagine our, f^cliiigs, too, when we were, 'told* that the vyation even of this poor nuiize bread was, »tci be"induced a littl,e :over pojn- ' "V'ou -haYQ iio idea of Svhat Aye Ivave :§6nQ thiy>iigljv this last whiter,, jind. stilljthe ■Government has contrived to iiiUthb people with one false hope.of vibtory jvftcr^ a'nbthei% You," cannot iina.giny t-be cbldfof \t\\p .unheated; rooms, ami nothing toeafc, ; Ojfie mivser-. able make-believe fbbd 1 &ucceedied' the other. lii , : Yieun'a. tlioro- weiie wWle; weeks' wjien. pcop^> got nothing bufc feuuerki-aui/ (fermented cabbage): for the in-incipjU meal of vkth& ■ day,if followed byother weeks when :M'ft ' Jiad only.jjickled'. .'cu{?iunbers apd lglioi',kins.| . and, .otji^rs,; agVn',..ii when. s ,we If ad nothing fpr -dinner, but those ji aitsepus Jnajigel -wurzele , ''f /to - ■ f4'ptln?r, witlji a- littles Ti]#fo$ r .\>ieis. SojipMef' tinies^,'. bijt;a.t.ai co&t 0f < Jipijr6< jpLiiy M^&rs' pf .standing, i)K it queue; ojfte -vvo^ld' ge^ a; coyplo 9f pounds t o.f;]K)tiait6e«' m a '»:^ok; My brother, wliO lias six children, \ytfufl<|: sen 4. I'%to out at- 7 a - n V ; '' \^9^< f°£ ■food 'siiop^, and thmy.' would b,e sta.ii,dinj?": m dlffercMit pJa6es till 9 at aright, tixvd, even then .bring; homp almost npVhin^ 1/ebp^o .would go. to t^o ma^bi' Aiid, begi linn to' lielp, $*?*»• or *? k f ™ vhat ,tliey Avei^e-to eat." 'I cannot; help' it;, 1 lie 'would &ay to starving people, 'tho Govemment sfliWiS me nothing ;' I can. give you. nothing! ; adid jthe huiigry rebpJb would go away* ■saying', 'Gurset live Government ! It's all their muddling that -li'n-f bvoug^lit % us to tljis.' A womaiii whosfe ; mMlk bad inn> r di-r aud, tov-wlibs© babyHhey would' give lip cow's milk took it to tb^ .to-wayhio-ll and dashed its brains out m. tdie-niayor ? s sight.. ; ■ "Tliroughout AuStvia^- a^ittfer gih& Jias 1 replaced; the old 'Gott stvafe England.' They now say, 'Gott strafe England mit finer Verwaltvmg wio dei v unserigen !' f'M^ay God, punish Ejiglaipd by givinff it a. Government -Uk? otrr.i 'V

• "My family and; I have^tfed for weeks on hardly anything but the mushrooms we gathered Ln^ forests near the town.

> "As for cards, they are a farce. According to our cards we ought to have: got three-quarters of a litre (about a pint) of milk a day. As a matter of ; fact, we used to think ourselves lucky if we got a quarter -of a litre a week, and for a long-time we have. had none. » "People often faint m) the streets fr&m inanition. There is riot 'only huiig^r, there is famine m Austria. The health of many of the peoplo has so sunk, ijbat they can h^dly stand,, let alone Wtirk, and things .a re i getting w ; or so .and worse every day. GhildrenUjave to loiter a,bout ill day m different quarters of the town to get a little to* eat, and all one's money goes trying to buy things at the exorbitant prices demanded.

' "Even soldiers get insufficient fopd; ; they too are not only sick of the war but also thoroughly apathetic. It is a common sight to see troops begging fo;r bread and food from inhabitants, and) on railway journey^ dnrfrig -tne& la*fc« six weeks I have seen soldiers at stations where) we stopped, imploring people m the trains to give them even peeling -and remnants of food. Nobody has any idea Of what we m Austria have suffered this past winter: from cold aijdjfi.unger-^np coal, no trains' to (fcransport'itj* no • grease' for the engines,\ no workmen, no food. "Everybody is nb^v convinced that Che Ukraine food relief is a mirage! v The ! Ukraine corn is only another Prussian swindle, people; say. Soldiers .who have? come badk front the UKraine'-have'-told ' Tie that every grain of corn they got j there from; the peasants had, tp vhe- gqt,, at the point of the bayonet. And;. What; is most dismaying of all, the three worst months, of ,the year aro stili $0 come— June, July, and Those were the bad months last year when there was almost nothing to eat" but oucumbers, gherkins, melons, and fruit. For the new harvest is not available till September^ Vand iii "those three ■months, la'st^jrea?^typhus; aiic{> dysentery. became 1 ; ' .nnd "w^iH again Ibeebme, epidemic. Austria is shuddering at the prospect of the next three months. People, as far as they dare, whisper jeei's at Hindeuburg's promise of smash- , ing the Englisli and Fi'ench with the big -offensive and: getting, a,; Qewnan peacei ' You have humbugged us too often al•vendy with .ypvvri^^oat promises, 'your T?rest-LitoVsk, and all the rest of it, ,-Wid the only result of your beautiful ;tT-boat;' T?;af iis;'.that ■„ you. 'have brought Amerifc&jin; as^^a ■■n.eyr enemy.* "'.. .■' "At^first" eVeryb6"dy iii Austria ? made fun of President \yilson as a mere Don >Quixote and pedant,^ but . no^wf they are changing their' tune and •• are afraid^America means business." ■■....