SAVE AUSTRIA!
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Slit,—As I have spent the last seven months in Austria I hope you will find space for a few lines from me regarding the state of that unfortunate country. The old Empire with its forty-five millions was interdependent, and one province supplied what another lacked, moreover one currency obtained throughout the land. Now detruncated Austria, with its six millions and with the incubus of Vienna, which alone has a population of 21 millions, can only supply food for its inhabitants for three months out of the twelve, and as the purchasing power of the krone, which has been steadily depreciating, is now next to nothing for buying even from those provinces which used to form part of the Empire, actual starvation appears imminent. We hear comparatively little of the distress among this courteous, friendly and dignified people because it is the law-abiding middle-class which has up to the present suffered most. A retired Austrian Admiral with a family, with whom I am well acquainted, has a total income of .22 a month, and his case is not an exceptional one, whereas a shoemaker's assistant can earn twice that amount. Immediate financial help is undoubtedly necessary, but this alone could only have a palliative effect. The Government of the country is really in the hands of the trade unions, which by direct action rule the land, and which in their turn are not governed in their actions. Any attempt at counter organization on the part of the Government is stopped by the threat of a general strike, whilst only those men whose sympathies are known to be Socialistic are allowed by the unions to be enlisted in the army. This army, although it obeys its officers on parade, is governed by soldiers' councils, and in case of disturbance would always side with the rioters. I have talked with Austrians in all grades of society, and their cry is always, 'Cannot the Powers who have brought us to this terrible plight lend us twenty thousand Allied troops to stand behind the Government, and enable it under their shadow to raise a reliable army of its own and thus put it into a position really to govern?" Cannot we do something? Our own interest demands it, for famine means Bolshevism, and that microbe is infectious.—I am, Sir, &c., T. D. BECHER. Naval and Military Club, W.
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