Or all our late enemies our sympathies go out chiefly to the Austrians who, it is generally felt, had scant sympathy with the ideals of Prussian. Junkerdom and were largely the victims of circumstances over which they had but little control. They paid bitterly for their alliance with Germany. No country, in fact, save Russia, suffered more during the period immediately following the war, though Nemesis at the present moment seems to be pursuing the principal culprit, Germany, with almost equal severity. Austria's sufferings were prolonged unnecessarily by the suspicious wax psychology following the cessation of hostilities, which refused to believe that the circumstances were as bad as claimed and thus hampered the effort of those who knew the facts in getting effective assistance organized. Much prominence was given to stories of. wasteful luxury in Vienna. It was assumed that, because the larger restaurants displayed a super-abundance of food, because in many resorts wine flowed freely and _plutocratic cigars were much in evidence, the pitiful stories of starvation amongst the. people were greatly exaggerated if not actually fictitious. What "was overlooked was the fact. that when disaster descended on Aus-trio it did not destroy the relative status of rich and poor Food was to be had, but only by those who had'the money to pay for it. Bey Austria, indeed, was and to some extent still is, like a walled city besieged by..enemies and cut off from supplies. Those who were privileged to see behind the scenes well understand why food in Vienna was beyond. the purses of all but the rich, for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.