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Show Depopulation of Vienna Is Seen in Two Generations Hy 1 alversal Service. VIKNNA. March J Unless the present pres-ent excess of deatha over births . Is checked, Vienna will be completely depopulated de-populated In two generations, says a report Just Issued by the American Red Cross, giving a summary of recent re-cent trends In Austrian vital statistlra. These stat Irtlca show particularly alarming condlt Ions amontr children. All but 7 per cent are badlv undernourished under-nourished at the present moment; t per cent show symptoms of ricliets: AO per cent of children between 6 and , 12 years of age and 30 per cent of children under show tubercular Infection. In-fection. Tuberculosis has Increased 1?0 to 00 per cent since 1914, and In. now responsible for one-fourth of all deatha The report says in part "Simultaneous with this Increase In disease and death Is a steady decline In the birth rate. In 1913 there was a surplus of 11.000 births over deaths In 1919 there was an excess of hOOO deaths over births. I'nless relief on a ronaldTaM scale Is continued, th's ; rate will Increase from month to month with cumulative rapidity, aa the new generation, horn from adults with lowered vitality, will have even less power of resistance than the laat." The Increase In disease and death ts largely attributed to food shortage and malnutrition. Tuberculosis among children Is chiefly of the bones and joints and Is due to malnutrition and exposure. i The shartage of milk and butter which has cut off all children over one year of age from any yj'Plytlf anlmal fats, has been a great contrib-uter contrib-uter to this condition. Ir. Hpity of the Vienna OrthopeJ'c hospital Is responsible for the statement state-ment that there are 1,000 Vienna children chil-dren requiring surgical treatment for tuberculosa of the bono, with hospital facilities for onlv 1100. Hlckets la entirely due to malnutrition, malnutri-tion, and In Irs worst stages presents particularly horrifying aspects. I la symptoms are bent and meager limb, distended abdomens and abnormally large heads. Ho common Is the disease that cases which are obvious to the lay observer are being refused at the hospitals and dispensaries as "not had enough." The victlma are so many that only the worst cases can be given treatment. While few children die of the disease Itself. It ao weakens their condition that they are a prey to other diseases. I The rationed food, upon which the majority of the population depend. Is declining In food value. According to the food measurements of Ir. Plrquet, the average person requires twenty-four twenty-four "kllonems' of food per day. The city ration provides only half th's amount of nourishment. The relief organisations, therefore, are llterallv keeping the population alive through food kitchens which protect pro-tect the people from the "Schlelch-handel," "Schlelch-handel," or food speculators, bv furnishing fur-nishing simple meals at nominal prices. Quantities of food, of course, have to be given away. The American Red Cross alone is reaching 10,000 persons a day. |