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Show BeaMf id. a I " I -t Belvedere Palace In Vienna. (Prepared by the National Oeoaiaphle Society, Waahlnrtoa, O. C ' T IENNA, torn by recent riots, has had since the World war a V vastly , different atmosphere from that which enveloped It a decade and a half ago under the Haps-burgs. Haps-burgs. But physically It has remained the same beautiful city. Until recently one of the richest and gayest cities on the continent and the center of Europe's oldest empire, she la today the capital of a few mountains and rivers that occupy a small corner of ber former dominions. Tlie dissolution disso-lution of an Immense polyglot empire bas brought Austria close to ruin and put Vienna largely In pawn to the world. 4 On the edge of a shriveled little republic re-public of 6,000,000 Insolvents, Viei.ua for several bitter years lived on alms, while ber currency dropped until It look many thousand of ber twenty-cent twenty-cent pieces to make one American dollar. Surrounded by countries that nursed ancient grudges against Iter, dependent nn thorn fnr naopl, atl ka. tnnA awA The plight of this middle class Is the last thing the traveler sees. If he Is a casual person, who lives on surfaces, sur-faces, be may even leave the city with the impression that all is going well wltb the Viennese. There Is nothing , In the hotel district on the King to Indicate to him that here Is a city that Is running along on more hope. . How It Looks to th Tourist He will be served plenty of good food, lie will see muny luxuries la ' the shop windows priced beyond bis poeketbook. Opera tickets are unobtainable, unob-tainable, he may find, unless he tips a hotel porter to stand In tine at seven o'clock in the morning. Gay crowds that bet freely will surround him at the races. He will pass flower stand piled with roses of the American Amer-ican beauty variety, and fruit venders who have mounds of hothouse strawberries, straw-berries, larger by far than those sold In New York. lie will see drab corners cor-ners blazing wltb oranges. - If be wishes to tuke tea at a smart cafe, be will have to get there .early or be will rind 'all the tables tilled. fuel, and wltb only worthless money wltb whlcb to pay her bills this was the fute which brought almost unparalleled un-paralleled national mkery upon a blgbly civilized people in a famous center of learning, art aud culture. "' Recent years, bringing a louu guaranteed guar-anteed by the Leugue of Nations, and a replacement of worthless money by new units, have seen considerable betterment bet-terment over the dark daya of aeven years ago; but even so, Vienna, and the sadly shrunken territory of which it Is the capital ran hardly be said to be wholly out of the economic woods. Despite the tragic atmosphere that bus clung round her recently, Vienna is still a beautiful city, with the cosmopolitan cos-mopolitan charm of Paris. In area she can compete with London, for her limits embrace more than 103 square miles. The city, however. Is not built up to Its limits, but is surrounded by a belt of meadows and wooded bills knowj as the Wiener Wald, from which many of the beautiful trees buve been cut down In recent years. Many Beautiful Buildmfls. No finer buildings can be found tn Europe than In this city of the Uups-burgs. Uups-burgs. Several races labored at building build-ing Vienna for more than a thousund years, and the artistry of many peoples peo-ples Is represented here. The buildings are a record of the changing taste of western civilization. It..-.,, I ! Strolling about the Ring afterward, be will see scarcely a person who Is not well dressed and well fed. Bit all this is seen In the Vienna of the tourist, near the Ring. Dollars, pounds, fruues, and lire keep the hotels and shops running at a prolit UiAVe, too, vuttfe the exchange and war profiteers, known as the schiebers, who became wealthy while the rest of Vienna starved. The gaiety which has always characterized char-acterized the soul of the Viennese has an elastic quulity which has enabled them to survive the most extraordinary extraor-dinary hardships and soul-racking times without depressing their bubbling bub-bling spirits. As long as a man hus bis old Tyrolean Ty-rolean hiking costume of leather breeches and a feathered cup, and a womuu ber peasant's costume, wltb Its black bodice and red aprou, tney will pack raincoats, bread, and cheese into a knapsack, take their children by tha band, and start off for the country. . Every Sunday and holiday is spent in care-free tramping. Laughing and romping, the bare cupboard at home forgotten, they hike to the country, through sun or ruin, to some favorite spot In the Wiener Wald. At nightfall they turn back, entering enter-ing the city as the opera and theater crowds ure rustling to catch the last trams for the suburbs. Perhaps a grief In Rome and to perfection in Vienna, has many brilliant examples, particularly In the. Inner city. This Is the oldest part of Vienna and Is inclosed in-closed by the famous Itlng-Strasse, boulevurd 137 feet wide, with double rows of trees, and built Uke the old boulevards of Purls, on the site of fortifications which once extended for three miles uhout the core of the city. Within or oo the Ring are the Imperial Im-perial pulace buildings, the great Oothlc cathedral of SL Stephen, the celebrated university, the parliament building that Greek temple where the national assembly of the republic now sits the Immense twin museums, the Exchange building which Is the city's ' . ' pulse, the opera and the Uofburg theater, the-ater, all In a setting of linden and horse-chestnut trees, which frame the boulevard and avenues aud line the walks of Vienna's lovely parks. Outside the coulines of the Ring are many palaces, embassies, chateaux, museums, hotels, and handsome stone apartment houses like those of Berlin, r In tills splendid setting an economic . '"'pheaval after the armistice complete-ly complete-ly overturned every normal social condition con-dition and changed the destinies of all classes of the population. The work-a work-a ing man Is now oo top of the heap and will be provided for as long as the Social Democrats are able to make their governmental machine (unction. Next down the new economic scale come the titled aristocracy and the other upper classes who used to live by "unturned increment" Many of these have spent their principal since the revolution end have come to bitter poverty. Lowest on the scale is the middle class the real tragedy of Vienna. Forming a fourth of the population and Including the Intelligentsia, this entire class, to whom tbe city in large measure owes its greatness, baa suffered suf-fered greatly ainc 1818. i I , i bottle of wine has prepared them for their long walk back in the darkness and Inspires them to shout and sing aa they return to the scene of their privations. priva-tions. Their sufferings have left no deep or bitter impressions. Like Irresponsible Irrespon-sible children, muny seem to regard the aftermath of the war as hard punishment, pun-ishment, after whlcb they were seat to bed without any supper. But tomorrow tomor-row surely they will be forgiven and the good old times of plenty will come back. Coffee House and Galleries. The fumous coffee bouses of Vienna, where the population repairs, even In business hours, for newspaper reading, read-ing, letter wrltting, chess or gossip, are still well patronized as they were even during the darkest days. Tbe Austrian cannot change bis spots, even when national' calamity Is upon him. lie still lounged half bis time away, although his allowance of coffee and schnapps was cut down and be could no longer be generous to the waiters. Vienna has always been to the south of Europe what Moscow was to the i north a great studio and murket for art The magnificent galleries, filled by the Uapsburgs, have drawn students stu-dents from all over tbe world. Tbe shop windows still display luxurious whimsicalities of modern art In whose Invention tbe native craftsman excels. ex-cels. Exquisite ceramics, dyed silks, wooden articles, and tooled leather bave been Viennese specialties. Political changes have not altered the city's geogruphlcal situation, and the Danube still -Sows to Vienna through the opening in the mountain ranges, bearing ships and their car goes for distribution lu eastern Europe. Eu-rope. Vienna is still and must remain a sort of Inland seaport oo the largest commercial waterway In Europe (except (ex-cept the Volga tn Russia). Vienna's position on the map gives promise of being her salvation. |