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Show iia mm BY PROFITEER DISPLAY Great Wealth and Riotous Spending Contract With Dire Poverty VIENJs'A, Feb. 26. (By the Asso-, elated rreas. ) Vulgar display of ex-i travagance In food and clothing Is a nightly picture at the gay restaurants here while only q few blocks away hungry and seanllly-clothed persons) aro being poorly fed In community kitchens Visitors to Vienna aro shocked by this paradoxical economic condition. Others are either hardened to the contradictory sights or. ln their Inability to alter either extreme, can only shut their eyes to them, j Crowded theaters and operas at tre- mendously advanced prices, concerts sold out In advance, masked ball following fol-lowing masked ball In rui endless riot against thc coming of Lent, cabarets whose rlsquo dancers would bring out the police in Now York and where I nothing to drink but wino Is served, 'cafes and restaurants with never an I empty table, not room to bo had In the big hotels whose prices go up from week to week that is one picture. On Its reverse, foreign relief straining Itself It-self and demanding unceasing contributions contri-butions In aid of a suffering populace MOKOI S l PROM I I ER& in Austria It is the custom on New year's Eve to bring squealing suckling pigs to public dining rooms and tho red ribbon with which they are decorated decor-ated ls distributed In bits to guests as talismans for the corning year. The n mpapera report that in one fashionable fashion-able n-sort a woman seized the pig and j bathed it in a cooler full of wine. ither women aught the original Idea ,n.l mutated it to the cost of many j bottles. That resLiurant. incidentally, has had its license suspended for COn-rtanl COn-rtanl violation 61 the food and closing j regulations. Viennese claim that in all these re-1 sorts where display and expenditure of, the most vulgar kind are evidenced, jnot real Austrian can be found, that, ih. have not the money. They say j they are supported by tho horde of I 'profiteers of every raco and every na-jllonnlltyhnl na-jllonnlltyhnl Infest and infect tho city. i cnt demonstration of the populace popu-lace is acknowledged to have bean Inspired In-spired by this prodigal display of ex-travugonco ex-travugonco and ready money on the part of this small element of the pop-i pop-i ulatlon. PROl il i i I R w IGANCE, The worklngmcn demand the government gov-ernment shull suppress profiteering and elrmlnato the sheba (profiteering wholesaler or middleman and the sleichandler (illicit trader) ln an effort ef-fort to lower the dally mounting cost of living, else they will undertake to do so on their own account. They car-jrled car-jrled a mlnuture gallows In a recent demonstration. The authorities and thoughtful Aus-'tiians Aus-'tiians acknowledge that this superfl-icla superfl-icla froth of extravagance and display Is doing great harm to the city and the country Casual travelers who Bpend a lew days in the Inner city, visit these gorgeous resorts and sho tho hlgh-clu&s restaurants crowded at every meal, tea dances In tho aftor-'noon. aftor-'noon. exceptionally well dressed men land women and tho display of furs and Jewels and article of luxury In thi shop windows probably unexcelled In nii capital, are n;rl '. convince ih.it' boneath this veneer Ilea widespread privation and In certain strata actual bitter suffering. CONTRACT OF Wl Oil B. Some 400,000 children are being fed one nourishing meal a day by American Ameri-can chant). Through American aid the hospitals aro being refurnished with long absent necessities. Neurlyi 200.000 Austrian children are charity ! guests in other countries. Indeed thO I charity of ull non-suffering pooplcs is i being extended bountifully to this country regardless of creed or race, and nil investigators who dig deeply I Into conditions acknowledge it Ull needed. But, net infrequently the visitor, especlall the American, when he Is I told this, gazes on tho evidence of wealth nod well-being about him and i. mark- that It might bo well to spend sum.- of this money at homo Instead of demanding aid from other lands, i )no answer Is that this phase of Vienna Vien-na nr.- brings money In and keeps It I circulating. Another ls that tho tem-permanet tem-permanet of a people must be considered. consid-ered. The billboards are filled with announcements an-nouncements of redouts (masked or fancy dress balls). Wine is always served at these affairs at high price. I Among those about to occur, tho star Uvent Is ono at the State Opera for the benefit of the pension fund of tho singers and musicians. Tho boxes, long slnco sold, went for from 20,foo I,, js.uoo crow r en. Ii and single tickets tick-ets of admission for 2.000 crowns. WILD SPECULATION. Even In depreciated Austrian currency cur-rency 20,000 crowns represent about 30 perfectly good American dollars or a good many balanced ration meals 'such as Americans are giving Vienna's c hlldren. Much of the money thus spent come8 from the wild speculation on the stock .i hanga that Iiub followed the constantly con-stantly fluctuating crown, and from wide open speculation In foreign inr.ni,., rli,nraf h':illv iiioblblteil but in full operation In COfoa and restaurants restaur-ants and well covered private office n American told the correspondent correspond-ent that In tho Black Exchange, a llt-tl.. llt-tl.. slr.-. t where then.- operators gather and trade, h sew ono itvui with $200.-000. $200.-000. American money, and who admit ted ho had made 1,000,000 crowns a day on speculation. Tho possibilities of this money market mar-ket are iiu.'l" plain ln on week's . rown quotation! agalnet dollars. I'ri- vato sales Were made on Wednesday at - row n.s lo the d-diar. The market closod on Saturduy with dollars at 632. Fluctuations ln the. stock market of thouHiinds of crowns per slwtre are i ommonplace. Men with foreign mon-. mon-. v . smuggled in mid out of other countries coun-tries ;is Mi, . change rate varies. fat-Ion fat-Ion on speculation and for them all Vienna Is the Mecca. |