Paris Peace Conf. 184.01102/5
Professor A. C. Coolidge to the Commission to Negotiate Peace
[Received January 23.]
Sirs: I have the honor to report that the following are some of my first impressions in Vienna. It should be remembered that most of the people I have seen so far are high officials, though belonging to all the three parties who have combined to form the present government, namely the Socialist Democrats, the Christian Socialists and the German Nationalists, so I have chiefly got their point of view.
The government here feel almost overwhelmed by the magnitude and the multiplicity of the task with which they are confronted. They and the people also are oppressed by the terrible uncertainty of their future, and particularly as to what their boundaries are to be and how they are to get on their feet again financially. In very human fashion they tend to put all the blame for the faults and errors of the past on their former rulers and to look on themselves as victims who were no more to blame for the war than the other nationalities who took part in it. They therefore do not see why they should receive any particular punishment and should be forced to assume a disproportionate part of the huge national debt. They declare that if they have to do so, the only result will be bankruptcy and that this will drag down the other shares in the debt and holders of the vast mass of Austrian paper money, a conclusion from which, however unpleasant it may be, it is difficult to escape.
The government are much exercised as to when if at all they will be allowed to send representatives to the Peace Conference. I believe that the German Austrians are sincere when they express their admiration for President Wilson and say that their chief trust is that America will recognize the justice of their cause. Doubtless some emphasis is added for my benefit, but by accepting unreservedly the principles of the fourteen points and basing on them their claims in regard to the future national boundaries, they have adopted a very strong position, if their past is to be overlooked. They also hope for help or they say “justice” from England. France they regard as hostile.
[Page 229]The authorities are rather proud of the way in which they met the sudden and huge task of demobilisation and the despatching to their homes of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who passed through Vienna, soldiers not from German Austria alone, but also from all the other parts of the empire. They point out that they did this without any serious disturbance or pillaging and that they never left any great number together long enough to become a menace to the public security. They are likewise proud of the order they maintain and contrast the quiet of Vienna with what has happened in Berlin, Warsaw, Budapest and elsewhere, and they express confidence in their national guard (Volkswehr), which is now chiefly made up of workmen of the better class and whose councils of soldiers have so far been helpful to them. On the other hand they believe their capacity to maintain order and carry on a government successfully depends above all things on their receiving a sufficient supply of food and fuel from outside. Without these they will answer for nothing. The number of unemployed workmen and of factories closed or working only part time is disquieting enough. There are Bolshevist agents here, apparently well supplied with money, and a paper with Bolshevist doctrines is published in Vienna. I enclose a copy as a specimen.*
Internal affairs in the main attract little attention. The elections which are to take place in the middle of February excite a certain interest but no very decided result seems to be expected from them. There is curiosity as to how the newly enfranchised women will vote and a belief that they will strengthen the clerical party. The streets of the city are crowded but the physical condition of the people is obviously poor and the prices, especially of necessities, are terribly high.
I have [etc.]
- No Inclosure. [penciled footnote on the orginal]↩