They confirmed all that has been said about the system of the Austrian officers, and added things which I should not have believed had I not heard them from the victims of the atrocities themselves.
They told me that in the Austrian Army the word of reproach has been substituted by a spit in the face or a stroke with a switch; the whip and the revolver in the hands of officers at the back of their men serves to send them forward. The hesitation of a second is punished by a shot. The soldiers obey; but during the struggle there is always a bullet for the brutal officer which does not come from the enemy's lines, and which avenges the murdered private.
All sorts of tortures and insults are inflicted on the soldiers.
I could not find a word of consolation for the poor chaps who were going back to such an infernal life. I shook hands with them and walked away.
All the other soldiers—German or French, Russian or Serbian—are, after all, fighting somebody they detest for the victory of their Motherland; but these poor chaps, forced to give their lives for a nation they detest, to fight men against whom they have no hate and who could perhaps help them to get back their independence, are the most pathetic figures of the whole war.
* * *
The Austrian war loan seems to have been an absolute failure. Nobody wants to buy shares, and the few millions subscribed were taken by Government employees, who were forced to do so. The high financial world and the aristocracy have been very stingy; so now the Government is trying to get at the small purses.
On the café table, at the post offices, and in the hotels numerous pamphlets are to be found saying that everybody ought to subscribe at least twenty-five crowns, not only as a contribution to the nation's need, but also as an excellent investment. Nobody seems to be anxious to make the excellent investment.
It is the middle class which is said to be suffering most under these conditions, for they have no money in the bank, they hardly manage to make any money at all at the present moment, and, at the same time, they don't want to admit that they are in need of anything.