Millimetternich

Last fortnight Adolf Hitler stung Austria's Chancellor Engelbert ("Millimetter-nich"*) Dollfuss with a 1,000-mark visa charge for Germans entering Austria. Smarting, Dollfuss considered slapping back with a tariff wall against German goods that would have hurt both Germany and Austria. Instead, giving gentle tit for brutal tat, he restored the five-schilling visa charge for Austrians going to Ger- many, forbade any to do so except for urgent business reasons. Then he turned back to the serious business of fighting the Nazi pox within Austria.

Throughout the land he sent police swarming through all Nazi headquarters and the houses of all known Nazi leaders. They found masses of Nazi leaflets, ma-chine-guns, rifles and small arms. Twice in a day they searched the house at Linz of Theodore Habicht, whom Hitler had blandly appointed Nazi "Inspector General for Austria." Fumed Herr Habicht: "Balkan methods!" and asked Hitler to make his house a German consulate. As such it would be extraterritorial, outside the jurisdiction of Austrian police. And Habicht made Dollfuss fume by charging that he had "begged" for an alliance with the Nazis for the autumn elections.

Chancellor Dollfuss claims for publication that Austria can be entirely self-suffi-cient. An able economist, he does not believe it possible at present. Last week sorely needed help was on the way from two quarters. Loan negotiations were being concluded simultaneously in Rome and Paris to make available to Chancellor Dollfuss the Italian and French shares of the $43,000,000 international loan pledged at Lausanne last July.

One night last week in Innsbruck near the border, Nazi students spied the car of Prince Aloyse Loewenstein-Wertheim-Ro-senberg, onetime German Catholic Centre Party official, refugee from German Naziism. On it they spied the black, red and gold Heimwehr (Austrian Fascists) pennant. Students surrounded the car, jumped on the running board, ripped off the pennant. Up rose Princess Loewenstein, pulled a revolver from her purse and began firing at random into the crowd. The students fled, the Prince drove on.

Last week Chancellor Dollfuss and his Minister of Justice Kurt Schuschnigg journeyed to Rome, were separately received by Pope Pius. Following their audiences came word that a new Austro-Vatican concordat had been signed, providing that 1) Bishops must be approved by the Austrian Government; 2) Religious marriages will be recognized by the Government as legal; 3) Doctrinal education will be entrusted to the church.

*Affectionate Viennese nickname combining Millimeter and Metternich--Clemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince Metternich-Winneburg, Austria's great 19th Century Chancellor. A current Vienna cracker last week was that a new issue of stamps will show Dollfuss' picture, lifesize. Dollfuss has made it known that he enjoys jokes about his size (5 ft.).

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