CHAPTER XX.

THE REPEAL OF THE ANTI-JEWISH LAW

When Leo entered the Parliament Building the newly elected Presiding Officer had just greeted the ministers he had chosen the day before to replace the old cabinet, and had informed the Assembly that there had been presented two declarations of urgency to the effect that Paragraph Eleven of the Constitution, prohibiting sojourn in Austria to Jews or persons of Jewish origin, should be repealed.

A Social-Democratic deputy rose to move that the declarations of urgency be taken up immediately. In spite of the noisy objection of the Christian-Socialists and Pan-Germans the majority voted for the motion, whereupon the Presiding Officer gave the floor to Dr. Wolters, the leader of the Social-Democrats, as the first speaker in favor of the proposal.

Wolters pointed out that he and the other members of his party had opposed the law even three years ago as a direct blow at the most sacred rights of man, and as indicative of retrogression into the darkest of the Dark Ages. At that time the opposition had been hooted down, abused, and crowded out of the hall; today, however, the once misled and deluded people had brought them back in such numbers that the power now lay in their hands and in those of other liberal-minded men. Continuing, Wolters sketched the events of the past few years, pointed to the terrible collapse of Austria, cited striking statistics, and closed with these words:

“The audacious, too audacious, work of the man who once assumed divine powers and now could not even obtain a seat in this House, has gone to pieces; outside a hundred thousand unemployed citizens, together with all our working but desperate people, are waiting for the new House to open our gates to a new future, and to give our Jewish fellow-citizens the opportunity to work again side by side with us--not against us--to employ their intelligence, their industry, and their creative force in the interests of our sorely tried and almost ruined country.”

After the applause, to which the galleries contributed their share, had died down, the second majority speaker, Herr Habietnik, who had been elected by the downtown business men, was given the floor. In a whimsical speech, frequently interrupted by loud laughter, he described the poverty-stricken, provincialized Vienna of the day, regaled his audience with tales of his experiences in his line of business, and declared:

“The tiniest hamlet is a metropolis compared with Vienna today. Vienna has become a huge village with a million and a half inhabitants, and if we don’t let the Jews in now we’ll soon see country fair booths in the Kärtnerstrasse instead of exclusive shops, and live stock markets being conducted on the Stephansplatz. This retrogression, against which they are powerless to do anything, has brought profound despair into the hearts of the citizens of Vienna. By deserting the Christian-Socialist party the Viennese women and girls have not been the last to indicate that they want to have again a flourishing, gay Vienna, a city of luxurious life, even though it may have a slight Oriental tinge.”

Herr Habietnik’s further remarks were lost in an odd restlessness that was spreading over the house. What had happened? The Right had at last discovered that Deputy Krötzl was absent, and the Christian-Socialists and Pan-Germans were in a panic. They did not even listen to their own speaker, but sent out ushers with automobiles to fetch Krötzl from his downtown office or from his house in the Billrothstrasse.

The situation might have been saved if someone had had the presence of mind to prompt the minority speaker to continue his speech for hours, until Krötzl should put in his appearance. But they had lost their heads entirely; the Christian-Socialist speaker, Herr Wurm, even curtailed his speech when he noticed the disturbance and saw his colleagues going out. And in a few minutes a Citizens’ motion to close the debate and set a five minute limit for all further speeches was passed by the required two-thirds majority.

In vain did the surprised anti-Semites make a loud outcry; the Socialist Presiding Officer ruled with an iron hand, and permitted none of the previously announced speakers to talk for more than five minutes. Laboring under terrific tension, and greatly agitated, the deputies poured back into the hall in order to be present at the forth-coming roll-call.

Herr Krötzl had not yet arrived; the ushers could report only that he had not been in his office at all, and had left his home in the morning in a noticeably flushed state, accompanied by another gentleman.

A Pan-German made the last attempt to save the day. Requesting and being given the floor to speak on standing orders, he said:

“Deputy Krötzl is not present, and we have indications that he is being detained by force; indeed, we have cause to fear that he is the victim of foul play. This being the case, the House cannot possibly vote on a law that will determine the fate of our country. If the new majority of this House possesses the slightest sense of decency it will agree with me that we must immediately adjourn for two hours. During that time we shall probably learn whether our esteemed colleague, Deputy Krötzl, is still among the living.”

The import of these words could not be ignored. They were followed by a dead silence.

If Krötzl had really been prevented by force from attending the session, they would have to wait, _voli-noli_.

At this most critical moment a gentleman with a little beard came on the floor furtively and unobserved; he beckoned Herr Habietnik to him, and, breathing hard with agitation, whispered something in his ear, whereupon Herr Habietnik asked for permission to speak.

“I can give the honorable House my word as a gentleman that Herr Krötzl has not been murdered; nor has he been prevented by force from attending this exceedingly important session. At the present moment Herr Krötzl is somewhere in our city, in an automobile, so soundly asleep as the result of indulging in the flowing bowl that the chauffeur is unable to rouse him. For the estimable Herr Krötzl, this sole Viennese ornament of the Christian-Socialist party, undertook in a small way, to celebrate his victory early this morning, in the company of a jolly neighbor; and he drank decidedly more than he could stand. His neighbor, who has given me this information, and whom I know personally as a reliable man of honor, then entered a taxicab together with Krötzl to come here. But he had to get out before they reached their destination, as he could no longer endure the stench in the car. For Herr Krötzl belongs to the old guard that would rather give up than die. I don’t know where the thoroughly alive corpse of Herr Krötzl happens to be just now; but this doesn’t concern us, and surely no one will demand that we adjourn until Herr Krötzl has sobered up.”

The House rocked with laughter; and now the Presiding Officer called the roll. One hundred and six deputies voted for the elimination of the special anti-Jewish legislation, fifty-three against--and the law was repealed!

This time the hundred thousand men and women who were waiting on the street before the building cried “Hurrah!” instead of “Hail!” They were not as enthusiastic as three years before, but seemed a little ashamed of themselves. However, they had recovered their sense of humor, and jests began to fly through the air again.

Immediately after the vote Leo rushed out of the Parliament Building, jumped into a taxicab, and sped to the Linke Wienzeile, to the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_. There, pleading urgent business, he obtained an audience with the editor-in-chief, conversing with him privately for half an hour. As he was about to depart the editor warmly shook both his hands, laughing:

“You’ve accomplished something extraordinary, and I rejoice with you with all my heart. I can’t help admiring your impudence! Really, it’s impossible not to....”

“Call it Jewish impudence,” Leo supplemented gaily as he hurried down the stairs.

* * * * *

The extra editions of the newspapers, announcing the end of the exclusion of the Jews, had barely appeared before a second extra edition of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ was cried out:

“THE KRONE IS RISING!”

“Zurich: The telegraphed and telephoned reports of the decisive session of the Viennese National Assembly were watched with feverish interest on the stock exchange here. The definite news of the repeal of the anti-Jewish law was immediately followed by large purchases of kronen, the buyers including groups of American and English financiers. The stamped Austrian krone doubled its value by leaps and bounds, and had tripled it by closing time.”

At six o’clock in the evening there appeared a third extra edition that attracted attention throughout Vienna and called forth great merriment mixed with slightly off-color jokes. The announcement was as follows:

“FIRST JEW ARRIVES IN VIENNA.”

“We have the honor to inform the public that the first Jew has just returned to Vienna from his exile. He is the young but already world-famous painter and etcher Leo Strakosch, who, longing for his own country, spent the period of banishment in Paris, leaving that city the day before yesterday to proceed to Lundenburg, on the Austro-Moravian border. When the news of the nullification of the expulsion law was telephoned to him he immediately went on by automobile to his native Vienna. At the present time he is staying at the home of his future father-in-law, Hofrat Spineder, in the Kobenzlgasse, where he is now embracing his faithful and loving fiancée after years of dreary separation and waiting.”

This extra edition represented a well-meant bit of mischievous pleasantry on the part of the editor-in-chief of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_. It was followed by an extra edition of the _Weltpresse_, containing two sensational news items. One was to the effect that the former Chancellor, Dr. Schwertfeger, despondent over the wreck of his nobly and sincerely conceived work, had committed suicide by means of a bullet. The other was an announcement by the _Weltpresse_ that, submitting to the will of the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of Vienna, it would thenceforth appear as the organ of the new Party of Active Citizens.