When domestic quarrels threaten acute physical violence, nervous householders send for a policeman to restore order. So, last week, did the Austrian Republic. Frightened by the imminent threat of civil war between Austria's two snarling private armies (the semi-Fascist Heimwehr, and the Socialist Schutzbund), the entire cabinet of Chancellor Ernst Streeruwitz, an ineffectual businessman, declared itself incapable of dealing with the situation, resigned in a body. Leaders of all political parties rushed to Vienna's police station, begged sleek white-bearded Police Chief Johann Schober to take over the reins of government.
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