Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/159

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AUSTRIA 139 ward of 200,000 vols. ; the university libraries of Pesth, Cracow, and Prague ; and that of the national museum of Pesth. There are many museums, cabinets of science and art, galleries of paintings, &c., in the principal cities of the empire. Several splendid collections belong- ing to private individuals are always ojien to the public. Before 1848 the most rigorous censorship rendered a well regulated public press an impossibility. During the revolution in 1848 these restraints were removed, but in 1852 a law for the regulation of the press gave the police absolute control over the political press, and restored the censorship in all but the name. In 1862 the govern- ment again found it necessary to grant free- dom of the press; arid after the reorganization of the empire in 1867, it was again confirmed by a law of Oct. 15, 1868. In 1870 there were published in Austria 185 political news- papers and 578 non-political. Of the former, 100 are in German, 17 in Bohemian, 11 in Polish, 5 in other Slavic languages, 11 in Italian, 32 in Hungarian, 4 in Roumanian, 2 in Greek, 2 in Hebrew, and 1 in French ; of the latter, 836 in German, 121 in the Slavic languages, 20 in Ital- ian, 91 in Hungarian, 5 in Roumanian, 3 in Hebrew, 1 in Latin, and 1 in French. Some of the large daily papers published in Vi- enna and Trieste are among the best and most influential of the continental journals. In 1869 the number of public hospitals in Cis- leithan Austria was 408; of lunatic asylums there were 15; lying-in establishments, 19; foundling hospitals, 15; institutions for the sustenance of old and indigent persons, 979; poorhouses, 6,648. The number of foundlings provided for by the government exceeds 65,000. The immense hospitals of Vienna, established by Joseph II., are perhaps the best regulated in the world. There are besides a number of hos- pitals connected with the convents, where over 20,000 persons are relieved annually, without distinction of creed or nationality. In the mili- tary hospitals 181,976 persons were received in 1869. Every provincial capital has an imperial loan office for the poor, the profits of which are made over to the treasury of the almshonse department. The total value of the mineral produce of Austria in 1869 was set down at 89,415,465 florins (the florin is equal to 47 cents). Of this sum, more than one third (32,446,603) was the value of the salt pro- duced. The yield of the gold mines in 1869 was 56,752 oz., that of the silver mines 1,339,- 712 oz., that of copper 53,957 cwt., of lead 102,000 cwt. The total quantity of salt pro- duced in 1869 was as follows: rock salt, 3,872,- 424 cwt.; spring salt, 2,804,823; sea salt, 77,571; industrial salt, 861,988. The most remarkable increase has taken place in the production of iron and coal. The latest sta- tistics, published in 1869, showed the produc- tion of raw or pig iron to be 6,087,830 cwt., and that of cast iron 753,563. The coal pro- duced in Austria, which in 1838 netted only some 4,000,000 cwt., and in 1854 and 1855 full 30,000,000, in 1869 reached 146,000,000 cwt. The Austrian empire may, as regards its agriculture, be divided into four sections : 1, the Alpine countries Austria proper, Salzburg, Tyrol, Oarniola, Oarinthia, Styria, and the Lit- torale ; 2, the eastern provinces Hungary, Cro- atia, Slavonia, the Military Frontier, and Tran- sylvania ; 3, the northern provinces Moravia, Bohemia, Silesia, Galicia, and Bukowina ; 4, the southern province of Dalmatia. In the Alpine countries the density of the population compels the farmer to till even the steepest hillsides. The narrow plains yield potatoes, barley for brew- ing, and fodder; on the sunny sides of the mountains the grape is cultivated extensively. The production of breadstuffs in these coun- tries is not equal to the consumption. The agri- cultural condition of those portions of the east- ern provinces covered by the Carpathian moun- tains is similar to that of the Alpine countries ; but the scanty products of these territories are largely made up by the surplus of the level country, which, with very few exceptions, is of extraordinary fertility, especially in the river bottoms. A large portion of the pasture land is entirely capable of cultivation, and would be put under plough but for want of labor. The most fertile regions, although thin- ly populated, produce a large surplus for ex- portation to the Alpine countries. The ex- tensive pastures are used for cattle-raising. Draught cattle are exported to nearly all ad- joining regions; beef cattle mostly to the Alpine provinces. Hog fattening is carried on upon a very large scale. The Hungarian wine and tobacco are noted for their excellent qual- ity. In the northern provinces but few places are adapted to the culture of the grape. Mo- ravia, belonging to the basin of the Danube, has some large and fertile plains, but Bohemia is hilly to a great extent, Silesia entirely so, while Galicia, descending as it does from the Carpathians to the courses of the large streams, shows every variety of formation. Grain and potatoes are the staple produce of these coun- tries, supplying the domestic demand. Brew- eries, distilleries, and beet sugar factories are numerous in these provinces. The following table shows the area in square miles of the productive soil, and of the arable, wine, mea- dow, pasture, and wood land, both of the Cisleithan provinces and of the entire mon- archy, in 1869 : <!.<!. ithnni:!. Entire Monarchy. 87,786 75.798 Wine land 792 2259 15,020 80,872 1 ^ Oft! 84436 Woodland 86262 6S416 Productive soil 106 862 211 981 Unproductive soil 9,062 28,460 Total 116924 240,881