The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 2/Economic Strength of the Bohemian Lands (2)

by Vojta Beneš

Economic Strength of the Bohemian Lands.

By Vojta Beneš.

 

(Continued.)

When Bismarck said: “The master of Bohemia is the master of Europe”, he had in mind other than mere political considerations. The central location of the Bohemian lands has throughout history emphasized their economic importance. From the early Middle Ages the commercial roads between the West and East of Europe, as well as between the North and Southeast, led through Bohemia. And Bohemia is still an international crossroads. The direct road from Berlin to the Balkans and on to Bagdad leads through Prague and Brno to Vienna and Budapest. There lies the special significance of the fate of Bohemia for the victory or defeat of the Pangerman plans. A free Bohemia, and that means of course a Bohemia looking for support to the West, would block effectually the Berlin-Bagdad road right in its very first stages.

Taxes drawn from the Bohemian lands have been the principal support of the military strength of Austria-Hungary. Compare the following figures of the income of some of the smaller European states in 1912 (in millions of dollars):

 

Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	25.12	Holland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	79.60
Bulgaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	33.80	Roumania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	90.68
Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	67.70	Belgium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	124.60

 

Now the Bohemian lands, Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, paid in general taxes the sum of 138.6 million dollars: that does not include Slovakia for which the Hungarian statistics make no separate return. But if we allowed the Austro-Hungarian average of seven dollars per head in taxes, the share of the Slovaks would be twenty million, and the total tax burden of the Czechoslovak lands would amount to 158 million.

These figures, however, do not give a full account of the taxation burden borne by the Bohemian lands. The Austrian laws make it advantageous for big industrial concerns to have their central offices in Vienna. They pay their state taxes in Vienna, and since in Austria the provinces and municipalities support themselves principally by collecting a certain additional percentage of the direct state taxes, the result is that the City of Vienna and the Province of Lower Austria have comparatively low taxes, because they are able to assess for their own local purposes the big industries carried on in the Bohemian lands. In Bohemia the small taxpayers have to bear an increased burden, because the big taxpayers pay in Vienna. Often the householder in a Bohemian city has to pay 300% of the direct state tax for the support of his municipality, 75% for the support of the provincial government and 60% for county purposes. The financial system that has prevailed in Austria before the war was aimed at lightening the burdens of the Germans at the expense of the Slavs.

What a tremendous financial relief would be experienced by the Bohemian provinces, if they were freed from supporting the Austrian empire with its gay capital. Free Bohemia would rival Belgium or Holland in economic power.

With freedom Bohemia would push ahead at a wonderful pace. The lands of the Czechs are well populated. The density of population for all Austria is 72 to a square kilometer; in the Bohemian lands it is 132. Of the six Austrian cities with a population exceeding 100,000 three are Bohemian, not counting Vienna itself, where there are 300,000 Czechs. Of nine cities with population between 50,000 and 100,000 five are Bohemian.

One of the factors exerting great influence upon the industrial and commercial welfare of the state is the intelligence of the population. In this respect the Bohemians make the very best showing. Fortunately we have statistics on this very point compiled by American authorities. In the fiscal year 1914 the United States Immigration Service found that the percentage of illiteracy among immigrants of Magyar race was 10.2, among Germans 5.5, and among Bohemians 1.3. It is true, though, that among the Slovaks the percentage of illiteracy was 17.3. But it is not the Slovak race that should be blamed for that; it is the barbarous Magyar oligarchy which took away from the Slovaks all their public and private schools and is intent on Magyarizing every Slovak child.

Fifty years ago the Bohemian lands were overwhelmingly of an agricultural character. In 1869 54% of the population made their living in agriculture and only 31% in industry. But industry has been taking ever greater place in Bohemia, and the latest figures show that 42% of the people were employed in industry, 10.5% in commerce, and only 35.5% in agriculture. One of the conditions favoring industrial development is the fact that the Bohemian lands on account of the wealth and economic advancement of the people make an important home market for the industries which are not therefore mainly dependent upon the unstable export business.

Since the Bohemian lands are very fertile and excellently cultivated, one may expect to see a high development of those industries which get their material from the products of the farm. Beet sugar industry was early developed in Bohemia, and before the war the Bohemian and Moravian sugar mills supplied other Austrian lands, as well as the Balkan states and Great Britain with sugar. Bohemian hops and the barley of the famous Hana plain of Moravia laid the foundation for the justly merited fame of Bohemian beer. Of less importance, but still employing many people, is the wool industry based on Moravian sheep raising, the manufacture of alcohol from potatoes and the extraction of oil from rapeseed, linseed and poppyseed. Of much greater importance economically is the fact that all the Bohemian lands contain great wealth of coal; in fact without them Austria would have very little coal and even Central Germany which also lacks coal mines is supplied from Bohemia by way of the Elbe. Good iron ore in large quantities is also found in all the four Czechoslovak lands, so that the future independent Bohemia is well provided with the two indispensable elements of industrial strength.

Here are some figures on the mineral riches of Bohemia: Out of 27,658,147 tons of iron produced in all Austria, 9,322,588 were produced in the Bohemian lands. In the Middle Ages Bohemia had the richest silver mines of all the European countries, and even today silver and gold ores are mined in big quantities. Tin, uranium and wolfram ores are found of all the Austrian provinces only in Bohemia. Seventy-five per cent of the Austrian graphite is produced in Bohemia. But the figures on coal mining are of the greatest importance. The last available figures give the production of brown coal for all Austria as 252,650,000 tons, and of that total 80%, or 210,500,000 tons were mined in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. As for hard coal the production of which amounted in 1911 to 143, 98,172 tons, 88% of that was mined in the three Bohemian lands.

In beet sugar production the lands of the Bohemian crown have practically no competitor among the other Austrian provinces. Over half a million acres is planted to beets every year and 166 sugar mills produce yearly 6.2 million quintals of sugar. Three-fourths of that is exported; over four million quintals to England alone. Some forty million hectolitres of alcohol are produced from potatoes in 261 distilleries, most of it for industrial uses.

Bohemian beer has long been famous. There are 563 breweries with an annual production of somewhat over ten million hectolitres of beer; the share of the Pilsen breweries is slightly over a million. The export to foreign countries amounts to a million and a quarter which means that the annual consumption of beer in Bohemia is about 100 litres per person, a rather high figure, although not as high as the German average of 125 litres per person. A part of the beer industry is the production of malt in Moravia; the Moravian barley malt enjoys an excellent reputation and the annual export amounts to 115 mill, crowns.

The textile and kindred industries flourish in the Bohemian lands. Of 400,000 garment workers employed in Austria 180,000, about 45% were employed in the Bohemian lands. Of 548,000 employees of the textile industries fully 420,000 work in Bohemian, Moravian and Silesian factories. The value of the annual product of these Bohemian factories is 150 mill. dollars.

In steel industry Bohemian lands far excell the balance of the Hapsburg possessions. The Skoda gun works in Pilsen are known the world over; the machine factories of Prague and the big steel mills of Austrian Silesia and Moravia consume all of the Bohemian iron ore as well as great quantities of Styrian ore.

Among other important manufactories of Bohemia one must note the shoe factories of eastern Bohemia, the famous shops for the making of musical instruments, match factories and pottery and porcelain workshops. Lace making in Bohemia is an old industry and has been brought to a high degre of perfection. Bohemian glass has been famous since the 17th century; this industry employs 25,000 men and three-fourths of the product is exported.

Among the natural riches of Bohemia one must mention the healing springs. Every one knows Karlsbad and Marienbad; not so well-known abroad are the radioactive springs of Joachimsthal, the wonderful springs of Pišťany in Slovakland, Luhačovice in Moravia and a host of others locally famous.

Roads are excellent everywhere in the Bohemian lands. There are fifty thousand kilometres of high roads in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, as against a total of 120,000 km. in all Austria; that is to say while Austria as a whole has 40 km. of good roads to 100 sq. km., Bohemia has 63.

There are in Austria 22,874 km. of railroads, one kilometre to each 13 sq. km. But the Bohemian lands have 9506 km., or one kilometre to every 8.5 sq. km. The same proportion applies to telegraphs.

There are unfortunately no official figures to show what proportion of Austrian exports was produced in the Bohemian lands. In 1911 Austria exported in round figures 500 million dollars worth of goods. An analysis of the export figures indicates that at least 60% of it was exported from the Bohemian provinces. It will be interesting to mention in this connection that of 837,000 bales of cotton imported into Austria 626,000 came from the United States, and that 75% of it went to the Bohemian textile mills.

Financially Bohemia is stronger that any other part of Austria. The capital of Bohemian banks amounted in 1910 to 180 mill. crowns, and their assets totaled 3.5 billion, that is 35% of the total for all Austria. The Landbank of the Kingdom of Bohemia had in 1911 assets of 1,099,294,088 crowns, the Hypoteční (Mortgage) Bank 344,646,691 crowns. Of 669 savings banks of Austria 356 were located in the Bohemian lands and their deposits amounted to 42% of the Austrian total. The people of Bohemia average about twice as much in savings deposits as the inhabitants of the other Austrian provinces.

At that the Bohemians pay far more than their share of Austrian taxes. In 1914 the Bohemian lands paid in direct state taxes 44 mill. crowns, while all the rest of Austria paid only 26 mill. That is to say, a Bohemian pays 4.34 per head in direct taxes, while the average for the rest of Austria is 1.75. The main bulk of the state income is derived from indirect taxes, but here the injustice of the burden laid on Bohemia is just as glaring. Take the food tax. In 1911 it amounted for all Austria with 28,560,000 people to 445 mill. The Bohemian lands have 10,146,000 inhabitants, about 35% of the Austrian total. But they paid 60% of the food tax.

In 1900 the Bohemian lands paid to the Austrian state the great sum of 518,223,973 crowns. Of that amount only 78,000,000, or 15%, was spent in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. All the rest was applied for the benefit of Vienna and the German Alp provinces, and of course for the support of the army, so that Austria might play the role of a Great Power. On the other hand, the autonomous administration of Bohemian local affairs, as carried on by the Diet of Bohemia and its executive committee, was constantly struggling with a deficit and when the Vienna government abolished the last remnants of Bomemian self-government in 1913, the Bohemian diet had a debt of 114 mill. crowns. It was Bohemian money that supported the fine German universities, museums, and high technical schools of Austria, while Czech cultural institutions were starving.

Dr. Kusý has figured out, shortly before the war, that an independent Bohemia fulfilling all the duties of a modern progressive state, would need an income of 484 mill. Under the present regime the cost of the autonomous institutions, municipal, county and provincial, amounts to 175 mill. The Austrian tax collectors take an annual tribute of 518 mill., a total of 693 mill. An independent Bohemia would save annually 209 mill, in taxes. In other words freedom would pay big dividends in hard cash.

In their campaign for independence the Czechs have not put as much stres on the financial exploitation of their people by their German rulers, as they were fully entitled to. They merely demanded freedom, the right to shape their own destinies, to develop their own racial individuality, But it cannot be denied that on material grounds alone, especially the unjust burden of taxation, Bohemia can make out a very strong claim for liberation from the Austrian yoke.