Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/446

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410
HUNGARY


place, in that 27-2 % of the area of the country is forest land, Hun- gary thus being very rich in timber. In 1879 the Forest Law was passed against indiscriminate exploitation of the forests, and from that time onwards it formed the basis of Hungarian forest policy. Thus a stop was put to the enormous waste of timber.

The most important use to which the land was put was corn-grow- ing. Up to about 1881-91 the three-field system was customary; to-day it is no longer used and corn is grown intensively. Wheat is the chief product; from 1870-5 the average crop was 13,500,000 quarters, in 1912 it was already 50,250,000 qr. ; the maize harvests in 1870-5 amounted to 12,169,000 qr., in 1912 to 52,325,000 qr. Oats and rye produce the smallest crop on account of the climate. The total value of cereals was estimated in 1878 at 1,408,000,000 kr., in 1912 at 3,055,000,000 kr. Wine is one of the most famous prod- ucts, and above all Tokay.

Next in importance comes live-stock raising. In 1857 horses num- bered 2,095,000, in 1911, 2,352,000; cattle in 1857, 5,647,000, in 191 it 7.3 1 9i; swine in 1857, 4,505,000, in 1911, 7,580,000.

Hungary has been renowned for centuries for its mining and smelting; but after the opening-up of mines in America and Australia the importance of the gold-, silver- and copper-mining industries declined, while that of the coal-mines and iron-works proportionately increased. While in 1893 46,134 workers were employed in mining, before the war as many as 76,767 were so employed. The total proceeds from mining and smelting amounted to 53,000,000 kr. in 1864, and to 160,000,000 kr. in 1911. Salt is a State monopoly.

Though Hungary is essentially an agricultural country, it could, before the collapse of 1918, look back upon considerable industrial prosperity, although it never had the resources which would have made it an industrial State of any economic importance. _ After 1889 the Government did much to promote and encourage indus- try. Between 1890 and 1902, 537 undertakings received State aid. The distinguished Minister of Commerce, Gabriel de Baross (1848- 92), brought about the systematic participation of home indus- tries in State and army contracts. This policy was further devel- oped by Joseph Szterenyi, who after 1898 was the leader of the movement for the promotion of industry.

The most important group of Hungarian industries is that of food production, and here the mills have played the most important part. The first large steam mill was set up at the instigation of Count Stephen Szdchenyi in 1839. There were in Hungary 147 steam mills in 1863; 492 in 1873; 1,908 in 1906 and later 2,040; water-power mills numbered 16,590. Second in importance is the sugar industry, which steadily developed after 1888, the number of factories rising from 21 to 28 during 1905-15. In 1913 1,701,675 doppelzentners of cane sugar were exported to Great Britain. After sugar come the iron and metal industries, which are among the oldest.

Commerce. In 1890 the number of merchants in Hungary was 140,000; in 1910 they numbered 190,000, of whom 128,000 dealt in cattle, timber, mining and agricultural produce, and 62,000 in manu- factures. In 1901, of the total national revenue 409 ^million kr. were derived from commerce, while in 1913 this had risen to 722 million kr. An idea of the general development of Hungary is given by its budget, which in 1868 amounted to 242 million kr., and in 1912 had risen to 1,856 million kr.

Communications. The development of industry and commerce influenced the organization of communications. The first Railway Law was passed in Hungary in 1836. At the end of 1866 the net- work of railways covered 2,160 km., and there were only private railways. State management was not introduced till after 1867, when it had become evident that the private railway system ran counter to the economic interests of the nation. The period from 1876-^1 saw nationalization, which was chiefly brought about by the min- ister Baross, who also introduced the epoch-making zone tariff. In 1912 the total length of railway lines was 21,910 kilometres.

In connexion with shipping it must be noticed that, whereas the river system of the Danube, of which most of the Hungarian rivers form a part, belongs to the Black Sea, a considerable part of Hun- garian trade goes by way of the Adriatic, which is in nowise con- nected with the Danube system. The result is that there is little connexion between river and sea traffic, and this has its disad- vantages. Steamers plied on the Danube between Vienna and Pest for the first time in 1825. Large sums were spent by the Hungarian Government on regulating river navigation. Special mention must be made of the navigation works on the lower Danube. The regulation of the Danube at the Iron Gates was of great value to the grain trade, since it used to be dependent on the favourable level of the water. In 1911 the waterways in Hungary navigable by steamers were 3,502-7 km. in length, of which 1,001-2 km. were on the Danube. In 1911 the tonnage of ships entering and leaving Budapest amounted to more than 25 million meterzentners. It had been planned to elaborate the commercial harbour of Budapest. In order to cope with the merchant traffic, freight ships maintained by the I.K.K. privileged Danube Steam Navigation Co. and the Royal Hungarian River and Sea Navigation Joint Stock Co. ply systematically on the Danube and its tributaries.

Hungary had a very short coast-line, on which the only notable port was Fiume, which, however, is not situated on the mouth of a great, navigable river such as would encourage mercantile traffic. Nevertheless Fiume was, and is, of great importance to Hungary

in that it makes direct intercourse with international commerce possible. Between 1871 and 1911 the Hungarian Government spent about 5 1, 500,000 kr. on improvements of the harbour of Fiume. Mention must be made of the Royal Hungarian Sea Navigation Co. Adria and also of the Hungarian Levant Sea Navigation Co. The Hungarian-Croatian Steam Navigation Co. was under contract with the Hungarian State.

The postal service of Hungary carried an average of 44 million letters between 1868-70, a number which had increased to 1,052 millions in 1912. Telegrams numbered 1,200,000 in 1868-70, and 13,980,000 in 1912. Hungary is in possession of an extensive local and interurban telephone system. The longest interurban lines are Budapest-Berlin (950 km.) and Budapest-Bucharest (896 km.}.

Education. The highest authority for public education is the Royal Hungarian Ministry for Culture and Education ; State, Church and denominational schools are all under its control. The total number of elementary schools, Croatian excepted, amounted before the revolution to 16,861. The great poet and philosopher Baron Joseph Eotvos, Hungarian Minister of Education after the Aus- gleich of 1867, made elementary education compulsory by the Ele- mentary Schools Law of 1868. The number of illiterates was never- theless great, especially in the districts inhabited by Rumans, Slo- vaks, Ruthenes, Serbs and Croats. The Minister of Education, Albert von Berzeviczy, laid down in 1905 a new curriculum for the Hungarian elementary schools. Special attention was paid by the State to the training of teachers. The Biirgerschule is a modern institution, especially designed for the children of the lower middle classes, who receive there a general and practical education. The fifth and sixth forms were recently adapted for agricultural tuition. These schools were attended by 43,000 boys and 57,000 girls, and these for the most part become the pupils of the intermediate tech- nical schools. There are also girls' high-schools which also serve as teachers' seminaries. In 1910-11 there were 35 such schools, num- bering 6,318 pupils and 434 male and female teachers. The higher secondary schools (Gymnasien and Realschulen) were critically affected by the passage of the Higher Secondary School Law of 1883, under the Minister of Education, August de Trefort, who had done much for the schools and Hungarian education in general. Only teachers with State diplomas are allowed to teach in these schools. In the Gymnasien Latin is taught from the first and Greek from the fifth form. There are 188 Gymnasien and only 34 Real- schulen; accordingly the number of pupils in the former average 65,000, and in the latter 11,000. The cause of this is the prepon- derance of law students in Hungary. Those intending to teach in Gymnasien and Realschulen receive their training at special training colleges. The ranks of the teachers in the higher secondary schools are reinforced from the Eotvos College an institution similar to the Ecole Normale Superieure at Paris to which only the bes pupils are admitted after careful selection. There they receiv board and lodging, some paying the whole cost, some half an others nothing. Mention must here be made of the Board of Edu- cation founded in 1871 and reorganized in 1896, which deals sp- cially with educational reform.

To the two existing universities of Budapest and Kolozsv& (Klausenburg in Transylvania) were added in 1914 the universitie of Pozsony (Pressburg) and Debreczen. Besides these Hungar possesses one polytechnical institute in Budapest, ip schools of law and 44 theological academies, and one Jewish rabbinical seminary. The greatest number of students 7,808 attended the university of Budapest in the winter session 1912-3. A change which was intr duced in 1896 by the former Minister of Education, Baron Julius < Wlassic (b. 1852), opened the university to some extent to women Accordingly, as they could not attend the university without hav- ing obtained the leaving certificate of the higher secondary schools, the Hungarian Women's National Educational Union founded a girls' Gymnasium of eight forms, which was followed by two others.

Mention should also be made of the technical schools. Hungary had 7 higher and 52 lower agricultural schools. In 1913 there were 4 commercial colleges and 54 higher commercial schools as well as 58 special commercial courses for women.

HISTORY (1910-1921)

The " Coalition " which, under Wekerle's leadership, had taken over the Government in April 1906 was made up of ele- ments too heterogeneous to enable it to satisfy the excessive hopes and expectations to which its advent to power had given rise. It fell to pieces owing to quarrels about the establishment of an independent Hungarian Bank, to take the place of the common Austro-Hungarian Bank, and to the refusal of the Crown to make further concessions to Magyar national sentiment in the matter of the army. After manifold negotiations Francis Joseph, as King of Hungary, on Jan. n 1910 appointed Count Khuen-Hedervary Minister-President.

Khuen-Hederiiary Cabinet. On Feb. 14 Count Julius An- drassy, whom Count Khuen had vainly attempted to win over to his side, dissolved the Constitutional party of which he had