some 40 km. it continues in a south-westerly direction and then goes almost due S. again till it reaches the river Zbrucz; the boundary follows the line of this river until it reaches the Dniester, which separates Poland from Rumania.
Constitution.—Poland is a Republic. The legislative power is given to a Diet and a Senate, which are summoned, adjourned and dissolved by the President. The Diet is composed of paid members elected for five years, upon a system of proportional representation. Suffrage is universal—all who enjoy full civic rights and who are over 21 being qualified to vote, but, since voting is personal, soldiers on active service are excluded. Citizens over 25 are eligible for election to the Diet with the exception of members of the Civil Service, who cannot be elected for the district in which they hold office. The minimum age for voting in senatorial elections is 30, whilst no one under 40 is eligible for election.
Bills go to the Senate after being passed by the Diet and if no objection is raised within 30 days the bill becomes law. Amendments are considered and voted on by the Diet. With regard to finance—a budget is fixed each year for the following year; taxes and customs duties can be established only by law and a supreme court of control superintends the management of state finance.
The executive power is exercised by the President and a council of ministers who are responsible for his official actions. He is elected for seven years by the National Assembly, that is, the Diet and Senate acting together. Laws are to be signed by him and by the President of the Council and the minister concerned. The President has the supreme power in the army, except in time of war when the Minister for War is responsible for all military affairs. The President can declare war and make peace only with the consent of the Diet. He has the right of pardon.
For purposes of administration Poland is to be divided into palatinates, districts and urban and rural communes, these forming the units of local government. Economic autonomy is established by means of chambers of agriculture, commerce, industry, etc., which will together form the Supreme Economic Chamber of the Republic, the competence of which required further legislation.[1]
Judges are nominated by the President whilst justices of the peace are popularly elected. Judges can be removed from office only in certain legal cases and following a judicial decision. All citizens are equal in the eyes of the law, protection of life, liberty and property being assured to all inhabitants. State protection is given to labour and insurance for unemployment, illness and accident is guaranteed. Roman Catholicism is the recognized religion of the country but others are allowed provided they are in accordance with the law.
Land must be cultivated from the point of view of public utility. The law is to decide to what extent citizens and independent associations may cultivate the land and exploit its mineral wealth, and in what cases the state may repurchase property to improve the value of its production.
Poland in 1921
Population.—It was still impossible in 1921 to give any accurate statistics with regard to the Polish population of Poland, etc., since the establishment of the new state. The following are the statistics of 1910.
| Russia:— | ||
| Kingdom of Poland | 9,100,000 | |
| Lithuania and Ruthenia | 2,438,000 | |
| Empire | 460,000 | |
| 11,998,000 | ||
| Austria Hungary:— | ||
| Galicia | 4,672,000 | |
| Spioz Orava, etc. | 200,000 | |
| Teschen | 235,000 | |
| Bukovina | 36,000 | |
| Other provinces | 36,000 | |
| 5,179,000 | ||
| Germany:— | ||
| Posen | 1,291,000 | |
| W. Prussia | 604,000 | |
| E. Prussia | 286,000 | |
| Silesia | 1,338,000 | |
| Westphalia, etc. | 580,000 | |
| 4,099,000 | ||
| Different countries of Europe | 100,000 | |
| Europe | 21,376,000 | |
| Outside Europe:— | ||
| N. America | 3,100,000 | |
| S. America | 100,000 | |
| Other parts of the globe | 30,000 | |
| 3,230,000 | ||
| Grand total | 24,606,000 |
Economic Development.—In considering the economic development of Poland the following territories are included: the kingdom of Poland, parts of E. and W. Prussia, Posnania, Silesia and Galicia.
Agriculture.—The majority of the people of these lands, with the exception of Silesia, were engaged in agriculture before the war; the percentage being 56·6 in the kingdom of Poland, 54·1 in Posnania, 49·9 in W. Prussia, whilst in Galicia there were 71 agriculturists per square kilometre.
Arable land predominated. The most important crops were rye, oats, barley, potatoes, wheat and sugar-beet. Agriculture was most highly developed in Prussian Poland where the latest agricultural implements and scientific manures were employed. The breeding of domestic animals, especially horses, showed distinct progress before the war. In the kingdom of Poland pig-breeding was particularly encouraged. Cattle and pigs were most numerous in Posnania and W. Prussia while in Galicia the horned stock were well up to the average for Austria in general.
Of the percentage of area under forest, there was in the kingdom of Poland in 1909 some 18%, in Galicia (1912) 25%, in Posnania 19%, W. Prussia 22% and in Upper Silesia 28%. In E. and W. Prussia more than half the forest area belonged to the state, in Posnania about a third, in Silesia only about 12 per cent.
The kingdom of Poland had 17 agricultural syndicates in 1909, for selling agricultural products and buying machinery, manures, etc., the most important of these being the Central Society of Agriculture, founded in 1907. These societies were most developed in Prussian Poland, particularly in Posnania, where in 1913 there were 388 Polish agricultural societies. There were also numerous cooperative societies. Galicia also possessed agricultural, cooperative and mutual insurance societies.
Minerals.—The most important production in Galicia was that of petroleum, which was estimated, in 1914, as being 3% of the world's output and 9% of that of Europe, including Russia. The petroleum industry has attracted an abundant flow of international capital and has thus been able to adopt every device for profitable exploitation.
The chief coal-fields are those of Silesia where the production in 1911 was some 36 million tons, while that of Galicia was 112, and that of Poland 534 million tons. Other notable mineral industries are those of iron, zinc and lead.
Manufacture.—Of industrial workers Upper Silesia possessed the largest number: 47·7% of its population were engaged in industry (1907). In the kingdom of Poland this proportion was only 15·4% (1897), in Galicia 8·8% (1900), Posnania 23·4%, W. Prussia 24·1% (1907). In the kingdom of Poland the most important industry was the textile, which occupied about 150,000 workers. Cotton manufactures were the most important, wool being second. Before the war this industry was handicapped by the high tariff charged by the Russian Government for the transport of raw material. Second in importance was the metallurgical industry, the most important manufactures being machinery, boilers, materials for bridge building, nails, wire and sheet iron. The manufacture of machinery was of considerable importance in Silesia but less developed in Galicia.
Of other industries that of the potato by-products is most important. More than a quarter of the potatoes produced in Posnania and the greater part of those of Galicia were used for the making of alcohol. Before the war the wood industry was in a poor condition owing to severe German importation duties on manufactured wood, but these duties encouraged the development of the saw-mill industry in Prussian Poland. The coastal fisheries of E. and W. Prussia are of considerable importance; likewise the pond fisheries in Poland, but fishing is generally only a subsidiary occupation.
The industry of Poland was very much influenced by the Jewish population. In the kingdom of Poland before the war nearly 15% of the population was Jewish and the following trades were more or less in their control: leather goods and the boot trade; stocking industry; manufacturing of the so-called “astrakan” caps; malt refuse breweries and small mead breweries; manufacture of paper tubes for cigarettes; and potato starch.
Towns.—The chief towns in the kingdom of Poland were Warsaw, Lodz and Sosnowice which had over 100,000 inhabitants. The principal towns of Galicia are Lemberg (206,000), Cracow (154,000), Przemysl (54,000) and Kolomea (44,000). In 1910 E. Prussia had five towns with a pop. of more than 20,000: Königsberg, Tilsit, Memel, Allenstein, Insterburg. There were in W. Prussia three towns with upwards of 20,000 inhabitants: Danzig, Thorn and Graudenz. In Posnania there is an unusual number of small towns, but there are only nine with more than 10,000 inhabitants; the most important are Posen (154,811 in 1910), Bromberg (70,000), Schneidemühl (27,504), Lissa (17,156). Silesia has seven towns with a pop. of more than 50,000: Breslau (537,000), Görlitz (86,000), Königshütte (72,000), Liegnitz (69,000), Beuthen (67,000), Gleiwitz (64,000) and Zabrze (59,000).
Commnunications.—Of the natural water-ways in Poland the Vistula is the most important. It has 21 tributaries, of which the total length, with that of the river itself, amounts to 7,770 kilometres. In 1864 a convention was made between Russia and Austria for the regulation of the course of the river; in Austria 64·47 % of the work was completed by 1909, in Poland 39·7 per cent. Thus in Poland the Vistula is almost impossible for regular steamer traffic.
- ↑ A law was passed by the Diet in 1919 providing that the state should buy land from the nobles and distribute it to the Polish peasantry. Owing to the want of money the law has hitherto been in suspense. The execution of this law might eventually fall under the Chamber of Agriculture.
