sibility of the work to be done. If they wish for complete independence, it is because they desire to use all the political forces of the nation to build a strong State. Russia and all the Allies will be best served by strong Slav States and nations, and this aim can be best attained if these nations themselves bear the full responsibility for their policy.
Bohemia will of course be constitutional and democratic. The regeneration of Europe will be achieved, not only by the reform of foreign policy, but, above all, by the active furtherance of liberty and progress in the inner life of the European nations; for this task the Allies and Europe can fully rely on the Bohemian nation.
4. Economic and Financial Problems.—Economically and financially Bohemia is acknowledged to be the “pearl of Austria,” and she will in the future be as rich as she is now; she will, in fact, be richer, because she will not have to support the economically weaker provinces of Austria.[1]
Bohemia was, from the beginning of the union with Hungary and Austria, the political backbone of Austria; the Alpine countries were poor, Trieste and the sea were of little importance, Hungary had no economic significance at all. Bohemia exported grain and manufactured goods; it was only in the second half of the nineteenth century that Hungary became the granary of Austria and partly of Bohemia, which then, like the rest of Austria, imported the grain and flour she required from America.
At present the population of the Bohemian countries is, in round numbers, half agricultural, half industrial. In Bohemia proper, 35 per cent, are employed in agriculture, the rest in industry, commerce, and the so-called liberal occupations. In Moravia and Silesia, 50 per cent, live on agriculture; in Slovakia a much higher percentage still.
The following facts will suffice to indicate the economic strength of the Bohemian countries:—
In the years 1906–1914 the average production of grain was (in round figures), in Bohemia 544 mill, cwt., in Moravia 24 mill., in Silesia 4 mill.
After making due allowance for grain used for sowing purposes, and for grain wasted, this works out at an average
- ↑ It should be noted that the finances of Austria rest upon Bohemia-Moravia-Silesia, Lower Austria with Vienna, Northern Styria, and in recent years part of Western Galicia.
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