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Of the iron ore turned out by Austria (27 million cwt.) about a third is produced in Bohemia. Though the country itself is not very rich in iron ore, yet in consequence of the great production of coal, the ironworks in Bohemia are very extensive, forming over 60 per cent. of the entire industry in Austria. As these two branches of natural wealth and industry are the most important of all, the Bohemian lands are invaluable to Austria.
In the other industries as well, the importance of Bohemia is equally paramount. She monopolises 93 per cent. of the entire sugar industry, and about 46 per cent. of the breweries. Hops are grown only in the Bohemian lands, whence they are exported. The engineering industry also has its seat chiefly in Bohemia, as do the textile (cotton and wool), glass, paper and leather industries, stonecutting and grinding, graphite quarrying, chemistry and electro-technology.
In consequence of this industrial activity, Bohemia returns the highest profits for railways, the post and telegraphs. Her network of railways is the thickest, and she alone, out of the whole of Austria, can boast of private railways run for the benefit of particular factories. This feature is especially characteristic of the north of Bohemia. The Bohemian postal system yields 52 per cent. of the total profits.
In banking and exchange the Bohemian lands used to be dependent upon Vienna, but they have been emancipated since 1895, and during these 20 years the capital of the Bohemian banks has increased sevenfold, having risen from 4 millions to 33 million crowns; and it must be remembered that the chief source of the banking capital of Vienna is the trade with the Bohemian lands. The development of the Bohemian trade has, during the last few years, been exceedingly rapid.
The Slovak territory in the north of Hungary is different. It is mostly agricultural, as yet comparatively undeveloped, and as the country is very hilly and the methods of cultivation obsolete, it is much poorer than the other Bohemian lands. The southern part, being less hilly, is fertile enough, producing, indeed, very good wheat and wine; and as the hilly north has much natural wealth in the form of iron ore, great forests, etc., which are, as yet, unexploited, the country could be industrialised to great advantage. It could supply the other Bohemian lands with commodities of which they are short, such as iron ore, copper, gold and tin; and, finally, the country is good for sheep and cattle raising. This territory is very similar to Silesia, the larger part of which is now industrial, and could be turned to the same use.
Nor must we forget the wealth of the compounds of uranium and radium, mined at Joachimsthal, nor the baths of Karlsbad, Fransenbad and Marienbad, Teplitz, Podebrady, Msené, Luhacovice and Pistany. The Bohemian lands are, in this respect, one of the richest in the world. In short, except for salt, mercury and naphtha, the Bohemian lands have an abundance of everything necessary for cultural development, so that, as an independent country, they would be quite self-sufficing, and would, moreover, be able to export not only their agricultural but a great part of their industrial products as well.
From the point of view of modern political economy, Bohemia may be said to be an ideal country; she has great possibilities of realising that harmony between agriculture and industry, that economic self-sufficiency which, by many theorists, enables the forming of small autonomous States. (Cf. the chapter on Free Trade in Gide’s “ Political Economy.”)
In emergencies such as war the Bohemian lands would also be able to hold their own, both agriculturally as well as industrially.
The natural and industrial riches of the Bohemian lands, making possible a very heavy system of taxation, have always formed the financial foundation of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The population of the Bohemian lands is much denser, and the whole standard of life is much higher, than that of the other lands of Austria.[1]
- ↑ The real Bohemian lands constitute 26·4 per cent. of Austria, and provide 3512 per cent. of the whole population. In these lands there are 128 people to the square kilometre, as opposed to 83 in the rest of Austria.
