Page:EB1922 - Volume 30.djvu/392

352 the raising of live stock, as the census of April 1919 shows as many as 1,952,000 head of cattle and 1,107,000 pigs, which in comparison to the returns of 1910 reveals a decrease of about 40% as regards the latter, of about 20% as regards the former.

Austrian industry suffered grievously from the disruption of the economic area. To quote but one example: The yarn which was spun in the territory of present-day Austria was for the most part woven in the countries S. of the Sudetic Mountains. For the Austrian cotton-spinning industry, with its 1-2 million spindles, could employ a maximum of about 30,000 looms, but only about 12,000 of these are situated in Austria, so that under present conditions two-thirds of the product of the Austrian cotton-spinners would have to be finished off abroad. The cloth, as a finished article, used to be made up in Vienna and thence consigned to Hungary, Galicia, and elsewhere. Similar condi- tions prevailed also in other branches of industry in the old Austria, but, so long as there was but one connected, economic area, these conditions evolved themselves naturally, being governed by the geographical position of the factory. The setting-up of customs tariffs along the frontiers of the states which arose upon the territory of the broken-up Austria entailed serious difficulties for all industries. The fact that Austria was cut off from the areas upon which she was wont to draw for her supply of coal became a consideration of moment, since only 6% of the demand could be met by the exploitation of her 'own resources, while the balance required had to be obtained abroad. Private establishments had to be rationed as regards coal, and the use of gas and electricity to be drastically curtailed. In Vienna it was at one time even necessary to cut industrial establishments off the power stations. Industry received but a fraction of the coal it required, and the ironworks, in par- ticular, suffered heavily in consequence.

The principal industries of the Austrian Republic are as follows: First and foremost is the iron trade. (Under normal conditions the Eisenerzberg in Styria furnishes from 20 million me. upwards of iron.) The industry lies within the area of the Sudbahn and around Vienna; it furnishes raw material and semi-manufactured articles which also fprm an item of the export trade. Very highly developed, it employed in pre-war days some 30-40.000 hands and manufactured scythes, tools, screws, wire of all kinds, hard iron wares, etc. The manufacture of machinery gave employment to about 21,000 workmen, its specialty being agricultural machinery. There are four factories in Austria which construct locomotives, several which build wagons, motor-cars, etc. Of the textile industry of the old Austria the bulk is now outside her frontiers, but an important part has remained (in the Vienna area and the Vorarlberg). The great clothing industry of the old Austria had Vienna for its centre. Two branches of industry depended upon Austria's wealth in forests (i) the important timber trade (including the saw-mills, of which 257 were worked by steam and 5,200 by water-power; further, the furniture-manufacture, occupying about 14,000 hands); (2) the paper industry, which under full pressure furnished, in partly manufactured articles, 12,000 car- loads of cellulose and 10,000 of wood pulp; in wholly manu- factured articles 7,000 car-loads of cardboard and 18,000 of paper, more than half of the products named being available for export. Further, in the working up of paper Austria is capable of good achievement. The electrical industry can employ some 25,000 hands, and the rubber and leather manufactures are of importance. Another important raw material remains to be mentioned: within the territory of the Austrian Republic an output of 200,000 tons of magnesite was reached in 1913.

The two years succeeding the war were industrially unpro- ductive in Austria, because there was a lack of numerous raw materials, which were not to be had even for payment, since, owing to the universal shortage, difficulties were everywhere put in the way of export. After the deb&cle, war industries came to a sudden standstill. The worst period of crisis was in the winter of 1918-9, and it was only in the summer of 1919 that a slow economic recovery began, based for the most part on the possi- bilities of export due to the conditions of the foreign exchange; at this time began on a large scale the " general clearance " of Austria by foreign purchasers who could take advantage of the low value of the Austrian krone abroad as compared with its purchasing-power at home. "

The development of industry was wholly dependent upon the quotation of the krone, for in the spring of 1920 a slight improve- ment of the exchange in foreign markets caused a noticeable halt in exports, which only revived in the month of August of that year when the exchange was again on the down grade. In the autumn of 1920 a continuous improvement in the situa- tion appeared in almost every industry; the frequent curtail- ments of working-hours gradually ceased, and new hands were engaged. By the close of the year the furniture-manufacture, clothing trade (including the specially prosperous shoe industry) and the leather trade showed well. Only the metal trades, which continued to suffer greatly from the want of raw material, could not definitely improve; the locomotive works and the electrical trade were fairly occupied, but the position was espe- cially bad in respect of the manufacture of agricultural machin- ery and motor-cars.

In accordance with the social and political conditions of the first year of the war, a large number of social-political measures long demanded by the working classes had been passed. Of these some had been prepared and planned by the Austrian Government before or during the war, but had partly been shelved owing to political difficulties or the opposition of the classes interested in maintaining the old conditions; partly they had been unacceptable to the Government. Further measures of the kind seemed called for by the conditions of the moment, which urgently demanded State assistance for the classes of the population most hard hit by the economic depression, especially the rapidly growing class of unemployed whose urgency threat- ened violence. The most important measures were: enactment of the legal eight hours' working-day; new rules for work done at home and by children; prohibition of night work in bakeries; compulsory holidays for workers; compensation of workers and employees generally in the event of the transference of an industrial establishment or the sale of machinery abroad; legal regulation of collective bargains; establishment, on the analogy of the existing chambers of commerce and industry, of work- men's chambers (Arbeiterkammern) as the official representa- tives of the " estate " of workers; improvement of the condi- tions of domestic service by a special law.

A large part of this social-political legislation was occupied by the measures intended to combat the effects of unemploy- ment. In addition to the common results of the ending of a great war, unemployment in Austria was increased, not only by the special causes already mentioned, but by the stream of Germans expelled from other parts of the former monarchy. Thus as early as Nov. 1918 State aid had to be introduced for industrial workmen and employees. The sums allowed for relief were fixed on the basis of the relief given in case of illness, and in Vienna, as a rule, attained the maximum provided for, namely six kronen, to which was added in the spring of 1919 a small bonus by the commune for fathers of families and in the begin- ning of 1920 a special additional grant by the State. The number of unemployed rose very rapidly: on Dec. i 1918 for the whole of Austria the total was 46,000, on Feb. i 1919 it was 162,000, on May i of that year the maximum of 186,000 was reached; but the decrease was slow, since the returns of Aug. i still showed 133,000 persons out of work, Nov. 2 87,000, end-Jan. 1920 69,000 and end-April 46,000. The number of unemployed was always greatest in the Vienna area, where the maximum was reached at the beginning of May with 132,000 unemployed, while on Nov. 22 there were 73,000 and end-April 1920 38,000 persons out of work. A very peculiar expedient was resorted to at the time when the conditions were at their worst. In order to occupy at any rate a part of the unemployed the factory-owners, who on April 26 1919 employed a minimum of 15 hands, were from May 19 of that year compelled to employ additional workmen up to one-fifth of their previous establishment and replace every man whose employ came to an end by a new man. This