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 140 AUSTRIA The aggregate value of the agricultural pro- duce of Austria was estimated in 1857 by Herr von Kleyle, assistant secretary of state, at 2,500,000,000 fl., and in 1871 by Prof. Brachelli at 2,400,000,000 fl. The government of Fran- cis Joseph has endeavored to promote agricul- ture and cattle-breeding by agricultural fairs, exhibitions of implements, premiums for im- proved stock, the introduction of new branches of agriculture, and other measures ; and partic- ular attention has been paid to the American improvements of agricultural implements and machinery. The culture of some American plants has also been introduced, broom corn among others. The number of horses in Aus- tria in 1869 was 3,578,513 ; of horned cattle, 12,515,212; of sheep, 19,905,398; of goats, 1,569,104; of swine, 7,051,473. Austrian man- ufactures, whose existence may be said to date only from the reign of Joseph II., are now striving to rival those of every other European nation, England excepted. The number of hands employed in the manufacturing estab- lishments in 1869 was 2,273,316 ; the value of their annual produce, 1,500,000,000 fl. Of this sum, 80,000,000 fl. is the estimated value of the iron ware, 50,000,000 that of chemical preparations, and 20,000,000 that of glassware and looking glasses (equal in quality to the French). Hemp and flax are manufactured into goods worth 150,000,000 fl. The value of the woollen fabrics is upward of 140,000,000 fl. The number of cotton spindles in Austria in 1870 was 1,581,000; the total value of cotton goods produced, 120,000,000 fl. The quantity of cotton manufactured in Austria in 1850 was five times as large as in 1831. Since then the progress of this branch of industry has been comparatively slow. The manufacture of to- bacco is monopolized by the government (the monopoly having been extended over Hungary, which formerly was excepted from it, in 1850). The most numerous and extensive industrial establishments are in Austria proper (chiefly in Vienna) and Bohemia, the fewest and smallest in Dalmatia and the Military Frontier. There are three principal centres of industry : Vienna, for the manufacture of all objects of luxury and musical instruments ; Moravia, Silesia, and Bohemia, for linen and woollen fabrics and glassware ; Styria and Carintkia, for iron goods and hardware. The government endeavors to promote the growth of Austrian industry by establishing schools of mechanical arts, trade unions, industrial exhibitions, &c. In order to encourage inventors, the patent laws were en- tirely remodelled in 1852. The commerce of Austria has since 1816 gradually grown into importance, although crippled until 1850 by a prohibitory tariff, and by the political organi- zation of the empire, being at that time merely a dynastic union of different states, rendering the provincial boundary lines so many bar- riers against internal intercourse. At an early period the Austrian government took care to pread a perfect network of excellent commer- cial roads over the whole empire. The roads over the Alps, the Stilfser Joch, the Splugen, the Semmering, and others, are justly counted among the most remarkable works of modern times. The first railway in Germany was built on Austrian territory, connecting Budweis and Linz (1832). The aggregate length of railroads (inclusive of horse railroads), on Jan. 1, 1871, was 6,324 m. Telegraph lines have been con- structed in all directions. In 1870 there were in Austria 16,504 m. of electro-magnetic tele- graph, with an aggregate length of wires of 50, 876 m. The number of post offices in all Aus- tria was 4,767. The most important canal for commerce is the emperor Francis's canal, con- necting the Danube and Theiss, and saving a circuit of 220 m. On July 1, 1851, the customs line between Austria proper and Hungary was abolished; on Feb. 1, 1852, a new tariff was published, by which the protective system was introduced in lieu of the previous prohibition, which was now limited to three articles of gov- ernment monopoly, viz., salt, gunpowder, and tobacco. In 1852 the river duties on the Elbe, Po, and Danube were abolished. A postal union was concluded with most of the German states in 1850, and was followed in 1853 by a commercial treaty between Austria and the German Zollverein. On April 11, 1865, a new customs and commercial treaty was concluded with the German Zollverein, which, by con- siderable reduction of duties and the establish- ment of uniformity of regulations, greatly in- creased the commerce of Austria with the states of the Zollverein. Other important commercial treaties were concluded with the United States, Mexico, Persia (1857), Turkey (1862), Great Britain (1865 and 1869), France (1866), Belgium (1867), the Netherlands (1867), Italy (1867), the states represented in the Ger- man Zoll parliament (1868), and Switzerland (1868). Chambers of commerce and industry were introduced in Austria in 1850. Their rights and functions in the Cisleithan provinces were regulated by the law of June 29, 1868. In 1871 there were in Cisleithan Austria 42 chambers. According to a treaty concluded in 1867 between the governments of Cislei- thania and Hungary, both these divisions of the empire constitute with regard to customs and commercial intercourse one territory, en- circled by one customs boundary line, from which are only excluded Dalmatia, which con- stitutes a customs territory by itself, Istria and the Quarnero islands, the free ports of Trieste, Buccari, Zengg, Portore, Carlopago, the town of Brody in Galicia, and the commune of Jung- holz in Tyrol. The commercial intercourse between the two divisions according to this treaty is entirely free, and the goods carried from the one into the other can be subjected to only those burdens which may be imposed up- on the products of the producing division itself. All treaties with foreign powers regulating com- mercial relations are concluded by the imperial government for both divisions of the empire.