Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol3, 1919.djvu/272

 stamped so as to indicate that it is now Czechoslovak. Further, the country has been drained and robbed of everything that the Austrians and Germans could carry away. There is very little here now to be exported, although in normal times the territory now belonging to the Czechoslovak Republic produced 90% of all Austrian manufactures, and 80% of the total exports. It will take about eight years for the country to get back to the normal basis. The people are working very hard. Everywhere every inch of ground is cultivated. Many industrial plants are working now. The balance will start upon receipt of raw materials. Articles mostly needed to get these industries into full operation are cotton, wool, fats, oils, jute, hemp, chemicals, copper, etc. Food of which the country was cleaned out bare is being supplied mostly by the American Food Administration and American Relief Roard. Food will have to be supplied to Czechoslovakia even in the next crop year, as this year’s harvest will amount to only about eight months’ supplies. American food will always find a good market here, as the people are cultivating a taste for American dishes.

Our banking institutions and manufacturers should study carefully Czechoslovakia, and extend to them every facility to become one of America’s best customers. The other nations have their agents here working to establish connections. They are preparing to extend credit to their business houses here.

Before the war Germany bought raw materials in all parts of the world. She sold them to manufacturers here, took their finished products to Germany, and sold them stamped “Made in Germany”. These goods will now go out stamped “Made in Bohemia”, or “Made in Czechoslovakia”. Czechoslovakia wants to be free economically from its former rulers.

You hear that exporters and importers were not successful recently in making connections with Czechoslovakia. This should not discourage anyone. There are many unavoidable obstructions with a country like Czechoslovakia, before the proper adjustments are made. I have talked to a good many representatives here from foreign countries. Many of them are complaining that they cannot get any results. This, of course, is unfortunate, but cannot be helped under the present conditions. In time this country will prove a very profitable field.

The writer will remain in Prague until conditions are somewhat adjusted. American manufacturers or exporters who are interested may address communications to John A. Sokol, Prague, Czecho-Slovak Republic, c/o American Consulate.

Prague, June 21, 1919.

According to the Austrian census of 1910 there are supposed to be three and a half million Germans in the three Bohemian provinces of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Every well-informed man knows this figure to be a gross exaggeration, and now the truth is beginning to come out, While general census cannot be taken in the Czechoslovak Republic, until the boundaries of the state are known, enumeration of the population took place in a number of cities and towns claimed heretofore by the Germans. The resultlsresults [sic] are very interesting: in general the former German majority of two-thirds is now transformed into a minority of one-third. We give a few of the more important localities in which the present number of the population and their nationality has been ascertained; figures of the 1910 Austrian census are given for comparison.