AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



71 



THE IRON GATE OF THE DASTBE, BELOW ORSOVA. 



and western Europe would undoubtedly have been 

 retarded for hundreds of years. But in consequence 

 of being in perpetual readiness for war the intel- 

 lectual condition of the nation remained backward 

 until the wars ceased. During the last two centu- 

 ries the people have developed in a remarkable de- 

 gree. At the beginning of the nineteenth century 

 the Magyar population of Hungary numbered only 

 about 3,000,000, while to-day it exceeds 8,000.000. 

 There is scarcely any trace left in the modern 

 Magyar of his Asiatic origin, though he still retains 

 those chivalrous and generous traits which assisted 

 him in conquering and subordinating the various 

 non-Magyar elements of the country, and which 

 gave him that extraordinary power of absorption 

 by means of which a handful of Asiatic wanderers 

 has grown into a powerful nation. 



Agricultural Congress. The International Ag- 

 ricultural Congress held its sessions in Buda-Pesth 

 from Sept. 17 to Sept. 20. The congress was ar- 

 ranged by the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture, 

 who was president of the Executive Committee, and 

 presided at the opening meeting. The object of 

 the congress \vas. considering the present depres- 

 sion of agriculture to be owing to the general de- 

 cline in the prices of grain, to inquire into the 

 causes of this decline, endeavoring at the same time 

 to a Ivise remedies for it." Its scope was amplified 

 by the Executive Committee, which was composed 

 of high Hungarian officials and members of public 

 'bodies, in a series of questions dealing with produc- 

 tion, commerce and transport, customs, and cur- 

 rency. Twelve nations were officially represented, 

 including Austria-Hungary. Belgium, Denmark, 

 France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Russia. 

 There were delegates from the British Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society and the Central Chamber of 

 culture, but no official representatives from Great 

 Britain. The members of the congress numbered 

 nearly 300, of whom a large proportion were Hunga- 

 rians. The agricultural crisis was regarded as a 



general crisis that had spared no country. . Gam- 

 bling in produce was generally condemned. Diver- 

 gent views were expressed as to whether there is 

 overproduction or not. The exports of wheat from 

 the chief exporting countries were shown to have 

 greatly increased in recent years. The English ex- 

 - who contributed papers. Sir John Lawes and 

 Sir Henry Gilbert, were of the opinion that in the 

 case of some of the larger exporting countries the 

 continuance of low prices and other adverse circum- 

 stances would probably retard extension in the near 

 future, while in others extension seems more prob- 

 able, even in spite of low prices : at any rate, there 

 remained throughout the world great inherent ca- 

 pabilities for increased production that would be 

 rapidly developed with rising prices. Louis Strauss 

 enumerated among the various causes that have 

 conspired to increase the world's production and to 

 reduce prices : The abundance of capital and the 

 reduction of the rate of interest : the application of 

 the discoveries of science : agricultural progress and 

 more intensive farming in the old countries: the 

 multiplication of implements ; the diffusion of 

 highly productive seeds ; the use of phosphates, per- 

 mitting the cultivation of land formerly waste ; the 

 multiplication of the means of communication ; the 

 opening of new and shorter commercial routes; the 

 use of the telegraph, economizing time, and inter- 

 mediary agencies; the perfecting of navigation and 

 the reduction of freights: the reduction of premiums 

 for insurance ; the construction of grain elevators ; 

 and the various facilities that enable capital to 

 make three or four operations where formerly only 

 one could be made, and so be content with less re- 

 muneration on each operation. High hopes were 

 entertained by many members of the congress of 

 the value of the law in Germany forbidding deal- 

 ing in options and futures in the grain markets, 

 which goes into effect in 1897. The advocates of 

 the movement to suppress speculation in wheat, 

 realizing that the passing of a law in one country, 



