AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 955 



In Austria-Hungary, however^ the imports of manufactured goods grow faster than the 

 exports, and this is ; considered an Unhealthy sign hi' its industrial development. Causes 

 considered as contributing to this state of affairs are: the increase of population, the 

 desire for better food, .and the increasing number of people who abandon agricultural 

 work, so that the exports of agricultural produce have decreased enormously. Thus the 

 huge excess of imports in 1911 was partly due to a larger importation of raw cotton, but 

 also to an increased importation of agricultural produce. Another cause in the opinion 

 of many economists has been the policy inaugurated by the tariff of 1906, which greatly 

 increased the duties on foodstuffs. This had not the anticipated effect of stimulating 

 the agricultural productivity of the country so as to enable it to feed its own population, 

 but its effect is felt in the extremely high price of foodstuffs. This has increased the 

 cost of production and handicapped the manufacturers in competing in foreign markets, 

 while neighbouring agricultural countries have retaliated against the heavy duties on 

 their products by imposing high duties on imports from Austria-Hungary. 



The imports were valued in 1910 at 118,800,000, and in 1911 at 132,900,000; exports 



(1910) 100,700,000, (1911) 100,200,00; showing excess of imports (1910) 18,100,000, 



(1911) 32,700,000. They are classified in Table A. 



Table A. Imports and Exports, 1910, ign, classified. 



Imports Exports 



Articles (in millions of ) (in millions of ) 



1910 1911 1910 1911 



Raw materials ; : ; 65.9 76.3 36.4 34.1 



. Semi-manufactured . : : . 19.8 20.1 18. 19.2 



Manufactured goods , 33.1 36.5 46.3 46.9 



Total . '' ; ' . ' '.: 'v 118.8 !3 2 -9 100.7 100.2 



The value of the trade with principal countries (exclusive of bullion and specie) in 1911 

 was as follows: Imports from Germany 52,617,000; U. S. A. 12,070,000; United King- 

 dom 9,560,000; India 9,156,000; Russia 8,680,000. Exports to Germany 40,000,000; 

 Italy 9,260,000; United Kingdom 9,011,000; Turkey 5,230,000; Rumania 5,165,000. 



The values of chief imports in 1911 were: raw cotton 13,019,000; wool 6,128,000; 

 woollen goods 4,458,000; coal and coke 8,207,000; cereals and flour 5,259,000; seeds and 

 potatoes 6,587,000; machinery 6,230,000; metals 5,118,000. Exports: provisions 

 10,217,000; sugar 8,680,000; eggs 4,689,000; wood 3,444,000; brown coal 3,025,000; 

 cotton goods 4,076,000; garments, millinery, etc. 3,945,000; wooden wares 3,188,000. 



Austro-Hungarian Bank. After long delay and strenuous opposition in the Hungarian 

 parliament the charter of the bank, which expired on December i, 1910, was renewed until 

 December 31, 1917. The new charter differs from the old notably in regard to the obligatory 

 redemption of bank-notes in gold. It does not compel the bank to redeem its notes in gold 

 but throws on the governors the responsibility of deciding the moment when specie pay- 

 ment may be made obligatory without danger to the financial and commercial stability of 

 the Monarchy, and defines the procedure by which the legislative sanction for the enforce- 

 ment of specie payments is eventually to be obtained. It increases from 16,666,000 to 

 25,000,000 the non-funded bank-note circulation which the bank is entitled to issue without 

 incurring the punitive 5 per cent tax, and like the old charter it authorizes the bank to 

 reckon among its metallic reserve 2,500,000 of foreign gold bills and other gold credits. 

 The funded bank-note circulation remains fixed at two-and-a-half times the amount of the 

 total metallic reserve. The most important proviso of the new charter is the obligation 

 imposed upon the bank to maintain the gold bill policy, by which it has hitherto succeeded 

 in regulating the rates of foreign exchanges in such a manner that, despite the existence of 

 an optional gold standard, the Austro-Hungarian currency has been kept on a par with 

 that of gold standard countries. Failure would entail immediate loss of the charter. 



Austria, 1 



Population. According to the preliminary results of the census taken on December 

 31, 1910, Austria had a population of 28,567,898 inhabitants, showing an increase of 

 2,417,190 or 9.2 per cent over that of 1900. Every province shared in the increase, the 

 populations in 1910 being respectively as follows: Lower Austria, 3,530,698; Upper 

 Austria, 852,667; Salzburg, 214,997; Styria, 1,441,604; Carinthia, 394,735; Carniola, 

 525,083; Coastland, 894,457; Tirol and Vorarlberg, 1,092,292; Bohemia, 6,774,309 



1 See E. B. ii, 972. 



