AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



manian delegates who met representatives of 

 Austria-Hungary in Vienna in the winter of 

 1886-'87 proposed that inspection at the fron- 

 tier should be abolished, and that herds con- 

 signed to Austria-Hungary should be examined 

 only in the districts where the existence of 

 disease was reasonably suspected. In the sub- 

 sequent conferences the Roumanian Govern- 

 ment modified its demand that the Roumanian 

 cattle import should be admitted without quar- 

 antine, but insisted that it should be subjected 

 only to the rules that are applied to the im- 

 ports of Switzerland, Italy, and other treaty 

 powers. An arrangement was about to be 

 concluded on this basis, when the Hungarian 

 Minister of Agriculture introduced conditions 

 that were inconsistent with it, and inaccepta- 

 ble to the Roumanians, viz., that the Hunga- 

 rian frontier should be closed to Roumanian cat- 

 tle whenever Germany should prohibit the 

 importation of cattle from Austria-Hungary, 

 and that all cattle coming from Roumania 

 should undergo a five days' quarantine at Stein- 

 bruch, near Buda-Pesth. 



Austria. The Austrian Parliament, called the 

 Reichsrath, consists of two chambers a House 

 of Lords and a House of Deputies. The upper 

 chamber was composed in 1886 of 13 princes 

 of the blood royal, 53 hereditary peers, 10 arch- 

 bishops, and 7 prince-bishops, and 105 life- 

 members. The representative chamber con- 

 sists of 353 members, elected partly directly 

 and partly indirectly by all citizens of the age 

 of twenty-four years or over possessed of a 

 low property qualification. Important legis- 

 lative powers are exercised by the Provincial 

 Diets, seventeen in number, each of which con- 

 sists of but one chamber composed of the heads 

 of the Roman and Greek Churches, and chan- 

 cellors of universities, and of representatives 

 of land-owners, municipalities, boards of com- 

 merce, guilds, and of rural communes, the lat- 

 ter being voted for indirectly by all tax-payers. 



The head of the Austrian Cabinet is Count 

 Edward Taafe, who, though his ancestors have 

 lived in Austria for several generations, is an 

 Irish nobleman, and a peer of the United King- 

 dom. He was appointed Minister of the In- 

 terior and President of the Council on Aug. 19, 

 1879. The Minister of Public Instruction and 

 Ecclesiastical Affairs is Dr. Paul Gautsch von 

 Frankenthurn, appointed Nov. 6, 1885 ; the 

 Minister of Finance, Dr. J. Dunajewski ; the 

 Minister of Agriculture, Count Julius Falken- 

 hayn ; the Minister of Commerce and National 

 Economy, Marquis von Becquehem ; the Min- 

 ister of National Defense, Maj.-Gen. Count S. 

 von Welsersheimb ; the Minister of Justice, A. 

 Prazak. F. Ziemialkowski has a seat in the 

 Council, but holds no portfolio. 



Revenue and Expenditure. The budget esti- 

 mates for the year ending March 31. 1887, 

 make the total receipts of the treasury 507,- 

 833,841 florins, and the expenditures 516,625,- 

 771 florins. The ordinary receipts are esti- 

 mated at 491,927,345, and the ordinary ex- 



penditures at 470,059,347 florins. The indirect 

 taxes, viz.: a land-tax, a house-tax, a tax on 

 industrial establishments, and an income-tax, 

 produce 99,052,000 florins of revenue. The 

 yield of customs is 47,243,417, of excise duties 

 84,484,900, of the salt-tax 20,444,000, of the 

 tobacco-tax 74,002,800, of stamp-duties 17,- 

 800,000, of judicial fees 33,650,000, of the state 

 lottery 20,224,000 florins, the total product of 

 indirect taxation being 301,794,417 florins. 

 The posts and telegraphs produce 27,299,050, 

 and the railroads 47,171,917 florins. The chief 

 items of expenditure are 117,975,054 florins 

 for the service of the public debt, 93,573,071 

 florins for financial administration, and 86,338,- 

 803 florins for common affairs. The public 

 debt on July 1, 1886, amounted to 3,485,881,- 

 310 florins, not including 412,000,000 florins 

 of paper currency. About 50,000,000 florins 

 of new paper rente were issued in the begin- 

 ning of the financial year 1887-'88 to cover 

 the financial requirements of the year. 



The Language Question. The German Liberals 

 in the Austrian Chamber won a triumph over 

 the Government in April, 1887, by carrying 

 through a motion of ex-Minister von Schmer- 

 ling, who is called the father of Austrian con- 

 stitutionalism, providing for the appointment 

 of a committee to consider the question of the 

 use of other languages besides German in of- 

 ficial documents and the pleadings of law 

 courts. German has been acknowledged by 

 the Government to be the official language of 

 the empire, and the German party maintains 

 that edicts that have been issued at various 

 times authorizing the employment of the Czech, 

 Polish, and Italian languages for judicial and 

 administrative purposes are illegal. After the 

 rejection of a resolution offered by Herr von 

 Plener, the German leader in the Diet of 

 Prague, all of his party threatened to take no 

 part in the legislative proceedings until the 

 Czech majority should agree to alter the law 

 which makes the use of the Czech language 

 sometimes compulsory in the law courts of 

 German districts. In January, before closing 

 its sessions, the Diet by a unanimous vote de- 

 clared that the German abstainers had vacated 

 their seats. In order to satisfy national or lo- 

 cal ambitions the Government has in recent 

 times established gymnasia in many country 

 towns which are too poor to maintain them, 

 and has inconsequence been induced to aid the 

 schools by annual grants. Dr. von Gautsch, 

 the Minister of Education, declaring himself 

 opposed to over-education and the multiplica- 

 tion of the intellectual proletariate, ordered in 

 the summer that the least frequented of the 

 schools should be closed. . His decree resulted 

 in the suppression of several Czech gymnasia, 

 and brought upon the ministry the denuncia- 

 tions of the pre^s of Bohemia. 



Anarchist Trials. Socialistic doctrines are 

 more prevalent among the workingmen of 

 Austria than in Germany or any other country. 

 The socialists are much stronger in Vienna than 



