AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



73 



carrying on prolonged negotiations, gave way on 

 this point also. 



Austria. The legislative body is the Reichs- 

 rath, consisting of the Herrenhaus, or House of 

 Lords, in which 19 princes of the imperial family, 

 9 archbishops, 8 prince bishops, 00 territorial 

 nobles, and 153 life members have seats, and the 

 House of Deputies, composed of 425 members, 

 who are elected for six years, 85 by the territorial 

 aristocracy, 118 indirectly by the towns, 21 by 

 the chambers of trade and commerce, and 129 

 indirectly by the rural districts, and 72 directly 

 by all male citizens of towns and rural com- 

 munes who pay 4 florins a year in direct taxes 

 or possess educational or other qualifications. 

 The representation of the provinces is unequal, 

 varying from 1 member to 29,094 inhabitants in 

 Salzburg to 1 to 89,188 in Galicia. Lower Aus- 

 tria sends 40 members; Upper Austria, 20; Salz- 

 burg, G; Styria, 27; Carinthia, 10; Carniola, 11; 

 Triest, 5; Goricia and Gradisca, 5; Istria, 5; 

 Tyrol. 21; Vorarlberg, 4; Bohemia, 110; Moravia, 

 43; Silesia, 12; Galicia, 78; Bukowina, 11; Dal- 

 matia, 11. 



The Austrian ministry formed on March 7, 

 1898, was composed as follows: President of the 

 Council and Minister of the Interior, Graf Franz 

 von Thun-Hohenstein; Minister of Public Instruc- 

 tion and Ecclesiastical Affairs, Graf Bylandt- 

 Reydt; Minister of Finance, Dr. J. Kaizl; Minis- 

 ter of Agriculture, Baron von Kast; Minister of 

 National Defense, Field-Marshal Graf Zeno von 

 Welsersheimb ; Minister of Justice, Dr. J. von 

 Ruber; Minister of Railways, Dr. H. Ritter von 

 Wittek ; Minister of Commerce, J. di Pauli, Baron 

 von Treuheim; without portfolio, Ritter von 

 Jedrzejovicz. 



Area and Population. The Austrian domin- 

 ions have a total area of 115,903 square miles, 

 with a population estimated at the end of 1896 

 at 25,249,203, comprising 12,467,738 males and 

 12,781,465 females. The number of marriages 

 in 1897 was 202,936; of births, 968,280; of deaths, 

 646,620; excess of births, 294,952. The number 

 of emigrants in 1897 was 37,215. Vienna, the 

 Austrian capital, had 1,364,548 inhabitants at the 

 last decennial census. 



The emigration from Austria-Hungary in 1896 

 was 67,456 persons, of whom 45,327 went to 

 North America, 11,389 to Brazil, and 220 to the 

 Argentine Republic. In 1897 the total number 

 of emigrants was 37,215. According to United 

 States immigration statistics, 34,196 Austrians 

 and 30,898 Hungarians arrived in 1896, 18,006 

 Austrians and 15,025 Hungarians in 1897, and 

 23,118 Austrians and 16,662 Hungarians in 1898. 

 The term of military service is still three years 

 in Austria-Hungary, and to avoid conscrip- 

 tion about 30,000 young men escape over the 

 border every year according to estimates of the 

 military authorities. Most of them go to the 

 United States, where there are believed to be 

 over 100,000 men who should be in the army or 

 the reserves. They pass the frontier by means 

 of forged passports furnished by foreigners, who 

 make a business of aiding their escape. 



Finances. The revenue of the Austrian Gov- 

 ernment in 1896 amounted to 741,442,000 florins, 

 and the expenditure to 737,387,000 florins. For 

 1898 the budget estimate of revenue was 723,- 

 221,759 florins, and of expenditure 722,872,831 

 florins. The sanctioned estimates for 1899 make 

 the revenue 760,754,838 florins, of which 767,600 

 florins are receipts of the Reichsrath and Council 

 of Ministers, 1,412,109 florins are taken in by 

 the Ministry of the Interior, 398,362 florins by 

 the Ministry of Defense, 7,136,242 florins by the 



Ministry of Education and Worship, 549,664,788 

 florins by the Ministry of Finance, 52,721,270 

 florins by the Ministry of Commerce, 129,828,020 

 florins by the Ministry of Railroads, 15,293,050 

 florins by the Ministry of Agriculture, 1,135,111 

 florins by the Ministry of Justice, 489,002 florins 

 from pensions, subventions, etc., 1,057.080 florins 

 from the state debt, and 851,000 florins from vari- 

 ous sources. The total expenditure is estimated 

 at 760,286,793 florins, of which 4,650,000 florins 

 are for the imperial household, 78,307 florins for 

 the imperial Cabinet, 2,568,231 florins for the 

 Reichsrath and Council of Ministers, 23,oOO 

 florins for the Supreme Court, 126,162,876 florins 

 for contributions to common expenditure, 28,- 

 142,972 florins for the Ministry of the Interior, 

 25,196,170 florins for the Ministry of Defense, 

 31,473,776 florins for the Ministry of Worship 

 and Instruction, 131,681,228 florins for the Min- 

 istry of Finance, 49.783,310 florins for the Minis- 

 try of Commerce, 107,526,190 florins for the Min- 

 istry of Railroads, 19,357,914 florins for the 

 Ministry of Agriculture, 29,210,791 florins for the 

 Ministry of Justice, 175,500 florins for the Board 

 of Control, 31,693,465 florins for pensions, sub- 

 ventions, etc., 171,929,683 florins for the state 

 debt, and 633,080 florins for management of the 

 debt. 



Austria's special debt . amounted on July 1, 

 1898, to 1,470,788,879 florins, of which 1,466,528,- 

 424 florins represent consolidated debt and 4,260,- 

 555 florins floating debt. The annual charge for 

 interest and amortization of the special debt is 

 74,580,058 florins. 



Political Affairs. The conflict between the 

 Germans and the Czechs made the parliamentary 

 session at the beginning of 1899 a constant suc- 

 cession of broils and tumults. The German Op- 

 position obstructed legislative business com- 

 pletely from the time that the Reichsrath met on 

 Jan. 17. Motions were made to impeach the en- 

 tire Cabinet. Interpellations regarding the treat- 

 ment of German students at the University of 

 Prague were made in an interminable succes- 

 sion and discussed at great length. When tired 

 of talking the obstructionists demanded a roll 

 call on every motion that they or the Minis- 

 terialists offered. The ministry withdrew all con- 

 troversial projects of legislation, including the 

 most important bills, in the hope of accomplish- 

 ing some slight part of its programme, but the 

 Opposition prevented anything from going 

 through, and the German constituencies gave 

 their hearty approval to this course of action. 

 When the court at Prague decided that the lan- 

 guage ordinances w T ere constitutional, the Mod- 

 erate members of the German party lost all the 

 restraining influence that they had possessed. 

 On Jan. 27 members of the warring parties 

 came to blows when the Czech leader Kramarz, 

 who was vice-president of the house at the 

 time of the suspension of a sitting by gendarmes 

 during the Badeni administration, was inter- 

 rupted in his speech with shouts of " Bring in 

 the police! " The German factions, with the 

 exception of the Pan-Germanic group, met to 

 formulate their demands, and these were utterly 

 irreconcilable with the minimum claims of the 

 Czechs. The Government had hoped to renew 

 the Aiisgleich with Hungary. The Hungarian 

 Diet till now had insisted that the new Ausgleich 

 must be arranged between the two Parliaments, 

 and the provisional extension of the old one 

 could not be prolonged beyond the current year. 

 The Government was compelled, however, to re- 

 sort once more to the application of Article XIV 

 of the Constitution, by which the government 



