AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



39 



the capital, where the Germans are more pli- 

 ant in changing their language than the Slavic 

 population of the provinces, particularly since 

 the recent Magyar agitation has made it more 

 to their interest to do so, the extension of the na- 

 tional language has been greatest. The propor- 

 tion of children under five years of age speaking 

 the Magyar tongue in Buda-Pesth is 47 per 

 cent., against 45 -7 per cent, among persons be- 

 tween fifty and sixty years of age. Of the Ger- 

 mans in Hungary as many as 21 per cent, are 

 acquainted with the Magyar language ; but of 

 the Slovaks not 10, and of the Roumanians and 

 Ruthenians not 6 per cent. The German lan- 

 guage is extensively cultivated, over 10 per 

 cent, of the Magyars acquiring it tor commer- 

 cial intercourse or education and travel. In 

 the kingdom there are 817,668 non-Magyars 

 who can speak Hungarian, and 791,670 non- 

 Germans who speak German. The progress 

 of education has been remarkable, 46 per cent, 

 of the 10,844,000 above the age of seven being 

 able to read and write in 1880, against only 25 

 per cent, in 1870. 



Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture. The total 

 value of the imports and exports of the Austro- 

 Hungarian Empire for the last three years re- 

 ported, was as follows, in florins : 



The export of flour, which averaged, just 

 before the enactment of the German corn-du- 

 ties, about 2,400,000 metric quintals, has fallen 

 to half that quantity. Owing to the active 

 trade in live hogs with Servia, the imports 

 and exports of live animals were considerably 

 larger in 1881 than in the preceding year. The 

 commercial treaty with Servia, ratified in June, 

 1882, secures the entrance of certain Austrian 

 products at half the ordinary duties, and on the 

 other hand a reduction of the Austrian duties 

 on live hogs, and Servian wines, prune-brandy, 

 etc. The exceptional treatment of German 

 partly manufactured products, which was kept 

 up as compensation for possible advantages to 

 be extended to Austria-Hungary in the German 

 tariff, ceased from the beginning of 1883 to 

 operate as regards textile manufactures im- 

 ported for printing, dyeing, or bleaching, the 

 most important branch of this trade. The im- 

 portation of lard and pork products showed a 

 great decrease in 1881, in consequence of the 

 prohibition of American pork. The export of 

 wines, stimulated in 1880 by the failure of the 

 French vintage, decreased from 905,841 to 438,- 

 213 metric quintals. The import of petroleum 

 increased from 1,150,000 to 1,480,000 metric 

 quintals. Cotton and other textile materials 

 were imported in considerably larger quanti- 

 ties than in the preceding year. The contin- 

 ued large importation of yarns strengthened 

 the spinners in their demand for a protective 



duty. A marked improvement in the indus- 

 trial situation and the consumptive capacity 

 of the people is indicated by a larger impor- 

 tation of raw stuffs of various kinds, of colo- 

 nial wares, of machinery, of textile manufac- 

 tures, and of articles of luxury, and an increased 

 exportation of textiles, paper manufactures, 

 fine leathers, chemical products, etc. 



More than half the export and import com- 

 merce of the Austrian Empire is with Ger- 

 many, next to which the chief market is Rou- 

 mania, which receives 50,000,000 florins of the 1 

 exports, and furnishes 40,000,000 florins of the 

 imports. Italy and Russia follow, but with a 

 much smaller trade. 



Precious Metals. The movement of the pre- 

 cious metals in 1881, as compared with the 

 previous year, was as follows, in florins: 



, The Hungarian Legislature passed 

 a law in 1881, denounced by the Constitutional 

 party in the Austrian House of Deputies as an 

 infringement of the customs-union, which re- 

 quires a declaration to be made of all goods 

 imported into or exported from the kingdom. 

 According to the statistics collected for the last 

 eight months of 1881 in pursuance of this regu- 

 lation, Hungary has a balance decidedly in its 

 favor in the trade with Austria as well as with 

 other countries. The returns exhibit the total 

 value of imports as 185,800,000 florins, of which 

 139,080,000 florins came from Austria ; and the 

 total value of exports as 242,800,000 florins, 

 of which 165,250,000 florins were shipped into 

 Austria. 



Hungary. Although in the social life of Hun- 

 gary certain vestiges of feudalism survive the 

 development of liberal political institutions, 

 she strives to keep abreast of economical prog- 

 ress; people and Government uniting their 

 efforts to develop all their resources under the 

 pressure of American competition. The great 

 richness of the Hungarian soil is counterbal- 

 anced by adverse geographical and climatic 

 conditions which warn them against remain- 

 ing a purely agricultural state. It is only by 

 gigantic protective works and a more and 

 more intensive culture that they can still Lold 

 their own. The invention of the Hungarian 

 method of flour-milling, made necessary by the 

 hard quality of their wheat, which has since 

 been adopted and improved in the United 

 States, marked the beginning of industrial de- 

 velopment. A regular line of vessels from 



* Excess of exports. 



