STATISTICS OF AUSTEIA-HUNGAEY. 



149 



steam-mills belonging to capitalists or wealthy companies. Even the State 

 contributes towards this preponderance of the manufacturing industry, for ils 

 arsenals and tobacco factories count their workmen by thousands.* 



Commerce. 



Up to 1873, the year of the Vienna Exhibition, the progress in the industrial 

 activity of the empire was rapid. Manufactories increased in number, railways 



Fig. 91. — The Viaduct of Kaltkixne, ox the Semmering. 



were constructed in all directions, and powerful companies were formed to 

 work the mines. But then came the Kraeh of May 9th, 1873. The banks 

 stopped payment, and thousands of families found themselves involved in ruin. 

 Millions were lost in the course of a few weeks, and all industrial progress was 

 arrested. t 



Austria can hardly be said to have recovered from this financial crisis. Still 

 there has been some progress, for the laud is now being more carefully cultivated, 



* In 1872 there were 36 Govemment tobacco manufactories, with 36,981 workmen. They produced 

 1,588,105,052 cigars and 37,260 tons of manufactured tobacco. 



t In 1872 there existed 126 banks, with a capital of £201,058,000 ; in 1874 there only remained 28 

 banks, with a capital of £72,172,000, 



