Peter Kropotkin Archive
Written: 1898
Source: Published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1898
Transcription/Markup: Andy Carloff
Online Source: RevoltLib.com; 2021
To give an idea of the development of industries in Austria-Hungary, it is sufficient to mention the growth of her mining industries and the present state of her textile industries. The value of the yearly extraction of coal and iron ore in Austria appears as follows:-
| 1880. | 1890. | 1910. | |
| Coal | £1,611,000 | £25,337,000 | £57,975,000 |
| Brown coal | 1,281,300 | 23,033,000 | 56,715,000 |
| Raw iron | 1,749,000 | 22,759,000 | 49,367,000 |
At the present time the exports of coal entirely balance the imports.
As to the textile industries the imports of raw cotton into Austria-Hungary reached in 1907 the respectable value of £12,053,400. For raw wool and wool yarn they were £6,055,600 worth, and for silk, £1,572,000; while £3,156,200 worth of woolens were exported.
According to the census of 1902 (Statistisches Jahrbuch for 1911), there were already, in Austria-Hungary, 1,408,855 industrial establishments, occupying 4,049,320 work people, and having a machinery representing 1,787,900 horse-power. The textile trades alone tad in their service 257,500 horse-power (as against 113,280 in 1890).
The small industry evidently prevailed, nearly one of all the work people (2,066,120) being employed in 901,202 establishments, which had only from one to twenty persons each; while 443,235 work people were employed in 10,661 establishments (from twenty to 100 work people each). Still, the great industry has already made its appearance in some branches - there being 3,021 establishments which employed more than 100 workers each, and representing an aggregate of 1,053,790 work people. Out of them 105 establishments employed even more than 1,000 persons each (115 establishments, 179,876 work people in 1910).
In Hungary industry is also rapidly developing; it occupied 1,127,130 persons in 1902 (34,160 in the textiles, and 74,000 in mining). In 1910 the exports of all textiles (stuffs and yarns) from Hungary reached the sum of £7,040,500.