measure, which was meant to remain in force for only a short time, was repeatedly prolonged all through 1920. Its terms allowed exceptions and modifications under certain conditions. But if industry was able to bear the weight of such measures at all, if it was found possible to comply with them at any rate on broad lines, that is probably due to the fact that when they were made trade was progressively improving.
The recovery of industry and quieting down of the political situation made it possible from Aug. 1919 to effect the necessary reduction in the relief of the unemployed, and by May 1920 to subject the whole matter of the relief of unemployment to legislative regulation. With this object in view apart from the fixing of a maximum period of time within the space of a year during which relief was given all unemployment doles were subjected to rigid conditions; further, all aid accorded was based on the principle of insurance, inasmuch as the State advanced the sums required for relief but thereafter recovered a .third of the amount from the employers and a like proportion from the workmen by the contribution these were made to pay, so that it bore itself but a third of the total cost. The introduction of insurance against unemployment soon led to a considerable decrease in the total of persons who received relief payments (at the end of April a total of 46,000, of which 38,000 were Viennese cases, falling by the beginning of May 1920 to 19,000, of which 15,000 were Viennese).. Thus from that time onward the number of unemployed in receipt of State aid decreased by about one-half. During the remainder of 1920 there was at first a rapid increase in unemployment, which was connected with the crisis then supervening (caused by the improvement in the exchange, which curtailed exports). By July the total of persons who were out of work and in receipt of relief reached 24,800 (of which total Vienna accounted for 19,500), but thereafter the totals again proved susceptible of rapid diminution, so that by the end of the year the decrease was illustrated by a return of 16,600 persons out of work (df whom 13,700 were Viennese). By the end of 1920 unemployment in Vienna was greatest among the metal workers (34,500) and unskilled hands (2,730), among shop assistants (1,338), the employees of hotels and restaurants (1,338), in the building trade (1,430), in the catering business (709). In this group, however, figures a large number of un- employed who were not in receipt of relief.
In the period which followed the termination of the war the Social-Democratic party acquired a leading role in the govern- ment of the country, its programme being to attain a new economic order by the nationalization of private enterprise. A number of laws were actually passed with this end in view. The law of March 14 1919 on the preliminaries of nationaliza- tion lays down in Paragraph I : "On grounds of public utility suitable industrial concerns may be sequestrated for the benefit either of the State, the Territories or the Communes, and may be administered by the State, the Territory or the Commune, or placed under the administration of public, legally recognized bodies." For the elaboration of further legislation aiming at nationalization a Government Commission on Nationalization was instituted and given the right to call as witnesses persons capable of giving information, inspect industrial establishments, take cognizance of the account books, etc. The law of May 15 1919, which set up the industrial councils, was also meant to serve the ends of nationalization, since on these councils the working-men were to gain an insight into the administration of undertakings and be trained for their future task of exercising a determining influence upon the industry. At the same time the system of industrial councils was so planned as to fit into the economic order of capitalist individualism. " The industrial Councils are instituted in order to understand and to foster the economic, social and cultural interests of the working-men and the employees in the undertaking." They were to safe- guard the observance of contractual obligations entered into collectively, and the compliance with laws protecting the work- ing-men, etc. ; under certain circumstances they could demand the production of the balance-sheet of the undertaking; in the case of public companies they deputed two representatives into the
council of administration or the board of directors, though these were not conceded the right of speaking on behalf of the com- pany or signing for it and had no claim to monetary compensa- tion for services of this nature. The industrial councils un- doubtedly proved useful in maintaining discipline in the factories during times of disturbance. The law of May 30 1919, on the procedure in cases of expropriation of industrial concerns, lays down very general maxims which deal with the provisions of future expropriation bills. Of importance is only the proviso that the process of expropriation is initiated by a resolution of the Government, which in itself entails definite legal con- sequences. The provisions for indemnification in the case of future expropriation, about which a lively discussion had raged, are very vague. The law of July 29 1919 on socialistic enter- prises seeks, with a certain tendency to the idea of guild socialism, to remodel the legal forms of business undertakings so as at least to prepare for the transition to new economic forms. " The socialistic institutions (gemeimvirtschaftliche Anstalten) are founded by the State, by the Territory, by the Commune, or by a majority of these territorial corporations, with the object of transferring existing private and public undertakings to the proprietorship or the administration of the socialistic institu- tions, or of starting new undertakings in this form." These institutions were to be conducted by, among others, the cor- porations by which they had been established, the industrial councils of workmen and employees, and organizations represent- ing a considerable part of the consumers of the institution's out- put. A series of such institutions was founded, partly in order to take over Government factories formerly engaged in turning out war material. Further socializing measures were arrested by the change in the internal political situation.
The economic condition of Austria noticeably improved in the course of 1920; " labour unrest " abated considerably, and by the beginning of 1921 a distinctly favourable progress was recorded in many branches of industry. This, however, could not obscure the fact that the development reposed upon thoroughly unsound basic conditions, especially upon the difference in the price level at home as against foreign countries with a healthy exchange, on a scale of wages which, calculated in foreign currencies, was extraordinarily low, while the national budget was weighted with milliards spent in the cheapening of food. As Austria could not within a measurable time meet her own food requirements she was dependent upon the export of manufactured articles. It could only be hoped that, on a return to normal times, Austria, after the recovery of the exchange, would become a suitable field for industry capable of meeting com- petition in the world market. The town of Vienna, thanks to its central position in Europe, must always be an emporium of increasing importance and also one of the principal centres of European trade. (K. P.; R. Si.)
AUSTRIC FAMILY OF LANGUAGES.—An addition must be
made to the classification of languages given in the article PHILOLOGY (see 21.426) as the result of the further researches since 1908 in the Malay-Polynesian field and S.E. Asia. The establishment of the " Austric family " of languages may well be considered the most important achievement of these later years in the work of comparative philology.
The essential unity of the Oceanic languages, though partially recognized long ago by Humboldt in his Kmvisprache, was not com- pletely demonstrated until much more recent times. The connexion between the Polynesian and Indonesian languages (including the geographically outlying Malagasy) met with ready acceptance, but the affiliation of the Melanesian was not so easy. The difficulty was partly due to purely linguistic differences, the Melanesian type of speech being superficially very different from the Indonesian and Polynesian, partly to the diversity of the races which raised the natural, but quite unjustifiable, presumption that the languages could not be of the same stock. It was, however, eventually proved that Melanesian could not be kept out of the Oceanic family, 1 and it has since been shown that Micronesia, though different in race,
1 Kern, " De Fidji-taal," Verhand, Kon. Akad. v. Wet. (Amsterdam, 1886), Afd. Letterk., Deel xvi.; " Over de verhouding van het Nu- foorsch tot de Maleisch-Polynesische talen," Actes du Vie Congres, International des Orientalistes.
