have an abundance of everything necessary for cultural development, so that, as an independent country, they would be quite self-sufficing, and would, moreover, be able to export not only their agricultural, but a great part of their industrial products as well.
From the point of view of modern political economy, Bohemia may be said to be an ideal country, being in possession of all the necessary conditions for putting into practice the modern theories of free trade and protectionism. It has great possibilities of realising that harmony between agriculture and industry, that economic self-sufficiency which, by many theorists, is put forward as a postulate for forming even the smallest autonomous State (cf. the chapter on free trade in Gide’s “Political Economy.”
In emergencies such as war the Bohemian lands would also be thoroughly competent to hold their own, both agriculturally as well as industrially.
The natural and industrial riches of the Bohemian lands, making possible as they do a very heavy system of taxation, have always formed the financial foundation of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The population of the Bohemian lands is much denser,[1] and the whole standard of life is much higher, than that of the other lands of Austria.
The following table illustrates the Bohemian contribution on the basis of direct taxation to the Austrian finances:—
| The Bohemian lands pay— | Other provinces (except Lower Austria) pay— | |
House property taxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
4934 % | 5034 % |
Tax on earnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
6114 % | 3834 % |
Income tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
56·7 % | 41·3 % |
| The total of all direct taxes | 57 % | 43 % |
The Bohemian lands and the other Austrian lands (not counting Lower Austria and Vienna) have 25·04 million inhabitants, in the proportion of 40·5 % and 59·5 % respectively. Lower Austria is placed separately, because the position of Vienna, as the capital, is a privileged one; it is the real centre of Bohemian industry and export trade.
- ↑ The three Bohemian lands constitute 26·4 % of Austria, and provide 3512 % of the whole population. In these lands there are 128 people to one square kilometre, as opposed to 83 in the rest of Austria.
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