A Few Words on Industry, 1911
The chief industries of Hungary are mainly in close connection with agricultural life, the agricultural products supplying the raw materials, which are again turned out as manufactured articles of commerce.
From: Unknown To: 1911 C.E.
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“A Few Words on Industry” from Peeps at Many Lands: Hungary by H. Tornai de Kövër, 1911.
The chief industries of Hungary are mainly in close connection with agricultural life, the agricultural products supplying the raw materials, which are again turned out as manufactured articles of commerce. In the first instance mention must be made of the corn-mills, the largest of which are in Budapest, and they yield the finest flour on the whole Continent.
Then there are sugar factories and refineries in many parts of the country, in some of which the raw sugar is made from a substance extracted from the white beetroot. Potatoes, barley, and other agricultural products are used for distilling spirits, there being many distilleries, chiefly in counties where wheat does not abound.
The Government has had mulberry trees planted along the highways, thus encouraging the people to breed the silkworm, and there are silk factories in Hungary which work up the raw material.
In "Fiume" there are starch and rice-shredding factories—one of the most important forms of
business in the wood trade, which is carried on very actively. Many great forests still exist almost untouched in the "Carpathians," "Transylvania," and "Slavonia"; the difficulty is to bring down the huge trees from their almost unattainable heights. During latter years spinning and weaving factories have been opened.
A brisk business is carried on in wine, the cellars in Budafok, near Budapest, being quite a curiosity in their way. They are hundreds of yards long, and are hewn out of the rocks. Here also good Hungarian champagne is made. There are several cognac factories in the country, and excellent beer is brewed, this being one of the best businesses in the country. There are several paper-mills, and they are now beginning the textile industry.
Hungary had the finest porcelain from her own factories of "Herend" almost as soon as the celebrated "Alt Wien" porcelain existed ; besides this, there are the beautiful majolica and porcelain of "Pecs" (the maker Zsolnay being known all over the world); but the finest productions of these belong more to industrial art, just as do all the beautiful needlework, lace, and embroidery made by the Hungarians.
Glass is blown in all the hilly districts where the necessary alkalis for it are found. There are factories where the most primitive and also the most beautiful artistic glass objects are made. At last Hungary is beginning to look to the earth she lives on, and it is repaying her for the trouble. With the exception of gold, very little mining was done until recently. Quite suddenly the spirit of enterprise brought in by foreigners is beginning to work, and all the riches of the earth are being brought to light; coal, iron, copper, gold, and many other valuable metals being mined. The salt mines are of old standing and are the finest of their kind. Rocks are being blasted for stone, and finely coloured marbles taken from their hiding-places. All this is little more than the work of yesterday. With one or two exceptions, twenty-five years ago there was hardly any sign of movement in such matters.
Cattle, pig, and sheep breeding are all being carried on extensively; the market for the meat from these animals being chiefly Austria and Italy, beyond what is required for home consumption.
At the moment of writing, the greatest excitement of the day is the wonderful discovery in the form of natural gas, which is now gushing out of the earth in Transylvania, and which will enable the poor Transylvanians to embark upon many new branches of commerce. The idea of lighting Budapest with this natural gas is now being discussed, and although it may not be done immediately, there is no reason why this scheme should not in time be carried out.
Tornai de Kövër, H. Peeps at Many Lands: Hungary. Adam and Charles Black, 1911.
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