Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 42. (1992)
NAUTZ, Jürgen: Österreichische Überlegungen zur wirtschaftlichen Integration Europas und zum europäischen Machtgleichgewicht. Die wirtschaftspolitischen Arbeiten Richard Schüllers im amerikanischen Exil 1943–1950
EDITION after the dismemberment of this unit, each country surrounded itself by a tariff wall and began to produce many commodities which it formerly bought from its neighbors. Austria, whose sugar consumption had been supplied by the sugar industry of Bohemia and Moravia, cultivated more and more sugar beets and created refineries covering her whole consumption. Austrian spinning mills had been complementary to Czechoslovakia weaving firms, but now Austria made her own cotton, woolen and silk goods and Czechoslovakia stopped buying yarns in Austria. The same process went on in the machinery industry, in chemicals and many other industries. At the same time Austria increased her agricultural production over the pre-war level and reduced her imports of foodstuffs from Hungary and Eastern Europe. The production of milk, butter and cheese became large enough not only to supply the Austrian demand, but to create a surplus which had to be exported. Austria replaced the greater part of the imports of cattle. Vienna, which had been the most important market for Hungarian flour, admitted only rapidly decreasing quantities, though Austria had still to import about 300.000 tons of wheat. The expansion of the agricultural production became possible because Austria protected her market by high tariffs and by other restrictions. Wheat prices were kept stable at almost two dollars a bushel and a similar price level was maintained for other foodstuffs. The total value of Austria’s food imports fell from 200 million dollars in 1924 to 80 million dollars in 1937. In 1924 Hungary’s exports to Austria amounted to more than 80 million dollars, while in 1937 she sold less than 27 millions. And Austria’s industrial protectionism reduced Czechoslovakia’s exports to Austria from 160 million dollars in 1924 to 32 millions in 1937. On the other hand, Austria’s exports suffered under the protectionism of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In 1924 Austria exported 35 million dollars to Hungary, in 1937 22 millions. And in the same period Austria’s exports to Czechoslovakia decreased from 44 to 17 million dollars. Twenty to forty percent of the industrial workers were unemployed because Austria could not find sufficient markets for her industrial exports. She concluded many trade agreements with her neighbors but these agreements could not stop the decrease of the reciprocal trade, since Austria as well as her neighbors continued their protectionist policy. In the twenty years after the first world war, Czechoslovakia increased the production of wheat by more than 50%, rye by about 78%, potatoes by nearly 50%. Pigs went up from 2 to 3,2 millions and only sugar beets diminished. Some industries were newly erected or expanded: automobiles, aeroplanes, arms, electrical machinery, rubber goods, shoes, arti- fical silk, luxury articles. But many industries could not be maintained 353
