New Britain herald., 1915-12-24
BASIS FOR CLOSER
 ECONOMIC DEALINGS
Trying to Be Found By Germany
 and AuStria-Hungary

portant conferences beteween German
 and Austro- Hungarian politicians ant
 leading representatives of finance anc
 commerce, are now going on il
 Vienna and Berlin, for the purpose o finding a basis for establishing closer
 economic relations between the allied
 empires. Although several meetings
 have already taken place no definite
 results have yet been obtained. The
 industrial and commercial interests o1
 the two countries reached, which will
 prove satisfactory to both sides. And
 so far every conference seems only
 to have discovered new troubles ir
 the way of reaching an agreement
 Austro-Hungarians fear, that just
 es at present they are under the
 domination of Germany in military
 affairs, so later their financial and
 economic independence will also be
 lost before the persistent and power
 full monarch of Germany. The whole | question is one of the most vital im-
 portance for the future welfare of the
 dual monarchy, and excites far more
 interest in the business community 1 than the progress of the war. Agrarfans in Majority. Since the F'ranco-Prussian war Ger l many has become an industrial state while Austria-Hungary has remained ] essentially agricultural. With the ex- ception of Bohemia, Moravia and 1 Lower Austria, which includes Vienna, all the other provinces of Austria are purely agricultural, and Hungary is overwhelmingly so. In both parlia- n1ents at Vienna and Budapest, the egrarians always possess a large ma- jority.
 Nevertheless both politically and nilitarily, closer union between Germany and Austria is generally re- garded as an absolute necessity, and will doubtless continue to be so long after the war is ended. But the problem as to how this is to be brought about is>exceedingly complex.
 High Protective Duties.
 By high protective duties Austria has long maintained an economic existence, independent of Germany, and indeed even opposed to German interests. Tn Austria everything is much dearer than in Germany, from twenty to even fifty per cent. The difference in prices Is especially great in heavy wares, such as coal, iron, steel and machinery. It is only through these protective duties that Austria has managed to develop a growing industry, and prevent the country from being flooded with creap German products. 1 For some years Austria has almost l monopolized the trade in the Balkans | and the Levant, but latterly German | merchants have been creeping in i there and capturing customers. This l has been the case more than ever since the annexation by Austria Hungary of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 in 1909, when both Turkey and Ser 1 bia boycotted Austrian goods The 1 rapidity with which Germany seized the opportunity to enter these mar 1 kets caused intense irritation in Vienna and Budapest at the time. | Nor has this feeling diminished since German trade has steadily grown in Southeastern Europe while Austria's i has as steadily decreased.
 Outcome Is Unforeseen.
 How all these matters will develop nobody can forsee. Undoubtedly l Austria-Hungary is placed under | heavy obligations to Germany for her aid in the war How and in | what form will Germany require pay r1ent for such service? Probably through preferential customs tariffs, or perhaps by customs. union. In either case it is declared Germany stands to gain all the profit and Austria to suffer all the injury For then German wares would swamp Austrian markets, prices generally would be forced down, and Austrian competition for the trade in the Nalkans and Levant would be hope less.
 js %o covert opposition, in nearly all parts of Austria, to Germany's efforts to bring her ally in closer commercial It is feared that eco- homie dependence will surely follow military. For since the war began many things have occurred which in- dicate Germany's aim at bringing Aus r1a-Hungary under her commercial subjection. Only a short time ago the big banks in Berlin sent circulars to the principal Austrian investors in the first and second Austrian war loans, offering to advance them ninety per cent. of the face value of their holdings provided they would use the money for investment in the third loan. The Austrian banks were only advancing seventy-five per cent. of the former loans. Such incidents have created much distrust in the Austrian capital, and shown the necessity for exercising the utmost caution before entering into any new kind of eco- homie arrangements with Germany, which may be fraught with the most serious consequences for the future of the dual monarchy.
 Doubled in Price.
 Shoes have doubled in price in Vienna in the last few rnopths and this largely through the wearing of the short skirt, which calls for higher footwear. It is not that raw ma- terial is scarce at all: there is plenty