The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1921-06-17

SiS'NN 49, ~
prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington, ID. Co.
CZechoSlovakia, which has recently
lifted a ban against the importation
of American cotton, may thus become
one of the first of the Central Euro
pean countries to start in motion the
stream Of products between America
and that portion of the world.
Because 1t is q cOlorful country with
quaint people and customs and cos
tunes, observers have often written
almost exclusively Of these phases of
life in the new nation. But it is also
industrially Of great Importance. This
is especially true of the Czech part,
which is usually called Bohemia. 1t
was the workshop of Austria-Hungary.
If you saw an Austrian velour hat on
Broadway or an AuStrian-made
Turkish fez beside the Golden Horn,
the chances were four to one that it
was produced in what is now CzechO-
SlOvakia since four-ffths Of the in
duStrieS of the former Hapsburg
monarchy were concentrated there.
Textiles formed the largest group of
prewar industrial products, and made
the country an important customer
for the cotton exported from our
southern states. 1t is estimated that
about one million bales Of cotton are
required each year to keep the CZechO-
SlOvakian textile factories busy.
The textile industry is centered at
Bradshaw. which is CzechOslovakia's
main port on the Danube, to which
vessels of a thousand tons can come
at all seasons. In spite of the financial
difficulties Of Central Europe a
market for the finished product seems
assured. Every country in Central
Europe needs textiles.
Skoda Works Transformed.
The great Skoda munition works at
Pilsen, the main source Of AustrO-
Hungarian war materials, were as
famous in their way as the Krupp
factories at Essen, Germany. They are
still fully capable of making some Of
the most powerful of war engines,
but in these days of peace for Czecho-
slovakia there has been a striking
Transformation. While guns and
swords are not literally being beaten
into plowshares, the machinery which
has turned out every variety of
ordnance in the past is now busily
engaged in making tools, locomotives,
car wheels, printing presses, and
various other implements Of industry,
transportation. and enlightenment.
Bohemia is known, too, for its glass.
One Of the important centers of glass
factories is what a younger genera
ton of geography students were taught
to call Carlsbad, one of the worlds
best known watering places. The
towns new CzechOslovakian name is
Karlovy Vary, a change which to the
outsider seems very much like the
deliberate destruction Of q valuable
trademark. CZechoslovakian glass is
best known, perhaps, by two special
products, the sO-called amethyst glass
and emerald glass.
Sugar, Beer and Water.
In the northern portion Of the re-
public, near large fields Of sugar beets,
are located numerous sugar factories
which turn out large quantities of this
product. Before the war about $780,
OOO,O 900 worth Of sugar was sent out
annually from the territory which row
constitutes Czechoslovakia. One Of
the most recent suggestions for facilss-
tating the export Of American cotton
to CzechOsl0vakia is that sugar from
that country be exchanged for the
cotton.
2'he name alone Of Pilsen (nOw
Plzen) tells in part the story Of
another important industry Of Czecho-
slOvakia. 1t Is the raising Of hops,
the preparation of malt and the brew
ing of the famous Pilsner and other
beers. Both the raw materials and
the finished products have always been
exported in large quantities. An
industry that may seem in a way a
striking contrast to that Of brewing,
Is the sale Of waters from the famed
springs of the new republic. BOttling
mineral water may not sound like a
big industry but the mineral waters
OF the Bohemian and Moravian health
resorts are widely sold. One peculiar
thing IN travelling in Europe Is that
on the restaurant cars one Is forced