Of wax, tallow, horns, glass, bones, pitch, horsehair, buck’s hair, feathers, and other similar products which serve human needs no less than the objects listed above there is nothing further to say beyond this: that seeing the superfluity of the bees, cattle, linen, etc., of which these are the by-products, there can be no shortage of them either. But neither should we forget that very efficent living instrument of human labor, the horse, for which Hungary, above all, is famous, then Bohemia; but there is no shortage in any of the other Provinces – in most, a superfluity, and equally little shortage of other necessary European beasts of burden.
[ . . . ]
Chapter XV
[ . . . ]
[Hörnigk goes on to argue, with some repetition, that there is practically no commodity necessary for human existence in which “Austria” is not self-sufficient and that she could easily do without practically any imports if she would consume her native products instead of running after foreign ones. Neither is it the case that her inhabitants are stupid – many of her products have long enjoyed high reputations. Silesian cloth, in particular (he comes back to this point several times) is bought cheaply by Dutch traders, processed in the Netherlands, and sold back expensively as a Dutch product. These final processes could just as easily be carried out at home, as could the processing of silk.]
It is true, some districts in Austria are more industrious than others; the inhabitants of the wine-growing districts are not only commonly accused of themselves caring more for their own glasses than for work, but within a few years they make the foreign artisans, who are imported like themselves, idlers and good-for-nothings. The beer-producing districts work much harder. And if in some places, as in the flat parts of Bohemia, where the land laughs for abundance of corn and cattle, and where it is worth while producing wine, the industry and application of the inhabitants leave something to be desired, the mountains [of German Bohemia] are, on the other hand, full of stout, hard-working men. In Vienna itself, where indulgence and love of gay living has become, as it were, a general tradition, neither skill nor application would be lacking for manufactures, given only the will, encouragement, and leadership. [ . . . ]
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