ich
women and children could be employed were limited. Great power was given to
the administrative authorities to relax the application of these laws in
special cases and special trades. This power was at first freely used, but
it was closely restricted by a further law of 1893. In 1887-1888 laws,
modelled on the new German laws, introduced compulsory insurance against
accidents and sickness. These measures, though severely criticized by the
Opposition, were introduced to remedy obvious, and in some cases terrible
social evils. Other laws to restore gilds among working men had a more
direct political object. Another form of state socialism was the
acquisition of railways by the state. Originally railways had been built by
private enterprise, supported in some cases by a state guarantee; a law of
1877 permitted the acquisition of private lines; when Taaffe retired the
state possessed nearly 5000 m. of railway, not including those which
belonged to Austria and Hungary conjointly. In 1889 a minister of railways
was appointed. In this policy military considerations as well as economic
were of influence. In every department we find the same reaction against
the doctrines of _laissez-faire_. In 1889 for the first time the Austrian
budget showed a surplus, partly the result of the new import duties, partly
due to a reform of taxation.

For a fuller description of these social reforms, see the _Jahrbuch fur
Gesetzgebung_ (Leipzig, 1886, 1888 and 1894); also the annual summary of
new laws in the _Zeitschrift fur Staatswissenschaft_ (Stuttgart). For the
Christian Socialists, see Nitti, _Catholic Socialism_ (London, 1895).

[Sidenote: The language question.]

Meanwhile it was necessary for the government to do something for the
Czechs and the other Slavs, on whose support they depended for their
majority. The influence of the government became more favourable to them in
the matter of language, and this caused the struggle of nationalities to
assume the first place in Austrian public life--a place which it has ever
since maintained. The question of language becomes a political one, so far
as it concerns the use of different languages in the public offices and law
courts, and in the schools. There never was any general law laying down
clear and universal rules, but since the time of Joseph II. German had been
the ordinary language of the government. All laws were published in German;
German was the sole language used in the central