pally achieved his fame. In 1883 he
was appointed secretary to the ministry of ways and communications. Baross,
who had prepared himself for quite another career, and had only become
acquainted with the civilized West at the time of the Composition of 1867,
mastered, in an incredibly short time, the details of this difficult
department. His zeal, conscientiousness and energy were so universally
recognized, that on the retirement of Gabor Kemeny, in 1886, he was
appointed minister of ways and communications. He devoted himself
especially to the development of the national railways, and the gigantic
network of the Austro-Hungarian railway system and its unification is
mainly his work. But his most original creation in this respect was the
zone system, which immensely facilitated and cheapened the circulation of
all wares and produce, and brought the remotest districts into direct
communication with the central point at Budapest. The amalgamation of the
ministry of commerce with the ministry of ways in 1889 further enabled
Baross to realize his great idea of making the trade of Hungary independent
of foreign influences, of increasing the commercial productiveness of the
kingdom and of gaining every possible advantage for her export trade by a
revision of tolls. This patriotic policy provoked loud protests both from
Austria and Germany at the conference of Vienna in 1890, and Baross was
obliged somewhat to modify his system. This was by no means the only
instance in which his commercial policy was attacked and even hampered by
foreign courts. But wherever he was allowed a free hand he introduced
epoch-making reforms in all the branches of his department, including
posts, telegraphs, &c. A man of such strength of character was not to be
turned from his course by any amount of opposition, and he rather enjoyed
to be alluded to as "the iron-handed minister." The crowning point of his
railway policy was the regulation of the Danube at the hitherto impassable
Iron-Gates Rapids by the construction of canals, which opened up the
eastern trade to Hungary and was an event of international importance. It
was while inspecting his work there in March 1892 that he caught a chill,
from which he died on the 8th of May. The day of his burial was a day of
national mourning, and rightly so, for Baross had dedicated his whole time
and genius to the promotion of his country's prosperity.

See Laszlo Petrovics, _Biography of Gabriel Baross_ (Hung