Electrical industry employs about 4000 workers and supplies the needs of the country in that line. Of greater importance is the manufacturing of agricultural implements; seeding machinery is especially exported. Shops are found in central Bohemia and central Moravia and employ 8500 people. About 60,000 people are engaged in producing hardware and similar metal manufactures; metal buttons in particular are exported.
Brewing is a very important Bohemian industry, and the Pilsen beer is known all over the world; 120 malt houses consume 520,000 tons of barley and export 180,000 tons of malt. There are 676 breweries with annual production of 12.6 million hectoliters of beer; they use up 280,000 tons of barley, 4000 tons of hops and employ 20,000 persons. A considerable part of Bohemian beer is exported.
Distilleries employed 14,000 workers and produced before the war 1.5 million hectoliters of alcohol of which more than a half was exported.
Chemical industries proper employ 25,000 people and follow these lines: making of sulphuric acid and artificial fertilizers, 17 plants with 15 lead chambers, capacity of 350,000 tons of sulphuric acid and 350,000 tons of fertilizers; four plants make soda by the Solvay process out of 80,000 tons of salt, supplying not only domestic needs, but leaving a large part for export; four plants import from Germany Strassfurt salt for the making of potash and various potash combinations; two plants make carbide, about 12,000 tons annually, and one of these two converts it into cyanamide. In central Bohemia there is a factory making carborundum. Four plants make explosives, of which the largest is in Bratislava in Slovakia. Matches are manufactured in 20 factories; production is about 50,000 tons a year. There are further 21 coke ovens and many gas houses whch produce tar and ammoniac; 20,000 tons of sulphate of ammonia is produced. Tar is used for making asphalt, benzol, toluol and derivatives. Several smaller plants for the making of drugs and pharmaceutical chemicals may be found in the Republic, and there are excellently equipped factories for the making of pencils, ink, turpentine, oils and India ink, and other plants for making soap, stearin, margarine etc. Oil refineries number ten; they refine from 24 to 30,000 tank carloads, of which only 500 comes from domestic oil wells near Bratislava; all the rest of the crude oil comes from Galicia, Roumania, Caucasus and America. They produce about 6000 carloads of kerosene, also gasoline, parafine, candles etc., and employ 3000 workers.
Flour milling is highly developed. There are many modern mills and several thousand small water mills. They grind 2.2 million tons of wheat and rye and 0.5 million tons of barley. About 45,000 tons of starch is made annually, mostly from potatoes. One of the great Bohemian industries is making of sugar from sugar beet; there are 161 up-to-date sugar mills producing 11 mill. quintals of sugar of which 8 million is exported. Coffee substitutes are made in 40 plants and largely exported, and about 20 establishments make preserves; 10,000 tons of candy and chocolate are manufactured annually.
All over the country are found co-operative creameries, many of which make also cheese; 56,000 tons of butter and 8000 tons of cheese are produced, not enough for domestic consumption.
Fine smoked meats are made in Prague and many Prague hams are exported; the entire packing industry uses in addition to domestic hogs about 1.1 million hogs from neighboring countries. There are also 11 fish curing plants, using fresh fish from the North and Baltic seas.
Manufacture of wood is of considerable importance. Saw mills number 2700; there are 48 large factories for making of furniture, 22 for making of pulp, 63 for making other wood products. The industry gives employment to 60,000 workmen. Boxes, barrels and railroad ties are made in great quantities; there are 3 plants for impregnating ties and telegraph poles. Much unmanufactured lumber was formerly exported to Germany that will now be worked at home. Basketware, brooms and reed furniture employed 15,000 men and were exported to nearly all foreign countries.
Leather manufacturing plants number about 100; some 40 million skins were used, for the most part brought from other countries; 7400 men were employed. Shoemaking was making great strides before the war, the total production being 30 million pair. The Mackay system is generally used, Goodyear, considerably less. Glovemaking was highly developed and was centered in Prague, giving employment to 1500 people; the gloves were mostly exported.
