Schwegel to To the envoy extraordinary and, December 23, 1879

The Vienna Foreign Office to Mr. Kasson.

In response to the esteemed note of the 25th of last month, the imperial and royal ministry of foreign affairs has the honor to communicate to the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, Mr. John A. Kasson, the following preliminary information, obtained from the imperial and royal ministry of the interior, about the river regulations and other works which are designed to improve the navigation of the Danube and its tributaries in the Austrian part of the empire.

I. The systematic and permanent works for regulation of the river Danube between the Bavarian and the Hungarian frontier, a course of 377.335 kilometers in length, have only been commenced in 1850, and have, therefore, up to the end of 1879, continued for fully thirty years. These, aiming at closing the existing old lateral arms of the Danube, and at giving to the river an equal normal breadth, according to its nature, by concentrating the stream through means of embankments (erected along the side of the river), have not yet been completed, and will have to be continued for many years to come.

II. These expenses, exclusively defrayed by the State, including those for the regulation of the Danube Canal, amount to 14,750,000 florins in the stated period of thirty years.

For the improvement of the Danube near Vienna, a special undertaking of concurring interests, an amount of 30,600,000 florins has been granted, of which each of the three jurisdictions, state, province, and the municipality of Vienna, has undertaken to defray one-third. Including this last sum, the works for the regulation of the Danube would amount to a total of 45,350,000 florins.

In the 14,750,000 florins borne by the state alone are also included those sums expended in 1854 and 1855 for the improvement of the Danube at the so-called “Whirlpool” and “Eddy” (Strudel and Wirbel) by blasting rocks which impeded both ship and raft navigation, the same amounting to 396,000 florins.

III. Excepting the river Danube, the only works executed by the State for improving the rivers of Upper Austria are those for facilitating navigation on the Inn, the Salzach, and the Traun, whilst it expends smaller sums for improving raft navigation on the inferior streams Enns, Agger, and Vokla.

IV. Upon these rivers, during the above-mentioned period of thirty years, the sum of 960,000 florins was expended on the Inn from the mouth of the Salzach to the Austro-Bavarian frontier, a distance of 70.170 kilometers; 610,000 florins for the Salzach, a distance of 36.412 kilometers; and 1,800,000 florins for the Trannfrom Gmunden to the Danube, a distance of 73.963 kilometers, whilst 210,000 florins were spent in improving the Enns, 790,000 florins in regulating the Agger and the Vökla. As to the works for regulation of the Inn, which river represents the frontier between Austria and Bavaria, they have, according to convention, been executed in common with the Royal Bavarian Government, so that the improvements on the right bank have been defrayed by Austria, those on the left bank by Bavaria.

V. According to the observations made during the period since the completion of the river regulation works, especially of those on the Danube, it may be regarded as certain that the improvement of the river has occasioned an essential amelioration of the character of the stream, and very essential increase of facility in river traffic has been produced, so that towing navigation could be introduced without delay, and has been successfully carried on between Vienna and the Hungarian frontier at Theben. These improved conditions of navigation must, doubtless, have occasioned a diminution in the cost of the transportation of goods by water. We will later be enabled to communicate this in statistical form.

VI. As mentioned above, the Danube regulation works in Upper and Lower Austria, down to the Hungarian frontier at Theben, have not been ended. The completion of the improvements yet necessary for the furtherance of the navigation depends on the yearly appropriation. How large a sum will be required can, of course, not be stated at present with any degree of accuracy. Still, from the experience hitherto gained at the works for the regulation of the Danube, the conclusion has been drawn that to complete the Danube regulation works in Lower and Upper Austria according to the system now in use—that is, the prosecution of the works in the not yet regulated parts of the river and the completion of the works not yet finished—a further sum may be required, which may considerably exceed the amount of about 15,000,000 florins expended during the last thirty years.

The not yet received exposé of the Hungarian Government, as well as statistics concerning the reduction of rates of transportation occasioned by improving the river, for which the ministry of foreign affairs has applied to the Danube Steamship Navigation Company, will, as soon as obtained, be communicated without delay.

The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to the minister the assurance of his distinguished consideration.