Economic Policy of Habsburgs in Transylvania in the mid-nineteenth Century. Significance and Effects of Introducing the Telegraph
Economic Policy of Habsburgs in Transylvania in the mid-nineteenth Century. Significance and Effects of Introducing the Telegraph

Summary/Abstract: This study comes to expand the consideration formulated by the author on the issue of the introduction of telegraph in Transylvania several years ago. Basically, the field of telegraphy, along with that of railways, was one of the most thoroughly regulated industries, as in the majority of cases it was exclusively supported by the State. In this context, the analysis of legislation pertaining to the field may provide examples that show the full extent of the State’s involvement in telegraphy. One can state, in the case of Transylvania too, that in a first phase, the State promoted a legislation that provided the framework for the construction and extension of telegraph lines. A second phase of state interventionism in this direction was characterized by successive measures meant to reduce tariffs and improve service quality, along with other severe measures to protect lines through heavy punishment against attempts to destroy the lines, manipulate messages improperly or disregard the secrecy of correspondence, etc. On the background outlined above, Transylvania was also connected to the telegraph network of the Habsburg Monarchy. The introduction of the telegraph in Transylvania was firstly determined by administrative necessities and, at a secondary level, by economic considerations. Therefore, examining the significance of economic policies of the Austrian State in Transylvania in the period 1850-1867, one notices that at this level, just as in the case of other indicators under study, the State acted through an interventionist policy manifested, as in the field of legislation, directly and effectively in a domain that produced concrete effects at the level of administrative and economic life, measurable at various levels.

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