Budujme stat pro 40 000 000 lidi Bata, Jan Antonin Economics and Business,European History,Illustrated Books

158 & [6] pages; Publisher's linen with a 3D representation of a map of Czechoslovakia on the front cover and printed lettering in red. There are two maps of the pre-war version of Czechoslovakia taking up both paste-down and free-endpapers, front and rear. Color illustrations throughout. This visually jazzy, and now-rare book is written entirely in Czech. It's title translates to "Building a state for 40 000 000 people." It is impressive and exciting, a visionary book written by Jan Antonín Bata -- first published in 1937 in Zlin, Czechoslovakia. Due to the sweep and commercial importance of the world-reknowned shoe manufacturing company which bore his name -- the author, J. A. Bata, would have been known to all Czechs, and most Europeans in 1937. He was the younger half-brother of the founder of the Bata company, Tomas Bata, who died in a crash of his company's private airplane in 1932. The Bata shoe company was a world colossus by the time of the founder's death; Jan Antoni n Bata was well underway to making it vastly larger and more productive by the time his book was published in 1937. His vision encompassed more than just commercial plans for world domination by the Bata shoe company; indeed, he wanted to outline a way forward for his fellow countrymen. He envisioned a way to ensure that Czechoslovakia would take a place of outsized importance in modern Europe. The population figure specified in the subtitle of this work -- "pro 40 000 000 lidi " was well over twice the population of Czechoslovakia in 1937. It was Bata's notion that his country could attain an even higher level in the arenas of economics, manufacture and transport. Feeding a huge gain in population might be achieved, Bata thought, by adopting of better methods of mining minerals, agriculture production, and expanding crafts and trade. To achieve all this, Bata proposed building a wholely new transport infrastructure in the areas of shipping, air and motor transport. This last aspect is crucial to Bata's visionary plan -- as graphically illustrated on the outline's of (pre-war) Czechoslovakia on the binding's front cover and the vivid, colored endpapers. Bata thought that the crucial key to his plan was connecting two contrasting ends of his long and narrow country. He conceived that the western part (Czech Ceskáand, Moravian-Silesian countries) would be an industrial base, and the eastern (SlovenskoSlovakia and Subcarpathian ethnic Russians) would be based on mining and other raw material. Modernized unified infrastructure was to ensure the effective connection between the regions at either end of Czechoslovakia -- forming an effective bridge the geographical and historical regions of the Czechoslovak state and thus make it a unified economic unit. Bata proposed the construction of a network of roads, including a superhighway "spine" for the country, a system of canals and river connections to connect and take advantage of Czechoslovakia's position between three seas, and a system of airports, to be built by the state. Furthermore, the telephone and telegraph network should be significantly expanded. Telephone services were to be available continuously even in smaller cities (day and night). Radio, and the telex for foreign business and governmental communications was also to be extended. Jan Bata can not be criticised for limiting his vision in any practical sense. This book asks questions on his behalf: In developing the airlines, why not have a Czechoslovak line to China and Japan? Why not the Czechoslovak line to Cape Town? Why not the Czechoslovak line to North or South America? Bata also gives descriptive and prescriptive recommendations for the sort of government which would help make all this possible. And all this is conveyed by means of vivid and colorful illustrations on almost every page. Bata's vision for a new, modern life for Europe (and the rest of the world) is still impressive on the page. The automobiles shown are streamlined in what