Of the
thousands of settlers who came from the Empire, a large number founded
commercial enterprises. There were no merchants among them. Each one of the
villages also only had a "Gewölb" (vault) which was the property of the rulers.
In the past century trade in Feketitsch was almost exclusively in the hands of
the Jews, the lively exchange business took place. The number of professional
educated merchants first grew from our ranks since the turn of the century. In
the same crowd the ranks of the non-Aryan merchants thinned and today there are
hardly any Jews in the German quarter of the old established places. Next to
our German merchants the others are only second rank.
Since the
World War I the shops have also become specialized. The predominant manufacturing
businesses are: Jakob Dietrich, P. Frieß, Phil. Hoffmann, Georg Kern;
haberdashery: H. Frieß and Stephen Haumann; spice and delicatessen business:
Phil Seibert; spice runs: Daniel Gieße and P. Scheer; iron wares: Jak. Butscher
and Phil. Schwebler; watchmaker and jewelry shops: Karl Seibert; lumber yard:
Johann Schwebler. Besides that there is a warehouse of finished men's clothing
of the Tivar Company, and a shoe store of the Bata Company. Many of the
businesses mentioned exceeded by far the size of the village general store and
can be compared to the urban stores. The entrance show windows are arranged in
the most modern way. The photo studio of the couple Josef Knefeli and his wife
is arranged in the most modern way. The photographs produced could not have
been made better.
A large part
of the trade was done at our weekly market. This took place each Sunday and it
is the largest in the area. This fact can be attributed to a lot of dairy lands
on the "Hotters" (pastures) from Srbobran, St. Becej, Mol, Petrovoselo, and
there were also smaller settlements (such as Kutas Brasilien, Kevi, Moholer
Valley, Gunarasch, and others), which are next to our community. Constant
visitors to our weekly market are the inhabitants of Sekitsch and Mali Idjosch.
Also the communities of Vrbas, Kula, Topola, and Bajscha are represented.
Especially active are the trades in vegetables, poultry, eggs, milk products,
meat, fruit, grain, and products of the commercial businesses. A dozen "Olcsos"
are also a part of the scene at the market since the end of the war. It is
these Bosnians who carry their whole general store in a pile from market to
market. Germans called these "the cheap articles." They are a piece of the
Orient. Especially large are the weekly markets before Christmas and Easter
where the "Lebzelterstände"? (tents) take up a large part of the room. Two or
three decades ago the quetsch (plum) and cabbage markets were especially large.
Five or six years ago a second weekly market took place each Wednesday. This
idea however did not meet with approval, so it remained with one weekly market.
The weekly market took place before the community house and reached up into the
neighboring streets. The pig market is a part of this weekly market and wound
up on the site of the weekly market.
Our annual
market is the oldest and largest in the Batschka. Formerly there were two
annual markets, one on the second Sunday in May and the other at the end of
October. The latter occurred together with Kirchweih. Since 1930 Feketitsch
has also had a third annual market which falls on the 15th of August. This
third annual market proved to be very reliable. Thirty years ago the market
lasted two days. No vendors moved as long as they were at this place. Even on
Thursday one could still buy his purchases and on Saturday the "Vormarkt"?
(market) was in full swing. At the same time the school children had four days
off from school and could enjoy themselves the whole time at the market which
offered a merry-go-round, a circus, and magicians. At the scene of the market
there were roast chestnuts which in turn had been drawn up into the village.
Without "gebrodne Käschte" (roasted chestnuts) there was no Kirchweih market.
The alms offerings, fruit to Vrbas, Kula, and Crvenka where large warehouses for the
grain businesses existed on the canal, which their buyer had for the most part a
"Rasierer" (shaver) go around the village of Feketitsch. There were also grain
dealers in this place in the early days and it was these Jews who were already
rich 25-30 years ago and moved to the city. Today they occupy themselves as
grain buyers except for the two mills, the Agraria, Gottfried Gerber, the
representative of a Novi Sad company and Adam Leibesberger as the representative
of a Vrbas company.
The Schwebler-Gutwein
mill
With the
grain growing the mill industry limited itself to "Mautmahlen" (toll
meals/grinding?) in the past hundred years. It is recorded that in the southern
end of the village a water mill existed, and besides that there were numerous
windmills and horse mills. They were only allowed to stand at the edge of the
village. Their former positions gave an exact picture of the settlement of the
community. G. Schladt built the first steam mill in Feketitsch starting in the
'90's, which burnt to the ground in 1901. Since 1904 the steam mill industry
has been principally in the Christian Welker family except for a six year
interruption. Master blacksmith Christian Welker built the still standing steam
mill on swamp land in 1904. From a modest beginning, one of the best known
enterprises in the area developed itself through great joy of working and
quality achievement.
Windmill
Thanks to
the gravel road which led to the train station, they could also develop a lively
export business with meal. In 1935 this mill was bought by the Zuschlag and
Gutwein Company. The daily accomplishment is 100 q of wheat and employs 12 to
15 people. In the same year a newly built steam mill of the Schwebler Brothers
and Gutwein Company was set in use. This steam mill has the ability to
accomplish 50 q of wheat in 12 hours and employs 12 workers. The consistency
of the meal is first rate, which the wheat on the Teleschka has considerably
more adhesive content than the low lying regions of the Batschka. Next to these
two steam mills there are only the two windmills of the Kolter family, which are
mainly provided with coarse meal and thanks to their small cost of operations
the competition could keep.
The Zuschlag and Gutwein
Mill
Fil. Freund,
Nik. Gutwein, and the widow of H. Scheuermann were employed with the consumption
of all meal production. Of the many
horse mills the last one that was running was that of Georg Ziegler in 1914. There were
also several oil mills. In 1860 when kerosene was first commercially used, it
quickly took the place of oil. The last oil mill in use was employed by Johann
Hellermann in 1885.
Of the
industry plants hemp was always planted in small amounts. In the 1890's Johann
Hellermann had a hemp grinding and gossiping business in house number 250. The
operation was bought by blacksmith Christian Welker at the end of the 90's and a
new hemp grinding and gossiping business was opened at house number 190.
Horsepower was used. The building resembled a horse mill. Unfortunately before
long the opportunity was lost, a hemp factory was established, or it was more
favorable to make one possible. It gave many families the opportunity to work
and hemp cultivation was in great demand. - Of the industry plants sugar beets
and sunflowers were still grown and delivered to the factories in Vrbas. Also,
some families bred silkworms.
Tens years
ago hops production gained momentum. Shortly after followed a decline in prices
so this plant disappeared from our pastures. Of course the beautiful hops kiln
of Georg Bittlingmayer still exists.
The products
of Philipp Wagner's furniture factory on display since 1927 in Vrbas have
generally been appreciated. In 1931 the display of the Kulaer Company won first
prize. The company produced, thanks to their modern mechanized business, the
most sturdy goods.
The knitting
company of David Kern and Son worked with the most modern machines and delivered
to several department stores in Vojvodina.
The
brickworks of the Feketitsch township is presently leased by Jakob Gutwein and
he paid 58,000 bricks for it. In 1935 he produced more than half a million
bricks. Formerly bricks were burned in the so-called field oven as one liked,
today one such kind of production is covered with high taxes. At the edge of
the Telschka mudstone was formerly produced everywhere. This is still often
done today.
Milk
processing was already often tried. From 1900-1904 Philipp Wagner and
Christian Welker had a well-equipped dairy with steam activity in number 216.
The ownership of this dairy with its 4 horsepower "Stabil" motor performing was
passed on to Philipp Wagner and moved to house number 1100 and was set up to use
electricity. The milk basin and the cheese kettle held 500 liters each. Each
day, of the 1000 liters of milk processed, 60-100 kilograms of butter was
manufactured. The milk was taken over in the morning and in the evening. The
products found in the German, Vienna, Budapest, and Seged markets sold well. In
1913 Subotica opened its own business where the consumption of goods took over.
During the World War the company delivered 300-400 liters of milk a day to the
(k and k?) military hospital in Subotica. After the war the business was set
up. Later J. Dohn tried it as well as another with the dairy. But it always
quickly failed to sell.
Filipp Wagner's
carpentry shop
World War
the company delivered 300-400 liters of milk a day to the (k and k?) military
hospital in Subotica. After the war the business was set up. Later J. Dohn
tried it as well as another with the dairy. But it always quickly failed to
sell.
A matchstick
factory also existed in Feketitsch from 1890 to 1900. It was joined by Philipp
Pfaff, Heinrich Dinges, and Philipp Wagner and produced sulphur sticks with
homemade machines, which were enclosed in paper boxes they produced themselves.
Everything was produced by hand. But already after a year the factory moved to
house number 102 where a proper business was opened which was favorable to the
tax authorities. The proprietors were Philipp Wagner, Johann Schwebler, Philipp
Spengel, and Wilhelm Höckel. The machines were from Vienna-Neustadt. Ten
workers were permanently employed which produced 1 million sulfur and "Krach"
sticks (firecrackers?) daily. The chimney rose 5 to 6 meters in height. The
driver brought the matchsticks to Vrbas, Kisker, Altker, Schowe, and mainly to
Subotica. After this factory was first set up in business, the Vrbas factory
was erected.
In 1906
Georg Deck, married to Margareta Gutwein, erected the first large locksmith shop
connected to an iron foundry. The company produced thresh boxes and made
grenade pods here during the war years. The company existed until 1925.
The soda
water manufacturer has been Ludwig Keiper for 30 years, who in his old age
(80's), with (beschmäden?) liveliness drove his soda water wagon around here.
Before that Jakob Gutwein and before him Georg Mandel manufactured soda water.
The 15
artesian wells were kept in working order by the A. Leibersperger Company
because they must often be washed out when a layer of sand collapsed. He
drilled 9 artesian wells in Feketitsch, 2 in Sekitsch, and 5 in Pacir at a depth
of 40-60 meters. The development costs for such a well comes to 2500 Dinar
today. The artesian well in front of Schmidt's guesthouse which delivers 140
liters of water a minute is 37 meters deep. Because of this amount of water
there was a pipe 1 meter above the ground through which this amount of water
flowed down with a 70 liter per minute pressure.
In 1911 a
community committee began to advise on the question of the introduction of
electrical lighting. The 3 communities of Feketitsch, Sekitsch, and Mali
Idjosch concluded a contract to the owner of the first Sekitsch steam mill at
the time and gave him the concession for the delivery of electric current. This
contract is generally still valid today. The central office obliges itself to
#1. deliver current to every "Reflectant?" who lives no farther than 100 meters
from the existing electric main. - The price of this current was 6 Heller.
Today it is 7 Dinar and a 70 "Para" tax fee. Industry current was 4.50 Heller.
Today it is 5 Dinar.
According to
#7 the consumer can agree on a flat rate fee with the contractor. This arrives
in central office, so the consumer can no longer be stopped to the fixing of an
hour yet the central office has little control to demand a rental fee for a
fixed hour.
From the
appendix of the contract comes the fact that the concession runs for 50 years
from the 10th of December 1912.
#4. The
coverage may not show any fluctuation over 4%. For this purpose a precision
voltmeter is set up in the community house. Unfortunately its control is hardly
worth mentioning. Through the faulty controls the community and individual
defects could grow.
According to
#6. the current is switched on to customers 24 hours sooner.
#13 was
supplemented on the 13th of January 1913 and consequently 75 lights burned
throughout the night on the street while 75 others only burned half of the
night. The light must be 32 candles strong.
#14. The
community pays a 3000 Kronen flat rate a year. A ban must be placed on the
central work that the central office may neither be sold nor can it be
burdened. The central office still has a deposit to pay.
According to
#18 the buildings of the community get the current for about half price. The
central office together with the machines must be insured against fire damage at
some cost favorable to the community. The community of Sekitsch has the policy
for safekeeping.
According to
#27 a 10 Heller fine is to be paid for each non-burning street light, even if it
switches on later or switches off earlier.
#28 means if
the street light loses 30% of its strength, central office has to replace this,
otherwise 50 Heller is to be taken off of the deposit daily.
#25 means
that the contract can be cancelled after 25 years if the income paid doubles in
a year, after 35 years the whole gross income will, after 40 years half of the
income as the proceeds claimed. After 50 years the contract is expired without
cancellation and the ownership of the equipment together with the machines goes
over to the three communities.
The workers
must be taken from the ranks of the village inhabitants, otherwise fines are to
be expected.
Today there
are 500 homes in which electric light has been introduced. With this number
Feketitsch stands in last place of the three communities.
Cottage
industries: Formerly there was no house where the womenfolk had not kept some
spinning wheels in business. Also a loom could be found in most homes. There
were homemade underwear and dresses. Today they occupy themselves with spinning
and weaving only very little.
During the
long winter months several occupy themselves with binding room and yard brooms,
or finishing baking baskets such as reed or clay baskets. Many did not earn
anything with it, but at least some Dinar are received in the house during the
unemployed winter months.
