Chapter 246 Economic Development
Overseas colonization is never easy, especially for a new colonial empire like Austria, there is so much to learn.
The African continent in this era is not a good place. The most terrible enemy is not the local indigenous people, but the harsh natural environment.
The infestation of poisonous insects and beasts and the ravaging of diseases are the core factors that restrict the colonization of the African continent by countries.
Frankly speaking, if it wasn't for the breakthrough in the production technology of quinine, the big problem of dysentery was initially solved, and Franz would not dare to venture into the African continent.
For the sake of safety, all Austrian soldiers are receiving health education, personal hygiene and camp hygiene must be carried out in strict accordance with the standards.
Even in order to avoid contracting local diseases, Franz even issued masks, and the soldiers were warned not to have casual contact with the natives, and it was even forbidden to have sex with the natives, and marriage did not exist.
Franz can't help but ignore it. There is no shortage of people with strong tastes at all times, not to mention in the military camp. Fortunately, there should be more young women in this batch of immigrants, which can solve this problem.
After more than three months of preparation, on April 28, 1854, the first Austrian colonial advance team set off from the port of Trieste.
With two second-level battleships as the core, five cruisers, plus more than ten auxiliary ships of various sizes, took an infantry regiment into the first step of colonization, the goal - Guinea.
The opponents this time are indigenous tribes. The navy is only equivalent to a training session. Maybe they will also fight canoe-level enemies, mainly the army.
Originally, Franz was planning to form the Marine Corps, but as a result, he was opposed by the Army and Navy. The Army was unwilling to weaken their right to speak in colonial activities, and the Navy simply could not afford it.
It's no joke, Austria's navy is really inadequate. If you want to increase funds, you must first prove the value of your own existence.
Politics is often such a reality, how much value will be allocated.
If overseas colonies can bring a lot of profits to the empire, then the navy can also change from stepmother to son.
Franz has no opinion. This is the most rational approach. Without sufficient benefits, expanding the navy rashly is a complete waste of resources.
Instead, it is better to invest precious funds in domestic economic construction. Although the domestic economic boom has not dissipated, railway stocks are about to skyrocket with the opening of several main lines.
If it wasn't for Franz's insistence on prohibiting the repeated construction of railways, Austria's railways would have learned from Britain and the United States and began to repeat the construction.
Of course, it is precisely because a railway line is only authorized to one company that it is so popular with capital. What is the most profitable in this era, of course, is the monopoly operation.
With this kind of good news, the government has forced a few unpopular routes to be added to the high-quality routes, and everyone can accept it.
In order to attract foreign investment, the charging standards for railway transportation are all determined by the market freely. Franz is not worried at all about whether the price will rise to the sky.
Under the environment of market economy, it is definitely determined by the market, the price level in society is determined by the relationship between supply and demand, and the level of railway freight is definitely determined by the maximization of interests.
Capitalists naturally know the trade-offs. Now that railways have just come out to compete with traditional means of transportation, if there is no price advantage, how can they grab customers?
It can save cost and time compared with traditional means of transportation, that is progress. Because the freight is too high, it may affect the circulation of goods. We have to wait until the railway construction is completed.
Now all Austrian railway companies are in a state of pure investment. Although the main lines that have been opened to traffic are busy and profitable, they are also a drop in the bucket.
These profits have been invested by the railway company into the construction of the new railway line. Franz is very clear that several railway companies in Austria have never shared a profit from their establishment to the present.
No one has ever made a profit, so can they lower the price? If it is done, it is estimated that the railway, which is still popular, will soon become unpopular.
At this time, of course, the Vienna government will not come out to hinder them. The promise of ten years of tax exemption has been fulfilled. The government does not charge any fees, which is to encourage everyone to continue to build railways.
"Time is life and time is money."
This slogan has become the motto of all Austrian railway executives. The earlier it is put into production and opened to traffic, the earlier you will get benefits.
Up to now, all routes opened to traffic in Austria have not disappointed everyone. In the context of free pricing, there are no loss-making routes, which greatly stimulates the nerves of some people.
I don't know how many Anglo-French capitalists want to control the Austrian railway network and run a monopoly. Then I jumped into the wonderful fantasy prepared by Franz, and shattered myself.
Profits really make people lost, and everyone is frantically building railway lines. Many people seem to think that now is the time to staking a horse, occupying one more railway line will bring more stable income in the future.
Anyway, there is no such thing as a railway bubble, and with the addition of monopoly operations, no one thinks that there will be losses.
In this context, Franz, who monopolized the supply of sand and gravel raw materials, naturally made a fortune. It is expected that by the end of this year, the total railway mileage in Austria will exceed 10,000 kilometers.
At the beginning of Franz's succession, the railways in Austria combined were less than 3,000 kilometers, and on average, more than 1,400 kilometers were completed every year.
In this era, only
Americans on the other side of the ocean can compare. Like Austria, the United States has also experienced a boom in railway investment, but because Austria has diverted some of its funds, it is not as crazy as it has been in history.
The railway mileage of the entire New Holy Roman Empire is more than 12,000 kilometers, and yes, the railway mileage of the small German states exceeds 2,000 kilometers.
It cannot be said to be crazy. In history, the most active railway construction in this era is the German region. In 1850, the total railway mileage in the German region reached 5,856 kilometers, more than twice that of Austria in the same period.
If it wasn't for Franz who promoted the construction of the Austrian railway, the fastest railway construction in Europe is now the German region, and only the French can match them.
Of course, this is only France in the era of Napoleon III. In 1854, the total mileage of the German regional railway was more than 3,000 kilometers longer than that of France.
Since 1854, the French railway has grown rapidly. During the Franco-Prussian War, the total length of the railway between France and Germany was only a few hundred kilometers apart.
Among the major European powers, the slowest railway construction was the Russians. Because of the war in the Near East, their railway construction almost stopped, and it was only 1626 kilometers in 1860.
It can be called the shame of the foreign powers. Belgium and Spain have more than them. At the same time, Britain, France and Germany have exceeded 10,000. They are not of the same order at all.
As the land area became larger, the original railway network plan naturally also became larger. This does not require the government to promote, the private railway companies have spontaneously acted to staking the field.
The Austrian railway line tender is very interesting, that is, the sooner the construction starts, the earlier the completion time, the easier it is to win the bid.
Anyway, the railway lines are authorized free of charge. The railway company must start and complete the construction within the promised time limit. If the time limit is exceeded, a fine will be imposed. In serious cases, the government has the right to take back the right to build the road, and there will be rewards for early completion.
The test is everyone's capital chain. Franz did not play any tricks. As long as the railway company operates well and can complete the project on time, there is no problem.
Once the capital chain breaks, it will be miserable. If the construction has not started, it will be fine. The big deal is to pay a fine and return the unbuilt railway line.
If construction has already started, or even most of the project has been completed, but there is no funding to support the half-stop construction, it will be a big loss.
All the investment was wasted, and the government took over the unfinished project and continued the construction. Whether the railway company went bankrupt and reorganized, or died outright, was out of Franz's consideration.
Anyway, it was a conspiracy, and it was placed in front of everyone in a dignified manner. It was not the government that deliberately tricked people.
All these risks, under the temptation of monopoly, everyone still rushed forward regardless of their health. British and French capital came in, as did Austrian local capital, and speculators were scrambling to get a piece of the pie.
Because the government provides free labor, the cost of Austrian railway construction has been artificially reduced in this era. On the surface, it seems that the financial statements of various railway companies are very good-looking.
It can be said that Franz was also heartbroken for Austrian railway construction. It won't work without speeding up, because the new economic crisis is a few years away.
If it is not possible to use foreign capital to promote domestic railway construction during the economic boom, the economic crisis will break out, the railway bubble will be detonated, and the final unfinished project can only be taken over by the Austrian government.
How bad is Austria's bubble economy? No one has given Franz an answer to this question, but one thing can be seen, that is, the rate of economic growth.
If a commodity worth 100 dongs is fired to 1,000 dongs, then the wealth will increase by 900 dongs invisibly, even if the market can accept it. The nine hundred guilders were evaporated.
This is the reason why so much wealth can be evaporated overnight in the economic crisis. In essence, the bubble has been burst, allowing the market to return to rationality. It's just that because of the relationship between supply and demand, the final commodity often falls below its own value.
Now Austria's economy is growing very fast. In fact, even if all industries in Austria are stopped, relying on the bubble in the stock market alone, the economy will grow by at least one point every year.
This era is different from later generations. The government's administrative means intervened in the market economy and avoided the outbreak of a major economic crisis.
At present, the market economy is completely allowed to develop naturally. On average, a small economic crisis occurs every seven or eight years, and a major economic crisis occurs every few decades.
Every time a crisis breaks out, the total industrial volume tends to drop by 20 to 30 points, and it is not impossible for it to drop by 40 to 50 percent.
Anyway, the bigger the bubble, the more violent the final decline, and the more rapid the economic growth in the early stage, which is a bit like a roller coaster.
In 1854, the total mileage of railways under construction in the New Holy Roman Empire was as high as 23,000 kilometers, and the situation of blind investment in railways was already very serious.
However, Franz didn't mean to stop it, but was going to push it again, trying to make the market hotter.
The explosive economic development model is always addicting. All walks of life in Austria are growing explosively. Since the outbreak of the Near East War, the average annual industrial growth rate has exceeded 15%, and the economic growth rate has also exceeded 10%.
If there is no midway westward strategy, this figure may be a point or two higher. Rationality has long since disappeared, the market has gone crazy, and it has almost reached the point where investing in everything makes money.
The contribution of the Russians here is huge. Since the outbreak of the Near East War, Austria has entered an era of trade surplus. Before that, Austria
Profit has been in the trade deficit for almost a long time.
Obviously, the factor that gave the capital market the illusion of "investing in everything makes money" was the sudden war in the Near East.
Because of the war, a large amount of cash flowed into Austria from Russia, stimulating the economic market. Many capitalists are blindly expanding production capacity and want to make a lot of money before the war ends.
Opening up overseas colonies ahead of time is also a means to divert the domestic economic crisis, but the African colonies have just started, and their role in the upcoming economic crisis can be ignored.