Chapter 309
The New Holy Roman Empire is a big cotton importing and consuming country, importing five or six million Aegis cotton from the outside world every year.
Even so, it still cannot meet the needs of domestic industry and commerce, and Austria is also a big importer of cotton cloth.
Of course, this is also related to the economic development policy implemented by the Vienna government, and the cotton spinning industry has not been included in the key development projects.
In order to maintain the status of the largest grain exporting country in Europe, the government does not advocate the cultivation of cotton locally, and the shortage of raw materials has become an important factor restricting the development of the Austrian cotton spinning industry.
In this context, the promotion of cotton cultivation in the colonies can not only save a lot of foreign exchange, but also attract domestic textile capitalists.
For example: Bavaria is the traditional cotton spinning center in Germany. Many capitalists have gone to West Africa to open plantations because of lack of raw materials.
This political and economic account will still be calculated by everyone.
Prime Minister Felix thought about it and said, "Your Majesty, the biggest problem with growing cotton is that it requires a lot of labor when harvesting. The colony is different from the country, and it is too difficult to hire a large number of people in a short period of time.
Unless we learn from the Americans and train a batch of cheap slave labor, we can't solve this problem.
However, the extensive use of indigenous labor goes against our long-term strategy and is not conducive to long-term stability. "
This is the most realistic question, otherwise Franz would not have gone to plant rubber trees. Now the royal plantation, the cotton planting area is not increasing, the main reason is the lack of labor.
In fact, rubber plantations also require a lot of labor, but rubber trees do not grow in one day, and the demand for labor is much smaller before the rubber is harvested.
The current number of immigrants is still limited, and it is impossible for all of these people to go to plant cotton, and not all areas are suitable for cotton planting.
In addition to cotton, economic crops such as coffee, palm, cocoa, rubber, tobacco, soybeans, and peanuts are also the focus of development.
Although agricultural products such as wheat, corn, rice and potatoes are not the focus of development, self-sufficiency still needs to be achieved. The budget-conscious plantation owners are reluctant to pay for it.
These industries all need labor, but the colonies are vast and sparsely populated. The lack of labor is not a star and a half, and Franz has no doubt that even millions of immigrants can easily digest it.
Franz said helplessly: "If there is a shortage of labor, we can only rely on everyone to find a way. In addition to recruiting immigrants from China, we can also recruit laborers overseas.
In a word, there is only one principle. Migrant workers must be assimilated and meet all our requirements before they can be registered. "
At this time, Franz suddenly wanted the Russians to abolish serfdom. Once the tsarist government freed the serfs, it didn't take long for a large number of bankrupt peasants to appear.
These bankrupt peasants who don't know a lot of characters are all high-quality immigrants. Those without cultural heritage are always the easiest to assimilate.
Unlike today's serfdom society, serfs are the property of nobles. If you want to recruit labor in Tsarist Russia, pay for it!
The population transaction that cannot be carried out on the bright side, this market still exists in the dark, but unfortunately the cost is too high.
Recruiting labor from overseas is easier said than done. There are too many options for immigrants in continental Europe, and everyone has their own circle.
In addition to domestic, Austria also has a little face in Germany and Italy, and can recruit immigrants. In Western Europe, basically no one bought it.
As a last resort, everyone turned their attention to the Far East. In any case, the labor force in these areas is better than the local indigenous people.
Anyway, in this era, the per capita income of Europe is more than ten times that of Asia, and it is also cheap to hire labor from East Asia.
This is not without hidden dangers. At least in terms of ethnic integration, the difficulty has increased several times. Of course, this is better than not being able to integrate local indigenous people.
Colonial Minister Josip Jelacic reminded: "Your Majesty, if a large number of overseas labor is recruited, the future security and labor conflicts will become serious social problems."
He is not worried about local immigrants being bullied. On the contrary, Josip Jelacic is worried that local immigrants are bullying foreign workers, causing social conflicts.
Never test the integrity of the colonists. Except for Franz, who cherishes feathers and pays attention to eating, many farmers, planters, and miners know everything for the sake of profit.
In this regard, the old-fashioned aristocrats did better. Most of the laborers they recruited were their own original serfs, who were knowledgeable and restrained for the sake of the family's reputation.
It is different for the nouveau riche who are still in the process of primitive accumulation of capital. Delinquency, deduction of salaries, and even delinquency occur from time to time. This is true for our own people, not to mention foreign workers.
Because of the misbehavior of these people, the workload of the colonial government increased greatly. Finally, the labor employment registration system has to be implemented.
The household registration system, which was not implemented in China, was first implemented in the colonies. If it weren't for technical problems, Franz would be ready to issue ID cards.
There are few people in the colony now, so the management is okay. As the population continues to increase in the future, this management difficulty will also skyrocket.
After hesitating for a while, Franz said ruthlessly: "In troubled times, the colonial government must establish social order and crack down on criminals.
Gangs, street gangsters, and homeless people who hang around for a long time are all thrown into the mine for me.
labor conflict
If there is a sudden problem, just catch the typical and kill it as an example. Catch a few serious problems and deal with them seriously, and then carry out publicity. "
Frankly speaking, the name Franz is contrary to the law, but the colony is not the native country, and the Vienna government has never said that it will use the native law.
The main cause of social security problems is employment. If everyone has proper jobs, the living space of the underworld will be small.
Franz's order is equivalent to cutting off the development of the gang organization from the source. Now the rules have been revised, and there is no need to wait for the crime to be arrested. As long as the gang members are sent to mine.
Even the gangsters who keep doing small things but don't commit big things, the police don't need to look for evidence of crimes, they just throw them in the mines for labor reform.
The same is true for the homeless. In the colonies where there is a serious shortage of labor, they can't find a job, so the government simply arranges the job.
Don't worry, Franz is virtuous. No criminal evidence is sent to the people who are mining, and the government still wants to pay the salary at the market price. There is no such thing as wrongdoing.
Criminals and potential criminals have all gone to mine. If social security can still deteriorate, then colonial officials can mine by themselves.
Compared with social security, labor conflicts are actually a small problem. Market demand determines the relationship between employers and employees.
When there is a serious shortage of labor, do you dare to deduct wages without fear of others, not afraid of others who will choose not to do it?
Franz doesn't think there are many such idiots. The people who did this before were a bunch of idiots who didn't put their minds right, and now they have paid a heavy price for it.
The real trouble is when there is a surplus of labor, these people dare to act recklessly. The government wants strict regulation, but also considers the unemployment problem.