Chapter 442 The Beacon of Freedom Must Be Lighted Up
As the capital of the United Kingdom, London has been at the forefront of the world since the first industrial revolution.
It has too many auras, for example: the world's largest city, the most prosperous city, and the world's political center, financial center, commercial center, industrial center...
Overnight, it seemed to have turned into a small country place, a sudden change that the arrogant Londoners could not bear.
They have arrogant capital in this era, as described by British newspapers:
The plains of North America and Russia are our cornfields;
Austria is our granary;
Canada and the Baltic Sea are our forest farms;
Australia and Argentina are our pastures;
Peru and Mexico bring its silver;
The Far East grows tea for us;
And our coffee, sugar cane and spice plantations are spread across the Indies;
Spain and France are our vineyards;
The Mediterranean is our orchard;
The Confederate States of America are our cotton fields;
...
Therefore, the areas outside London are all rural areas, and the areas outside the British Isles are backward areas. Only the British are responsible for the sacred mission of leading human progress.
With this understanding, the emergence of Vienna's city that never sleeps has an impact on the people of London can be imagined.
The pressure of public opinion poured into the new government, and the Benjamin Disraeli government only felt the pressure.
Now they are very envious of the John Russell cabinet that has stepped down. Don't think that they resigned early. In fact, the John Russell cabinet is only two months away, and the two terms will expire.
At the end of their term there was an economic crisis, and of course they wouldn't wipe out their competitors. The early resignation of John Russell's cabinet puts the blame entirely on the next government.
In the economy, the Benjamin Disraeli cabinet had a rough time. The international battle for the Spanish throne and the Polish throne all involve everyone's nerves.
Now another city that never sleeps has emerged, giving Prime Minister Benjamin even more headaches. Electric lights are not high-tech. They have been using them for a long time, but it is not easy to spread them all over the city.
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli asked: "My chancellor, is the budget out?"
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Molitor, replied solemnly: "Preliminary estimates suggest that at least £75 million will be required to popularize electric lights in London, and £440 million will be required to popularize electric lights in the British Isles. Considering the actual situation, the investment may be even greater.
This is just equipment investment, and there will be more investment in electricity costs in the future. For the street light system in London alone, we need 150,000 generators, and at least 300,000 people are needed to provide logistical support for this. "
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli interrupted with a wave of his hand: "Stop, you just tell me that London can't have universal access to electricity. But why can the Austrians do it?
Even if Vienna is much smaller than London, it is a metropolis with a population of over a million. I don't believe that the Vienna government will put everything into it for the sake of saving face. "
The Chancellor of the Exchequer Molitor explained: "It is said that the Austrians used high-power power generation equipment to ensure Vienna's lighting system, and only two hundred generators are needed.
This high-power generator reduces the cost of power generation by 80%, and requires significantly fewer maintenance personnel. It only takes about three or four thousand workers to maintain this power network.
In fact, the lighting system in Vienna is the masterpiece of the Austrian New Energy Power Company, and it is said that there is also royal investment.
The City of Vienna only needs to pay the electricity bill, which costs about £100,000 a month to use the power supply network worth more than £7 million. "
Molitor also has a headache. The British Electric Power Company is very salty. It is only interested in supplying electricity to the rich, and has no interest in building a lighting system for the whole city.
If he hadn't read the newspaper, he wouldn't have known that the revolution in generator technology had already happened. If you just build a street lighting system, then you will pass the gnashing of teeth.
Obviously, this is not possible. The citizens of London need a more intimate service of delivering electricity to their homes, which requires a significant increase in investment.
A simple electricity bill of 100,000 pounds is obviously not enough to support the Austrian New Energy Power Company. Even if it enjoys tax-free treatment, this is still far from enough.
Now it is just for staking, directly investing in a complete power supply network, which means a monopoly on Vienna's power supply.
Vienna has no industry, and the ultimate profit point of the power company is residential electricity and commercial electricity. These high-quality customers are the long-term cash cows.
Compared with the previous electricity fee of 8 shillings per kilowatt-hour, the electricity fee in Vienna has now been reduced to 1.5 shillings. This is the advantage of the power supply network, which greatly reduces the loss of electricity during transmission.
There is no doubt that this price is huge profits, but the promotion of new technologies still depends on huge profits.
If you want to further reduce electricity prices, you must wait for electricity to be fully popularized. Otherwise, who will pay for this power supply network?
The Vienna government cannot afford this expense. Once the government contributes, it is not a problem for a city, but for nationwide popularization, which is the core of the fairness system.
We are all taxpayers, why should we supply electricity to big cities first?
If the central government does not invest, who will undertake the initial investment from the local government?
Is it a loan? If you really want to do that, I am afraid that it will not be long before the local governments in Austria will go bankrupt collectively.
Counting on the bureaucracy to control costs is a dream. It is better to leave it to the free development of enterprises, and then turn back to consider the issue of popularization after the technology is further developed.
The British have also encountered the same problem. If the central government does not allocate funds, the City of London cannot afford it, and the people in other areas do not agree to the funds given.
There is no need to wait for the people to make trouble, the Congress will not pass. Originally, the capital occupied more resources, and the central government's financial tilt will intensify conflicts and even lead to the division of the country.
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli rubbed his forehead and said helplessly: "Then leave this question to the City of London! The Austrian government has no funding, what qualifications do they have to ask us for funding?
As for what they do, that is their own business. It is unacceptable for the municipal government to fail to perform its local construction responsibilities and to put its own responsibility on the central government. "
Kick the ball, which is the most common tactic used by politicians. If it weren't for the pressure of public opinion outside, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli would have ignored it.
The cabinet's meddling in this matter is only to show its importance, but it does not mean that it is about to intervene.
If the investment is small, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli is still happy to brush up on a wave of political achievements to light up the British Isles.
Now that the investment is so big, forget it! If this big project is launched blindly, the UK's fiscal revenue may not be enough to fill this hole.
...
In Paris, the tragic Paris city government was once again surrounded by protesters, which is enough to prove that the Parisians know the rules.
It is the responsibility of the municipal government to transform urban infrastructure, and the central government cannot afford to pay for it.
Including Napoleon III's transformation of Paris, the funds were mainly borne by the Paris city government, rather than dumped to the French central government.
The French are very clear in this regard, and the accounts are always separate. Local governments also have their own fiscal revenue, not all of which are allocated by the central government.
For example, the salaries of employees of the municipal government and the operating expenses of various government agencies are all borne by the local government.
Otherwise, the financial revenue of the central governments of various countries in this era is not enough to maintain the government's operation.
Of course, some European countries are still directly managed by the central government, but they are all small countries with a small land area and small population, so they do not need so many institutions.
If the local government cannot afford the administrative expenses, the central government may still subsidize it. For example, the Austrian government once subsidized the province of Bosnia and Herzegovina, otherwise this poor province would not even be able to pay the salaries of civil servants.
There are exceptions, such as the United States. That is, each state plays with each state. If you have the money, you will spend it yourself, but if you don’t have the money, you will find a way. Anyway, don’t expect the central government.
Looking at the protesters outside, Paris Mayor Barco was heartbroken. You must know that the reconstruction project of Paris has burdened the Paris government with huge debts, and they are almost out of breath.
It is easy to say that improving public infrastructure will help develop the economy and get rid of the economic crisis.
Actually, it's all about money. What to invest with no money? Napoleon III ordered the reconstruction of Paris, and it was not the Paris city government that paid for it.
The high debt is also to be repaid. In order to increase fiscal revenue, the Paris city government has raised taxes several times.
This tax cannot be counted on ordinary people. They have so much money, they can't search much, and the bulk of it still falls on enterprises.
Napoleon III encouraged the development of industry, so finance capitalists paid most of the taxes. Frankly, this tax distribution model is reasonable.
The profit of the financial industry is higher than that of the manufacturing industry. There is nothing wrong with high profits and high taxes. Therefore, this period is the golden period of French industrial development.
There are also many power companies in France, but unfortunately they are not large. Usually a power company has only a few hundred customers, but those with thousands of customers are large companies.
After interviewing these power companies, Mayor Barco gave up the responsibility of building the power supply system in Paris.
If you don’t have the strength to say anything, it’s all nonsense. There is neither money nor technology. Who dares to let them do it?
There are many capitalists who are interested in taking on this important task, but the appetite of these predators is too great, which directly makes Barco timid.
For example: Rothschild, a financial giant, is interested in investing, not only asking for free, but also asking the Paris government to bear half of the construction costs for free.
To bear half of the construction costs for free, it is better to directly state-run it. Obviously, capitalists know the pressure of public opinion and want to get the most out of it.
As the beacon of the free world, why not light up? The attitude of the people of Paris has already explained everything.
Franz estimated that he never dreamed that investing in the construction of the Vienna power system would bring so much trouble to Britain and France.
It's no use knowing, he can't help. The popularity of electricity in this era is still a bit ahead. It is the best time to wait for the generator technology to be further advanced and the copper smelting technology to go to a higher level.
Now the cost of promotion is too high, and it can be promoted in a special city like Vienna. If you change to other cities, you will be lucky.
The electricity bill of 1.5 shillings per kilowatt hour can be afforded by 10% of the people in Austria, and it is almost the same ratio in Britain and France.
Vienna is a special case. It is not an industrial city, and its pillar industries are relatively high-income industries. People with higher incomes can afford electricity for most people.
and other cities
No, Europe is different from the East. Not all rich people are in the city, but a large part of the local tyrants and nobles are in the surrounding manors of the city.
These high-quality customers are scattered, directly increasing the cost of popularizing electricity. Most of these nobles have already used electricity, and they have their own small generators.
Of course, if the power company is willing to supply power, they will not refuse. After all, the small generators of this era just say that the power is small, and the size is not small at all, so it is very inconvenient to use.
However, the cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity will continue to rise. In most cities, the final power supply cost will be greatly increased due to insufficient number of users, or insufficient concentration.
This is also the reason why Austrian New Energy Electric Power Company stopped its footsteps and deeply cultivated Vienna's market after supplying power to Vienna, and did not expand blindly.
In the revolution of electric power technology, it is enough to have a Vienna as a benchmark. If it is to be promoted nationwide, it will not be too late to wait another three to five years.
In this fast-changing era, new technologies are advancing almost every day. From 1866 to the present, there are more than 300 patents for new electricity in Austria.
Franz didn't know that there were so many professional technologies involved in electricity. You must know that this is the 19th century, and the use of electricity is still at the earliest stage.
The biggest effect now is lighting. Mechanical equipment driven by electricity is still in theory. It will take at least three decades to become the most important energy source for human beings.
There is no accident. After Vienna took the first step in a new era, the Paris government announced the establishment of the Paris Electricity Company to light up Paris.
The beacon of the free world is not a blind light.