Chapter 1350 A Brand New Day
December 25, 1849, Christmas.
As one of the most important traditional festivals in the West, it has always been valued by governments and royal families of various countries. Franz also rarely gave himself a day off.
Although it was a holiday, it was just a matter of moving the office location from the Hofburg Palace to Schönbrunn Palace.
This grand holiday is also a huge magic mirror, just take these Christmas petitions that Franz received.
“I hope that if we work more hours, take less breaks, and reduce wages, the world will be a better place.
We hereby petition to abolish Sundays of worship, minimum wage restrictions, and maximum working hour restrictions. We want a work environment where all our talents can be used and the playing field is fair.
May your Majesty be like the fire of the sun that will never be extinguished.”
Signed: Austrian Imperial Workers' Progress Association.
Franz scratched his head. Shouldn't all the trade unions in the Austrian Empire have accepted their incorporation? And why do these words sound weird?
Olga on the side also came over and said.
"Austrians are so weird. If they are so opposed to the death penalty, wouldn't it be better if they don't break the law?"
Franz took the letter, which was a joint petition from professors at the University of Vienna's School of Political Science. After seeing it, Franz just smiled and said nothing.
"The general meaning is that the laws of the Austrian Empire are too harsh, so criminals would rather continue committing crimes than repent.
For example, the Austrian Empire punished rapists. If the prisoner could not get the woman's forgiveness, he would be sentenced to more than twenty years of hard labor. In serious cases, he could be sentenced to exile.
Those who cause death shall be sentenced to death.
If the woman understands, is willing, and meets the conditions for marriage, she can be found not guilty. Otherwise, she will still be imprisoned for not less than five years and not more than twenty years, or an equivalent amount of fine.
Fearing the punishment of the Austrian Empire's laws, many rapists chose to kill their victims during the 1848-1849 war, and even openly rebelled against the country.
The root cause of this evil result was the harsh punishment of the Austrian Empire. "
The general logic of these people is that in order to avoid more serious consequences, the criminals should be punished lightly. The experts cited many examples, apparently to persuade Franz Mingde to be cautious in punishment.
The implication is yes, which is not uncommon in any era. They did not demand that it be implemented in all fields immediately, but suggested that it be tried in the economic field first.
After all, crimes in the economic field usually do not have serious consequences, and light sentences can help recover stolen goods.
At the same time, experts agree that economic crimes are crimes of high intelligence. Although such prisoners may be afraid of the death penalty, they often have rich knowledge and many years of experience.
Highly intelligent criminals have careful and detailed plans, superb tactics, and clever means. Even if they commit crimes, they are difficult to detect. Therefore, the death penalty has no deterrent effect, cannot prevent crimes, and cannot protect society.
Franz sighed, it turned out that this was the point.
The hundreds of petition letters he received were full of such constructive remarks, and Franz knew very well that the people who could send these letters to him were not ordinary people.
Less than a year after Franz took the throne, why is this country like this? Could it be that I am too kind?
This reminded Franz of an assassination incident not long ago:
A tailor's son was able to bypass Franz's numerous guards, elude all the intelligence agencies of the Austrian Empire, and accurately intercept Franz himself among the dozens of routes that Franz might have traveled.
What's even more surprising is that this assassin even had the ability to lure away the royal guard captain, bodyguards, and even the coachman, and finally came to Franz's carriage.
If the assassin had held not a pair of scissors but a bundle of powerful explosives, Franz would probably be dead.
(Franz’s carriage was specially made to withstand direct artillery fire, but Franz was not made of iron.)
Unfortunately, the assassin's skills were not worthy of this sophisticated assassination. A maid beside Franz easily broke his hands and subdued him.
After 72 hours of rigorous interrogation, the final conclusion was that the assassin acted alone, with no instructions, no accomplices, and no plan. It was completely on a whim, and he had just finished sewing before assassinating Franz.
As for the reason, Franz had no interest in knowing.
This assassin was obviously being used, and he didn't even know he was being used.
However, Franz did not believe that there was any natural assassin holy body that could silently bypass the Royal Guards of nearly two hundred people, as well as the empire's intelligence agency and all Franz's minions in Vienna.
Franz was very aware of his security measures, even if all the Assassin's Creed Brotherhood came, it would be in vain. He often encounters assassinations from various organizations, but no assassin has ever come to him alive.
The first assassin who walked up to Franz alive was actually a tailor. This was a joke, but it was not funny to Franz, so he could only eliminate them one by one.
Soon, more than thirty related people committed suicide or disappeared mysteriously. At this point, Franz naturally had no way to trace him. After all, those people didn't really want to kill him, but just wanted to give him a warning.
Franz had to admit that the mastermind behind this time was very hidden. Everyone he could think of who had the ability or motivation was dead and no clues could be found.
Franz announced that the assassination of the royal family was a high-IQ crime, and the assassin would be hanged and his family would be expelled from Vienna.
This was Franz's attitude. He just wanted people to see his attitude and tell those fence-sitters not to take chances.
As for the so-called Workers' Progress Association, it had already violated the laws of the Austrian Empire. After all, the Austrian Empire did not allow unofficial workers' associations to exist.
At that time, in order to counter the influence of the German National Assembly, Franz did use "magic". And in the end, in that democratic duel, he successfully forced the German National Assembly to use force first.
(For details, see Volume 11, Chapter 40, Magic Duel.)
Even though the war was over, some of the clauses were retained.
For example, restrictions on women and child workers, why is equal pay for equal work a restriction on women and child workers?
Because in the 19th century, except for some special industries such as textiles, sewing, and secretarial work, no one was willing to spend the same money to hire women and child workers.
Instead of completely banning child labor, it is better to directly increase the cost of labor. Even during World War II, the law prohibiting child labor was not fully enforced.
However, under Franz's operation, almost no factory in the Austrian Empire hired child labor. Only the richest factories would hire child labor to guard the gate to show off their wealth.
Franz accidentally opened up a new industry - doorman.
Even being a doorman is better than surviving in factories and mines.
However, the law of equal pay for equal work has mixed reviews. In addition to those factory owners, most families who rely on women and children to subsidize their families are also opposed to it, and some single women are also beginning to worry about their livelihoods.
But these people were actually a minority at the time, and coupled with the wage system reform of the Austrian Empire, almost all male workers supported it.
There was no need for Franz to arrange people to enforce it. These workers shouted "Long live the emperor" while consciously maintaining the laws of the empire.