Chapter 239: See Who Scalps the Other First

"What is the current population of California? How much was the fiscal revenue last year? Is there a surplus?"

After sending Deng Wenshun away, Liang Yao asked Deng Wenyu, the Minister of Finance of California, about the recent population and fiscal situation of California. Google search reading

He has been away from California for more than half a year, and these data must be somewhat different from the data he knew when he left California.

"California now has a population of 390,000, of which 220,000 are ghosts and the remaining 170,000 are Chinese. It's just that the waterway from Guangzhou to Jinshan is thousands of miles away. Many people can't stand the fatigue of the boats and died of illness on the way, otherwise the population would be even higher."

"390,000 people, how many of them are women?"

Liang Yao is quite satisfied with this population data. Historically, from 1848 when the gold rush began to 1852, in just four years, the non-Indian population in California suddenly increased from 40,000 in 1848 to 220,000 in 1852.

Under Liang Yao's manipulation, this population has increased again.

The proportion of Chinese in the total population has also increased to 6%. As long as he is given some more time, he can turn California, and even the entire West Coast of the United States, yellow, so that the federal government cannot bleach it.

California was established in 1850. The rigid requirement for the establishment of a state in the United States is that the population reaches 60,000. For a new state, the population reached 390,000 in just two years, which is a miracle in the history of the United States.

As for the transoceanic immigrants who died of disease on the way, he could do nothing about it. He also hoped that all the immigrants who escaped from the suffering of the Qing Dynasty could successfully survive and reach California.

But the conditions in the mid-19th century were not as good as those in the 21st century. It can only be said that everyone has their own destiny, life and death are determined by destiny, and wealth and honor are determined by heaven.

"As for the female population, the registered female population is less than 90,000. Except for Los Angeles, where the ratio of men to women is relatively balanced, the rest of the places have more men than women."

When it comes to the population structure, Deng Wenyu can't help but look worried.

"There are many young and strong bachelors in California. When there is no work in the mines or when the farm is slack, they either go to gamble or [prostitute], or on the way to cause trouble. Moreover, there are quite a few young and strong people causing trouble. The police department can hardly suppress them. These people have no family, so they are unscrupulous and unbridled when they cause trouble."

The imbalance of population structure is indeed a very troublesome problem. When the western part of the United States was developed, the western states also had such problems.

However, it is not as serious as California now. During the development of the western part, many families moved to the west. However, during the California Gold Rush, men from all over the world flocked to California. It would be a miracle if the ratio of men to women could be balanced.

The data is cold, but the people are warm. The 300,000 extra men look like cold data, but each of them is a living soul and a bloody body.

If we don't find a way to solve the problem of these people getting married, the public security problem in California will only become more and more serious in the future.

Fortunately, although the ratio of men to women in California is unbalanced, there are still plenty of jobs. Otherwise, facing such an idle bachelor would be a disaster.

"Okay, I got it." Liang Yao nodded and said. He probably had a rough idea about the population. "Let's talk about California's finances last year."

"Last year (1851), the California state government's fiscal revenue totaled 4,788,752 US dollars. After deducting various expenses and subsidies to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Education, there was still 2,145,015 US dollars left.

If it weren't for those idiots in the Federal Customs Bureau, maybe the state government could have an income of 6 to 7 million US dollars this year, including tariffs." Deng Wenyu reported like a treasure.

After all, it is the richest first-level administrative region in the world, and it showed its rich nature at the beginning of its birth.

The fiscal revenue of 4.78 million US dollars is already close to Yinlino Yinzhou, but Yinzhou was established more than 40 years earlier than California, and its population is about twice that of California.

In addition, Yinzhou has more tax types than California. California's current main tax revenue comes from gold mining.

In order to support California's local industry and mining, California has a three-year tax exemption policy for other industries and mining industries except gold mining. After three years, when those industries and mining industries are developed, California's tax revenue can be further increased.

God has given me a gift, and it is comfortable to lie on the gold mine.

"The Federal Customs Bureau can collect their own taxes, as long as they don't hinder us." Liang Yao said to Deng Wenyu.

Tariffs are the most important fiscal revenue of the federal government, no doubt about it.

This time when Liang Yao went to the East, Liang Yao also tested the bottom line of the federal government on this matter, and asked the federal government to give California some tariff autonomy. Even if the reasons given by Liang Yao were sufficient, Fillmore and Cowen refused to give in. This shows the attitude of the federal government towards tariffs.

Liang Yao also knew that cutting off someone's financial resources was like killing his parents. It was not only unacceptable in terms of legal theory to obstruct the Customs Bureau from collecting tariffs in California, but also the entire federal government could not get over it. The congressman had to meet him with a knife.

The most important thing for California at present is to develop its own industry. Liang Yao does not need to quarrel with the federal government over tariffs and cause trouble for himself. Anyway, the federal government will not be able to collect California's tariffs for many years.

"Remember the teachings of the third brother." Deng Wenyu nodded.

"I heard that many Chinese have moved to Oregon recently. Is this true?" Liang Yao asked Deng Wenyu.

"Yes, there are. Some small traders in the fur business and some Chinese with Orion origins have moved to the northern Oregon region, but not many, just a thousand people."

Deng Wenyu didn't know why Liang Yao asked about the Oregon area. He just took care of his own one-third of an acre in California and why did he care about the Oregon area.

"That's a good thing." Liang Yao asked Deng Wenyu, "Do you know how many people there are in Oregon right now?"

"I don't know the exact number of people, but according to my understanding, there are still more than 40,000 people." Deng Wenyu thought for a while.

The Oregon region is the territorial region with the closest ties to California. After California's industry and commerce gradually developed, Oregonians no longer imported some necessary daily necessities and tools from the eastern region as they did in the past, but went directly to the closer Sacramento for convenience. and San Francisco to purchase necessary supplies and tools directly.

"There are more than 40,000 people."

Liang Yao's mind suddenly came to life. With a population of more than 40,000, Oregon was not far from the threshold of statehood.

"Let those Chinese businessmen come to see me later."

"Understood."

Although he didn't know why Liang Yao suddenly asked about the Oregon area, Deng Wenyu did not interfere with this subject based on the principle of asking what should be asked and not interfering with what should not be asked.

Just mentioning the Oregon region, Deng Wenyu thought of a more difficult problem.

"Third brother, do you remember Bernat? He was the one who said he would take off his scalp to make boots."

"Remember, what happened? He caused trouble on our borders in California?"

Liang Yao couldn't help but frown when he heard the name Bernat.

"That's not true. California is our territory. He doesn't have the guts to cause trouble in California. It's just that after this kid returned to Oregon, he often led two to three hundred people to kill Indians. The Indian tribes were miserable. Usually, Indians, whether in California or in Oregon, will not rob Chinese caravans.”

Deng Wenyu complained to Liang Yao.

"In the second half of this year, Indians in the Oregon area, such as the Coos, Klamath, Chinook, Cayuse and other tribes, have robbed our caravans several times. Fortunately, everyone is fine. They were all released safe and sound. The Indian chiefs of the Topomo and Maidu tribes in the Oregon region sent us a message, saying that they had to rob the caravan because they had no choice but to survive.

The chiefs of the Pomo and Maidu tribes also hope that you can come forward to mediate this matter. Unfortunately, you were not around at the time. This is a major matter and only you can make the decision. Neither my uncle nor I dared to agree. "

"How can this Bernat be so unreasonable? I think he is tired of living." Liang Yao said angrily.

His attitude towards Indian tribes, whether they are the six Indian tribes in California: Pomo, Maidu, Hupa, Yurok, Chumash, Serrano, or Indian tribes outside California . Peace has always been the main thing. Even if we don't get along well with each other, we still don't mess with each other.

Therefore, there were no major disputes with the Indian tribes, and they also exchanged information with some friendly Indian tribes, among which the relationship with the Pomo and Maidu tribes was particularly strong.

As a result, Bernat was involved. It seemed that it was impossible to get rid of this guy. Let's see who scalped whom first.

"Jinchen, go to the telegraph room and send a message to Lieutenant Colonel Deng, asking him to meet me in San Francisco."

Liang Yao paced back and forth in the room. After asking Hu Jinchen to go to the telegraph room to send a telegram to Deng Yan, he turned around and said to Deng Wenyu.

"Telling the chiefs of the Indian tribes that I am willing to come forward to resolve the matter does not show my sincerity. I am willing to go to Sacramento to meet with them to resolve the matter in person."

Mediation is nothing, that guy Bernat is a racist, and the Indians didn't mess with him and he wanted to destroy his family. If the Chinese were not powerful enough in California, this guy would not only dare to kill Indians, but also Chinese, as long as they were not white.

Reasoning with such people and taking the path of mediation will not work. This problem can only be completely solved through physical means.