Chapter 610: The Minister of Agriculture's Ambition

The economic sacrifice is not only reflected in the Allies and the great powers, but also in Germany and Austria-Hungary, the defeated countries in World War I.

Because of the so-called foundry model, Germany's industry has ushered in a recent recovery, and its industrial scale is equivalent to that of Germany in 1905.

Although there is still a distance compared to the industrial scale before the war, compared with the tragic state of restriction after the war, Germany has at least ushered in a recovery in industry.

The contrast is also obvious in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire lost Hungary, the core of its industry is still in Austria and Bohemia.

At present, the industrial scale of the Austro-Hungarian Empire has returned to the level of 1910. Except for the loss of Hungary, their situation is much better than that of Germany.

However, there is an obvious feature of the recovery of the industry and economy of these countries, that is, the actual value of their currency is decreasing, and the value of the currency is constantly depreciating.

Although it seems that the economies of various countries are constantly growing, and even the income of the people is constantly increasing.

But the problem is that the value of the currency is constantly decreasing, and the purchasing power of the people's wages is actually constantly decreasing.

Although such economic growth has created a false prosperity, such prosperity is like a bubble and may burst at any time.

People's income seems to have increased, but their living standards are constantly declining. If all walks of life still cannot see such a crisis, the continuous increase in the production scale of manufactured goods will inevitably lead to an economic crisis.

But which government is willing to take the initiative to expose such a potential crisis? Let's not talk about whether it is good for the government, it is not good for the person who exposes it.

Anyway, you just need to survive your term, and there will always be the next government to take over. But if you make such a crisis clear during your term, how can you solve the crisis?

If you raise a crisis but cannot solve it, isn't such a government the best scapegoat?

Those politicians are not fools. Instead of exposing the crisis and making enemies with capitalists, it is better to survive their term, and they can also write books based on their reputation, and even be hired by those capitalists as consultants for enterprises, taking the opportunity to make a fortune, etc.

Relying on their experience in high positions in the government and their influence in the political arena. Even if the books they write are a mess, there will be people who will pay for their fame, which is the celebrity effect.

The two choices have become very clear. Almost no one is willing to take the risk of exposing the crisis. Most people choose the second one, which is to adapt to the times and the trend.

This is also the more terrifying part of capital. Although power is greater than money most of the time, money is attractive to everyone.

When a country's money and power are intertwined, it is the most terrifying time for the people of this country.

This is also what Arthur can see and what he tries to avoid.

As the largest capitalist in Australasia, Arthur established the Electoral Commission and the Royal House to control political parties in order to separate the capital and political power in Australasia and try to avoid officials being influenced by capital.

In elections like the United States, it is easy for capitalists to intervene and cultivate candidates who have influence among the people.

The simplest truth is that if you want to gain higher support, you must hold a large number of speeches, which not only need to be large-scale, but also need to be held all over the country.

This is equivalent to natural selection. Ordinary people basically cannot have enough assets to hold speeches, or large-scale speeches that can be held all over the country.

This also means that it is difficult for ordinary candidates to frequently show up in front of the public. How can the public know the existence of this person and vote for him?

But if you get the support of capital, or even reach a cooperation with capital, you can easily hold large-scale speeches frequently to promote your fame and popularity.

Regardless of the quality of your speech and your purpose, let more people know you first, which is the first step to run for the US president.

Obviously, such an election process is easy to be controlled by capitalists. Although there may be candidates from the civilian class who are successful, the candidates who are more likely to succeed must be those supported by capitalists, or candidates who are capitalists themselves.

Such a campaign is also unfair, because capital will always have an advantage, and the starting line of the candidates is different.

This is also the reason why Arthur strictly controls the funds of various parties and even adopts the principle of centralized distribution.

In this way, capitalists will not have many opportunities to support a certain political party and candidate, because the funds of the political party will be divided by more parties, and the funding gap between each party is not too large.

Moreover, Arthur himself is the largest capitalist in Australasia, which can also prevent the possibility of some capital influencing the government.

In Australasia, which capital can be greater than Arthur? In front of the royal consortium, who can compete with Arthur's capital?

On January 3, 1925, Arthur went to the Capital District to inspect the agricultural planting in the Murray River Basin.

The construction of Fort St. Arthur is about to be completed. It is expected that the capital can be moved within two years at the earliest, and the capital can be moved to Fort St. Arthur within five years at the latest.

This is also a great test of the agricultural planting near Fort St. Arthur. After all, the development of the Capital District is the top priority of the next construction plan, and it will also usher in more population and more food consumption.

"Your Majesty, in the past two years, we have reclaimed more than 500,000 acres of land in the Capital District, and the current grain production in the Capital District has reached 1.49 million tons." Agriculture Minister Mark said proudly.

Most of the land in the Capital District was previously barren, and only a small part of the land that once belonged to Victoria was inhabited.

This also means that most of the grain production in the Capital District is new, and the grain production in Australasia will also increase a lot.

"1.49 million tons?" Arthur nodded, and was quite satisfied with this grain production figure.

According to the current per capita grain consumption in Australasia, the grain production in the Capital District alone is enough for nearly 3 million people to consume in a year.

The population of the Capital District has not yet exceeded one million, and the total population is even less than 600,000. Such grain production is far more than enough.

However, as an important agricultural production area in Australasia in the future, the Murray River Basin naturally has more grain production, the better.

No country will dislike too much grain production. After all, grain, like gold, is definitely hard currency in a more chaotic period.

"Your Majesty, our total grain output has exceeded 24 million tons, an increase of more than 7% over the previous year. It is expected that at the end of the four-year plan, our grain output will be at least 26 million tons, far exceeding our consumption." Minister of Agriculture Mark continued excitedly.

After becoming Minister of Agriculture again, Mark must have thought about doing something big.

As Minister of Agriculture from 1907 to 1918, Minister Mark has accumulated a considerable amount of merit and even won the title of knight.

But this is far from enough for Minister Mark. If he can create some new political achievements during this term, it is not impossible to obtain a baron title with his good performance during World War I.

After all, the baron is a truly hereditary aristocratic title, not only for himself, but also for his family and children.

If he can really take this step, it will be a big step towards the aristocratic class. At least if Mark's family does not make any mistakes next, basically the family's life can be guaranteed.

However, there is still a big threshold from knight to baron. This is also the reason why the number of knights has reached hundreds and there are only more than 20 baron titles.

There is still a clear gap between hereditary and non-hereditary nobles. If such a gap is accumulated through seniority, sometimes it may not be reached in a lifetime.

The grain output of Australasia still meets Arthur's expectations.

This is actually a feature of this era. The enthusiasm of the people for agricultural work is still relatively strong, and there will not be too much discrimination against agricultural workers.

Although the profit of simply growing grain is not as good as that of the working class, the life of agricultural workers is more chic, and the life happiness index is higher.

Although the workers also strictly implement the eight-hour work system, in comparison, their living standards are not as good as those of agricultural workers.

After all, most of the food of agricultural workers does not need to be purchased, but the food, clothing, housing and transportation of workers almost need to be purchased, which has formed an innate difference.

If workers work for others, then these farmers work for themselves, which is the fundamental difference between the two.

Even most agricultural workers live directly on farms and do not need to buy houses in the city at all, which also saves them a lot of expenses.

Agricultural and animal husbandry production also has its own subsidies, and the government will help sell agricultural and animal husbandry products, etc., to ensure that these farmers and ranchers have enough income.

Compared with working hard for others, many people have chosen to start their own farms or ranches and become a free farmer and rancher.

Especially the land in the newly developed Murray River Basin, the price of land is still relatively cheap.

This is also a feature of Australasia. With a large land area and a small population, the price of land can never be expensive.

According to statistics from the agricultural department, the number of farms in the capital district has exceeded 5,000, and the number of ranches has exceeded 3,000.

Although most of them are relatively small farms, the amount of food and meat production that can be contributed is also considerable.

The reason why the food production rate in Australasia has grown so rapidly is that these small-scale farms have also made a lot of contributions.

The first update of 3,000 words, please vote for the monthly ticket, please support!