Chapter 203 Child Labor School

Whether from a historical perspective or from the current situation in Europe, Europe has been in a relatively peaceful and stable stage in recent years.

Since the establishment of the German Empire, the relationship between European powers has become stable. Although there are relatively fierce conflicts between countries, such conflicts are not enough to drive countries to promote a large-scale war between powers.

This is lucky for Spain. After all, what Spain lacks is a peaceful and stable development environment. But it is also unfortunate for Spain. The too stable and peaceful development environment has led to the slow development of the military industry, and it is difficult to find opportunities to export weapons in large quantities like World War I and World War II.

The tenth Russo-Turkish War is a large-scale war verified by history, and it is also the first time that the Royal Arsenal has faced the opportunity to export weapons and equipment on a large scale since its establishment.

Of course, it is not certain whether Spain can eat some cake in this war. After all, in addition to Russia, there are other European powers headed by Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire who are concerned about the situation in the Balkans.

It is precisely because of this that when Carlo ordered the Royal Arsenal to expand production, he set the weapons storage target at 150,000 rifles, 1,200 artillery pieces and corresponding bullets and shells.

Even if Spain could not sell its weapons in the Russo-Turkish War, these stockpiled rifles and artillery could be sold to other countries in small-scale orders or used by itself.

After all, military training will also cause the loss of weapons and ammunition, so it is not a big problem to stockpile more weapons and ammunition.

The weapons and equipment of this era are nothing more than standard firearms mainly based on rifles and artillery as important firepower output. The manufacturing costs of these two weapons and the supporting bullets and shells are not too high, which is why Carlo is confident that he can directly order the Royal Arsenal to start production without inspection.

It is worth mentioning that while expanding, the Spanish Royal Arsenal recruited a large number of child laborers as workers.

This is not to say that Carlo deliberately exploited child labor, but it was the case in the context of this era. Not only in Spain, but also in the whole of Europe, including the traditional powers such as Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Austria, there are a large number of child laborers.

One of the important reasons why the average life expectancy in Europe was only 30 or 40 years old in this era was that a large number of children entered factories as child laborers, and were exploited by factory owners and capitalists, which eventually led to various physical problems and premature death in their twenties or thirties.

It was even considered quite good to live to the age of 20 or 30. Many child laborers died directly on the production line under the exploitation of factory owners, which was also the bloody and cruel reality of this era.

Of course, the reason why the Royal Military Factory recruited a large number of child laborers was not that Carlo wanted to exploit these child laborers, but to give these child laborers better welfare treatment to the best of his ability.

Although Spain's labor law and minimum income law also stipulate the working hours and work income of child laborers, this can only alleviate the suffering of some child labor groups.

These children are the future of Spain. Even if it is only for the future of Spain, Carlo should try his best to take care of more child labor groups so that they can grow up more healthily.

The current Royal Military Factory is definitely the leading enterprise in the Spanish military industry, and it is also the benchmark and representative enterprise of the Spanish military industry.

At present, the number of child laborers in military factories accounts for more than 30%, which is quite exaggerated. Every day, thousands of child workers in the Royal Military Factory can be seen rushing to their production lines, contributing their meager strength to the military industry in Spain.

Carlo will not increase the income of child workers too much, which is unfair to those adult workers. Of course, there are still welfare benefits for child workers, even more than those stipulated by the labor law.

All child workers in royal enterprises can enjoy at least one day of vacation per week, and more than four days of vacation per month. In addition, factories and enterprises will distribute milk or bone soup to child workers at least once a week to help these child workers better replenish their bodies.

Child workers are not allowed to work overtime. After the factory's prescribed time to get off work, child workers can leave first.

This can be regarded as Carlo's best efforts to give these child workers some help, so that they can feel a little warmth in this dark era.

If you want to change this situation, Carlo alone cannot achieve it. It is necessary to promote the economic progress of the entire country and let the Spaniards have more savings and income in their hands, so that they will let their children go to school instead of working hard in factories.

As early as the literacy education, Carlo asked the royal enterprises to organize child workers to participate in literacy education during the holidays. The current progress is still relatively good. At least in the royal factories and enterprises, most of the child workers have completed literacy education and have gotten rid of their illiteracy.

Later, Carlo also plans to set up child labor schools in some larger factories so that these child workers can enjoy compulsory primary education in the factory and complete their studies while working.

Child labor schools can not only teach the knowledge of compulsory primary education, but also allow them to learn some basic skills and transform from a child laborer to a skilled worker.

Doing so will not only improve the education level of the Spanish, but also effectively improve the living standards of these child workers.

After all, the income of an illiterate child laborer who knows nothing and a skilled child laborer with primary school education and certain skills is definitely different.

It’s just that the child labor school involves aspects that ordinary public schools cannot involve, so Carlo only has some ideas and has not had time to implement them.

Compared with the child laborers in the royal enterprise factories, the income level and welfare benefits of child laborers in private enterprise factories are much worse.

There is nothing we can do about it, after all, the labor force that child laborers can provide is really limited. Moreover, child laborers are easier to exploit than adult workers, and their resistance will be weaker. Even under the coercion and intimidation of capitalists, many child laborers dare not resist at all.

Capitalists are not the seemingly friendly business giants on the Internet in later generations, but bullies who eat people without spitting out bones.

For this, Carlo can only express his powerlessness. This is a common phenomenon in the context of this era, and Carlo cannot completely cure it even if he wants to rectify it.

But Carlo still made relevant regulations on some bottom lines of child labor.

Europe is relatively extreme in terms of child labor. How extreme is it? There are even a large number of child laborers under the age of ten in the capitalists' factories.

Yes, child laborers under the age of ten. To be more precise, there are a large number of children aged four to five, five to six.

The sources of these child laborers are also varied. Some families cannot afford the expenses of too many children, so they are forced to let some of their children go to the factory to survive on their own.

The other part comes from various church relief homes, orphanages and other institutions.

In the later society with advanced technology, there is the phenomenon of human trafficking, not to mention the 1876 era when technology and related laws and regulations were very backward.

The phenomenon of human trafficking is common in European countries, and the lives of the lower classes in this era are indeed very miserable.

It is ironic that while these capitalists are frantically exploiting child laborers for huge profits, they also disguise themselves as kind and benevolent gentlemen.

They donate money to the church to let the church set up more relief homes and schools to collect orphans and abandoned children who are not wanted by anyone.

These orphans are secretly transferred to the capitalists' factories and become free labor under the whip of the capitalists.

The capitalists were merciless to the purchased population. Whenever they encountered disobedient child laborers, they would either beat them with sticks or make them disappear directly through various means.

The Spanish government will sooner or later rectify such church orphanages and church schools.

Let alone the hidden problem of human trafficking, the knowledge imparted by these orphanages and church schools with private goods alone is destined to be banned by the government or undergo large-scale rectification.

As we all know, the people are blind and easily influenced by public opinion. Children are the most blind group among the people. They will easily believe what they have learned, and capitalists and churches will also use such means to shape a distorted worldview for them.

This is completely unacceptable to Carlo. The only people in Spain who can brainwash through education are the royal family and the government. Such behavior by capitalists and the church is a challenge to the royal status and the majesty of the government.

Spain does not prohibit the existence of private schools, but private schools must obey the control of the Ministry of Education, and the corresponding textbooks must also be reviewed by the Ministry of Education. They cannot teach whatever they want.

Reading the error-free version! 6=9+Shu_bar first published this novel.

In the official public schools, there will be a large number of ideological education courses starting from elementary school. These courses will not force students to brainwash, but will subtly cultivate their loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, so that they will love Spain and love the royal family and Carlo.

These students who have just entered the school are like a piece of white paper. Even if Carlo does not write on it, sooner or later someone will write and draw on the white paper.

Instead of this, it is better for Carlo and the government to take the initiative to write something beneficial to the development of Spain on these white papers, starting from the baby, to cultivate the national identity and national pride of the Spanish people, and use the royal family as a bond to closely connect the Spaniards in various regions, and jointly create the huge nation of Spain and the united and unified Spanish country.

There are many benefits to binding the royal family and the country together, such as the royal family's status will be very stable, etc. If politicians do not want the country to fall into a situation of division, they must preserve the royal family and control the entire unified country with the royal family's legal principles.

In this respect, it is similar to the British royal family. Although the British royal family has lost most of its power in later generations, its role as a link between various regions of the United Kingdom is enough to prevent the British government from taking action against the royal family.

The British government can indeed easily abolish the royal family. The result of doing so is that Scotland and Ireland will no longer be under the control of England, and the British Empire will be torn apart.

What Carlo has to do is to make the Spanish royal family have a status similar to that of the British royal family in later generations. Even if the royal family does not have too much power, the government dare not despise the royal family.

As long as the inheritance of the throne does not fall into the chaos of the Carlos faction, the Spanish royal family will be irreplaceable in the future, and its status will become very stable, without worrying about any risks that will affect the status of the royal family.

Time passed quickly, and soon it was late August 1876, the first year of the official implementation of the pilot program of compulsory primary education in Madrid and Catalonia.

In the past few months, the number of primary schools rebuilt and built by the Ministry of Education has exceeded 100, which can barely support the promotion of compulsory primary education in the two regions.

Although these schools are very simple, it is not a problem to squeeze in a few hundred students. Hundreds of primary schools mean that they can accommodate tens of thousands of students. Together with the original number of primary schools in the two regions, they can barely meet the demand for primary schools required for the promotion of compulsory education.

Because it is the first year of the promotion of compulsory education, the enrollment time of each primary school has been extended this year. From late August to late September, children who are willing to participate in compulsory education can go to nearby schools to register.

It turns out that completely free compulsory education plus the benefits of providing three meals a day are very attractive to the Spanish people.

Since the primary schools began to register for enrollment in late August, it took less than a week, and the number of students registered in all primary schools in Madrid alone has exceeded 10,000.

In the two regions of Madrid and Catalonia, the number of students who signed up exceeded 20,000 in less than ten days.

The public actively participated in the promotion of compulsory education, and Carlo and Education Minister Gerard Wilson were relieved.

Although compulsory education is completely free and provides students with three meals a day. But I am afraid that some stubborn parents are only concerned about the immediate interests and are only willing to send their children to factories instead of schools.

After all, sending them to school is just free, but it also does not make money. If you send them to the factory, even if they are just child laborers, they can earn a lot of income with the minimum income law promulgated by Spain.

These laws were obviously promulgated to improve the living standards of child laborers, but now they have become the reason why some parents are unwilling to let their children go to school.

In the era without the minimum income law, the income of an adult male worker was several times or even dozens of times that of a child worker.

But after the minimum income law, the income of child laborers has ushered in a continuous growth, and it is now almost reaching half the income level of adult male workers.

The consequence of this is that many capitalists no longer favor cheap child labor. After all, child labor not only enjoys holidays and rest time, but also earns as little as female workers.

Because the combined population of the Madrid region and Catalonia is only a little over 2 million, the peak period for student registration only exists in late August and early September.

By mid-September, there were already very few students going to various primary schools to register. However, in this half month, all the primary schools in the two regions have taken in more than 30,000 students in total, which is quite fruitful.