Chapter 246: economic development

Colonizing abroad was never easy, especially for a new colonial empire like Austria, which had too much to learn.
The African continent of this era is not good, the most terrible enemy is not the local indigenous people, but the harsh natural environment.
The emergence of poisonous beasts and plundering of diseases are the core factors restricting countries from colonizing the African continent. Otherwise, the African continent that is close at hand is already divided up by everyone.
Frankly, if it wasn't for Quinine's production technology breakthroughs and the major problem of dysentery had been initially resolved, Franz would not dare to venture into the African continent.
To be on the safe side, all Austrian soldiers are receiving hygiene education, and personal hygiene and camp hygiene must be carried out in strict accordance with standards.
Even in order to avoid contracting local diseases, Franz even issued masks. Soldiers were warned not to contact the indigenous people casually. It was also forbidden to have sexual relations with local people. Marriage was non-existent.
Because Franz didn't pay much attention to it, people with heavy tastes are not lacking at any time, let alone in military camps. Fortunately, there should be more young women in this group of immigrants to solve this problem.
After more than three months of preparation, on April 28, 1854, Austria's first colonial advance team set off from the Trieste port.
With two second-tier battleships as its core, five cruisers, plus more than a dozen auxiliary ships, and the strength of an infantry regiment entered the first step of colonization, the target-Guinea.
The opponent this time is an indigenous tribe. The navy is only equivalent to a pull-out exercise. Perhaps it will also hit canoe-level enemies, mainly the army.
Originally, Franz was preparing to form a Marine Corps. As a result, he met with the collective opposition of the Army and Navy. The Army was unwilling to weaken their right to speak in colonial activities, but the Navy could not afford it.
This is not a joke, Austria's navy is indeed insufficient. If you want to increase funding, you must first prove the value of your existence.
Politics is often such a reality, and how much value there is, how much funding is available.
If overseas colonies can bring a lot of profits to the empire, then the navy can also change from a stepmother to a close son.
Franz has no opinion. This is the most sensible approach. In the absence of sufficient interests, the pretension to expand the navy is simply a waste of resources.
Rather than investing precious funds in domestic economic construction. Although the domestic economic boom has not dissipated, railway stocks are about to go to heaven with the opening of several main lines.
If not for Franz's insistence on banning the repeated construction of railways, Austria's railways would have already learned from Britain and the United States and started to repeat construction.
Of course, because a railway line was licensed to only one company, it was favored by capital. What is the most profitable in this era is, of course, a monopoly.
Under this kind of good news, the government has forced to attach a few unpopular routes under the high-quality route, and everyone can accept it.
In order to attract foreign investment, including the standards of railway transportation, the market is free to determine whether this price will rise to the sky. Franz is not worried at all.
In a market economy environment, it is definitely determined by the market. The price level in society is determined by the relationship between supply and demand. The level of railway freight must depend on maximizing benefits.
The capitalists naturally know the trade-offs. Now that the railway has just come out to grab business with traditional transportation means, if there is no price advantage, why do they grab customers?
To save costs and time compared to traditional transportation, that is progress. Because the freight is too high, it may affect the circulation of goods, so we have to wait until the railway is completed!
At present, all the railway companies in Austria are in a state of pure investment. Although some of the main lines that have been opened to traffic are busy and profitable, they are also in vain.
These profits were again invested in the construction of new railway lines by Franz, and Franz was very clear that several railway companies in Austria had never had a bonus since their establishment.
No one has ever made a profit, so they can reduce their prices? If it does, it is estimated that the railway is still in demand, and it will soon be left unattended.
At this time, of course, the Vienna government will not come out to hinder them. The ten-year tax-free promise has been fulfilled. The government does not charge any fees, and it is encouraging everyone to continue building railways.
"Time is life, time is money."
This slogan has become the motto of all Austrian railway companies. As soon as it was put into operation one day earlier, it was profitable one day earlier.
As of now, all the routes to Austria have not disappointed everyone. In the context of free pricing, there are no loss routes, which has greatly stimulated some people's nerves.
I don't know how many British and French capitalists want to control Austria's railway network and conduct monopolies. Then he jumped into the wonderful illusion created by Franz and shattered himself.
Profits are so disappointing that everyone is frantically building railway lines. Many people think that now is the time to race horses, and occupy an additional railway line, and in the future will have a stable income.
Anyway, there is no such thing as a railway bubble, and coupled with a monopoly, no one thinks it will lose money.
In this context, Franz, which monopolizes the supply of raw materials for sand and gravel, is naturally making a lot of money. It is expected that by the end of this year, Austria's total railway mileage will exceed 10,000 kilometers.
At the beginning of Franz's succession, the national railways in Austria were less than 3,000 kilometers, and the average annual completion of more than 1,400 kilometers.
In this era, Americans on the other side of the ocean can compare. Like Austria, the United States has also witnessed a boom in railway investment, but because Austria has diverted some of its capital, it is not as crazy as it has been in history.
The railway mileage of the entire New Holy Roman Empire is more than 12,000 kilometers. It is true that the railway mileage of several small states in Germany has exceeded 2,000 kilometers.
It cannot be said that it is crazy. The most active railway construction in this era in Germany is the German region. In 1850, the total railway mileage of the German region reached 5,856 kilometers, which is more than double that of Austria during the same period.
If Franz had not promoted the construction of the Austrian railway, the fastest railway construction in Europe now is the German region, and only the French can match them.
Of course, this is only Napoleon III France. In 1854, the total railway mileage of the German region was more than 3,000 kilometers more than France.
Since 1854, the French railway has grown rapidly. The total mileage of the French and German railways during the Franco-Prussian War was only a few hundred kilometers.
The slowest railway construction among the major European powers is the Russians. Because of the Near East War, their railway construction project almost stopped, and it was only 1,626 kilometers in 1860.
It can be called the shame of the great powers. Belgium and Spain have more than them. At the same time, Britain, France and Germany broke through 10,000, which is not an equal weight at all.
The land area has grown, and the original railway network plan has naturally grown. This does not need the government to promote, the private railway companies have already taken the initiative to run horses and rode.
The tendering of Austrian railway lines is very interesting, that is, the sooner the construction starts, the earlier the completion time, the easier it will be to win.
Anyway, the railway lines are authorized free of charge. The railway company must start and complete within the promised time limit. Penalties will be imposed if the time limit is exceeded. The government with serious circumstances has the right to recover the right to build roads, and there are rewards for completing the work early.
The test is everyone's funding chain. Franz has not done any conspiracy. As long as the railway company is operating well, it can be completed on schedule.
Once the capital chain breaks, it will be miserable. If it hasn't started yet, it will be fine, and there will be a fine, and the unbuilt railway line will be returned.
If construction is already underway, or even if the project has been completed for most of the time, but does not have the funds to support the second half of the construction, it will be a big loss.
All the inputs will be drained, and the government will take over the bad tail project to continue construction. Whether the railway company went bankrupt or reorganized, or died directly, was not considered by Franz.
Anyway, it's all Yang Mo, and it's upright and upright. Everyone is not deliberately pitting people. The bidding notice is clear.
All these risks, under the temptation of monopoly, everyone still rushed to the rescue. Anglo-French capital has come in, Austria's domestic capital has also gone in, and speculators are scrambling to grab a slice of it.
Because of the government's provision of free labor, the cost of railway construction in Austria was artificially reduced in this era. On the surface, the financial statements of various railway companies look very good.
It can be said that Franz also broke his heart for the construction of the railway in Austria. It will not work without speeding up, because the new economic crisis has not been for years.
If it is not possible to use foreign capital to promote domestic railway construction during the economic boom, the economic crisis will break out and the railway bubble will be detonated, the final bad projects can only be taken over by the Austrian government.
How serious is Austria's bubble economy? No one gave Franz the answer to this question, but one thing that can be seen is the speed of economic growth.
Commodities worth a hundred dongs were fired to a thousand dongs, and then wealth was increased by nine hundred dongs virtually, even if the market could accept them, once the market could not accept them, it fell back to the original price of one hundred dongs and increased in the bubble These nine hundred shields were evaporated.
This is the reason why so much wealth can be evaporated overnight in an economic crisis. Essentially, the bubble has been burst and the market has returned to rationality. It is just because of the relationship between supply and demand that in the end the commodity often falls below its value.
Austria's economic growth is now very fast. In fact, even if all industries in Austria stop and rely on the bubble in the stock market, the economy will grow at least one point each year.
This era is different from later generations. The government's administrative measures interfered with the market economy and avoided a major economic crisis.
Now it is simply a matter of allowing the market economy to develop naturally. On average, there is a small economic crisis in 1978 and a major economic crisis in decades.
Each time a crisis breaks out, the total industrial volume often drops by 20-30 points, and it is not impossible to reduce it by 40-50%.
Anyway, the bigger the bubble, the harder it finally falls, and the faster the economic growth in the early stage, a bit like a roller coaster.
In 1854, the total length of railways under construction in the New Holy Roman Empire reached 23,000 kilometers, and the blind investment in railways was very serious.
However, Franz didn't mean to stop it. Instead, he was ready to push it later, trying to make the market more hot.
The explosive economic development model is always irresistible. All industries in Austria are experiencing explosive growth. Since the outbreak of the Near East War, the average annual growth rate of industry has exceeded 15%, and the economic growth rate has also exceeded 10%.
If there is no halfway westward strategy, this data may be one or two points higher. Reason has long ceased to exist, and the market has gone crazy, almost reaching the point where it makes money to invest in everything.
The contribution of the Russians was huge. Since the outbreak of the Near East War, Austria has entered the era of trade surpluses. Prior to that, Austria was almost in a trade deficit for a long time.
Obviously, the factor that created the illusion of "making money by investing in everything" in the capital market is the sudden Near East War.
Because of the war, a large amount of cash flowed from Russia to Austria and stimulated the economic market. Many capitalists were blindly expanding production capacity and wanted to make a lot of money before the war ended.
The opening of overseas colonies in advance is also a means of transferring the domestic economic crisis. However, African colonies have only just begun to play a negligible role in the coming economic crisis.
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