Chapter 176: Regulation of Industry
Chapter 173: Industry Regulation
Changes in the hearts of people are the most difficult to figure out, the little episode that happened in Pest City, Franz naturally did not know about it. As an emperor, as long as the world is at peace, the thoughts of individual people are not within his consideration.
By now, the Austrian government bureaucrats had gotten used to the three main assessment indicators: indoctrination, stability, and economy.
The easiest thing to do is to achieve social stability, the government is strong enough, the local power factions are peaceful, some destabilizing undesirable elements to deal with the social stability on the line.
Secondly, there is “indoctrination”. The rules and regulations are there, and with the Ministry of Education’s program, we can move forward step by step.
Of course, if you want to make achievements in this regard, you have to adapt to the local conditions and put in a lot of effort.
The most trouble is still the development of the economy, prosperous big cities are okay, now the country’s rapid economic development, big cities are the main force of economic growth, as long as the development of suitable local policies.
Remote areas of economic development, to be much slower. Even some places, simply stand still. Bureaucrats, even if they want to work hard, do not know where to start.
Uneven regional economic development has become a problem for the Austrian government, or an insoluble problem.
Franz could not do anything about it, not to mention now, even a hundred years later, two hundred years later, these problems are still plaguing the countries of the world.
There are many factors that constrain regional economic development, including: transportation, resources, climate, geography, population ……
In contrast, the easiest to solve is the transportation problem, the big deal is to build roads, as long as the willingness to invest, sooner or later can be solved.
Population problems can be solved, but climate, resources, geography and environment are not solved by human power, at least not in the 19th century.
Looking at the economic development report in his hand, Franz sighed helplessly.
Knowing full well that the government’s investment of large amounts of resources into large cities would exacerbate the imbalance in regional economic development, he still had to keep doing it.
There was no way to do it, the highest rate of return was obtained this way. If it was invested in the poor countryside, not even a single bubble would pop up, it was really desperate.
“Prime Minister, this water conservancy project input, how come it’s all in the plains?” Franz asked with concern
Industrial development are in the big cities, this is no problem, agricultural development can not also only consider the plains, many mountainous areas also have the potential for development.
For political reasons, the government must take into account the various regions when reinvesting.
Felix explained: “Your Majesty, the main problem is the distribution of the population, the current population of Austria is mainly in the plains convergence, other areas of the population is relatively small.
From the perspective of optimizing the allocation of resources, we will first concentrate on the development of the populous plains region, the other regions are less populated, less competitive pressure, and have a relatively small demand for water conservancy projects.”
Franz nodded, from the perspective of agricultural development, the plains region was more suitable for growing food and had a greater demand for water conservancy projects.
Mountainous areas were more suitable for growing cash crops, depending on different geographical conditions.
Don’t think that planting cash crops is more lucrative, it’s only the 19th century and the populace has a limited standard of living. The vast majority of cash crops are not suitable for vigorous development, except for a small number of industrial raw materials that are in high demand.
High value-added agricultural products, the market demand in this era is really small, the general public simply can not afford to consume, too few people with purchasing power.
Counter-seasonal agriculture, there is simply no need to promote it. The spontaneous production of the farm owners alone is enough to meet the market demand, and if you want to develop it in a big way, wait until everyone has money before you consider it!
Franz thought about it and said, “Make a national report on agricultural production, each place can carry out pilot economic agriculture according to the actual situation, and then gradually promote it if there are results, for example, the Italian region can plant raw silk.
In recent years, domestic food production has been growing at a rapid rate, we must save for a rainy day, in case of unforeseen changes, it would not be good if the grain is cheap.”
Grain production is not the more the better, if not for the establishment of the Holy Roman Economic Union, Austria’s agriculture would have overcapacity by now.
Against this background, it became necessary to promote some suitable cash crops in certain regions.
In this era, the growth of the food demand market can not catch up with the growth of food production, blind growth of food production is not suitable for Austria.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Felix replied
Continuing to look at the report in his hand, Franz snapped back to the industrial pollution of the latter days, he didn’t want Vienna to turn into the current London.
Environmental pollution caused by industrial development was unavoidable, but where to pollute, this could be artificially controlled.
In order to consider the good life of the second half of his own life, Franz believes that it is necessary to limit the industrial development of Vienna, even if it is the sacrifice of the city’s development speed.
Franz thought about it and said: “Vienna’s development is too fast, in a few years, the city’s population will exceed one million. The population has increased, but the city’s supporting facilities have not kept pace, and it is only a matter of time before problems arise.
Considering the actual situation, the government has to find a way to divert some of the enterprises into other cities, and the more polluting enterprises should not be placed in Vienna.”
Diversion of some of Vienna’s resources into other areas, and can create a new industrial city out, in Franz’s view is very worthwhile.
Vienna is a landlocked city, and concentrating a lot of resources here is actually wasting resources again.
City development is not the bigger the better, but also consider the carrying capacity. In Franz’s planning, the future of Vienna has two or three million people, is the limit.
The population of more than ten million giant, Austria does not need, also does not have the ability to carry this kind of mega-city.
Prime Minister Felix thought for a moment and said, “Your Majesty, capital inflows are all market regulated, it’s not good for us to interfere so artificially, is it?”
In this era, the economies of all European countries were naturally regulated by the market, and Austria was considered an exception where the government personally interfered with economic development.
This intervention, however, is not through administrative orders, but the formulation of some economic development policies to guide the market, or through state-owned enterprises to realize.
What Franz is proposing now is for the government to intervene in the market through administrative orders, which rarely happens in the world.
Franz shook his head and said, “It’s good to explain it to the outside world, just say that Vienna’s carrying capacity has reached its limit, and the population is growing too fast for our resource supply to be guaranteed.
Let the media publicize the negative consequences of the rapid population growth, such as: the decline of per capita living space in the city, insufficient supply of goods, and so on.
The government should then work with the capitalists, leaving the factories that have already been built, and those that have not yet been built, to move to other cities.
In the next five years, Vienna will not authorize any more factories to be built. The factories that have already been built must be strictly audited and must not engage in heavily polluting industries.
Regarding corporate pollution, the government can set a level according to the danger to the environment, and in the construction of factories, optimize the allocation.
With the development of industrial technology, the number of heavy polluting industries, in the future, will continue to increase, and if comprehensive consideration is not made, a single factory could destroy a city.”
Vienna is Austria’s political center, economic center, cultural center, Franz does not want to add another industrial center.
There are more cities in Austria than Vienna that are suitable for industrial development, and there is absolutely no need for factories to pile up and move in.
Want to invest in Vienna can, establish factories even if, from now on Franz is not welcome.
It is better to refuse to enter now than to drive people outside in the future after the factories have been established.
The problem of environmental pollution is something that no one has realized yet in this day and age. Or rather the harm caused, is not yet serious.
“Your Majesty, it’s not that serious, a single factory can destroy a city?” Prime Minister Felix said incredulously
“Is it difficult? For example, if our steel factory has a large enough capacity, the industrial wastewater it discharges alone can pollute a river.
With a city’s water source polluted, will the city still be able to exist?” Franz asked rhetorically
This is not alarmist talk, there are not one or two cities that ended up being destroyed in the latter days because of contaminated water sources.
It’s not that industrial wastewater discharged into the river will only pollute the river water, in fact, the groundwater is also not immune.
The groundwater is also not immune to contamination. Other places can be contaminated, but not Vienna. Franz was not prepared to move the capital, and prevention became a necessity.
Pollution in Vienna is not serious now, but in a few decades, it may not be. With the development of the chemical industry, a chemical plant dug up, then the consequences will be serious.
London is a negative example, at its peak, tens of thousands of people died every year from the haze. Franz can’t live in that kind of environment, in his place he would probably have moved long ago.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Felix replied
If you can’t understand it, just go back and understand it slowly. Anyway, the concept of “environmental pollution” with serious consequences had already been memorized in his mind.
(End of chapter)