Chapter 684: Can’t Be Idle
Chapter 669: Can’t Be Idle
To fight a trade war doesn’t mean you have to let industry go wild. Countless cases have proved that enterprises without competitiveness are the first to fall when a crisis comes.
Big but not strong industry, it is difficult to get a foothold in international competition. Austria has passed the time of blindly pursuing quantity; what is needed now is to emphasize both quality and quantity.
In order to calm down the market, before Christmas 1879, the Austrian government issued the Market Risk Warning, a total of thirty-nine industries were classified as overcapacity industries.
It also raised the threshold of investment access, and in addition to the requirement of registered capital, it also put forward technical requirements. Capitalists who wanted to invest in these industries had to adopt the most advanced technology of the day.
These thresholds are not really a problem for capital. Apart from the high-tech sector, other industries can easily buy any technology as long as they have money.
Franz didn’t expect investors to listen to the government’s advice; people always like to ignore risk in the face of profit.
Forcing everyone to adopt more advanced productivity and increase the competitiveness of their products was mainly to let these latercomers, when the crisis broke out, to be able to support them for a while longer.
This is very important, once the global overcapacity crisis breaks out, enterprises are fighting for comprehensive strength, cost and capital will determine who can survive to the end.
The winner is also the king of the leftovers, the last surviving enterprise, is the real winner.
For the country is the same, who survived more enterprises, stronger, who is the new industrial hegemony.
Perhaps at the beginning of the outbreak of the crisis, the British and Austrian capital will join hands to kill the competitors, to the late stage of the two countries’ industry and commerce or less to do over a game.
Only two are colonial empire, free trade to free trade, the colonial market is still reserved. There is such a flood channel in, and then how not to the collapse of the whole line.
The most intuitive feeling of a hot market is that money is good. Almost every industry has enjoyed the war dividend, the immigrant industry is the only exception.
Yes, in Austria immigration is also an industry. Influenced by the Great Migration Strategy, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people migrate to the African continent every year, and a well-established industrial chain has been formed, from transportation to resettlement.
Unfortunately the migration industry has never been inversely proportional to economic development, and it can only prosper when there are problems with economic development.
With the influx of large amounts of hot money, the number of new jobs has skyrocketed, and with the ability to make money on home soil, the number of people willing to emigrate overseas has naturally decreased.
Vienna Ring Road, there is an ancient building full of Renaissance flavor, has been no longer the hustle and bustle of the past, the staff gathered in twos and threes, lazily sunbathing.
If not for the signboard at the front door, no one would believe that this is an Austrian government department, and yes, it is the famous Immigration Department.
If it were any other government department, it would have been approached by the inspection department, but the Immigration Department is an exception.
When you are busy, this place can be lit up day and night; when you are free, you can go to work for ten minutes to finish your day’s work, and then you will naturally have nothing to do for the rest of the day.
The general staff is idle, Director Gold is worried. All idle, what about the big immigration strategy?
Even if the cabinet government understands his difficulties and doesn’t hold him accountable, but without accomplishing the task, the political stain can never be erased.
Inside the conference room, Gold put down the report in his hand: ”Gentlemen, since the outbreak of the Russo-Prussian War, the number of people applying for emigration has plummeted, and this year’s emigration program is no longer finished.
If we don’t take action, I’m afraid that next year’s immigration will not be optimistic either.
One year pushes one year, and if it continues like this, the big immigration strategy formulated by the government will be aborted.
The failure of the immigration strategy will have a direct impact on the economic development of the colonies and on the process of African indigenization, a consequence that we cannot afford.
From now on, everyone must mobilize. Mobilize your own connections and do as much publicity for immigration as possible.”
The faces of the people were bitter, and it was clear that this was a bitter task. At this moment everyone was nostalgic for the times of economic crisis, when they didn’t even have to ask for it themselves, and a bunch of people would actively come to the door to pull strings.
A senior official objected, “Administrator, I’m afraid this will hardly work. We’ve already plastered immigration propaganda ads all over the country, and they can be seen even in the most isolated mountain villages.
After so many years of publicity, immigration has long been deeply rooted in people’s hearts. But the homeland is hard to leave, the people are unwilling to leave the homeland, and we can’t force them to emigrate.”
Not everyone is willing to fold, and many older officials, having lost the possibility of going further, are no longer interested in such political tasks.
This is nothing, as long as the order is given, people will still carry it out.
It was the phrase “it’s hard to make a difference” that gave Gold a headache, and if it didn’t make a difference, it was useless to send all the people out to propagandize.
After a moment’s hesitation, Gold said fiercely: “Local can not, go to other German countries to publicize, as long as the German immigrants, can be counted as your achievements.
Especially the Kingdom of Prussia, which is in the midst of a war, can be used as a key propaganda area, even if you are caught, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will bail you out.
Let’s discuss this, set a target, and work in groups. Everyone attending the meeting today will be the head of the propaganda group, including me.”
There was no way around it, the Austrian Immigration Service was already notorious in the German region, and all governments were on their guard.
Like the Kingdom of Prussia had long since classified them as persona non grata, as long as they were staff of the Immigration Agency, they couldn’t even get a visa.
But there were countermeasures at the top and policies at the bottom. The Immigration Department is also a governmental department, so it’s not unusual for them to fabricate a new identity and muddle through.
Propaganda immigrants and not a crime, even if they are caught, the Berlin government has no right to deal with them, usually notify the Austrian Foreign Ministry to receive people.
Austria is powerful enough that the Berlin government can’t do anything on the surface, but it’s still necessary to make them suffer a little bit on the sly.
Gold didn’t want to do this, but there was no other way. If they didn’t act like they were doing their best, how could they let the outside world know that they were working hard?
If they didn’t look like they were trying their best, how would they let the outside world know that they were trying their hardest?
Personally take the lead to run a trip, no matter how the results, but also better than watching a group of men every day in the sun.
Retirement, Gold is not even forty years old yet? As the head of the Immigration Department, the most important department under the Colonial Ministry, he still had a long political life ahead of him, and was perfectly capable of going further.
Franz naturally didn’t realize how much pressure the Immigration Department had been put under by the big immigration strategy that had been formulated in the first place.
In fact, not only was the Immigration Department working under great pressure, but also many government departments in Austria were working under great pressure.
These days, civil servants are not as prevalent as in later years, but the workload is not much less.
Take the Immigration Department as an example, all the staff adds up to less than 1,500, the scope of work covers the entire continent of Europe, the peak of the organization of up to one million and three hundred thousand immigrants a year, to the overseas colonies.
Of course, a large portion of these immigrants were already organized by the colonial corporations, and the Immigration Department was only responsible for statistical data and coordinating the relationship between the various parties.
What to do with the lack of manpower? The answer was naturally overtime. Don’t dream of an eight-hour workday; when it’s busy, being able to work nine-nine-six is considered to be the next morning shift.
There is no imbalance, in the whole society is popular overtime environment, there is nothing to complain about, to know the factory overtime is actually more serious.
According to Vienna government statistics, the average daily working hours of urban workers is 9.1 hours, and this average is calculated on the basis of 365 days a year.
If holidays and rest days are deducted, many people work more than 12 hours a day, and the intensity of work is quite high.
Of course, the capitalists will not admit it. Many enterprises calculate the working hours by deducting the necessary breaks in the middle of the day, meal breaks, toilet breaks, and even mechanical breaks.
The purpose is very clear, to pay less overtime pay. With a different way of calculation, the daily working hours are reduced by 1 to 2 hours, and the figures look much better all of a sudden.
The worries of the Immigration Department do not affect the Austrian people, who are still in the joy of increased income and are working hard for a better tomorrow.
As the saying goes: Happiness is a matter of comparison.
Compared with Russia and Russia in the midst of war, compared with Great France in resource difficulties, and compared with many small countries in precariousness, the Austrian people naturally feel happy.
(End of chapter)