Chapter 318: Seizing the Cotton Market

  Chapter 308 – Seizing the Cotton Market

Prime Minister Felix took out a document and handed it to Franz, saying, “Your Majesty, considering that the African colony is rich in resources and there are quite a few immigrants, we have formulated a set of economic development plans for the colony, please take a look.”

Colonial economic development plan? This statement was very avant-garde, in Franz’s memory it should be after the emergence of autonomous territories that the autonomous government formulated a systematic economic development plan.

Nowadays, everyone’s consciousness was that opening a colony was all about plundering wealth. There was basically a laissez-faire approach to local economic development, with no long-term planning.

Doubtful as he was, Franz still took the document and read it carefully, and soon he knew why there was this plan.

It wasn’t how far-sighted the Vienna government was, nor was it driven by interest groups, it was just an instinct of the ruling class.

As the ruling class makes policy, it naturally tilts toward itself. It is the aristocratic group that now dominates the colonization of Africa, and it is also the aristocratic group that dominates the Austrian government.

Before the successful opening of farms and plantations, many people still had doubts. Now that the early plantations had begun to make a profit and the successes were in front of them, the importance attached to them was very different.

In the eyes of many traditional nobles, these were God-given riches that could be passed on to the family business. The better the colonies developed, the more everyone’s wealth increased in value.

The ruling class naturally had to defend its own interests, and it did not need to be pushed by anyone for the Vienna government to create a plan for the development of the colonies.

Franz asked with concern, “Has the terrain been explored for a railroad from the Guinea region to the Congo region? Are there any technical difficulties? And how will the problem of financing be solved?”

Well, he decisively ignored the fact that there were many areas on the way that were out of Austria’s control.

Anyway, in this era, is to rely on the fist to speak, since Vienna has developed this plan, naturally ready to seize these areas.

Prime Minister Felix explained, “The landforms and terrain, the colonial government has already made a preliminary exploration. Theoretically, with our current railroad construction technology is enough to complete the construction of this railroad.

Considering the economic needs, this railroad must run through most of the cities, and with the branch railroads, the total mileage may exceed 10,000 kilometers. We plan to construct the railroad in sections, and the areas with harsh geographical conditions and difficult construction can be placed at a later stage.

The construction funds will still be mainly raised by the private sector, and any shortfall will be made up by government funding.

In order to motivate people to invest, we plan to allocate the unclaimed land within twenty kilometers on both sides of the railroad to the railroad company.”

Franz knew that this railroad would definitely not be that easy to complete, and many of the technologies that could be realized theoretically would be devastatingly expensive when it came to actual construction.

The African colony was not a homeland, most of the area was not effectively developed, many raw materials had to be transported from home, the construction cost would definitely increase dramatically.

With the economic development of the African colonies, this strategic + economic dual role of the railroad, the next few decades may not be profitable.

The profitability of the railroad company lies in the land on both sides of the railroad. Whoever takes over the railroad is the biggest landowner.

This is the way to learn from the American railroad construction, now so that the land is naturally worthless, but when the railroad construction is completed, these lands will also increase in value.

The railroad company can build a station every other section of the area and radiate to the surrounding areas. Solve the transportation problem, in these areas whether it is to open up plantations, or mining, can get a good return.

If put aside in later times, such a business would probably be crowded by everyone. Twenty kilometers on either side of the railroad, that is, forty kilometers, the completion of this railroad construction, you can get more than 400,000 square kilometers of land ownership.

Such a large area, even without any resources, just selling wood can recover the construction cost.

Unfortunately, right now, both the wood and the minerals buried in the ground are not worth much yet. Unless gold and silver mines are discovered, it is still unknown whether this investment will be profitable or not.

After careful consideration, Franz found that the railroad was actually still a quality project.

Building a railroad in Africa, first of all, labor costs can be saved, even if there are labor protection laws, the local natives do not know where to go to complain.

Of course, even if they found a place to complain, it would be of little use. Complainants had to learn German first, or their cases would not be accepted.

The natives who were able to learn German would not be lowly laborers; such talents had long been promoted to become supervisors. If they were to complain, they would be the first to fall into bad luck.

Everyone is a man of honor, and the abuse of laborers must be done by the overseers. No high-ranking person would lower himself and personally run to a railroad construction site to whip people with a whip.

Basic raw materials such as sand, gravel and sleepers can be taken from the site itself, and cement does not need to be purchased from outside, so it is entirely possible to build a cement factory locally and save most of the cost of raw materials again.

Even for mechanical equipment and railroad tracks, which need to be transported from China, the increase is actually the freight cost. Overall, the construction cost is within the controllable range.

The railroad company owns such a large area of land, even if the development is lousy, it can still make a profit just by selling resources.

Franz said calmly, “Since all these problems have been solved, let’s build this railroad! But remember to control the cost, the government can’t put a lot of financial resources into this railroad.

The idea of focusing on the plantation economy in the African colonies is good, but there needs to be a focus.

The colonial government can organize experts to visit the field, and guide people to plant what crops are suitable for what places.

The government would compile information on the soil, climate, and hydrology of each place, then list the cash crops suitable for planting and distribute them to the people.

The government will not force people to choose what to plant.

According to the current international situation, the American civil war is imminent, and when that time comes, their cotton and tobacco exports are bound to be affected, so we can make preparations in this regard first.”

This railroad is in everyone’s interest, once the land transportation problem is solved, the land that everyone can develop becomes more again, without having to develop only the coastal and riverine areas as it is now.

As a member of the vested interests, Franz naturally would not oppose it. He even wants to participate in it and get a piece of the pie.

As for when this railroad can be repaired, whether it will become a bad project, Franz is not worried at all.

The colony is not the mainland, if the cost of construction is too high when encountering harsh terrain, then it doesn’t matter if the construction is stopped for a few years, anyway, the construction period is not urgent.

The focus on the development of cotton plantations was mainly to seize the cotton market in the United States. Once the Civil War broke out, America’s cotton exports would definitely suffer.

It is important to realize that the Americans’ cotton exports in this era were close to $190 million, occupying two-thirds of the global cotton export market share.

Historically, the British cotton textile industry was hit hard when cotton exports were cut off by the American Civil War. In order to avoid being stuck in the neck, John Bull directly enforced cotton cultivation in India.

When the war ended and trade returned to normal, U.S. cotton exports had fallen to $6 million, never again the dominant position in the cotton market.

Austria’s colonies are suitable for growing cotton in a number of areas, as long as you can grab the Americans one-third of the market share over, the colonial government’s finances have turned over.

……

(End of chapter)