Chapter 306: Harsh Laws for Chaotic Times
The New Holy Roman Empire was a major importer and consumer of cotton, importing 5,000,000-6,000,000 guilders of cotton from overseas each year.
Still, it was not enough to meet the needs of domestic industry and commerce. And so Austria was also a major importer of cotton cloth.
Of course, this was also related to the economic development policies of the Austrian government. The cotton textile industry was not included in the key development projects.
To maintain its position as the largest grain exporter in Europe, the government did not encourage domestic cotton cultivation. The lack of raw materials had become an important factor limiting the development of the Austrian cotton textile industry.
In this context, the promotion of cotton cultivation in the colonies could not only save a lot of foreign exchange but also attract domestic textile capitalists.
For example: Bavaria was the traditional center of the cotton textile industry in Germany. Many capitalists went to West Africa to establish their own plantations because of the lack of raw materials.
Everyone could account for the political and economic considerations.
After some thought, Prime Minister Felix said, Your Majesty, the biggest problem with growing cotton is that it requires a large number of laborers during the harvest. The colonies are different from the mainland. It is too difficult to hire a large number of workers in a short time.
Unless we learn from the Americans to train a group of cheap black slave laborers, we will not be able to solve this problem. But the extensive use of native laborers contradicts our long-term strategy and is not conducive to long-term peace and stability.
That was the most realistic problem. Otherwise, Franz would not have gone to plant rubber trees. Now, the amount of land used by the imperial plantations for cotton cultivation remained limited, mainly due to the lack of labor.
In fact, rubber plantations also require a lot of labor, but rubber trees dont grow overnight, so the labor required before the rubber is harvested is much less.
The current number of immigrants was still limited. It was impossible for all these people to go and grow cotton, nor were all the areas suitable for growing cotton.
In addition to cotton, cash crops such as coffee, palm, cocoa, rubber, tobacco, soybeans, and peanuts were also priorities for development.
Although agricultural products such as wheat, corn, rice, and potatoes were not development priorities, self-sufficiency had to be achieved. The meticulous plantation owners could not bear to spend money to purchase them.
These industries all require labor, but unfortunately, the colonies are vast and sparsely populated. The labor shortage is not a trivial matter. Franz has no doubt that even with tens of millions of immigrants, they could easily be absorbed.
Franz said helplessly, Everyone can only find their own solutions to the labor shortage. In addition to recruiting immigrants domestically, overseas workers can also be recruited.
There is only one principle: overseas workers must complete assimilation and meet all our requirements before they can obtain permanent residency.
At that moment, Franz suddenly hoped that Russia would abolish serfdom. If the Russian government liberated the serfs, there would soon be a large number of penniless peasants.
These illiterate, penniless peasants would make quality immigrants. With no cultural heritage, they would be the easiest to assimilate.
Now under the system of serfdom, serfs were the property of the nobility. If you wanted to recruit workers from Tsarist Russia, you had to pay!
Although it was not possible to conduct such population transactions on the surface, this market still existed in the underground. It was a pity that the cost was too high.
Recruiting overseas workers was easier said than done. Migrants on the European continent had too many choices, and everyone had their own circles.
Beyond its own borders, Austria only has some influence in the German and Italian regions, where it can recruit immigrants. In Western Europe, however, hardly anyone is interested.
As a last resort, everyones attention turned to the Far East. In any case, the labor from these regions was better than the local natives.
Anyway, Europes per capita income at the time was more than ten times that of Asia. Hiring workers from East Asia was cost-effective.
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However, this approach is not without risks. At least in terms of ethnic integration, the difficulties are multiplied. Of course, this is still better than not being able to integrate with the local indigenous population.
Colonial Minister Josip Jelai reminded: Your Majesty, if a large number of overseas laborers are recruited, public security and labor conflicts will become serious social problems in the future.
He was not worried about domestic immigrants being bullied. On the contrary, Josip Jelai feared that domestic immigrants would pick on foreign laborers, creating social contradictions.
Never test the morality of the colonizers. Aside from individuals like Franz who care about their reputations, many landowners, plantation owners, and mine owners do not care about anything but their own interests.
Old aristocratic families were even better at this. The workers they recruited were mostly their original serfs, so they had a deeper understanding of them and exercised more restraint for the sake of their familys reputation.
Its a different story for the nouveau riche, who are still in the midst of primitive capital accumulation. Cases of wage arrears, deductions, and even non-payment are not uncommon. They treat their own people this way, how much more to foreign laborers.
Because of their misconduct, the workload of the colonial government increased significantly. Eventually, they had to establish a system for registering hired workers.
The household registration system, which was not even implemented domestically, was first implemented in the colonies. Were it not for technical problems, Franz would have already issued ID cards.
For now, managing the colonies with their small populations is manageable. However, as the population grows in the future, the difficulty of managing them will increase significantly.
After hesitating for a moment, Franz said harshly: Harsh laws for chaotic times. The colonial government needs to establish social order and clamp down on criminals. Throw all gang members, street thugs, and long-term unemployed vagrants into the mines.
As for labor disputes, well deal with them severely by making an example of a few. Catch a few serious offenders and deal with them severely, and then spread the word.
Frankly, Franzs actions were in contradiction to the law. However, the colonies were not mainland Austria, and the Austrian government never said that domestic laws would be applied.
Unemployment was the main cause of public security issues. If everyone had a legitimate job, the space for organized crime would shrink.
Franzs orders effectively cut off the development of gang organizations at the source. With the revised rules, theres no need to wait for a crime to occur before making arrests. Anyone associated with gangs would now be sent to work in the mines.
Even punks who commit petty crimes all the time could be sent by the police to work in the mines without any evidence of a crime.
The same was true for unemployed vagrants. In colonies suffering from severe labor shortages, they couldnt even find jobs, so the government might as well provide them directly.
Rest assured, Franz still had integrity. People sent to the mines without evidence of crime would still be paid fair market wages by the government. Theres no issue of injustice.
With criminals and potential criminals sent to the mines, if public security still deteriorates, the colonial officials should go digging in the mines themselves!
Compared to public security, labor-management conflict is actually a minor issue. Market demand determines the relationship between labor and management.
In the face of such a severe labor shortage, who would dare to embezzle wages without fear that the workers would leave?
Franz did not believe that there would be many such idiots. Those who had behaved like this before were idiots who had failed to keep their mentality in order and had since paid a painful price.
The real trouble comes when theres an oversupply of labor. Thats when these people would dare to act recklessly. The government wants to regulate strictly, but it also has to consider the unemployment problem it may create.
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