Holy Roman Empire

As the capital of Britain, London has been at the forefront of the world since the first industrial revolution.

It has too many auras, for example: the world's largest city, the most prosperous city, and the world's political center, financial center, business center, industrial center ...

Overnight, it seemed to become a small place in the countryside. This sudden change made the arrogant Londoners unbearable.

They have arrogant capital in this era, as the British newspaper described:

The plains of North America and Russia are our cornfields;

Austria is our granary;

Canada and the Baltic Sea are our forest farms;

Australia and Argentina are our ranch;

Silver was shipped from Peru and Mexico;

The Far East grows tea for us;

And our coffee, sugar cane and spice plantations are all over the Indian Islands;

Spain and France are our vineyards;

The Mediterranean is our orchard;

The United States of America is our cotton land;

...

Therefore, places outside London are all rural areas, and areas outside the British Isles are backward areas. The sacred mission of leading human progress is only for the British.

Under this kind of recognition, the emergence of the city that never sleeps in Vienna can be imagined the impact on the London people.

The pressure of public opinion surged toward the new government, and the Benjamin Disraeli government only felt the pressure.

Now they are very envious of the John Russell cabinet that has already stepped down. Don't look at their resignation in advance. In fact, the John Russell cabinet is only two months away, and the two terms have expired.

At the end of their term, they encountered an economic crisis, and of course they would not wipe out their competitors.The early resignation of the John Russell cabinet left all the responsibility on the next government.

Originally in the economy, Benjamin Disraeli's cabinet life was very difficult.The fight for the Spanish throne and the fight for the Polish throne have drawn everyone's nerves.

Now there is another city that never sleeps, making Prime Minister Benjamin even more headache.Electric lights are not high-tech, they have been used for a long time, but it is not easy to spread to the whole city.

Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli asked, "My Finance Minister, did the budget come out?"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Molitor, solemnly replied: "Preliminary estimates require at least 75 million pounds to be used to popularize electric lamps in London and 440 million pounds to popularize electric lamps in the British Isles. Considering the actual situation, the investment may be even greater.

This is only equipment investment, and the cost of electricity consumption will be more in the future.In London's street lamp system, we need 150,000 generators, and we need at least 300,000 people to provide logistics support for this."

Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli waved his hand and interrupted: "Stop, you tell me directly, London can't popularize power equipment. But why can the Austrians do it?

Even if Vienna is much smaller than London, it is a metropolis with a population of over one million.I don't believe that the Vienna government will disregard all input for the sake of face."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Molitor explained: "It is said that the Austrians used high-power power generation equipment to protect the lighting system in Vienna, but only two hundred generators were enough.

This high-power generator reduces the cost of power generation by 80%, and the maintenance personnel required are greatly reduced. Only about 3,000 or 4,000 workers are required to maintain this electricity network.

In fact, the lighting system in Vienna is a masterpiece of the Austrian New Energy Power Company, and it is said that there is also royal investment.

The Vienna City Government only needs to pay electricity bills, which cost about £ 100,000 per month to use this power supply network worth more than £ 7 million."

Molitor also had a headache. The British Electricity Company was very salty. He was just keen to power the rich and had no interest in creating a citywide lighting system.

If he did n’t read the newspaper, he did n’t know that the generator technology revolution had already happened.If only the street lighting system is established, then the teeth will pass.

Obviously, this is impossible.The citizens of London need a more intimate home delivery service, which requires a substantial increase in investment.

The simple electricity cost of 100,000 pounds is obviously unable to feed the Austrian New Energy Power Company. Even if it enjoys tax-free treatment, this is still not enough.

Now just for the purpose of horse racing, direct investment in building a complete power supply network means a monopoly on power supply in Vienna.

There is no industry in Vienna, and the ultimate profit point of power companies is residential electricity and commercial electricity. These high-quality customers are long-term cash cows.

Compared with the previous 8 shillings per kilowatt-hour, the electricity bill in Vienna has now been reduced to 1.5 shillings, which is the advantage of the power supply network, which greatly reduces the loss of electricity in the transmission process.

There is no doubt that this price is profiteering, but if new technology is to be promoted, it still depends on profiteering.

If you want to further reduce the price of electricity, you must wait until electricity is fully popularized.Otherwise, who will pay for this power supply network?

The government of Vienna cannot afford this expense. Once the government provides funding, it is not a problem for a city, but a nationwide popularization, which is the core of the fairness system.

Everyone is a taxpayer. Why should we supply electricity to big cities first?

If the central government does not invest, who will bear the initial investment?

Is it a loan?If you really do that, I am afraid that it will not take long for the local government of Austria to collectively go bankrupt.

Expecting the bureaucracy to control costs is a dream.It might as well be thrown away to the free development of the enterprise, and after the further development of technology, then turn back and consider the issue of popularization.

The same problem was encountered by the British. The Central Government did not approve the funds, and the City of London could not afford it at all. People who gave funds to other areas did not agree.

You don't have to wait for the people to make trouble, the parliamentary level can't pass.Originally, the capital occupied more resources, and the central government's fiscal tilt will aggravate contradictions and conflicts, and seriously, it may lead to national division.

Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli rubbed his forehead and said helplessly: "Then throw this question to the City of London! The Austrian government has no appropriation. What qualifications do they have for us to approve?

As for how they do it, it is their own business.The municipal government cannot fulfill its local responsibilities for construction, and put its own responsibilities on the central government. This kind of thing is absolutely necessary."

Playing football is the most common method used by politicians.If it was n’t for too much public opinion pressure, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli would have ignored it.

The Cabinet's inquiries about this matter only indicated that it attached importance and did not mean that it would intervene.

If the investment is small, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli is still willing to brush a wave of achievements to make the British Isles bright.

Now that the investment is so big, then forget it!If the big project is launched blindly, the British fiscal revenue may not be enough to fill this hole.

...

In Paris, the tragic Paris municipal government was once again surrounded by the parade, which is enough to prove that the Parisian people understand the rules.

The transformation of urban infrastructure is the responsibility of the municipal government, and it cannot allow the central government to pay for it.

Including the reconstruction of Paris by Napoleon III, the funds were mainly borne by the Paris municipal government, rather than dumped to the French central government.

In this respect, the French are very clear, and the accounts are always separate.Local governments also have their own fiscal revenue, instead of relying entirely on central government funding.

For example, the salaries of employees of the municipal government and the operating expenses of various government agencies are all borne by the local government.

Otherwise, the fiscal revenues of the central governments of various countries will not be enough to keep the government running.

Of course, some European countries are still directly managed by the central government, but they are only small countries. They have a small land area and a small population, and do not need so many institutions.

If the local government cannot afford administrative expenses, the central government may still be able to subsidize it. For example, the Austrian government once subsidized the province of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or even this poor province could not pay the salaries of civil servants.

There are exceptions, such as the United States.That's what every state plays with each state. If you have money, you can spend it yourself. If you don't have money, you can find a way. Don't expect the central government anyway.

Looking at the crowd protesting outside, Paris Mayor Barco collapsed.You must know that the Paris reconstruction project has already caused the Paris government to carry a huge amount of debt, so that they will be out of breath.

The mouth-to-mouth party puts it lightly and improves public infrastructure to help develop the economy and get rid of the economic crisis.

In fact, it all costs money.No money to invest?Napoleon III ordered the reconstruction of Paris, not because the Paris city government was paying for it.

The debt is also high, and in order to increase fiscal revenue, the Paris municipal government has repeatedly raised taxes.

This tax cannot be counted on ordinary people. As much as they have, they can't search much, but the big head still falls on the enterprise.

Napoleon III encouraged the development of industry, so financial capitalists bear most of the tax.Frankly speaking, this tax distribution model is reasonable.

The profit of the financial industry is higher than that of the manufacturing industry. There is nothing wrong with high profits and high taxes. Therefore, this period is the golden period of French industrial development.

There are also many power companies in France, but unfortunately they are not on scale.Usually a power company has hundreds of customers, and those with thousands of customers are all big companies.

After interviewing these power companies, Mayor Barco gave up the responsibility of building the Paris power supply system.

It ’s nonsense to say anything without strength, neither money nor technology. Who dare to let them do it?

There are many capitalists who are interested in taking on this important task, but the appetites of these gangs are too big, which directly barks Barco.

For example, the financial predator Rothschild intends to invest, not only for free, he also asks the Paris government to bear half of the construction cost free of charge.

To bear half of the construction cost without compensation is not as good as direct state-run operations.Obviously, capitalists know the pressure of public opinion and want to get the most out of it.

As a beacon of the free world, how can it be done if it does not light up?The attitude of the people of Paris has already explained everything.

Franz estimated that he had never dreamed that investing in the construction of the Vienna power system would actually cause so much trouble for Britain and France.

Even if he knew it was useless, he couldn't help.The popularity of electricity in this era is still a bit ahead.It is the best time to wait for the generator technology to go further and the copper smelting technology to reach a higher level.

The cost of promotion is too high now. Promotion in a special city like Vienna is okay. If you change to another city, you wo n’t lose your life. It ’s lucky.

1.5 shillings per kilowatt-hour, the whole Austria will be able to consume 10% of the people, and this ratio is almost the same in Britain and France.

The situation in Vienna is special. It is not an industrial city. The pillar industries are relatively high-income industries.People have higher incomes, and most people can afford electricity.

Other cities will not work. Europe is different from the East. Not rich people are in the city. A large part of the local tyrants and nobles are in the surrounding estates of the city.

These high-quality customers are scattered, directly increasing the cost of popularizing electricity.Most of these nobles have used electricity for a long time, and others have their own small generators.

Of course, if the power company is willing to provide power, they will not refuse.After all, the small generators of this era just said that the power is small, and the size is not small at all, which is very inconvenient to use.

However, as a result, the cost per kWh will continue to rise.In most cities, because the number of users is insufficient, or the concentration is not enough, the final cost of power supply will increase greatly.

This is also the reason why the Austrian New Energy Power Company stopped after it supplied power to Vienna, digging deep into the Vienna market and not expanding blindly.

Power technology revolution, it is enough to have a benchmark in Vienna.If it is to be promoted nationwide, it is not too late to wait for three or five years.

In this ever-changing era, new technologies are advancing almost every day. From 1866 to now, there are more than 300 new patents on electricity in Austria.

Franz didn't know that the expertise involved in electricity was so much.We must know that this is the 19th century, and the use of electricity is still at the initial stage.

At present, the biggest effect is lighting. The mechanical equipment driven by electricity is still theoretically. It takes at least thirty years to become the most important energy source for human beings.

There is no accident. After Vienna took the first step in a new era, the Paris government announced the establishment of the Paris Electric Power Company to make Paris bright.

In the lighthouse of the free world, black lights are not enough.