Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 481: An Indispensable Error (Bonus Plus More)

The industrial layout is not just for the steel industry.With the advent of the second industrial revolution, copper has become more widely used.

In 1870 Austrian copper production reached 580,000 tons, while the market demand was as high as 720,000 tons, with a gap rate of up to one-sixth.

The main reason for this situation is the advent of the power age.As a pioneer in promoting the power revolution, Austria's demand for copper is naturally increasing.

In order to regulate the relationship between market supply and demand, the government of Vienna did not hesitate to increase the output of state-owned enterprises by administrative orders, but the relationship between supply and demand could not be changed in a short time.

This is no way. If it is lack of steel, it can be purchased in the international market, but copper does not have to count on it.

The output of copper mines in Austria exceeds the sum of all European countries. Even the British, the output of copper in this era is so pathetic tens of thousands of tons.

Not everyone does not want to increase production, the problem is that there is no mine at home, raw materials need to be imported, if you want to increase copper output, first solve the problem of copper ore.

Unfortunately, the European reserves are really not high, otherwise Chile could not get rich by exporting copper ore.

This is very discordant to Austria. The local reserves are not enough. The import of copper ore is too far away. The increased transportation costs make the company's profit margin thin.

The Ministry of Industry is preparing to find copper mines in the African colonies to make up for the shortage of raw materials. Now that copper mines are looking for a lot, transportation is still a big problem.

...

Franz dropped the data and shook his head, saying: "Smelting copper mines in Africa on the spot is a very radical plan. It is not yet time to develop industry in Africa. At least until the localization is completed, the African continent cannot own industry. .

Moreover, can smelting copper mines in Africa certainly reduce costs?I can remember that the Ministry of Industry ’s recent energy reserve report also mentioned the lack of coal mines on the African continent.

At present, we have found several large coal mines, all concentrated in South Africa. If in-situ smelting also needs to transport ore, it may not be lower than the cost of smelting in the country."

There is no doubt that it is political temptation.In recent years, more and more capitalists have entered the African colony to develop, and many of them are no longer satisfied with providing raw materials for the country, and want to develop industry locally.

However, due to congenital deficiencies, the resource distribution on the African continent is extremely uneven, and under the suppression of the Vienna government, it has not been successful.

Now these people want to use the power of the Vienna government to develop industry locally and earn greater benefits.

This kind of pediatric political means naturally conceals Franz's eyes.If it is a resource-rich area like the United States and Australia, it is still difficult to suppress the development of local industries.

In the African continent, the situation is completely different. More than 90% of coal mines are concentrated in South Africa. The remaining areas want to develop industry, they must first solve the coal supply.

This requires road construction, but the current plan for the Austria-Africa Railway is still in progress.The original plan was only from Guinea to the Congo region. Although now the planned road sections have been added, it is not possible to build them in a day or two.

Even if the main road is not fixed, the branch line will not even have to think about it.Without raw materials for railway transportation, Africa's industry cannot naturally develop.

Now taking advantage of the local copper shortage, many people are starting to move around, but they ignore the general distribution of African resources, and Franz is more familiar than anyone else.

It is not known which mine is specific, but what resources there are in that large area is not a secret in later generations, as long as those who are slightly interested can search for information on the Internet.

There is no shortage of areas suitable for industrial development in the African continent. The South African region is the best choice, and there is almost no shortage of resources.

However, isn't this still fighting?When the war is over, the gold should be released again.When large gold mines appear, who can afford to invest in other industries.

Capital is profit-seeking and naturally flows to areas with high profits.As soon as the gold mine is developed, resources are robbed, and it is difficult to invest in other industries.

Afterwards, South Africa did not develop an industry. To a certain extent, it was too rich in resources, and it could make a fortune by selling or selling mines. Who would be willing to risk investing in industry?

Industry Minister Kaschin-Kubek grievances explained: "Your Majesty, the localization inspection period for Guinea is coming to an end. We continue to suppress the development of local industries, which may cause controversy.

We are all aware of the issue of resource distribution. These people are on the African continent, and it is impossible to know these issues.They still submitted an application, which is mostly a trial.

Even if one or two coal mines are found, and it is suitable for industry, at most one or two more factories will be added.

As long as the government does not solve the transportation problem, no matter how they struggle, it is impossible to come up with an industrial system in the absence of raw materials. Why should we stop it?"

The African continent is more than a lack of an industrial system, it is completely poor.Not only the raw material resources are not in place, but even the manpower is lacking.

In the sparsely populated African continent, if you want to find hundreds of thousands of workers and build a large industrial group that integrates mining and smelting, that cost can deter any capitalist.

Franz asked uncertainly: "You mean to open up the mining industry, but deliberately set up obstacles when building railways.

Make raw materials and raw materials can not be directly connected, increase the transportation cost of industrial development?"

If so, it is estimated that Africa's industry will be over.If you want to develop minerals, there is no problem. In areas where resources are concentrated, the government will build railways so that the produced ore can be shipped out.

However, this kind of railway is mainly based on single lines, and it is not a perfect railway network.Especially between iron mines and coal mines, there is no direct railway connection, which suppresses the development of African local industry from the source.

I have to admit that this approach is more than just a ban on the development of industry in Africa.In the future, excuses can also be made, for example: the exploration technology is not in place and the resource reserves are incorrectly estimated.

The huge ore with 100 million tons of ore reserves shows 1 million tons on the report. Naturally, it is not worthy of the government's attention, and the railway line needs to be planned.

Or else: Ignore technological progress.

Due to the limitations of the times, it was justifiable to misjudge the development value of the mine and neglect it when building the railway.

...

Anyway, it is caused by special circumstances, and it is definitely not that the central government is suppressing the industrial development of the African continent.Finally, the industry on the African continent did not develop, and that was beyond human reach.

A few decades later, localization was completed, and Austria ’s rule on the African continent was entrenched.It is not too late to correct these special historical errors.

Industry Minister Kaschin-Kubek replied: "Yes, Your Majesty. Now we have to concentrate on the development of the homeland and let the colonies make sacrifices."

Kaschin-Kübeck emphasized the word "colonial", since it is naturally a colony that cannot be compared with its native land.It is inevitable that the treatment is first class.

Without drawing blood from the colony, Austria's economy cannot maintain high-speed growth for a long time.Before the advent of the era of free trade, colonies were the objects of sacrifice.

This time the "wrong" confined to the times is no longer a mistake, and mistakes in the construction of the railway network on the African continent have become inevitable.

Franz finally understood why the original time and space Indian railway had so many pits. The culprit was buried as early as the colonial era.

It's not that designers are irrational planning, but reality needs to be irrational.The future seems unreasonable planning, but this era is the best choice.

Franz nodded and said: "Accelerate the progress of the colonial railway construction, taking advantage of the time when the information is asymmetric to create the established facts, and do not attract the attention of the people.

The Vienna government has a resource distribution map in hand, and imperfections are inevitable, but it still knows more than the private government.

Industrial development is inseparable from coal. Coal mines in the African continent are concentrated in South Africa, which is destined to really need design errors in South Africa.

To do this is very simple, just take the gold mine top tank.The railway network gives priority to the mining and smelting of gold mines, and it is understandable to ignore other regions.

...

Such a concealed plan naturally needs to be kept as confidential as possible, and it naturally falls on the head of the railway when it is implemented.

In the Ministry of Railways, Stein received this special order directly dumbfounded.This work is not easy to do, and it is clear that we must be prepared to be scolded.

No matter how well prepared the excuses are, people will still scold the railway designers in the future, and it will be a difficult question for who will carry this pot.