Chapter 393

The changes in people's hearts were the most difficult to understand. Franz naturally didn't know about the episode that happened in Perth. As an emperor, as long as the world was peaceful, he didn't care about other people's thoughts.

Now, the bureaucrats of the Government of Austria were used to the three major assessment indicators: education, stability, and economy.

The easiest to achieve was social stability. The government was strong enough, the local powerful people were well-behaved, and some bad elements that destroyed social stability were dealt with.

The second was "education." The rules and regulations were there, and they just had to cooperate with the plan of the Ministry of Education and advance step by step.

Of course, if they wanted to achieve results in this area, they had to adapt to the local conditions and work hard.

The most troublesome thing was to develop the economy. It was fine in the prosperous big cities. Now the domestic economy was developing rapidly, and the big cities were the main force of economic growth. They just had to formulate suitable local policies.

The economic development of the remote areas was much slower. There were even some places where they didn't make any progress. Even if the bureaucrats wanted to work hard, they didn't know where to start.

The uneven regional economic development had become a problem that troubled the Government of Austria, and it was an unsolvable problem.

Franz couldn't do anything about it. Not to mention now, even 100 or 200 years later, these problems would still plague all the countries in the world.

There were many factors that restricted regional economic development, including: transportation, resources, climate, geographical environment, population …

In contrast, the easiest problem to solve was the transportation problem. At worst, they could just build roads. As long as they were willing to invest, it could be solved sooner or later.

There was also a way to solve the population problem, but the climate, resources, and geographical environment couldn't be solved by manpower, at least not in the 19th century.

Looking at the economic development report in his hand, Franz sighed helplessly.

Although he knew that the government invested a lot of resources in the big cities, it would aggravate the regional economic development imbalance, he still had to continue.

There was no other way, this was the highest return. If they invested in the remote areas, they couldn't even produce a bubble. It was really hopeless.

"Prime Minister, why are all the investments in the water conservancy project in the plains?" Franz asked with concern.

There was no problem that the industrial development was in the big cities, but the agricultural development couldn't only consider the plains. Many mountainous areas also had development potential.

Out of political considerations, the government had to take into account the various areas when investing.

Felix explained, "Your Majesty, the main problem is the population distribution. Currently, the population of Austria is mainly in the plains, and the population of other areas is relatively small.

From the perspective of optimizing the allocation of resources, we should focus on developing the plains with a large population first. The other areas have less population and less competitive pressure, so the demand for the water conservancy project is relatively small. "

Franz nodded. From the perspective of agricultural development, the plains were more suitable for growing food, and there was a greater demand for water conservancy projects.

It was more suitable for growing crops according to the different geographical conditions.

This was because it was in the 19th century. was the 19th century. The 19th century was to be the 19th century. Apart from a small number of industrial raw materials in high demand, most of the cash crops were not suitable for large-scale development.

In this era, the market demand for agricultural products with high added value was very small. Ordinary people could not afford them at all. There were too few people with purchasing power.

There was no need to promote farming out of season. The farmers' spontaneous production was enough to meet the market demand. If they wanted to develop it, they had to wait until they had money!

Franz thought for a moment and said, "Make a national agricultural production report. Various regions can carry out experimental economic agriculture according to the actual situation. If there are results, we can gradually promote it. For example, the Regions of Italy can grow raw silk.

In recent years, the domestic food production has been increasing rapidly. We must prepare for a rainy day. If there is an accident, it won't be good if the cheap grain hurts the farmers. "

It wasn't always better to produce more food. If it wasn't for the establishment of the Holy Roman Economic Alliance, Austria's agriculture would have excess production capacity.

In this context, it was necessary to promote some suitable economic crops in certain areas.

In this era, the growth of the food market couldn't keep up with the growth of food production. Blindly increasing food production wasn't suitable for Austria.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Felix replied.

Franz continued to look at the report in his hand. He suddenly thought of the industrial pollution in the future. He didn't want Vienna to become the current London.

It was inevitable that industrial development would cause environmental pollution, but it could be controlled where it would pollute.

For the sake of his beautiful life, Franz thought it was necessary to limit the industrial development of Vienna, even at the expense of the city's development.

Franz thought for a moment and said, "Vienna's development is too fast. In a few years, the city's population will exceed one million. The population has increased, but the city's facilities haven't kept up. It's only a matter of time before problems arise.

Considering the actual situation, the government should find a way to divert some of the enterprises to other cities. The more polluting enterprises shouldn't be placed in Vienna. "

Diverting some of Vienna's resources to other areas could create a new industrial city. In Franz's opinion, it was very worth it.

Vienna was an inland city. Concentrating a large amount of resources here was actually a waste of resources.

The development of a city wasn't necessarily better. It was more important to consider the carrying capacity. In Franz's plan, the future Vienna could only have two to three million people.

Austria didn't need a giant city with a population of more than ten million. It also didn't have the ability to support such a megacity.

Prime Minister Felix thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the capital inflow is regulated by the market. It's not good for us to interfere with it, right?"

In this era, the economy of European countries was naturally regulated by the market. Austria was an exception. The government personally intervened in the economic development.

However, this intervention wasn't through administrative orders. Instead, it was through formulating some economic development policies to guide the market or through state-owned enterprises.

Now what Franz proposed was to let the government intervene in the market through administrative orders. This rarely happened in the world.

Franz shook his head and said, "Explain to the public. Just say that Vienna's carrying capacity has reached its limit. The population is growing too fast, and we can't guarantee the supply of resources.

Let the media publicize the negative consequences caused by the rapid population growth. For example, the per capita living area of the city has decreased, the supply of resources is insufficient, and so on.

The government will step forward to help the capitalists. They will not care about the factories that have been built, and those that haven't been built yet will be moved to other cities.

In the next five years, Vienna will not allow any factories to be built. The factories that have been built must also be strictly reviewed. They are not allowed to engage in heavy pollution industries.

As for the problem of corporate pollution, the government can set a level based on the harm to the environment and optimize the configuration during the construction of the factory.

With the development of industrial technology, the future heavy pollution industries will continue to increase. If we don't consider it comprehensively, a factory may destroy a city. "

Vienna was the political, economic, and cultural center of Austria. Franz didn't want to add another industrial center.

There were more cities in Austria than Vienna that were suitable for industrial development. There was no need for factories to be built.

If they wanted to invest in Vienna, they could. Building a factory was out of the question. From now on, Franz didn't welcome them.

It was much better to refuse entry now than to drive people out when the factory was built in the future.

The problem of environmental pollution was not yet recognized by people in this era. Or rather, the harm caused was not serious.

"Your Majesty, it's not that serious. A factory can destroy a city?" Prime Minister Felix said in disbelief.

"Is it that difficult? For example, if our steel plant has enough production capacity, just the industrial waste water it discharges can pollute a river.

If the water source of a city is polluted, can the city still exist? "Franz asked.

This was not an alarmist. In the future, because of water pollution, there were many cities that were destroyed.

It didn't mean that the industrial wastewater discharged into the river would only pollute the river. In fact, the underground water was not spared.

It was fine if other places were polluted, but not Vienna. Franz didn't plan to move the capital, so it was necessary to take precautions.

The pollution in Vienna was not serious now. In a few decades, it would be different. With the development of the chemical industry, chemical plants would be dug up, and the consequences would be serious.

London was a negative example. At its peak, tens of thousands of people died from smog every year. Franz couldn't live in that kind of environment. If it were him, he would have moved a long time ago.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Felix replied.

If he couldn't understand it, he could slowly go back and understand it. Anyway, the concept of "environmental pollution" had serious consequences was already remembered by him.