Chapter 447

The negotiations between the North and the South had not yet ended, but the American Civil War had. Both the European powers and the American people did not want the war to continue.

This was not something that could be changed by individual will, and the rest was nothing more than bargaining.

In order to show their sincerity, both the North and the South stopped military operations, including the ongoing military mobilization.

From a strategic point of view, the goal of weakening the United States was basically achieved. Now, the final treaty was left to divide the United States.

This was not only a good thing, but it also came with a series of problems. For example, Austria's cotton and cotton textile industry would be affected.

During the American Civil War, cotton production decreased, and the international market was tight. Austria's cotton textile industry, which had sufficient cotton supply, suddenly emerged and occupied the British market in Europe.

Now in Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, and Central Europe, the British cotton textile products were gradually squeezed out of the market.

In the past, because of the lack of cotton supply, the cotton textile products were in short supply, and the British could not do anything about it.

Now, with the end of the Civil War, the cotton production in the United States would soon recover. With an adequate supply of raw materials, the British capitalists would naturally make a comeback.

The market was the lifeline of every industrial country. As the first country to complete the Industrial Revolution, the British accumulated enough advantages, and their industrial strength was once more than half of the world.

With the completion of the industrialization of the two countries, the British industry's proportion in the global total declined, but it was still the world's largest.

However, an embarrassing thing was that the British Empire, the world's factory, had been in a state of surplus for a long time.

In 1864, the British exported as much as 215 million pounds, and imported as much as 275 million pounds, with a trade deficit of 60 million pounds.

During the same period, the French exported as much as 2.963 billion francs, and imported as much as 2.523 billion francs, with a trade surplus of 440 million francs. (about 17.6 million pounds)

The Austrian exported as much as 285 million ND, and imported as much as 226 million ND, with a trade surplus of 59 million ND. (about 29.5 million pounds)

Not only were the two countries in a state of surplus, but Russia was also in a state of surplus. In 1864, the Russian exported as much as 187 million rubles, and imported as much as 175 million rubles, with a trade surplus of 12 million rubles.

In this era, the international trade volume was relatively small, and Russia's food exports exceeded half of the total exports. With this advantage, they achieved a trade surplus.

Austria was able to have such a large surplus because agricultural exports occupied an important position. After all, people had to eat, and the British were one of Europe's main food importers.

In order to solve the trade deficit, the successive Government of the United Kingdom had put a lot of effort. There was nothing they could do about it. The lack of local resources meant that the British were in a state of overtaking the market for a long time.

Fortunately, there were many John Bull colonies, and they could fill this gap by plundering the wealth of the colonies. Otherwise, ordinary countries would have collapsed long ago.

In history, the Opium War was initiated by the British in order to smooth out the trade deficit.

Now that the Austrian capital had taken over the market, the British would definitely not let it go. It was not to the extent of flipping the table. Such a small conflict did not require the two countries to shed all pretense of cordiality.

Of course, there was no point in turning hostile. This was a fair competition in business. At that time, the British did not have enough supplies of cotton products, so Austria took advantage of the situation. John Bull did not have the ability to keep the market waiting.

Now, War and and and and the South. The Cotton production would American War, and production. Thanks to the export of labor, the production might even increase further.

The Confederate States of America had a unique geographical advantage. Their cotton yield per mu was usually higher than that of other regions.

Of course, the production per mu could be made up by expanding the planting area, but the corresponding labor input would still increase.

Historically, the North won the war, and the South, as the losers, lost their cheap labor force. Cotton production was severely affected, and India and Egypt also competed for the market with cotton.

Of course, the most important thing was that the Northern capitalists needed cheap industrial raw materials. They raised tariffs, railway freight, and other means to make American cotton lose market competitiveness.

Now, India's cotton production had not increased. In order to compete for labor to dig the Suez Canal, the British promoted cotton cultivation in Egypt, but they were blocked by the Fao and India.

At this time, the American Union's only competitor in the cotton market was West Africa.

There was no excess supply of cotton in the international market. In the short term, this kind of competition was unwise. Austria itself could absorb most of the West African cotton production.

But in the future, when Indian cotton entered the market and Egyptian cotton entered the market, the competition would become white-hot.

Competing with the British in the cotton textile industry, and competing with the United States, Egypt, and India in the cotton market, Franz had to consider this series of economic problems in advance.

Fairspring Palace

"There are only two topics today. First, how to protect our cotton textile products in the European continent's market share. Second, how to protect the interests of cotton farmers?"

In this era, there were fewer industrial and commercial products, and the textile industry dominated the economy. Austria's core industry did not include the cotton textile industry, but because of the American Civil War, the cotton textile industry suddenly rose, and they could not give up.

At present, in Bavaria, Württemberg, Lombardy, Veneto, and other areas, the cotton textile industry had more than 1.2 million workers, and the industry chain had more than 2.5 million employees.

With so many people relying on the textile industry to make a living, it was decided that the Government of Vienna must protect this industry. The Anglo-Austrian trade dispute was inevitable.

Protecting the interests of cotton farmers was even more needless. At present, most of the plantation owners in the colony were nobles.

This was determined by Austria's national conditions. Ordinary people were limited by their economic strength, and even if they opened up plantations, the area was not large. Capitalists did not love farming.

Because of the land redemption in the country, many nobles lost their land and received a sum of ransom money. Obviously, this money could not be used up.

After the colony was opened up, many conservative nobles put their investment goal on plantations. Perhaps in the future, the profit of farming was not high, but in this era, the return on investment in plantations was not much lower than other industries.

The cotton plantation was no exception. A large number of nobles gathered, and as the spokesperson of the nobles' interest group, Franz naturally had to consider their interests.

This was also related to everyone's enthusiasm for opening up a colony. In a profitable situation, the ruling class would definitely desperately protect the colonial system, and vice versa.

The Minister of Economy Andrew replied, "Your Majesty, our Ministry of Economy has prepared an emergency plan. If necessary, we can use political means to protect the domestic and Russian markets. It won't be a problem.

The Southern Regions of Italy are in the midst of a civil war. Now that the small market has shrunk further, it will not be the focus of the British counterattack.

The remaining areas are Central Europe, including the German Confederation, Prussia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and other regions, which will be the main battleground of this trade war.

French capital may also join in. In recent years, France's economic development has been very good. Under the situation of ensuring the supply of raw materials, their cotton textile products are also competitive in the market.

In order to improve the market competitiveness of cotton textile products, the Ministry of Economy believes that when necessary, these first-line production enterprises can be given tax rebates and subsidies. "

Simple, crude, but very effective. Everyone's production technology was similar, and the quality of the products could not be distinguished. There was not much of an advantage in production costs. If they wanted to gain an advantage in the market competition, they could only fight with policies.

In history, the British cotton industry was destroyed by the subsidies of various countries. Manufacturing was a competition of cost and quality. Once the advantage of technology was lost, the competition became cruel.

In this regard, Franz could not do anything. He took advantage of the time difference to grab a part of the British market. Now that the time for competition had come, everyone could only compete with strength.

The only advantage was that the British cotton industry was larger. Once they played the game of financial subsidies, for every one million Austria spent, the British had to pay three million.

Under normal circumstances, no one would play this kind of lose-lose strategy. After all, there were so many industries in a country, and it was impossible to concentrate resources on one industry.

Agriculture Minister Christian said, "Cotton and the cotton textile industry are closely related. As long as the domestic cotton textile industry does not collapse, the West African cotton plantation economy will not collapse.

In order to enhance the competitiveness of West African cotton, we can think of ways in tax, such as: reduce or even abolish the trade tax between the colonies and the mainland. "

Throughout Europe, Austria was definitely the country that paid the most attention to the economic development of the colonies. However, no matter how much attention it paid, it could not be compared to the mainland.

In order to prevent the cheap crops of the colonies from impacting the domestic agricultural market, there had been trade taxes between the mainland and the colonies from the beginning, but they were slightly lower than foreign tariffs.

In the Government of Vienna, there had always been calls for economic integration. The aristocrats who invested in the plantations had always wanted to integrate the colonies into the mainland for their own interests.

At present, the ruling model of West Africa, Congo, and Nigeria had begun to move closer to the domestic model. Some colonial cities were adopting the same laws as the domestic model.

As the first generation of colonists, everyone still had a strong feeling for the mainland. Many people were promoting the integration process, and Franz himself was one of the supporters.

However, because of the various aspects involved, the Government of Vienna did not dare to announce that the colonies would be integrated into the mainland. However, the best developed colonies had already begun to implement the provincial system.

Compared to the domestic model, these colonial provinces had more power, and even had a certain amount of military power. Now that the trade rights between the colonies and the mainland were reduced, it was undoubtedly another step forward in the integration process.

After a moment of contemplation, Franz raised a question, "In theory, there is no problem, but reducing the trade tax between the mainland and the colonies also involves the integration process of the Second Reich and the mainland.

Let's release the news first to test the reactions of the domestic community. At the same time, organize economists to conduct a comprehensive analysis. We must figure out how much impact this will have on the mainland. "

This was to make the problem clear. Before that, the legal basis for the integration process of the colonies and the mainland was Franz's proposal to recreate the Second Reich Homeland.

Since the African colonies were the Second Reich Homeland from the beginning, there was no problem in merging with the first homeland.

However, these were all speculations among the people, and the government had not made a statement. The main force in promoting the integration process was also among the people. Groups and individuals involved in the interests of the colonies were promoting this plan.

The driving force was not small, and the opposition group was even more powerful. It was mainly the local small and medium-sized aristocrats and farmers. They were afraid that the cheap agricultural products from the colonies would be sold to the mainland and harm their interests.

However, the current situation was a bit unexpected. The agricultural products in the Austrian colonies were not cheap, at least not competitive with the local agricultural products.

On the one hand, the lack of labor in the colonies resulted in high labor costs; on the other hand, mainly the newly developed land, the early production was not high.

The most important thing was that the land in the two major food-growing areas in Austria was very fertile, and the infrastructure such as water conservancy and transportation were complete. It was not something the colonies could compare with.

As for the future? Franz could responsibly say that once fertilizers were developed, the profits of farming would further decline.

Whether or not there was an impact on the colonial agricultural products, the domestic agriculture would be affected. Many food-importing countries used fertilizers to increase food production, and the international food market would shrink sharply in a short period of time.

From this point of view, Austria could not develop fertilizers. Even if it was developed, it could not be put into production.

The longer it took, the better it was for Austria. Before the industry developed to a certain level, rashly making changes could easily lead to disaster.

The more food production, the better. The market capacity was only so big. Once it exceeded the limit, it would be a pity to look at the grain.

This could be explained by the fact that the inventor of fertilizers was German in history. The United States, Austria-Hungary, and Russia were food exporters. Wasn't inventing fertilizers asking for trouble?

Of course, the Germans never dreamed that the biggest beneficiary of their invention of fertilizers was their number one enemy, France. It directly made the French one of the main food exporters in Europe.