Chapter 306: Chapter 55, Harsh Laws in Troubled Times
 

The New Holy Roman Empire was a major importer and consumer of cotton, importing five to six million Divine Shield’s worth of cotton from outside each year.

Even so, it still could not satisfy the needs of the domestic industry and commerce, and Austria was also a major importer of cotton textiles.

Of course, this was also related to the economic development policies implemented by the Vienna Government, as the cotton industry was not included in the major development projects.

To maintain its status as Europe’s number one grain exporter, the government discouraged the cultivation of cotton locally, and the lack of raw materials became an important factor restricting the development of Austria’s cotton spinning industry.

Against this backdrop, promoting cotton cultivation in the colonies could not only save a considerable amount of foreign exchange but also co-opt the domestic textile industry capitalists.

For instance, Bavaria is the traditional center of the cotton spinning industry in the Germany Region, and many capitalists, due to the lack of raw materials, have gone to West Africa to open plantations themselves.

Everyone could still calculate this political and economic account.

Prime Minister Felix considered and said, “Your Majesty, the biggest problem with planting cotton is that it requires a large labor force during harvest. Unlike domestically, it’s too difficult to employ a large number of hands in the colonies over a short period.

Unless we learn from the Americans and train a batch of cheap slave labor, there’s no solving this problem.

Yet, using a large number of indigenous laborers goes against our long-term strategy and won’t benefit stability and long-term peace.”

This was a very real problem; otherwise, Franz wouldn’t have gone to plant rubber trees. Now, the Royal Plantation’s inability to expand its cotton cultivation area is mainly due to labor shortages.

In fact, rubber plantations also require a large workforce, but rubber trees don’t grow overnight; therefore, the demand for labor before rubber harvesting is much less.

The current number of immigrants is still limited; these people can’t possibly all go to plant cotton, nor is every region suitable for cotton cultivation.

Aside from cotton, coffee, palm, cocoa, rubber, tobacco, soybean, and peanuts are also focal points of development.

Although wheat, maize, rice, and potatoes are not development priorities, self-sufficiency is still necessary. Thrifty plantation owners are reluctant to spend money buying them.

All these industries require manpower, but the colonies suffer from a vast land with a sparse population. The labor shortage is not just a minor issue, and Franz had no doubt that even if there were tens of millions of immigrants, they could be easily absorbed.

Franz said helplessly, “If there’s a labor shortage, we can only rely on everyone to come up with their own solutions. In addition to recruiting immigrants from within the country, we can also recruit workers from overseas.

The principle is only one: foreign labor must complete assimilation and meet all our requirements before they can settle.”

At that moment, Franz suddenly wished the Russians would abolish serfdom. Once the Tsarist Government liberated the serfs, a great number of bankrupt peasants would emerge before long.

Such illiterate bankrupt peasants are premium immigrants. Those without cultural inheritance are always the easiest to assimilate.

Unlike the current serfdom society where serfs are the property of the nobility, if you want to recruit labor in Tsarist Russia, pay up!

While the overt trade in population could not be conducted, this market still existed in the shadows, albeit at a cost that was far too high.

Recruiting overseas labor sounds easy but is far from simple in practice. The European Continent offers immigrants too many choices, and everyone has their own circles.

Besides domestically, Austria only has some influence in the Teuton and Italian Area to attract immigrants. In Western Europe, basically no one is interested.

When left with no choice, everyone turned their attention to the Far Eastern region. No matter how you look at it, the labor from these regions is more reliable than the local natives.

In that era, the average income in Europe was more than ten times that of Asia; hiring labor from the East Asia region meant getting quality work for a low cost.

However, this was not without risks; at the very least, in terms of ethnic integration, the difficulty had increased by several folds. Of course, that was still better than being unable to integrate with the local indigenous population.

Minister of Colonization József Jellacic cautioned, “Your Majesty, if a large number of overseas laborers are recruited, social issues such as public security and labor-capital conflicts will become serious problems in the future.”

He wasn’t worried about the local migrants being bullied; quite the opposite, József Jellacic was concerned that the local migrants would bully the foreign laborers, leading to social conflicts.

Never test the integrity of colonists; apart from people like Franz who were mindful of their status due to their large family and business interests and therefore cared about appearances, many plantation owners, mine owners, and farm owners would stop at nothing for profit.

In this respect, the old nobility did somewhat better. The laborers they recruited were mostly their own former serfs, with whom they were well acquainted, and they exercised restraint for the sake of their family’s reputation.

Those who were still in the midst of primitive capital accumulation acted differently – cases of delayed payments, salary deductions, and even outright wage defaults happened frequently. They acted thus toward their own people, let alone foreign laborers.

Because of these people’s reckless actions, the workload of the Colonial Government greatly increased. In the end, they had no choice but to establish a labor employment registration system.

A household registration system that wasn’t even implemented domestically was instead initiated in the colonies. If not for technical issues, Franz would have been ready to issue identity cards.

Now, with the small population in the colonies, such management was still feasible. However, as the population increased in the future, managing it would become much more difficult.

After hesitating for a moment, Franz declared resolutely, “In times of chaos, strict laws must be enforced. The colonial government must establish social order and severely crack down on criminals.

Gang organizations, street thugs, and long-term loitering unemployed individuals must all be thrown into the mines.

As for the conflicts between labor and capital, it’s best to make an example by punishing a few to warn the many. Arrest a few who have serious issues, deal with them sternly, and then use that for publicity.”

Frankly speaking, Franz’s order was contrary to the law, but the colonies were not the motherland, and the Vienna Government had never said that the law of the homeland was to be used.

The main cause of social security issues was unemployment. If everyone had legitimate work, the underworld would have little room to exist.

Franz’s command was akin to cutting off the development of gang organizations at the root. The rules had now been changed; it was no longer necessary to wait for a crime to be committed before making arrests. Anyone identified as a gang member was to be sent to mine.

Even the petty troublemakers who avoided major offenses could be sent by the police for labor reform in the mines without looking for criminal evidence.

The same went for the unemployed vagabonds. In the colonies, where there was a severe lack of labor, the government would arrange work for those who couldn’t find any.

Don’t worry, Franz had integrity. Those sent to the mines without criminal evidence would still be paid market wages by the government; there was no question of injustice.

If criminals and potential criminals were all sent to mine, and social security still worsened, then the colonial officials might as well mine themselves.

Compared to social security, labor-capital conflict was really a minor issue. Market demand determined the relationship between labor and capital.

When there was a severe shortage of labor, who would dare deduct wages, risking workers throwing down their tools and refusing to work?

Franz didn’t think there would be many fools like that. Those who had done so previously were all fools who hadn’t adjusted their attitudes and had already paid a heavy price for it.

The real trouble was during times of labor surplus, which emboldened these individuals to act recklessly. The government, wanting to enforce strict supervision, would then have to consider the resulting issue of unemployment.