The Sun Never Sets In Spain - Chapter 145

While the French capital is besieged, there is peace and stability in Spain.

The existence of the Progressive Guard does deprive a certain degree of freedom, but it also limits the play of the careerist.

Obviously it is in a wartime state, but society is much more stable than in past peacetimes-after all, only active troops were dispatched in this battle, and the war was far away from the mainland.

Whether it is the consumption of the army or the bonuses and salaries sent back by the soldiers, they have objectively boosted domestic consumption, which is beneficial and harmless.

Now, one year has passed since the end of the Civil War in 1869. Most of the factories have resumed production, and the overall strength has recovered or even surpassed the pre-war level.

The most intuitive data shows that Spain’s steel production in 1868 was 20,000 tons. There were no statistics in 1869, but it fell by at least 30%.

When the war was the fiercest and there was a shortage of steel, steel output did not increase but declined. The main reason was that workers in mines and factories were on the front lines.

It stands to reason that farmer manpower should be used. Enlisting hundreds of thousands of peasants will not have much impact on agricultural production, but enlisting hundreds of thousands of workers is a pain in the bones.

However, it is difficult to mobilize the peasant class in small mountain villages and manors. Training and command are very difficult. It is easy and quick to mobilize employees.

Including Spain now, the main sources of troops are the citizens and the working class.

So most countries in this era are getting weaker and weaker.

But this year, although 1870 will be over a month, it is preliminary estimated that the annual steel output will not be less than 26,000 tons.

This number is quite astonishing, nearly doubling in one year, even if there is a foundation in the past, the actual increase will not be less than 50%.

This is due to the establishment of the Spanish Iron and Steel Company. As long as the scale and standards are formed, the growth of the industry is quite rapid.

For example, the annual steel output of the United States this year is only 72,000 tons, but ten years later, this figure will become 1.26 million tons, an increase of 18 times. Compared with this, Spain’s growth rate is really not worth mentioning.

The reason why Alfonso has made great efforts to support the steel industry is to pave the way for next year’s railway plan.

Given the Spanish terrain, this is bound to be a big deal. If possible, he still wants to hand over this project to the country, and try not to repeat the mistakes of using his own money to cultivate industries in other countries.

The construction of the railway is closely following the road. With the hard work of prisoners of war and prisoners, as well as a large number of migrant workers, Spain has built a total of 6,000 kilometers of roads in the past year.

Most of them are secondary roads that can accommodate two carriages running side by side. In mining areas and large cities, there are also some primary roads that can accommodate four vehicles.

For Spain, these roads are sufficient for the time being.

Without a car, the demand for roads is not great, and some unimportant country roads can be put aside first.

The reason for such a rapid construction speed is also due to the rapid increase in labor.

Spain’s population today is about 16.4 million, which does not seem to have grown much compared to a year ago.

But in fact, just a single female worker has increased the labor force by more than 10%. This is still the result of no legislation. Except for Madrid and the eastern coast, which have accepted a large number of female workers, other regions still have doubts about this.

When the war is over, women’s liberation will also be on the agenda. In the plans of Alfonso and Campos, the number of female workers must account for at least 30% of the total.

In addition to female labor, the impact of war cannot be ignored.

War, even civil war, is not all bad.

Many farmers lost their homes because of the war, or experienced the wider world through the war, and flocked to the big cities.

The manor owners were frightened by the military power of the government and dared not do anything, at most they verbally protested.

If you change to the government of Isabella and dare to move other people’s “property” in this way, the owners of the manor will most likely kill tenants who dared to resign and easily escape punishment.

…

In addition to industry, agriculture is also gradually being regulated.

The government is slowly increasing domestic food production through tax cuts on food crops.

However, compared with industry, Spain’s agricultural potential is quite limited.

Because there is a lot of land to be used for the development of animal husbandry, including forage planting and livestock breeding, which accounts for about 15% of the country’s land area.

Mountain areas that are not suitable for cultivation account for the vast majority of the remaining land, and the actual cultivated land area may be only 27% or even less of the total area.

The land itself is quite small, and olives, grapes and other fruits have to squeeze a part of the space. After all, Spain’s climate and geographical environment are more suitable for growing these things.

Although it is necessary to increase the output of wheat and rice for food security, Alfonso does not want to completely give up these cash crops.

It’s no wonder that Spain’s population growth rate is particularly slow. In addition to poor governance and the Spaniards do not like to have children, the harsh geographical environment is also an important reason.

Judging from the current arable land area and production technology, Spain has reached the limit of carrying 20 million people. If it continues to grow, it is bound to spend a lot of money to import food.

If development is slowed down, there is still the risk of policies being swayed by foreign countries.

Except for France, which is blessed with farmland, and Britain, which is a sea country where its food depends on colonies, this is a problem that every industrial country must face on its development journey: how to balance the development of industry and agriculture.

It’s just that Spain has a small amount of arable land, so this problem came very early.

The only way the Ministry of Agriculture can think of is to vigorously develop fisheries and agricultural tools. They have made a lot of preparations for this. Fidel will make a report at the annual meeting of the Progressive Party at the end of the year.

However, this cures the symptoms but not the root cause, and it is the same no matter how good the development is.

Fighting for territory is the real cure for diseases.

Sardinia and Sicily, which are about to be acquired, have many farmland and livestock land. The climate and geographical environment of these Mediterranean islands are quite good, much better than that of Spain.

Except for these two islands, the only place that is most likely to be acquired in the short term is Morocco across the strait.

The rest of Africa is either too far away or difficult to develop, and the priority is definitely not better than it.

The geographical environment of Morocco is actually worse than that of Spain. It is either a mountain or a plateau, but the plains in the northwest are still very fragrant.

In later generations, the population of Morocco is only 13 million less than that of Spain, but the population of Allawi Morocco today is between 6 and 7 million, which is less than half of Spain.

It shows that the power of the plains in the northwest has not been exerted at all.

It’s better to use it for Spain.

Alfonso is already preparing the military for a war plan. After the Franco-Prussian War and the Spanish-Italian War are over, Spain will begin to colonize Morocco.