Chapter 525： Era of big mergers

The impact of the agricultural crisis was not only confined to continental Europe, the Americas were not able to escape the calamity.

Grain prices in Europe have plummeted, and naturally capitalists have shipped grains for sale, and the prices of grains in the Americas have also been hit.

The development of shipping technology has reduced the cost of shipping, and more 10,000-ton ocean-going carriers have become available. Under this shareholder's wind, the grain dumped by Austria also crossed the ocean and entered the Japanese market.

Of course, this is only incidental. The profit is still too low for the purpose of transporting grain to Japan for sale. Everyone hasn't been at ease.

Affected by the Meiji Restoration, in recent years Japan has greatly increased the amount of machinery and equipment imported from Europe, and trade has become more prosperous.

The earliest born 10,000-ton carrier in Austria, while reducing freight costs, also has an embarrassing problem-the cargo is often dissatisfied.

This problem is not difficult for the capitalists. You can fill the warehouse with a little local produce, and mosquitoes can be small and can not be wasted.

The Vienna government's call is still somewhat effective. The major exporting countries have announced that they will reduce their output. I do n’t know how effective it will be.

Anyway, according to Franz, the measures taken by various countries are loopholes. Whether they can reduce production capacity depends on the consciousness of farmers.

Just after the autumn harvest, a large wave of new grain was launched, and international grain prices continued to fall. The capitalists know that it is terrible, and everyone will be finished if they fall like this.

In order to maintain the stability of food prices, the capitalists joined the big farmers and began to put pressure on the government. By the end of 1872, most countries in Europe had increased import tariffs on agricultural products.

These measures are not enough. In order to stabilize market prices, capitalists have to bear to destroy some agricultural products.

Grain importing countries are okay. Tariffs have gone up, and some surplus agricultural products have been destroyed, and the market has quickly returned to stability.

Just maintaining "stability" and wanting food prices to return to normal levels will not be achieved overnight.

Grain exporting countries are miserable, in addition to slow-moving or slow-moving. This year, more trade disputes broke out in continental Europe than in the past five years combined.

Of these, the most severe losses are naturally the four countries of Russia's Oppo. To alleviate the crisis, in October 1872, the Vienna government announced the acquisition of 2.7 million tons of wheat, 4.8 million tons of rye, 3.8 million tons of corn, and 1.9 million tons of soybeans for strategic reserves.

Of course, there are additional conditions. The agricultural products purchased this time are limited to new grain produced locally and purchased at the lowest grain price protection price set by the government.

First it was destocked, and now it is resumed without any problems. Stimulated by this good news, grain prices in the Austrian domestic market have finally stabilized.

The international food market is still not improving. Now the food is not a matter of price, but the market is saturated. Many food importing countries have suspended food imports.

Seeing the Vienna government's purchase of grain as a strategic reserve, the Junker nobles couldn't sit still and jumped out to make plans and asked the Prussian government to increase the strategic strategic grain reserve.

At the Royal Palace in Berlin, a conference on this issue has begun. Regarding increasing the strategic food reserves, William I had no opinion. The only problem was that the Prussian government had no money.

The money for Austria's purchase of grain was in return for the dumping of grain. At a preliminary calculation, the Vienna government has paid millions of tons of food for this one in and one out.

It is difficult to calculate the specific loss, and the difference between the new grain and the old grain must also be taken into account, and before that, the cost of the Vienna government to purchase the reserve grain.

"Prime Minister, what do you think?"

Mao Qi's pressure increased greatly, on the one hand, the dry wallet of the government, and on the other hand, the interests of Juncker aristocracy, which made him very difficult. After a little hesitation, the reality helped him make a decision.

"Your Majesty, the Russian-Prussian War does not know when it will erupt, and how long this war will last. No one can guarantee that it is necessary to increase strategic food reserves.

It is just that the government has no money and wants to increase its strategic reserves, which requires at least hundreds of millions of marks, which is far beyond our capacity.

If farmers can accept credit, we can eat a portion of the food, but when the money can be paid, the government has no way to guarantee it. "

This answer makes it impossible to refute, not that the government is unwilling to increase strategic reserves, but the problem is that the government has no money to buy.

If the government can collect grain, it can be a white bar. When the government has money, it will be repaid. If there is no money, it will be owed.

In terms of class interests, Mao Qi's words still make many people dissatisfied. I just couldn't find the reason for refutation, and the government still had no money.

"Prime Minister, I'm afraid I can't do this. There is a cost to growing food, and the government must pay at least the cost, otherwise I am afraid that many farmers will go bankrupt."

The Minister of Agriculture Melanie Griffith hurriedly persuaded that he would have no way to account to the Junker nobles if he did hit the bar.

Mao Qi shrugged and made a helpless expression, spreading his hands.

"Where does the money come from? Our finances have always been tight. Even if the price of grain is very cheap now, it can be bought for less than 100 marks per ton of rye, and one million tons is 100 million marks.

As long as your Ministry of Agriculture can solve the problem of money, how much money is collected is not a problem. I guarantee that no one in the government will object. "

The Kingdom of Prussia has long been in debt, and the domestic financial community is unable to provide loans to the government. To continue to borrow money from the outside world, it must sell its national interests.

Whoever dares to make such a proposal must first consider whether he will go out and be shot at by a patriotic youth.

These years, the Kingdom of Prussia is also full of secondary two teenagers. These people are the guarantee of the combat power of the Prussian army, and they are also irregular bombs of the Kingdom of Prussia.

Melanie Griffith hasn't lived enough and doesn't want to be the target of patriotic youth. It is impossible for him to do such a deadly thing.

"Sorry, Your Excellency Prime Minister. This is not my scope of work. You have to ask the Ministry of Finance. If the government cannot stabilize food prices, then it is always possible to formulate a more proactive agricultural policy?"

Mao Qi: "Of course! As long as it has nothing to do with money, we can try to solve other problems."

Melanie Griffith: "That would be the best."

The well-prepared Melanie Griffith took out a document and stepped forward and handed it to William I.

"Your Majesty, this is the plan of the Ministry of Agriculture to reduce food production capacity. We have learned from the Austrians and are preparing to implement the Land Fallow Law."

This proposal surprised everyone. The Berlin government had discussed this issue before, but it was only because of the strong opposition of the Juncker aristocratic Ministry of Agriculture that it ended in disease-free.

A brief glance at the file at first glance, William I's face was gloomy. The same is the land fallow method. Prussian land fallow method is much more explicit.

On the surface, the problem is not big. A careful study will reveal that many problems have been carried over in an ambiguous way. A little analysis will reveal that this is only considering the interests of Juncker aristocracy.

The aristocrats have a lot of land. Even if a severe land fallow law is introduced, they have enough land to rotate and cultivate. The real interests are still damaged by the lack of land.

According to the above regulations, due to the emergence of crop rotation technology, the land fallow time has been reduced, and ordinary farmers who have just passed a few days of good life will soon be out of luck.

If it does, a new round of land mergers will take place in Prussia, and a large number of self-cultivated farmers will go bankrupt.

"Merani Griffiths, are you sure that the above is in line with reality, has the Ministry of Agriculture not considered the consequences of doing so?"

Facing the question of William I, Melanie Griffith did not change his face, and calmly replied: "His Majesty, after the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the market will inevitably conduct a round of survival of the fittest.

Whether or not we implement the Land Fallow Law, the tide of bankruptcy will erupt. We can take proactive measures to survive the crisis at an early date, so as not to involve more people. "

This is a fallacy and a fact. Self-cultivating farmers cannot compete with large farmers, which is an inevitable result. According to the current situation, the price of grain has collapsed, and since farmers have insisted for a few years at most, they will go bankrupt because of high debts.

This is not a matter of manpower being able to change, it is simply a matter of timing of the outbreak. Juncker aristocrats changed their minds and agreed to reduce production capacity. In addition to keeping food prices, they still wanted to acquire land and expand their own businesses.

Ordinary people may think that the price of food has fallen sharply and the land has become worthless. However, the Junker nobles who have the right, do not think so.

The population is growing, but the land cannot grow. From this perspective, the price of grain will rise sooner or later.

Even if international food prices cannot be recovered, they can also artificially raise domestic agricultural product prices by amending the rules.

Originally, the German and German empires had insufficient grain production, and the Junker nobles dared to set restrictions to prevent foreign agricultural products from entering the domestic market, let alone now?

Farmer bankruptcy is also what Capital Junker wants to see, and they can get more cheap labor. Just analyze the interests to know that this plan can no longer be blocked in the Kingdom of Prussia.

...

Following the introduction of the Land Fallow Law by the Kingdom of Prussia, the European countries soon began to follow suit.

The big farmer and the big capitalist jointly promoted this feast of sharing this feast, the farmers got more land, the capitalists got cheap labor, and the two sides cooperated seamlessly.

Austria has not been able to survive on its own, except that there is a Prohibition of Land Merger Act in front of them. This was a bill issued by Franz after the outbreak of the Vienna Revolution in 1848.

The above clearly stipulates that private transactions of small plots of land are prohibited and can only be sold to local governments at market prices. (Specifically less than 200 hectares of land)

Local agricultural governments can only sell these recovered agricultural land to farmers with less than 50 hectares of arable land, or retired soldiers with less than 100 hectares of arable land, and military aristocrats with less than 200 hectares of arable land.

(Note: Once the purchase area reaches this limit, you cannot continue to purchase)

If these purchased land are to be sold again, they can only be sold to the government, and cannot be directly traded with individuals.

In simple terms, small farmers can buy it, and large farmers want to expand and can only buy farms with an area of ​​more than 200 hectares.

From the perspective of productivity development, the smallholder economy is bound to be overwhelmed, and the mainstream of future agricultural production is farms.

This kind of land merger helped to increase agricultural competitiveness. Franz was naturally unable to prevent it, but he did not want to see the domestic agriculture being monopolized, so he introduced this bill restricting the wanton expansion of nobles.

Fundamentally, this law stipulates that more than 80% of farmland in Austria is locked and can only be circulated in the hands of ordinary people.

Nobles want to go to the colony if they want more land. As long as the cultivated land area exceeds 200 hectares, they can only buy it from the big farmers.

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