Chapter 435: Steel and Population
"Your Highness, we have consolidated a total of 17 steel enterprises in the German region, including 3 large-scale enterprises, with the rest being small to medium-sized. Categorized by nation, there are 8 from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 7 from Germany, and 2 from Luxembourg."
Since 1870, Luxembourg began extensively mining domestic iron ore and, building on the Thomas steelmaking process, aggressively developed its steel industry, achieving considerable progress. The two large steel enterprises acquired by East Africa were from Luxembourg, while the third came from the Ruhr area.
By 1873, Germany's industrial development had reached an unprecedented peak. In just a few years, its steel plants had surged from 920 to 1,720, and pig iron output had doubled to 2 million tons. Therefore, the steel companies acquired by Ernst were merely a drop in the ocean for Germany.
During the economic crisis, a large number of steel enterprises across the German region went bankrupt, mostly small to medium-sized ones. Larger companies were more resilient to risk, which is also why two of the large firms acquired by the Hechingen consortium were from Luxembourg.
"As of August, we have recruited over 34,000 steelworkers from the Austro-Hungarian region to immigrate to East Africa. According to your request, more than 13,000 are Czechs, with the rest mostly Slovenians and Croats."
"Too few, still far too few!" Ernst said with some dissatisfaction.
"Your Highness, it's mainly due to limited transport capacity. This year, nearly 5% of our merchant fleet has been deployed to the Americas, and another 25% allocated to rail transport. Our own merchant fleet is no longer sufficient. Even with cooperation from the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Naples, we still can't meet the full demand."
Ernst thought for a moment: "Hmm, in that case, we'll have to resort to the last option."
The so-called last resort was to hire British merchant ships—a decision made out of necessity.
The Hechingen Overseas Trading Company is currently the world's largest shipping company, with over a thousand large merchant ships. Although it is nominally private, it essentially monopolizes all East African trade while also being involved in trade with the Americas, Europe, and the Far East.
Although Hechingen's merchant vessels are sizable, they still can't compare to the British. In the early 19th century alone, the British Royal Navy had around a thousand various warships. That number has since declined slightly due to modernization, with ironclads being launched yearly, shifting the focus from wooden ship quantity to tonnage.
Britain's dominance in civilian shipping is even more pronounced. In the 19th century, Britain was the undisputed empire of ships, producing over 80% of the world's vessels and owning about half of the global fleet.
Even if East Africa threw in everything it had, it still wouldn't be able to compete. Without the advent of ironclads, the world's navies wouldn't even have had the chance to challenge Britain's.
Ernst then instructed: "But when negotiating with the British, don't deal with the big companies. Go to the small ones or even individuals. And besides the UK, check along the Mediterranean coast as well—regardless of the country, as long as the price is lower than the British, we'll negotiate."
Shipping prices are generally lowest with Britain, but in times of economic crisis, exceptions are bound to occur.
Hechingen's own fleet is slightly inferior in this regard. Some essential positions cannot be replaced, but cleaners, cooks, and similar roles on ships can be filled by Chinese workers—emphasizing low cost.
"How are the steel orders coming along?" Ernst asked.
"We secured a deal with the Austrian government for 300,000 tons of steel annually. However, Austria's output is very low. Germany has a much higher output—in the Ruhr area alone, we secured a contract for 400,000 tons annually. Including our own production capacity, we should be able to supply 1.1 million tons of steel to East Africa each year."
"Our steel production capacity, apart from Luxembourg and the Ruhr area, is mainly concentrated in the Czech and Slovenian regions."
The steel enterprises acquired by Ernst underwent expansion after receiving investment, significantly boosting their capabilities.
Luxembourg and the Ruhr are the key production zones—one rich in iron ore, the other in coal. The Czech region lags slightly, while Slovenia was selected entirely because of Trieste, the closest high-quality port to East Africa.
Of course, East Africa itself must handle part of the steel production, requiring the separate construction of steel mills. The good news is that Ernst is not short on technical staff or steelworkers, so building steel mills in East Africa poses no technical challenge.
However, East Africa clearly can't absorb so many steelworkers. Some of them are brought in mainly to populate the region and won't necessarily engage in steel production. Most likely, they'll be sent inland to develop farmland.
Inter-sector employment transitions are not a big problem—European industrialization has only been underway for a few years. Most workers are originally from rural areas, so it's impossible they don't know how to farm.
"With this economic downturn, we must massively absorb the unemployed and agricultural population from Austria and surrounding areas within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, focusing on non-Germanic people. As for the Germans, let the Empire keep them!" Ernst emphasized.
The Habsburgs really have it tough—the Slavic populations (Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Slovenians, Croats, Serbs…) combined with Latin groups (Romanians and Italians) account for more than half the population. Austrians and Hungarians together can't even make up half.
Changing the entire Austro-Hungarian demographic structure is beyond Ernst's reach, but changing Austria and its surrounding areas is doable.
Ernst sees two areas as most significant to Austria: the Czech region and Slovenia. The former means industry; the latter, a port.
This round of immigration recruitment targets the non-Germanic populations of these two regions. As for where East Africa will source its Germanic population—apart from Germany itself, the largest source is the United States.
Ernst's Austro-Hungarian immigration strategy would've been unthinkable in the past—but times have changed.
East Africa used to be desperate for German-speaking people, and in Austria, any would do. Now, after nearly ten years of effort, German has basically become the lingua franca of East Africa.
In recent years, there's been no formal population census in East Africa, but Ernst estimates the population to be around 8 to 9 million, with at least 7 million German speakers.
New immigrants who don't speak German will typically blend in within a year thanks to the language environment. Only the exceptionally dense won't catch on.
Once the language is unified, cultural identity becomes a minor issue. Now East Africa can pick and choose its ideal "quality" immigrants from around the world.
But there's no need to be picky during an economic crisis. There are unemployed people all over Europe and America. In the U.S. alone, historical records show more than 3 million unemployed—just an estimate, and the real number is certainly higher.
Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are also flooded with unemployed. Ernst is confident Germany's jobless figures surpass even the U.S., given Germany's larger population at the time.
Even without an economic crisis, Germany already had the world's highest emigration rate, indicating persistently high unemployment. So when the crisis hit, things only got worse. Comparing the two countries' territories, tiny Germany couldn't possibly have more tools to handle the crisis than the vast U.S.
Historically, Germany's emigration only reversed in the late 19th century—after 1893—so its potential remains huge.
Currently, East Africa's German immigrant recruitment focus has shifted from southwest to northeast Germany. The southwest's industrial growth (driven mainly by Lorraine and Alsace's steel and textile industries) absorbed large populations, and after ten years of East African recruitment, it's no longer overcrowded. In contrast, East Prussia remains underdeveloped industrially, primarily agricultural, and suffers from severe overpopulation.
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