Chapter 205: Child Labor School

Whether viewed from the perspective of history or from the current situation in Europe, the past few years had been a relatively peaceful and stable stage for Europe.

Since the establishment of the German Empire, the European powers had tended to be stable. Although there were relatively fierce contradictions between countries, such contradictions were not enough to let countries promote a large-scale war between powers and powers.

This was fortunate for Spain; after all, what Spain lacked was a peaceful and stable development environment. But it was also unfortunate for Spain; the overly stable and peaceful development environment led to the relatively slow development of the military industry, and it was difficult to find opportunities to export weapons in large quantities like in the First and Second World Wars.

The Tenth Russo-Turkish War was a large-scale war verified by history, and it was also the first opportunity for the Royal Military Factory to face large-scale export of weapons and equipment since its establishment.

Of course, whether Spain could eat some cake in this war was not certain. After all, besides the Eguozheng Prefecture, other European powers led by the United Kingdom and the Aodilizheng Prefecture were also concerned about the situation on the Baerganbandao.

It was precisely because of this that when Gao Da instructed the Royal Military Factory to expand production, he set the weapon storage target at 150,000 rifles, 1,200 artillery pieces, and corresponding bullets and shells.

Even if Spain could not sell the weapons in the Russo-Turkish War, these stockpiled rifles and artillery could be sold to other countries in the form of small-scale orders, or used by themselves.

After all, the training of the army would also have the consumption of weapons and ammunition, and stockpiling a little more weapons and ammunition was not a big problem.

The weapons and equipment of this era were nothing more than standard firearms dominated by rifles and artillery as important firepower output. The manufacturing cost of these two types of weapons and supporting bullets and shells was not too high, which was also the reason why Gao Da had the confidence to directly order the Royal Military Factory to start production without investigation.

It is worth mentioning that while the Spanish Royal Military Factory was expanding, it recruited a large number of child laborers as workers.

This was not to say that Gao Da intended to exploit child labor, but that this was the case in the background of this era. It was not just in Spain; looking at the whole of Europe, including traditional powers like the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Russian Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there were large numbers of child laborers.

One of the important reasons why the average life expectancy of Europeans in this era was only thirty or forty years old was that a large number of children entered factories to become child laborers and were crazily exploited by factory owners and capitalists, eventually leading to various physical problems, and they died young at the age of twenty or thirty.

Even living to twenty or thirty was considered quite good. Many child laborers died directly on the production line under the exploitation of factory owners, which was also the bloody and cruel reality of this era.

Of course, the reason why the Royal Military Factory recruited a large number of child laborers was not that Gao Da wanted to exploit these child laborers, but to give these child laborers better welfare benefits as much as he could.

Although Spain's labor law and minimum income law also stipulated the working hours and working income of child laborers, this could only alleviate the suffering of a part of the child labor group after all.

These children were the future of Spain, and even if it was only for the sake of Spain's future, Gao Da had to try his best to take care of more child labor groups so that they could grow up more healthily.

The current Royal Military Factory was definitely the leading enterprise in Spain's military industry, and it was also the benchmark and representative enterprise of Spain's military industry.

At present, the proportion of child laborers in the military factory exceeded 30%, and this data was quite exaggerated. Every day, one could see the thousands of child laborers in the Royal Military Factory rushing to their production lines in a mighty manner, contributing their meager strength to Spain's military industry.

Gao Da would not overly increase the income of child laborers, which was unfair to those adult workers. Of course, the welfare benefits that should be given to child laborers were still there, and even more than what the labor law stipulated.

All child laborers in royal enterprises could enjoy at least one day of vacation every week, and more than four days of vacation every month. In addition, factories and enterprises would distribute milk or big bone soup to child laborers at least once a week to help these child laborers better supplement their bodies.

Child laborers were also not allowed to work overtime, and after the off-duty time stipulated by the factory, child laborers could leave first.

This could also be considered Gao Da's help to these child laborers within his power, allowing them to feel a trace of warmth in this dark era.

To change such a status quo, relying on Gao Da alone could not be achieved. It was necessary to promote the great progress of the entire country's economy, let Spanish people have more savings and income in their hands, and then they would let their children enter school instead of going to the factory to sell their labor.

As early as the literacy education, Gao Da had let royal enterprises organize child laborers to participate in the learning of literacy education during vacations. The current progress was still relatively good; at least in the royal factories and enterprises, most child laborers had completed the learning of literacy education, and they had also gotten rid of the status of illiterates.

Later, Gao Da also planned to run child labor schools within some large-scale factories, allowing these child laborers to enjoy primary school compulsory education within the factory, working while completing their studies.

Child labor schools could not only teach the knowledge of primary school compulsory education but also let them learn some relatively basic technology, transforming from a child laborer into a technical worker.

Doing so could not only let the education level of Spanish people be improved but also effectively improve the living standards of these child laborers.

After all, an illiterate child laborer who knew nothing and a technical child laborer who had a primary school education and possessed certain technology were definitely different in terms of income.

It was just that child labor schools involved aspects that ordinary public schools did not involve, so Gao Da only had certain ideas and had not yet had time to implement them.

Compared with the child laborers in royal enterprise factories, the income level and welfare benefits of child laborers in private enterprise factories were much worse.

This was also a matter of no way; after all, the labor force that child laborers could provide was really limited. And compared with adult workers, child laborers were easier to exploit, their resistance would be weaker, and even under the coercion and intimidation of capitalists, many child laborers dared not resist at all.

Capitalists were not the commercial giants who looked kind and gentle on the Internet in later generations, but bullies who did not spit out bones when they ate people.

Regarding this point, Gao Da could only express his powerlessness. This was a common phenomenon in the background of this era, and Gao Da wanted to rectify it but could not completely eradicate it.

But regarding certain bottom lines for child laborers, Gao Da still made relevant regulations.

Europe was relatively extreme in terms of child labor, and to what extent was it extreme? There were even a large number of child laborers under the age of ten in capitalists' factories.

Yes, child laborers under the age of ten. And to be precise, there were a large number of children aged four or five, five or six.

The sources of these child laborers were also varied. Some were families who could not afford the expenses of too many children and had to force some children to go to the factory to survive on their own.

Others came from the buying and selling of various church relief homes, orphanages, and other institutions.

In the society where technology was so developed in later generations, there were still phenomena of human trafficking, let alone the 1876 era when technology and relevant laws and regulations were very backward.

Human trafficking was common in European countries, and the life of the bottom-level people in this era was indeed very miserable.

It was ironic that while these capitalists were crazily exploiting child laborers in exchange for huge profits, they were also disguising themselves as kind and benevolent gentlemen.

They let the church establish more relief homes and schools by donating to the church, gathering those orphans and abandoned children that no one wanted.

These orphans were secretly transferred to the capitalists' factories, becoming free labor under the long whip of the capitalists.

For these bought people, the capitalists were not merciful at all. If they encountered disobedient child laborers, they would be beaten with sticks at best, and made to disappear directly through various ways at worst.

For such church relief homes and church schools, the Spanish government would sooner or later carry out rectification.

Not to mention the hidden problem of human trafficking behind them, just the fact that these relief homes and church schools taught knowledge with private goods destined them to be banned by the government, or to carry out large-scale rectification.

As everyone knew, the public was blind and easily influenced by public opinion. And children were the blindest group among the public; they would easily believe the knowledge they learned, and capitalists and the church would also use such means to shape a distorted worldview for them.

This was completely unacceptable to Gao Da. The only ones who could brainwash through education in Spain were the Royal Family and the government, and the behavior of capitalists and the church was a challenge to the status of the Royal Family and the majesty of the government.

Spain did not forbid the existence of private schools, but private schools had to obey the control of the Ministry of Education, and the corresponding textbooks had to be reviewed by the Ministry of Education, not what they wanted to teach.

And in the public schools run by the government, starting from primary school, there would be a large number of ideological education courses. These courses would not forcibly brainwash students, but would subtly cultivate their loyal and patriotic thoughts, let them generate love for Spain, and generate a feeling of love and respect for the Royal Family and Gao Da.

These students who had just entered school were like a clean white paper, and even if Gao Da did not write anything on it, someone would sooner or later write and draw on the white paper.

Rather than this, it was better for Gao Da and the government to take the initiative to write some things beneficial to Spain's development on these white papers, starting from the doll, cultivating the Spanish people's national identity and national pride, and using the Royal Family as a link to closely connect the Spanish people of all regions, jointly creating this vast nation of Spain and a united Spain country.

Binding the Royal Family and the country together had many benefits, such as the very stable status of the Royal Family, etc. If politicians did not want the country to fall into a situation of division, they had to preserve the Royal Family and use the legal principles of the Royal Family to control the entire unified country.

In this regard, it was relatively similar to the British Royal Family. Although the British Royal Family in later generations lost most of its power, just relying on its role as a link to connect various regions of the United Kingdom was enough to make the British government not take knives to the Royal Family.

The British government could indeed easily ban the Royal Family, but the consequence of doing so would be that the regions of Scotland and Ireland would no longer be under the control of England, and the British Empire would fall apart.

What Gao Da wanted to do was to let the Spanish Royal Family possess a status similar to the British Royal Family in later generations. Even if the Royal Family did not have too much power, the government would not dare to look down on the Royal Family.

As long as the inheritance of the throne did not fall into a chaotic situation like the Kaluosi Sect, the future Spanish Royal Family would be irreplaceable, and its status would also become very stable, without worrying about any risks affecting the status of the Royal Family.

Time progressed fast, and it soon came to the end of August 1876, which was also the first year that the primary school compulsory education pilot in the two regions of Ma Deli and Catalonia was officially launched.

In these few months, the number of primary schools renovated and built by the Ministry of Education had exceeded one hundred, barely able to support the promotion of primary school compulsory education in the two regions.

Although these schools were very simple, it was not a problem to squeeze in hundreds of students. More than a hundred primary schools meant that they could accommodate tens of thousands of students, and coupled with the number of existing primary schools in the two regions, they could barely meet the demand for primary schools needed for the promotion of compulsory education.

Because it was the first year of the promotion of compulsory education, the enrollment time of each primary school this year was extended. From the end of August to the end of September, for a full month, children willing to participate in compulsory education could go to nearby schools to sign up.

Facts proved that completely free compulsory education plus the welfare of providing three meals a day was very attractive to the Spanish public.

Since primary school enrollment began at the end of August, in less than a week, the number of students who signed up for all primary schools in Ma Deli alone had exceeded 10,000.

And for the two regions of Ma Deli and Catalonia combined, in less than ten days, the number of students who signed up had exceeded 20,000.

The public's enthusiastic participation in the promotion of compulsory education made Gao Da and the Minister of Education, Zhang Bolun, breathe a sigh of relief.

Although compulsory education was completely free and provided three meals a day to students, it was feared that some stubborn parents would only care about immediate interests and would only be willing to send their children to the factory, not to school.

After all, sending them to school only meant not spending money, but it also meant not earning money. If they were sent to the factory, even as a child laborer, relying on the minimum income law promulgated by Spain, they could earn a lot of income.

These laws, which were clearly promulgated to improve the living standards of child laborers, had now become the reason why some parents were unwilling to let their children enter school.

In the era without a minimum income law, the income of an adult male worker was several times or even more than ten times that of a child laborer.

But after having the minimum income law, the income of child laborers ushered in continuous growth, and at present, it was almost reaching half the income level of adult male workers.

The consequence of doing so was that many capitalists no longer favored cheap child laborers; after all, child laborers not only had to enjoy vacations and rest time, but the income of child laborers was not much lower than that of female workers.

Because the population of the Ma Deli region and the Catalonia region combined was only over 2 million, this also led to the peak period of student enrollment only existing in late August and early September.

By mid-September, the number of students going to each primary school to sign up was already very small. However, in these more than half a month, all primary schools in the two regions combined had received more than 30,000 students, which could be considered very fruitful.

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 206 =====