Chapter 296: 1884

On the second day of the new year, January 2, 1884, Gao Da received good news: the birth of his third son, Alexander.

Come to think of it, more than four years had passed since the birth of Ma Ding.

During these four-plus years, Gao Da had insisted that Lady Sophie fully recover her health before reconsidering the matter of having children.

At this time, Gao Da was not yet 33, and Lady Sophie was not even 29; both were still in their prime reproductive years.

Once Lady Sophie passed the age of 30, Gao Da would be cautious about having more children. After all, the older the mother, the higher the natural risks during childbirth.

Time passed quickly; Gao Da's eldest son, Prince Hu An Fernand, was already nearly nine years old. Even Princess Sophie and Prince Ma Ding, who were born later, had reached the ages of seven and four respectively, just at that mischievous and adorable stage.

It was precisely because of these little ones that the vast Wang Gong seemed to have more vitality, appearing much livelier than before.

Regarding the arrival of their youngest brother, Alexander, the three little ones all showed a remarkably delighted attitude.

If not for their busy studies, they would likely have tried to stay by their brother's side all day. Children always have an innate appeal; even Gao Da would find time amidst his busy schedule to accompany his youngest son before throwing himself back into his hectic work.

Compared to the previous few years, 1884 was definitely a rather special year for Spain.

The First Five-Year Development Plan, proposed in 1869 and concluded in 1874, marked Spain's official return to the ranks of European powers through reform.

The Second Five-Year Development Plan was proposed immediately in 1874 and should have come to an end in 1879 along with the cabinet government.

However, because Prime Minister Primo was assassinated, Spain experienced the dire situation of going through three different cabinet governments during the period of the Second Five-Year Development Plan.

Fortunately, after Prime Minister Primo was assassinated, he had willingly relinquished all power, and under Gao Da's mediation, all three cabinet governments had continuously facilitated the progress of the Second Five-Year Development Plan.

In the third cabinet government—the third year that Count Canovas served as Prime Minister of Spain—the Spanish government officially proposed the Third Five-Year Development Plan, setting very ambitious goals.

Five years later, this year, it was about time to evaluate the Third Five-Year Development Plan.

The three Five-Year Development Plans spanned a total of 15 years, and each one played an extremely important role.

The First Five-Year Development Plan laid the foundation, the Second Five-Year Development Plan served as a bridge, and the Third Five-Year Development Plan was now at the time for the fruits to ripen.

On February 3, 1884, after his youngest son Alexander had reached his one-month milestone, Gao Da decided to officially dive into work and convened a session of the lower house at the Spanish parliament building to hear the Spanish government's report on the Third Five-Year Development Plan.

Following the old rules, Prime Minister Canovas first gave a summary government report, followed by more detailed reports from the various departments of the cabinet government.

During the five years from 1879 to 1884, Spain's development was quite rapid. In terms of population, by the end of 1883, Spain's total population had exceeded 22. million, moving one step closer to the target of 30 million set by Gao Da.

Although the populations of other European countries were also growing during this period, many people were also emigrating to other continents.

Compared to other European countries, Spain's population outflow was relatively low. After all, there were still many development opportunities within Spain itself, and as long as their lives were manageable, Spaniards would not think of actively emigrating abroad.

What could prove this was naturally the growth of the average annual income of Spaniards.

Since Gao Da became the King of Spain, the average annual income in Spain had grown at a high level every year, never once interrupted.

In fact, this was normal; the funds the Spanish government invested annually into infrastructure and other various construction projects were endless. For the first ten years, the government's finances were even in a deficit, relying entirely on loans to get by.

It was only after the Second Five-Year Development Plan that Spain's economic situation improved, and the government's finances shifted from deficit to surplus.

Currently, the average annual income in Spain had reached the level of 157. 2 pesetas, nearly double what it was before Gao Da ascended the throne.

Such a growth rate was quite exaggerated; after all, the currencies of this era were very valuable, and currency exchange rates pegged to gold were quite stable, with basically no phenomenon of currency devaluation.

Of course, the fact that Spaniards lived very poorly during the reign of Queen Isabella was indeed an important factor.

If the Queen Isabella of that time had acted with any decency, the average income in Spain would not have grown so rapidly over these 15 years.

Although the average income was constantly growing, compared to other European powers, the income of most Spaniards was still relatively poor.

This was actually easy to understand. The vast majority of Spain's 22 million people were farmers, and most of Spain's land was mountainous, so the grain yield per acre was not high.

With low grain yields, the farmers' income naturally would not be high. If the farmers' income was not high, it would naturally affect Spain's overall average income.

If Spain's land could be the same as that of Britain, France, and Germany, Spain's average income could have grown by at least 30 percent more.

Fortunately, the Spanish government had opened up quite a few colonies in these few years, which could fully be used for large-scale agricultural development to make up for the shortcomings of the Spanish mainland.

Throughout 1883, the Spanish government's annual fiscal revenue reached an exaggerated 1. 927 billion pesetas, a new high for the Spanish government's fiscal revenue.

One must know that this achievement was reached after losing the colony of Cuba. If the colony of Cuba were still in the hands of the Spanish government, the fiscal revenue would have easily exceeded 1. billion pesetas.

In terms of fiscal expenditure, Spain's spending reached a scale of 1. 738 billion pesetas, which also showed that the funds the Spanish government invested in various construction projects every year were truly not small.

The good news was that after all expenditures, the Spanish government's fiscal surplus for the entire year of 1883 still exceeded 100 million pesetas, reaching a new high of 118. million pesetas.

However, apart from keeping a portion as the government's reserve funds, most of this money had to be used to repay foreign debt.

As mentioned before, the Spanish government's fiscal deficits for the first ten years were basically survived by relying on debt.

This also led to the fact that over these 15 years, Spain had incurred debts with Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and France respectively.

This debt was actually not much; added together, it was only about one year's worth of the current Spanish government's fiscal revenue.

About one-third had already been repaid in previous years, and the Spanish government only needed to squeeze out about 100 million pesetas each year for the next few years to repay most of the debt.

There was another item in the government report worth noting, and that was Spain's steel production and industrial scale.

Up to now, the three-phase construction of the Barcelona industrial base had been fully completed, and the Barcelona industrial base had officially become Spain's largest industrial base and was currently the undisputed industrial heart of Spain.

Thanks to the increase in industrial volume brought about by the complete Barcelona industrial base, Spain's steel production had also reached a new level and had completely stabilized.

According to the data reported by the industrial department, Spain's steel production last year had already exceeded 400, 00 tons, a level that was already enough to rank in the world's top five among the data published by various European countries.

According to the rankings published by various European countries, the country with the highest steel production currently was the British Empire, with steel production already approaching 2 million tons.

The United States followed closely behind, with steel production also exceeding 1. million tons.

Germany ranked third in the world, but it was somewhat inferior compared to the first two countries. Germany's annual steel production was only about 1 million tons, still far ahead of other countries in the world.

Ranking fourth in the world was France, with steel production approaching 500, 00 tons. Spain was exactly in fifth place in the world; its 400, 00 tons of steel production exceeded the 300, 00 tons of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the 250, 00 tons of Russia. Such an industrial level had already begun to take shape.

Of course, steel production could not comprehensively represent the industrial level. Looking solely at steel production, Spain's industrial scale should be at the same level as France, slightly ahead of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia.

But the actual situation was that Spain's industrial scale lagged behind France and was at about the same level as the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia, perhaps even slightly behind.

The main reason for this phenomenon was that Spain's domestic population was insufficient, leading to a sales market for industrial products that was inferior to that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia.

In the international market, Spain's industrial products did not have much competitiveness. Apart from being able to capture the market in Portugal, it was difficult for Spain's industrial products to enter the markets of other countries, as other powers also wanted to dump their industrial products.

Without a sufficient market, Spain naturally would not develop a larger-scale industry. This also led to Spain's industrial scale always being restricted; let alone being on par with or surpassing France, even catching up to France seemed somewhat difficult.

Of course, having an industrial scale at about the same level as the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia was already a quite good achievement.

After all, Spain's industrial development had only been going on for a little over ten years, and its own land area and population were far inferior to those of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia.

For these two countries, the advantages for developing industry were more obvious compared to Spain.

That Spain could catch up from behind and be mentioned in the same breath as these two countries actually demonstrated Spain's terrifying speed of development.

Just look at Italy's steel production at this time to know how difficult industrial development was. According to data published by the Italian government, Italy's steel production was only a mere few tens of thousands of tons.

Of course, Italy's situation was also relatively special. Industry was generally concentrated in northern Italy, and coupled with the reason that Italy lacked colonies, it was very normal for steel production to be insufficient.

Because Spain developed relatively rapidly, some data that were previously valued were now basically no longer focused on.

For example, Spain's railway mileage; during the First Five-Year Development Plan, the Spanish government emphasized the construction of railway mileage.

But after two Five-Year Development Plans, Spain's total railway mileage had already exceeded 10, 00 kilometers, an achievement that was quite excellent.

The Third Five-Year Development Plan did not overly emphasize the construction of railways, which also led to the fact that after the Five-Year Development Plan ended, Spain's current total railway mileage was only about 13, 00 kilometers.

But considering that most of Spain's land was sparsely populated, 13, 00 kilometers of railway could already cover most cities, which was completely sufficient for the transportation needs of the Spanish people.

Not to mention that large cities like Madrid and Barcelona had also opened urban rail transit, which not only greatly facilitated the daily travel of urban residents but also increased the economic circulation and growth speed of the two cities.

Although the transportation department had only built 1, 00 kilometers of railway in these five years, Carlos Montoya, as the Minister of Transportation, was not panicked at all.

The reason was also very simple: because double-track railways were not counted repeatedly in railway mileage, this led to the transportation department's achievements being more than what the data reflected.

Although the transportation department had only built 1, 00 kilometers of railway in these five years, the transportation department had also converted about 1, 00 kilometers of single-track railway into double-track railway, greatly increasing the transport efficiency of those sections of railway.

Besides this, the railways built in Spain's various colonies were also not counted in this.

Colonies had their own separate set of calculations, but those who went to the colonies to build railways were all officials from the transportation department.

The entire report meeting lasted for several hours; all departments of the cabinet gave detailed reports, and the applause in the venue continued incessantly.

It was clear that the members of the lower house were quite satisfied with the efforts of the cabinet government over these five years. Even if the achievements reported by each department did not reach an excellent level, they were definitely above the passing line.

Excluding the accidental factor of Prime Minister Primo's assassination, the Spanish cabinet government had always been relatively stable since Gao Da became King.

The three Prime Ministers of Spain also basically had no faults, and each cabinet government had basically completed its term, which also allowed Spain's political environment to tend toward stability, and all industries could develop in a good direction under stable government decrees.

As for a counter-example, that would naturally be France, with its tumultuous political situation.

It was not without reason that France's industry was gradually lagging behind Britain, Germany, and the United States, with the gap being pulled wider and wider. On one hand, French capital was more fond of foreign loans; loans allowed this capital to recover funds faster and earn more money than investment, which was simply a business that was sure to make a profit without loss.

On the other hand, it was the turbulent situation of the French government; every Prime Minister wanted to develop industry and the economy but had no time, because those with long terms only had one year, and those with short terms had only a few months to a month.

What kind of decree execution could one promote in a month? At most, it was just taking office as Prime Minister, getting to know the various officials of the French cabinet government, and becoming familiar with French government affairs, and that was it.

Perhaps they hadn't even fully understood the basic situation of France before their term ended due to various accidental factors.

For example, the previous French Prime Minister, Armand Fallières; this Prime Minister's term was truly only one month. Although he was also temporarily substituting for the Prime Minister position, with a one-month term, let alone Armand Fallières, even if Napoleon were alive, he would not be able to do anything for France.

It was precisely because Gao Da deeply realized the shortcomings of an unstable political situation that he established a keynote for the Spanish cabinet government.

Regardless of the ability of the cabinet government officials and the Prime Minister, as long as they could maintain loyalty, Gao Da would not frequently replace cabinet ministers.

A stable situation was instead beneficial to Spain's industrial and economic growth; in any case, the general direction was mediated by Gao Da, and with the general direction personally controlled by Gao Da, no major problems would arise.

Of course, if a disloyal cabinet minister really appeared, Gao Da would also cut through the mess with a sharp knife and completely resolve the trouble before the situation fell into crisis.

At this time, Spain still needed time to develop, and during this development time, what Spain needed most was a stable situation.

(End of chapter)