Chapter 328: Economic Good News

In fact, from the growth of the export scale of wine and various agricultural products, it could be seen that Spain's economic situation was getting better and better, and it could be said that it was experiencing a relatively prosperous era.

It was precisely because of this that Spain's per capita income was continuously climbing, and the living standards and quality of residents were no longer at a relatively low level in Europe.

The improvement in the living standards and quality of residents significantly increased Spain's immigration appeal, which also created many immigrants and tourists coming to Spain every year.

They might be attracted by Spain's scenery, or they might have seen more good opportunities to make money in Spain; in short, many people chose to stay in Spain and gave up their previous original nationality.

These continuously arriving people not only stimulated Spain's local population growth but also promoted Spain's economic improvement.

After listening to Butler Luo Lun's report on the development of royal enterprises, a few days later, Gao Da also attended the cabinet government meeting and listened to the cabinet government's report on the development of various government items in 1885.

Although Spain mobilized tens of thousands of troops to launch an attack on the Sokoto Caliphate in 1885, such a small-scale action did not have an impact on Spain's economy and industrial production.

According to the rough estimate of the cabinet government, in the whole year of 1885, Spain's gross national product could reach an exaggerated level of 157.67 billion pesetas, an increase of about 7% compared to last year.

In such an environment of high economic growth, according to the statistics of the Livelihood Department, Spain's per capita annual income had also grown to 212.17 pesetas.

Such per capita annual income was calculated by including all the elderly and children who could not produce, which also meant that the actual income level of Spain's adult labor force would be even higher.

Let's take Spain's working class as an example. The income level of workers in the two big cities of Ma Deli and Barcelona was the highest, reaching 287.33 pesetas and 253.57 pesetas respectively.

Because the Barcelona industrial base had many apprentices and low-level technical workers, it led to the income level of workers in Barcelona being worse than in Ma Deli.

However, with the improvement of these workers' technical capabilities, the income level of workers in Barcelona was also continuously growing. And Barcelona itself was also a big city, and the income level of these workers, looking at the whole of Spain, was only second to Ma Deli.

It is worth mentioning that in the environment of Spain's continuously growing per capita income, the salary of Spanish soldiers was also continuously growing.

Currently, according to the proportion of military expenditure of the National Defense Department, it could be calculated that the per capita annual income of Spanish soldiers was about 287.32 pesetas.

Among them, the annual income of general-level officers was the highest; the lowest brigadier general had an annual income of 1,755 pesetas, and the highest general had an annual income exceeding 3,525 pesetas.

The income of field-grade officers was worse than that of general-level officers, but the number of field-grade officers was much larger than that of general-level officers. It is worth mentioning that the entire Spanish field-grade officer structure showed a pattern of many majors and colonels, and fewer lieutenant colonels.

Many officers whose seniority or ability could not reach the rank of brigadier general were forced to stay at the rank of colonel. The reason for the large number of majors was that those who graduated from military academies earliest as second lieutenants and lieutenants, after experiencing a military career of several or even 10-plus years, relied on a certain seniority and military merit to achieve promotion in rank.

Although these graduates from the Royal Military Academy could quickly obtain promotion in rank within a few years after graduation, generally they could be promoted to the rank of major around the age of 30.

But the lieutenant colonel rank further up was a small threshold; either one had to accumulate enough seniority, or one had to establish a certain merit to be promoted.

This also led to many field-grade officers without military merit being stuck at the rank of major, which was also the reason for the formation of the pattern of many majors and colonels, and fewer lieutenant colonels in Spain.

Officers with the rank of colonel could obtain an income of 1,025 pesetas per year, which was exactly 5 times the per capita annual income of Spaniards.

And the income of the major, the field-grade officer with the lowest rank, was relatively low, with a salary of only about 775 pesetas.

As for the company-grade officers with the largest number, their income was actually several times the per capita annual income of Spaniards. The captain with the highest rank could obtain an annual income of 575 pesetas, and the warrant officer with the lowest rank also had an annual income of 425 pesetas.

The income of non-commissioned officers was the lowest among all officer levels in Spain. The annual income of a second-class corporal was only 300 pesetas, and for every rank promoted thereafter, the annual income could increase by about 25 pesetas.

In fact, from the standard salary of officers, it could be seen that even the lowest-ranking second-class corporal had a higher income than ordinary soldiers.

As long as one could obtain a promotion in rank, even if one stayed at the rank of first or second-class corporal for a lifetime, the income was still much higher than being an ordinary soldier.

Moreover, officers also had more welfare subsidies, and various welfare subsidies combined could also make their income increase by two or three percent.

In this way, the income gap between officers and ordinary soldiers was completely widened, which was also the reason why Spain's military academies were welcomed.

Whether it was the ordinary military academy that high school graduates could apply for or the training military academy that ordinary soldiers could apply for, they could obtain promotion in rank in a short time.

For example, these military academies that ordinary high school students applied for, once they successfully graduated, they could at least obtain the rank of second lieutenant. The new annual salary corresponding to the rank of second lieutenant was 525 pesetas, and the actual income after various welfare subsidies could even exceed 600 pesetas.

May I ask, with such an income, how could those soldiers who joined the army not be grateful to Gao Da?

You must know that they could possess such a high income, and it was inseparable from Gao Da's multiple efforts.

The income of Spanish army soldiers had had three increases, large and small, in the 10-plus years since Gao Da was crowned King of Spain.

It was precisely these three increases in soldiers' salaries that made the Spanish soldier profession the dream profession of all Spaniards, which was also the reason why Spaniards actively signed up to participate when the army recruited soldiers.

In fact, from the number of applicants and the number of students enrolled in Spain's military academies every year, it could also be seen how popular military academies were.

Just in 1885, the total number of applicants for Spain's military academies exceeded 2,000. These people who signed up were those who initially met the military academy enrollment standards; those who did not meet the standards did not even have the qualifications to sign up.

What was the total enrollment number of Spain's military academies? Less than 500.

This actually also meant that the proportion of high school graduates who met Spain's military academy enrollment conditions and could be admitted to Spain's military academies was less than 25%.

This proportion was enough to prove how intense the application for Spain's military academies was, and it could also prove how excellent the students recruited by Spain's military academies were.

Of course, the efforts of these high school students applying for military academies would not be in vain. As long as they could successfully be admitted to military academies, the guaranteed annual income in the future was also more than two or three times the annual income of ordinary Spaniards.

Even if they could only accumulate through seniority, it was no problem to mix into a field-grade officer at the major level in the future. The income of a major was already the sum of the annual income of 4 ordinary Spaniards, which was absolutely an unimaginable sum of wealth for ordinary Spanish families.

It was precisely because of the high income of officers that it was attracting a large number of Spanish youths to yearn for a military career at every moment.

Of course, all the income levels of officers above were estimates of the total income of the Royal Army officers of the National Defense Department, and the income of naval officers and the Guard officers had certain differences.

Because the navy was a special branch, the income of naval officers would be slightly higher than that of army officers. However, because Spain valued the army more than the navy at this time, the income of naval officers was at most about 10% higher than that of army officers.

The income of the Guard officers directly commanded by Gao Da was also about the same as that of naval officers, and the income of officers of the same rank was about 10% higher than that of army officers.

Because all salaries from generals to ordinary soldiers of the Guard were the responsibility of the royal family, this led to the Guard's welfare benefits being better compared to the ordinary army.

Of course, the Guard was not without shortcomings. Because the Guard only had the establishment of an reinforced division, it led to the development prospects of the Guard's senior officers being lower than those of the Royal Army's senior officers.

But then again, the first batch of local officers cultivated by Spain currently were only in the ranks of field-grade officers, and not many people could reach high positions like division commanders.

For these local military academy graduates in Spain, even if the development prospects of Guard officers were lower, they were more willing to go to the Guard to serve.

In addition to the Guard's salary and welfare benefits being more generous compared to the ordinary army, there was also the fact that the Guard was loyal to the king they loved, and after joining the Guard, they were the king's confidants.

Don't look at the fact that the Spanish army was also called the Royal Army, but the treatment of the Royal Army and the Guard was worlds apart.

Good weapons and equipment were all equipped by the Guard first, and the bullet consumption of Guard soldiers was also several times that of ordinary army soldiers.

After all, Spain's Royal Army had a scale of 175,000 people, and such a huge number led to the ammunition consumption of the army being an astronomical figure.

If there was no certain control, just the ammunition consumption of daily target practice would be enough to squander the military budget of the National Defense Department.

Compared to the Royal Army with as many as 175,000 people, the Guard division with only 15,000 people did not have so many worries.

Although the wealth in the hands of the royal family could not compare to the government, the government's money was not all invested in military expenditure. In the case of only needing to take care of the 15,000-person Guard division, Gao Da could even do it so that the Guard division soldiers could conduct target practice unscrupulously.

If it weren't for the worry that their bodies could not take it under the condition of continuous target practice, Gao Da would really consider letting the Guard division soldiers consume a hundred bullets each time they conducted target practice, and everyone would practice a precise marksmanship.

Currently, the target practice of Guard division soldiers was twice a week, and each person consumed 25 bullets each time for training.

It was not that Gao Da was stingy; it was mainly because the firearms of this era were different from the automatic rifles of later generations, and the firing speed of breech-loading guns was very slow.

A Guard soldier who wanted to finish all 25 bullets basically had to take a minute and a half.

Plus the damage of the recoil of the firearm to the body, consuming 25 bullets each time for training was a relatively reasonable number. It could not only let soldiers improve their target practice experience but also not let them get injured due to frequent shooting.

Of course, time consumption was also an important consideration. The Guard division had 15,000 people, and these 15,000 people needed to conduct target practice twice a week.

How to reasonably arrange for all soldiers to conduct target practice was a problem that Guard officers needed to think about in detail.

Back to Spain's economy. Because the gross national product increased significantly, Spain's total fiscal revenue in last year, that is, 1885, also reached a new high of 1.2021 billion.

Even if the total fiscal expenditure was 1.0862 billion pesetas, the Spanish government's fiscal surplus last year still reached 115.9 million.

However, because of the need to repay debts, the actual surplus of the Spanish government was only 15.9 million, and that 100 million pesetas were all used to repay foreign debts.

After repaying foreign debts for these few years, the debts owed by Spain for so many years had already been repaid by more than half.

If 100 million pesetas could be taken out every year to repay debts, it was expected that around 1890, the Spanish government could repay all debts and truly be debt-free.

In fact, for the current Spanish government, if they wanted to quickly repay this debt, they only needed to slightly reduce military expenditure and fiscal expenditure, and there was hope to repay all debts within the next two years.

But there was no need to do so. The remaining debt was not much, time was not urgent, and repaying 100 million pesetas every year slowly was fine.

Listening to the news related to the government's report on finance, Gao Da also felt some emotion for a while.

At this time, the Spanish government's finance was obviously much better compared to the period when Gao Da had just become the King of Spain.

It also had to be admitted that Prime Minister Pulimo's reform had made an outstanding contribution to Spain. If it weren't for Prime Minister Pulimo's reform that made all walks of life in Spain burst into vigorous vitality, where would Spain get such huge fiscal revenue at this time?

The reason why Spain's economy could achieve rapid take-off was mainly because various infrastructure constructions stimulated economic growth. The rapid growth of the working class also made Spain's per capita income continuously increase, and people were more willing to consume after having money, and consumption again stimulated economic growth.

Such a virtuous cycle allowed Spain's economy to achieve rapid development in these 10-plus years and successfully reached the currently quite excellent level.

Of course, it was also Prime Minister Pulimo's reform that liberated Spain's farmers. Even for farmers without land, because of the reduction and exemption of land rent, they also significantly increased their income.

Plus Gao Da and the Spanish government had put a large amount of farmland into the market in these 10-plus years, and these farmlands had returned to the hands of farmers in the form of renting or selling.

The farmland in the hands of Spanish farmers was increasing, and their income was naturally rising steadily.

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 329 =====