Chapter 1474 Population
Rudolf was indeed surprised by Ernst's suggestion. The Soviet Union was a "taboo" for imperialist countries, let alone studying it.
He said cautiously: "In this case, I am afraid that the domestic interest groups will drive us out of power without the Labor Party taking any action."
Regarding Rudolf's concerns, Ernst said: "Once the economic crisis comes, no one can escape. Rather than being passive, being proactive obviously has more room for maneuver. The most important thing for the Habsburgs is to firmly grasp the military power, at the same time, boost the confidence of the people and stabilize the majority."
"If an economic crisis really breaks out, given the size and economic situation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is very likely that millions of people will be unemployed. If the basic survival of these people is not guaranteed, the consequences can be imagined."
"This is also your opportunity. If you can use it well, you may be able to further break the shackles of the national issues in the Austro-Hungarian Empire."
The solution to the economic crisis is actually to establish a new economic order to adapt to the new productivity. This process itself is a reshaping of the national structure.
Therefore, Ernst said: "This is also an opportunity for the Austro-Hungarian central government to reach out to various regions within the empire. Just like the Soviet Union, no one can deny that the vertical management of various departments and large enterprises in the Soviet Union has enabled Moscow to exert its control over the local areas to the extreme."
"And this is what the Austro-Hungarian Empire lacks. Now that you have initially controlled the Hungarian region, Hungary may become one of the pilot areas, thus bypassing Hungary's interference in Vienna."
This is actually also reflected in East Africa. For example, many government departments and state-owned enterprises in East Africa are deeply rooted in various regions of East Africa, but they are centrally managed by the East African central government. The local influence on them is very limited. A typical example is the railway system.
Afterwards, Ernst continued to impart a lot of experience to Rudolf, but he didn't know whether it was too late for Rudolf to start preparing now.
…
May 2, 1929.
East Kalimantan.
As the national statistical work unfolds, the East Kalimantan Governor's Office has also become lively.
“After several months of compilation and verification, the total population of East Kalimantan is now 3,215,043, which is nearly hundreds of thousands more than we expected.”
A pile of documents was placed in front of the Governor of East Kalimantan, Clayson, and Secretary Oren reported to him.
Governor Klein frowned and asked, "Why is there so much more? I remember that the government archives previously recorded a population of only over 2.3 million. Now the excess population is close to one million!"
Oren replied: "Governor, there are roughly two sources for these extra populations. One is that the birth rate in East Kalimantan is much higher than that in the mainland, especially immigrants from the Far East Empire, which has led to distortion in our data."
"The last time we counted the population of the colony was about five years ago, and the statistics were not complete at the time. After all, the colonial officials and funds were limited, and there were problems with roads and communications in the past, so it is understandable that there were large errors."
"Another reason is illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is an important factor in the population explosion in East Kalimantan, especially from Brunei, Sarawak and other Southeast Asian regions where many people have illegally immigrated to our country."
"There are about 200,000 to 300,000 people in this group. I am also planning to ask you for advice on how to deal with these illegal immigrants!"
Klein gave the answer to how to deal with illegal immigrants: "How else can we deal with them? They have already fled to East Kalimantan. We can't repatriate them. Besides, it's their ability to come here. We will review them. As long as there are no major problems, we will allow them to exist. But then, we will make them go through the naturalization procedures honestly."
Governor Klein only needs to think about how most illegal immigrants enter East Kalimantan and he knows that the way they successfully get in is to rely on their relatives and friends in East Kalimantan. Otherwise, it will be difficult for them to live here.
"For these illegal immigrants, identity verification cannot be taken lightly, especially to prevent infiltration by Arab cult members, Japanese and other spies."
The Nanyang region is also an area where Arabism is relatively prevalent. For example, in the northern part of Kaliman Island, which is a British colony, there are many Arab believers.
As for spies from other countries, the two countries that are more active in East Kalimantan are Britain and Japan.
The British can understand this, as their colonies border East Africa, and Brunei and Sarawak are important oil producing areas, so it is necessary to be wary of East Africans. I'm afraid even the East Africans themselves won't believe it if they say that East Africa has no interest in the northern part of Kalimantan.
Previously, East Africa had disputes and conflicts with the United Kingdom over the territorial issue of Kalimantan Island, but both sides were relatively restrained.
As for Japan, it was purely out of ambition and strategic considerations. Japan had great ambitions in Southeast Asia, so Japanese spies were active not only in the East African colonies, but throughout the entire Southeast Asia region. The colonies of Britain, France, the United States, East Africa, and the Netherlands were all equally affected, and it was not just East Africa that was targeted.
Governor Klein said: "Once the infidels and spies from various countries are found, they must be expelled from East Kalimantan without hesitation."
"As for those immigrants whose identities are not problematic, they must also be separated and re-managed. They cannot be allowed to form alliances with certain local forces, especially Chinese family forces..."
It is very easy for the Chinese in the Nanyang region to form family forces centered on clans. This is naturally necessary in colonies of other countries, but it is a big taboo to do so in the East African colonies.
After explaining the handling of illegal immigrants, Governor Klein ordered: "Send this statistical data to the mainland! With a population of three million, I think there is no colony in the empire that is growing faster than our East Kalimantan."
"It is estimated that the population of Alaska is not as large as ours. It is very likely that East Kalimantan has become the core colony with the largest population in the empire."
The so-called core colonies are actually those colonies in which the inhabitants are mainly from East Africa, while the colonies in which the inhabitants are not mainly from East Africa are typically the Abyssinian Empire.
As Klein had expected, the East Kalimantan colony had surpassed Alaska to become the most populous colony in East Africa.
Rhineland, the capital of East Africa.
Now Crown Prince Frederick received population summaries from various colonies.
Dong Yu, director of the National Bureau of Statistics: "The East Kalimantan colony tops the list with a population of more than 3.2 million, while Alaska, an old colony of the empire, ranks second with a population of nearly 2 million. As for the third place, Mindanao has a population of more than 1.3 million."
"Except for these three colonies, the population data of other colonies is much worse. Only Togoland has a population of over 300,000."
"Throughout 1929, the total population of the Empire's colonies was 6.94 million, close to 7 million. In a few years, the population of the Empire's core colonies should exceed 10 million."
That is to say, in 1929, the population of the East African colonies was equivalent to that of Australia, both of which were over 6 million, except that East Africa had a few hundred thousand more than Australia. It should reach over 7 million next year.
The core colonial area of East Africa is less than three million square kilometers, so this population size exceeds the psychological expectations of the East African government.
Friedrich said: "If the population of the colonies is included, the population of the empire exceeds 200 million, and the population of the mainland is about 197 million. In the next cycle, the mainland population will definitely exceed 200 million."
The so-called East African mainland here also includes areas such as the Lan Fang Overseas Province that are administratively under the jurisdiction of the East African central government. Their positioning in East Africa is different from that of the colonies.
The demographic data from 1929 shows that East Africa's population growth is still quite exaggerated today. Ten years ago, the population of East Africa was only over 160 million. Ten years later, East Africa added more than 30 million people.
During the same period, the U.S. population increased by approximately 20 million. It is worth mentioning that the 1920s was a period of rapid population growth in the United States.
Because the U.S. economy showed great prosperity throughout the 1920s, this period was called the "Roaring Twenties" in the past. Therefore, during this period, both the public's desire to have children and the number of immigrants in the United States were in a period of explosive growth.
In order to cope with the immigration influx, the United States has even increased immigration restrictions on Eastern and Southern Europe, Asia and other regions.
East Africa is more welcoming to immigrants from these regions, but it is also more welcoming to colonies. East Africa itself has adopted a similar approach to the United States.
However, the United States, East Africa, Argentina and other places are still the most popular regions for immigrants in the 1920s.
Dong Yu, director of the Statistics Bureau, continued, "The population of the empire is similar to our previous estimate, but the population of the colonies has exceeded our expectations, especially in East Kalimantan and Mindanao."
"The other colonies are also growing fast, but the base is too small. In another ten years, they may have more impressive performance, but at this stage, they have little effect on the empire."
"In 1929, our urbanization level was about 45 percent, which is a very outstanding achievement. At the end of World War I, our urbanization level was less than 40 percent. This shows the rapid development of the Empire's industry and cities in the past decade."
"At the same time, this means that the gap between us and the industrial powers of Europe and America has further narrowed. Considering the population size of the Empire, the Empire has further consolidated its position as the world's number one industrial country."
"According to the current situation of urbanization in various countries around the world, a country can only be considered an industrial country if its urbanization rate exceeds 20%, and an industrial powerhouse if it exceeds 50%. However, due to the huge population size of the Empire, this logic does not fully apply."
According to the current development of the world, the economy and industry of countries with an urbanization rate of more than 20% are basically not too bad. Typical examples are Japan and Spain, both of which have an urbanization rate of more than 20%, and even up to about 25%. Further up is the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which has an urbanization rate of more than 30%.
The urbanization rate of the Soviet Union was close to 20 percent, which means that the current Soviet Union is between an industrial country and an agricultural country.
As for countries where urbanization exceeds 50 percent, they are the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, France, and some small European countries.
The urbanization level in the UK is over 80%, while that in Germany is around 70%, so the UK and Germany are undoubtedly the two strongest countries in Europe today.
The urbanization level in the United States is about 50 percent. Among these countries, France has the lowest urbanization level, just around 50 percent.
Therefore, from the urbanization levels of major countries in the world, it can be seen that East Africa's urbanization is still ranked in the middle among the major powers, but the gap with the top few has further narrowed.
Of course, the level of urbanization and the degree of industrial development are not directly linked. For example, although East Africa's urbanization does not rank first, its industrial scale and volume are undoubtedly ranked first, and even in terms of quality, it can enter the first echelon.
In addition, South American countries are more typical cases. For example, Argentina's urbanization level even exceeds 60%, but its industry is completely insignificant compared with that of the great powers.
Another typical example is Brazil, where the urbanization level has also reached about 30%. However, at this time, Brazil's industry is not even as good as Argentina's.
The Soviet Union is also a relatively special country. Its urbanization level is less than 20%, which is still at the level of an agricultural country, but its industrial capacity should not be underestimated. It is at least much stronger than those inflated countries in South America, and it is also much stronger than major powers such as Japan and Spain.
So, the Soviet Union's industry was roughly at the same level as that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with the former being larger in size and the latter being of higher quality.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "The urbanization rate of 45% shows that in the past ten years, the speed of economic and industrial development of the empire is still among the best in the world."
"As long as we can maintain this pace, in another 20 to 30 years, there is no doubt that the Empire will become the most powerful country in the world, without a doubt."
"As long as the empire's urbanization rate exceeds 60%, it will reach the standards of a top power in terms of both size and quality. At that time, the only country that can compete with East Africa may be the United States."
As for the Soviet Union, even if it develops rapidly in the next 20 to 30 years, the gap between it and superpowers like East Africa and the United States will still be huge. However, the potential of the Soviet Union cannot be ignored. Even if its industry only reaches half the size of East Africa or the United States, it will still have an overwhelming advantage over other countries in the world.
The Far Eastern Empire, as the world's most populous country, has even greater potential. With a population of 400 million and an urbanization rate of less than 10%, its revival is almost impossible, at least not in this century, unless it does not make any major mistakes throughout the 20th century and its economy maintains a relatively high level of development.
However, the Far East Empire currently does not even have a stable internal and external development environment, so it is impossible for it to have much room for development in a short period of time.
(End of this chapter)
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