Chapter 405 Behind the Canal
October 4, 1872.
King Constantine visited the Third Town City to inspect the canal project. As the capital of the East African Region (Upper Coastal Region) in the former colonial period, the Third Town City, with its first-mover advantage, is still the second largest city in the Coastal Province, second only to Tanga, the provincial capital and seaport city.
As the Ndebele people were escorted as a whole to the Central Province by East Africa, the excavation of the Central Canal also began for some time. Among them, Canal No. 1, which connects the Little Rhine River and the lower reaches of the Wami River, made the fastest progress.
Canal No. 1 starts at the third town (Kitonga), less than eight kilometers from the first town, and ends at Mwomero Village on the Wami River.
Since the administrative divisions of East Africa were adjusted, the gap between the Third Town, which was once a city of the same level as the First Town, has been rapidly widening. In the future, it is very likely to become a part of the First Town like the Second Town (Rufu).
The same is true for the development direction of the first town, which is mainly in the west and north, and chooses to develop in a staggered direction with Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo.
"The total length of Canal No. 1 is 44 kilometers, the river channel is 20 meters wide and 6 meters deep. It requires more than 5 million cubic meters of earth and rock to be cleared, and the total number of workers is 50,000. According to the current construction progress, it should be completed within six months." The person in charge of Canal No. 1 introduced to Constantine.
Constantine had no idea about these numbers, but he knew that the Suez Canal took ten years to build, so he asked, "The East African Canal is built in three sections at the same time. You said that the Central Canal would be as long as the Suez Canal after it was completed. But as far as I know, the Suez Canal took ten years to build. Why does our canal only take a few months?"
The engineer replied, "Your Majesty, the Central Canal is only comparable to the Suez Canal in length, but the other data are far behind. Take the width for example. Our canal is designed to be 20 meters wide, while the Suez Canal is more than 200 meters wide, which is ten times wider than ours. At the same time, the Suez Canal is more than twice as deep as the Central Canal. Therefore, the total amount of earth and rock that needs to be cleared for the Suez Canal is at least 20 times more than ours. And this is only the data for Canal No. 1. For Canals No. 2 and 3, due to the terrain, some concessions must be made, and the width and depth cannot meet this standard."
That's how it is, but Constantine still thinks the construction is going too fast. He asked, "Will such high-intensity work make the workers unbearable?"
"Your Majesty, our team has made sufficient calculations. Each worker needs to complete at least five cubic meters of soil and stone cleaning work every day. This is not a difficult task for workers who are proficient in using shovels and hoes to dig the soil. Some strong workers can even complete ten cubic meters of cleaning in a day. Fifty thousand people can complete at least 250,000 cubic meters of construction work in a day."
Constantine: "Won't they get injured? I heard that many people died in the excavation of the Suez Canal."
“Your Majesty, if you learn about the excavation of the Suez Canal in detail, you will know the reason.
The Egyptian workers built by the Suez Canal were not treated as human beings at all, but completely as disposable consumables. The Suez Canal passes through a desert area, which is not only extremely hot but also extremely short of water. A large number of workers died of thirst every day. This is unimaginable for us.
They were unwilling to supply drinking water, and the food conditions were even worse. The amount of food the Suez Canal Company provided to the workers every day was not enough to feed the children. The workers were hungry for a long time and had to work hard. Under such conditions, it would be strange if no one died in the construction of the Suez Canal. Egypt paid 120,000 lives to build the Suez Canal, with an average of 783 deaths per kilometer.
Constantine: "So what are our conditions in this regard?"
Although the canal project was an idea proposed by Constantine, the specific operation was carried out by Ernst, so Constantine did not know much about the specific situation of the canal.
“We have enough drinking water, and we use alum to purify the drinking water in advance.
We have also done a good job in food distribution, distributing food according to contribution rates, so that even the indigenous people with the lowest contribution rates can get the food they need for a day."
As he spoke, the engineer took Constantine to see the cafeteria on the construction site. The cafeteria was divided into two parts, one was the dining area for East African nationals (mainly supervisors), and the other was the dining area for indigenous workers.
The supervisor's canteen has no special features. It is basically the same as the public canteens in East Africa, except that the building conditions are much worse. After all, it is a temporary construction site.
The indigenous canteen is very novel. Forget about tables, chairs or benches. It is just a huge venue where you can find any place to eat.
"What's boiling in this pot?" Constantine asked, pointing at the mushy substance in the pot.
Cook: "Cassava fried rice."
"Fried rice!" If he hadn't been told, Constantine would have thought it was porridge or something, but it smelled quite fragrant.
Constantine: "How do you make these things so fragrant?"
Cook: "Your Majesty, the main thing is to add a lot of oil after the pan is hot, add a little spice to give it a base flavor, pour the soaked cassava into it, and finally add salt."
"I see! But isn't it a bit too much?" Constantine felt a little distressed. This was all money!
The engineer at the side said, "The food for the native laborers cannot be too bad. This is something that His Highness Ernst specifically instructed. He specifically asked that we use more salt and oil to make the natives stronger, because these laborers will be sold to other countries in the future."
"That's good. We make the best use of everything. It's understandable that they eat better." Constantine's expression changed instantly. Pigs need to be fattened before being sold, so the cost of feed is unavoidable.
“Is this all they eat every day?”
"Your Majesty, of course not. We also have corn, soybeans, etc. in rotation, and occasionally we have vegetable and fish soup on weekends."
Some indigenous laborers in East Africa did not eat very badly, and their living standards were even much better than those in most countries in the world. As for the indigenous laborers who dug the Central Canal, their quality of life was far better than that of Japanese civilians. As for the citizens of East Africa, although their income was not high, their quality of life was comparable to that of Britain and the United States.
In fact, the quality of life of the colonists in the colonies was not too bad. Take Mozambique next door for example. The Portuguese certainly would not worry about food, clothing, housing and transportation. They mainly wanted to make more money and then spend it back home. Although the Kingdom of East Africa has become an independent country, it has too many black people and is essentially a semi-colonial country. The citizens of the Kingdom of East Africa also suck blood from the indigenous people.
Under such conditions, the reason why the East African economy has not improved is mainly because East Africa has made too many long-term investments, with inputs exceeding outputs, and the results will not be reflected until more than a decade later.
The Central Canal is a typical example. There are not many ships on the entire Little Rhine, inland shipping in East Africa is basically zero, and natural rivers are not effectively utilized. After the Central Canal is developed, it will be idle for at least a few years, and profitability will have to be considered at least a dozen years later.
Fortunately, indigenous workers do not need to consider wages, as long as they maintain their basic survival needs, which is borne by the East African government. Although there is no agricultural tax in East Africa, food output is completely allocated by the state, and East Africa has more arable land resources than most countries. This means that even with a relatively low level of productivity, East Africa's food output is still considerable, and the government only needs to take out a part to meet the needs of indigenous workers. After deducting the needs of East African citizens and the basic needs of indigenous workers, the remaining food can still be exported in large quantities.
However, the current international food production capacity is seriously oversupplied. In the event that exports may be hindered, the East African Kingdom cannot continue to give its citizens higher distribution standards. Doing so will easily breed lazy people and will be detrimental to social operations.
Therefore, there will be more and more projects like the Central Canal in the future. Instead of letting the grain rot in the warehouse, it is better to use it to implement various large projects and infrastructure. This is not easy to achieve in other countries because in a market economy, the lower class at least enjoys certain negotiating rights, but they just don't have many bargaining chips.
There is no need to consider East Africa, a monarchy that is even more extreme than Prussia. As long as the size of the army is maintained and the indigenous people are ruled with high pressure at all times, East Africa will have an endless supply of free labor for more than a decade.
(End of this chapter)
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