Chapter 854 American Conspiracy
December 1892.
"Brother Roger, you're here?" Enders, a member of the Hawaii Business Association, smiled and led Roger into the house.
"Moore, go make a cup of coffee."
Moore is a servant in Enders' family, a typical black man. Enders hired black men as her servants because they were cost-effective and the price was right. They could also manage the house in an orderly manner. After hearing the order, Moore honestly did what the master told him to do.
Roger was lying on the sofa, looking quite comfortable. He asked Enders, "Boss Enders, how come you have time to ask me to come here this time? I often invited you in the past, but you were never at home."
"Oh, I'm busy with business. I'm not like you. You have such a big business, but you have to work too hard. I was busy with European orders for a while. The orders were not big, they were all small portions, but the quantity was large, so I had to work endlessly." Endress said.
"You are joking. I am just a small businessman. I haven't had much business recently, so I have time to wander around. I wonder how many people really envy you. Europe has always been generous, but I can only do business in the Far East."
In Hawaii, people mainly do sandalwood business, but the sandalwood business in Hawaii is also declining. Think about it, there are only a few small islands here, and no matter how many resources there are, they cannot keep up with the speed of logging over the past few decades.
As for other places, Hawaii's biggest function is to serve as a docking place for ships at sea. After all, the Hawaiian Islands are the only decent place in the heart of the North Pacific.
Of course, this is also the main reason why East Africa has set its sights on this place. Hawaii’s location is too important, and it would be unreasonable not to intervene.
Hawaii is located right in the middle of the North Pacific Current, and the main way to travel from East Africa to Alaska is to follow the North Pacific Current to the west coast of America, and then go north along the Alaska Current.
When ships sail at sea, they usually follow the ocean currents, which can save a lot of time, especially in the era of sailing ships.
The colony of the South Ryukyu Islands in East Africa is right at the source of the North Pacific warm current, so as long as the Hawaiian land is completed, the transportation between East Africa and Alaska will be stable.
Of course, when the ship returns from Alaska, it takes another route, which is the Japanese archipelago and the eastern waters of Asia.
Most of the goods carried by Alaska ships on their return voyages were timber and furs, which were sold in Japan and the Far East before being reloaded and returned to East Africa.
After all, East Africa itself has no shortage of wood, and fur is of no use. East Africa is located in the tropics and does not need fur for heating. Instead, products such as silk are more popular.
Fortunately, the Far Eastern Empire was extremely short of timber, especially in the northern region, so the merchant ships from Alaska did not have a high empty ship rate on their return voyage.
Of course, in this case, the Alaska route will not make much money from the trade with East Africa, and may even lose money. East Africa has to transport more than 20,000 tons of food to Alaska every year to ensure the normal operation of the Alaskan royal territory.
At the beginning, the main reason why Tsarist Russia gave up Alaska was Alaska’s poor food self-sufficiency rate.
Moreover, Tsarist Russia itself had a Siberia region, and the Tsar had to constantly exile prisoners to maintain its population, so it was impossible for the Russians to go to Alaska to open up wasteland.
It's not that Alaska cannot grow anything. Potatoes, barley, oats and a small amount of drought-resistant vegetables can be grown in the south. However, this is a drop in the bucket for the entire Alaska, so East Africa must continue to supply the Alaskan people with staple food, and on this basis, effectively utilize Alaska's arable land resources.
Of course, if Alaska’s mineral resources can be developed, that would be a different matter, but does East Africa have the ability to develop Alaska now?
Obviously not. It is certain that if the mineral development in Alaska is allowed, the Canadian and American armies will immediately move north, so the people of Alaska will have to suffer first.
Of course, this is just a joke. The living standard in Alaska is actually not bad at all. After all, it has a small population. As a country with overcapacity in agriculture, East Africa is not short of food. In addition, Alaska has rich fishery resources. Therefore, in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation, the living standards of Alaskan residents are quite high.
If the East African, or the Hechingen royal family, wanted to maintain its rule over Alaska, they naturally needed to ensure smooth traffic between the two places. The main means of transportation from East Africa to Alaska was sea, so the importance of Hawaii was once again highlighted.
This is the same reason why Ernst insisted on intervening in the dispute over the Ryukyu Islands. In fact, the ultimate goal was to ensure the security of Alaska.
If there were no Alaska royal territory, East Africa would not be involved in the muddy waters at all, because the South Ryukyu Islands and Kauai Island do not have many resources. East Africa would not gain any actual benefits from occupying the two places, and it might even be targeted by Japan and the United States.
Of course, East Africa will definitely not be afraid of being targeted by the United States and Japan. East Africa is far away from the two countries. Even if they put all their national strength into it, they will not have a good way to deal with East Africa. On the contrary, East Africa can control the two countries.
This reflects the geographical advantage of East Africa. World trade is mainly concentrated in the Eurasian continent. It is impossible for the United States and Japan not to go through the Indian Ocean region. In the Indian Ocean region, as long as East Africa does not target the United Kingdom and the United States, no one can do anything to it.
Especially for Japan, the European raw silk market is extremely important to Japan, and the Indian Ocean is the only way for Japanese merchant ships to reach Europe. Otherwise, they can only go around America. Today, when the Panama Canal is not opened, going around America is too risky and time-consuming.
The construction of railways in the United States in the 19th century was also due to the inconvenience of sea transportation, so the United States had to connect the east and west coasts by rail, giving birth to the world's largest railway network.
The poor French are still building the Panama Canal. They simply have not learned the lesson from the Suez Canal. However, France now likes to invest overseas. After all, the cost of industrial production in the country is too high, especially after the loss of Lorraine and Alsace. It is completely unable to compete with Germany, so it is understandable that France has invested heavily overseas.
And it cannot be said that France's approach was without benefits. In the past, French colonies were relatively stable because France was more developed and the colonies received more dividends than colonies of other countries. Of course, these dividends had nothing to do with the local indigenous people, but mainly benefited the French residents living in French colonies.
"Brother Roger, you underestimate yourself too much. During your years in Hawaii, everyone knows your name. Your businesses are almost everywhere on Kauai Island. With these businesses, you can be ranked as a big businessman in Hawaii. Unlike me, I can only deal in the sandalwood business. Moreover, with the depletion of sandalwood resources, I'm afraid I won't be able to do it in a few years. If I change my career at that time, I'm afraid I'll need your care." Enders complimented Roger.
Rogge's industries are naturally concentrated in Kauai. After all, this is the instruction of the central government, which is conducive to East Africa's secret control of Kauai.
Now is not the time for a showdown. East Africa can only continue to increase its stakes in Kauai. Once the United States takes action in Hawaii, East Africa will "respond" in time and realize the division of Hawaii between the two countries.
To be frank, Americans could not have imagined that East Africa would be so insidious. In fact, there are three main countries that the United States is on guard against in Hawaii: Britain, France and Japan.
With these three countries sharing the firepower, East Africa, a country far away in Africa, naturally no one cares about it. Moreover, in the mutual competition and vigilance, no one would have thought that East Africa would quietly reach out to Hawaii.
(End of this chapter)
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