Chapter 439: The Beacon of The Free World Must Be Lit |
As the capital of Britain, London has been at the forefront of the world since the first Industrial Revolution.
It has numerous accolades, such as being the largest city in the world, the most prosperous city, and serving as the world’s political, financial, commercial, and industrial center...
Overnight, it seemed to have turned into a small rural place, a sudden change that the proud London citizens could not tolerate.
In this era, they had reason to be proud, as described by British newspapers:
The plains of North America and Russia are our cornfields;
Austria is our granary;
Canada and the Baltic are our timber forests;
Australia and Argentina are our pastures;
Peru and Mexico send us their silver;
Our coffee, sugar cane, and spice plantations are spread across the Indian Islands;
Spain and France are our vineyards;
The Mediterranean is our orchard;
The Confederate States of America are our cotton fields.
...
So, anywhere outside of London is considered the countryside, and any region outside of the British Isles is deemed backward. The sacred mission of leading human progress is solely the responsibility of the British.
With this mindset, the emergence of Vienna as a city that never sleeps was a shock to the London public.
The flood of public opinion pressure came crashing down on the new government, leaving Benjamin Disraeli’s administration feeling the immense weight.
Now, they greatly envy the previous government of John Russell. Although they resigned early, the reality is that the John Russell cabinet was only two months shy of completing two full terms.
Faced with an economic crisis at the end of their term, they naturally wouldn’t clean up the mess for their competitors. The early resignation of the John Russell cabinet left all the responsibility on the next government.
Benjamin Disraeli’s cabinet was already having a tough time dealing with economic issues. Internationally, the Spanish and Polish throne disputes were on everyone’s nerves.
Now, with the emergence of a city that never sleeps, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was even more troubled. Electric lights weren’t high-tech; they had been using them for a while, but making them widespread throughout the city was not easy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli asked, “My Chancellor of the Exchequer, do we have the budget?”
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Molitor, responded seriously, “Preliminary estimates suggest that it will cost at least 75 million pounds to provide electric lighting throughout London. Extending it across the British Isles would require 440 million pounds, and considering the practicalities, the investment could be even larger.
This is just the cost of the equipment. The future operating costs for electricity will be even higher. For the street lighting system in London alone, we would need 150,000 generators and at least 300,000 people to provide logistical support.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli waved his hand to interrupt, “Stop, just tell me that it’s impossible to provide electric power to all of London. But why can the Austrians do it?
Even if Vienna is much smaller than London, it’s still a metropolis with over a million people. I don’t believe the Austrian government would invest recklessly just for appearances.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer Molitor explained, “It’s said that the Austrians use high-power generators to support Vienna’s lighting system, requiring only 200 generators.
These high-power generators have reduced the cost of electricity generation by 80%, and the number of maintenance personnel needed is greatly reduced. Only about 3,000 to 4,000 workers are needed to maintain this electric network.
In fact, Vienna’s lighting system is the work of the Austrian New Energy Power Company, reportedly with royal investment.
The Vienna city government only needs to pay for the electricity, which costs about 100,000 pounds a month, to use this power grid worth over 7 million pounds.”
Molitor was also troubled. British electric companies were very passive, only interested in supplying power to the wealthy and having no interest in creating a city-wide lighting system.
If it weren’t for the newspapers, he wouldn’t have known that a revolution in generator technology had already occurred. If it were just about setting up a street lighting system, they could manage to push it through.
Obviously, that’s not feasible. The citizens of London want a more comprehensive service, with electricity delivered to their homes, which requires a significantly larger investment.
A mere 100,000 pounds in electricity costs is clearly not enough to sustain the Austrian New Energy Power Company. Even with tax exemptions, it is still far from sufficient.
Currently, the strategy is to establish a foothold by directly funding the construction of a complete power grid, which means monopolizing the power supply in Vienna.
Vienna lacks industrial facilities, so the electric company’s ultimate profit comes from residential and commercial electricity usage. These premium customers are their long-term cash cows.
Compared to the previous rate of eight guilders per kilowatt-hour, Vienna’s electricity rate has now dropped to 1.5 guilders. This is the advantage of a dedicated power grid, significantly reducing losses in power transmission.
Undoubtedly, this price is highly profitable, but to promote new technology, high profits are necessary.
To further reduce electricity prices, power must be fully popularized. Otherwise, who will bear the cost of this power grid?
The Austrian government cannot afford this expense. If the government funds it, it won’t just be about one city; it would require nationwide implementation, which is a core aspect of fairness.
All taxpayers contribute, so why should the big cities get power first?
If the central government doesn’t invest, which local government can afford the initial costs?
Should they take out loans? If that happens, it won’t be long before local governments across Austria collectively go bankrupt.
Expecting the bureaucratic class to control costs is a fantasy. It’s better to let companies develop freely first. Once technology advances further, then the issue of widespread implementation can be reconsidered.
The British are facing the same problem. Without central government funding, the London city government simply cannot afford it. If funding is provided, citizens in other regions will not accept it.
There’s no need to wait for public unrest; it won’t even pass through Parliament. The capital already occupies a lot of resources, and further financial favoritism from the central government will exacerbate conflicts, potentially leading to national division.
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli rubbed his forehead and said helplessly, “Then let’s leave this problem to the London city government! The Austrian government didn’t allocate funds, so why should they expect us to?
As for how they handle it, that’s their business. A city government unable to fulfill its local development responsibilities and shifting its duties to the central government is unacceptable.”
Passing the buck—this was a tactic most commonly used by politicians. If not for the immense public pressure, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli wouldn’t even bother with this issue.
The cabinet’s involvement in this matter was only to show that they take it seriously; it doesn’t mean they will intervene.
If the required investment were small, Prime Minister Disraeli would be happy to boost his political standing by illuminating the British Isles.
But with such a large investment, that’s not feasible. If they blindly push forward with this massive project, the entire British treasury might not be enough to cover the costs.
...
Paris, tragic Paris—the city government is once again surrounded by protesting citizens, a clear sign that the people of Paris understand the rules.
Upgrading city infrastructure is the responsibility of the city government; the central government should not foot the bill.
Even when Napoleon III renovated Paris, most of the funding came from the Paris city government, not from the French central government.
The French are very clear on this; the accounts are always kept separate. Local governments have their own financial income, not entirely dependent on central government grants.
For example, the salaries of city government employees and the operating expenses of various government agencies are borne by local governments.
Otherwise, in this era, the financial income of central governments across countries would not be enough to sustain government operations.
Of course, some European countries still have central government management, but these are small countries with small territories and populations, requiring fewer institutions.
If a local government cannot bear administrative expenses, the central government might provide subsidies. For instance, the Austrian government has subsidized the province of Bosnia. Otherwise, this poor province wouldn’t be able to even pay civil servants’ salaries.
There are exceptions, like the United States, where each state operates independently. If they have money, they spend it; if not, they find a way, but they never expect help from the central government.
Looking at the protesting crowd outside, Paris Mayor Barco felt utterly despondent. The reconstruction of Paris had already burdened the city government with enormous debt, almost to the point of suffocating them.
It’s easy for the blabbermouths to talk, saying that improving public infrastructure will help develop the economy and overcome the economic crisis.
In reality, all of this requires money. Without money, how can you invest? When Napoleon III ordered the reconstruction of Paris, wasn’t it the Paris city government that paid for it?
The mounting debt still needs to be repaid. To increase financial revenue, the Paris city government has already raised taxes multiple times.
These taxes can’t be expected to come from ordinary citizens as they don’t have much money to begin with. The bulk of the taxes falls on businesses.
Napoleon III encouraged industrial development, so financial capitalists bore most of the taxes. Frankly, this tax distribution model is reasonable.
The profits in the finance industry are higher than in manufacturing. High profits bearing high taxes make sense, which is why this period was the golden age for French industrial development.
France has quite a few power companies, but unfortunately, none of them are sizable. Typically, a power company has only a few hundred customers, and those with a few thousand customers are considered large companies.
After meeting with these power companies, Mayor Barco immediately abandoned the idea of having them undertake the task of building Paris’ power supply system.
Without the necessary strength, everything is just talk. They have neither the money nor the technology, so who would dare let them do it?
Many capitalists were interested in taking on this task, but their demands were so great that Mayor Barco was discouraged.
For instance, financial tycoon Rothschild expressed interest in investing, but not only did he demand it be free, but he also required the French government to cover half of the construction costs without compensation.
Covering half the construction costs for free would be better off as a direct government operation. Clearly, the capitalists were aware of public pressure and sought to extract the maximum benefits.
As the beacon of the free world, how could Paris not light up? The attitude of the Parisian citizens said it all.
Franz probably never imagined that investing in the construction of Vienna’s power system would bring so much trouble to England and France.
Even if he knew, it wouldn’t help since he couldn’t assist. At this time, the widespread adoption of electricity was somewhat premature. The best time would be when generator technology advanced further and copper refining technology improved.
Currently, the cost of promotion is too high. Promoting it in a special city like Vienna is feasible, but in other cities, it’s a risky endeavor with high chances of failure.
At 1.5 guilders per kilowatt-hour, only about ten percent of the population in Austria can afford it; the same is true for England and France.
Vienna’s situation is unique. It’s not an industrial city and its main industries are relatively high-income sectors. With higher incomes, most people can afford electricity.
But this is not the case for other cities. Europe differs from the East, where not all wealthy people live in cities. Many wealthy aristocrats live on estates around the cities.
These premium customers are scattered, directly increasing the cost of widespread electricity adoption. Many of these aristocrats have already used electricity, as they have their own small generators.
Of course, if the power companies are willing to supply electricity, they won’t refuse. After all, the small generators of this era are only small in power output, not in size, making them quite inconvenient to use.
However, this would further increase the cost per kilowatt-hour. In most cities, due to insufficient or dispersed user numbers, the final cost of supplying electricity would significantly rise.
This is also why, after providing power to Vienna, the Austrian New Energy Power Company stopped its expansion to deeply cultivate the Vienna market rather than blindly expanding.
The electricity technology revolution only needs one city like Vienna as a benchmark. Nationwide promotion can wait another three to five years.
In this rapidly changing era, new technologies are progressing almost daily. Since 1866, Austria has filed over 300 new patents related to electricity.
Franz was unaware that there were so many specialized technologies related to electricity. It’s important to remember this is still the 19th century, and the application of electricity is in its very early stages.
The primary use is currently for lighting, with electrically powered machinery still theoretical. To become the primary source of energy for humanity, it will take at least another thirty years.
Unsurprisingly, after Vienna took the first step into the new era, the French government announced the establishment of the Paris Power Company to light up Paris.
The beacon of the free world cannot be left in the dark.
