Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 381 Moroccan Railways and Food Reserves
It's not that Carlo was stingy with the budget; the main problem was that Spain needed so much construction in 1896, and each of these projects required a huge amount of government spending.

One of the most important projects was the construction of the Moroccan railway.

As a colony seeking localization, the construction of railways and highways is naturally essential for Morocco. Regarding the so-called Moroccan railway, the Ministry of Transport has developed a clear construction plan after several months of planning.

The railway starts in Ceuta, the northernmost city in Morocco, and has two lines, one heading south and the other east.

The route heading south will pass through cities such as Tangier, Araish, Qabir, Qabitra, and Sierra, before reaching Rabat, the former capital of the Kingdom of Morocco.

In Rabat, there is another branch line heading east, while the main line continues south through Mohammadiyeh, Casablanca, Jedidai, Safi, and Marrakech, eventually reaching Agadir, the former capital of the southern Moroccan colony.

The route eastward from Ceuta passes through Tetouan to the south, and continues eastward through Husseima, Melilla, and Nador before reaching Oujda, a city in eastern Morocco.

The railway cuts southwest here, passing through Taza, Fez and Meknes before returning to Rabat, the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco. This railway is also the eastern branch line of Rabat.

According to estimates from the transportation department, the total length of these two railway lines is expected to be between 1700 and 1800 kilometers, requiring a considerable amount of funding to complete the railway construction.

Carlo had seen the financial statements provided by the transportation department. Even though Morocco, as a colony, required less manpower, the mountainous terrain of the region would still increase the cost of railway construction.

Based on the calculation that 1 kilometer of double-track railway costs approximately 2 pesetas, this nearly 1800-kilometer railway would require at least 3600 million pesetas in funding.

Fortunately, the construction of this railway will take at least three years, which means that Spain only needs to spend 1200 million pesetas per year to cover the entire railway construction.

1200 million pesetas is not a large expenditure for the Spanish government at present, and Carlos agreed to the railway construction plan of the Ministry of Transport with almost no hesitation.

Of course, in addition to the railway construction plan, the transportation department also prepared a plan for highway construction.

However, highways in this era were relatively simple to build, and their cost was naturally lower.

Although cement roads existed in this era, they were mostly used only in certain urban neighborhoods. This was because cement was expensive, and laying cement roads required a large amount of labor, all of which had to be factored into the road construction costs.

Secondly, the demand for cement roads is relatively low. With the continuous expansion of the automobile market, people do need a smoother, stronger, and more solid road.

Cement roads are certainly the best choice, but their high cost makes them unsuitable for most areas. In contrast, dirt roads paved with gravel are actually more popular.

First, this type of road is relatively inexpensive to build. Second, it is also quite sturdy, and cars can drive on it without any problems.

This type of road can accommodate both horse-drawn carriages and automobiles, and it was the preferred choice for road construction in various European countries.

Even within Spain, there aren't many roads built with cement, and they are mainly concentrated in the urban areas of large cities like Madrid and Barcelona.

In some busier city streets, wealthy municipalities have built wide roads using cement. The entire stretch of road from the Royal Palace in downtown Madrid to the university area is paved with cement.

Nowadays, when building highways that stretch for thousands of kilometers in Morocco, the first choice is definitely a gravel road, followed by a regular dirt road; cement roads would never be an option.

Compared to Morocco's road construction, Carlos clearly places greater emphasis on Morocco's railway construction.

Because of its proximity to mainland Spain across the sea, most of Morocco's resources can be transported by rail to northern ports, and then quickly transported to mainland Spain from there.

This also means that once the Moroccan railway is completed, Spain's control over the entire territory of Morocco will be greatly strengthened.

Morocco possesses a wide variety of mineral resources. While its reserves of coal and iron ore are not particularly large, it boasts a staggering 500 billion tons of phosphate deposits, accounting for 71% of the world's total reserves.

Besides being used to manufacture fertilizers, unprocessed phosphate rock powder can be directly spread into the soil, which can improve soil fertility to some extent.

The main source of this fertilizer is quite important to Spain. The soil in mainland Spain is infertile, while the land in the West African colonies can increase food production through fertilizer.

The occupation of Morocco now completes the cycle of Spanish agricultural production. Morocco's phosphate mines can be used to produce large quantities of fertilizer, which is then transported to Spain and its African colonies.

The grain produced in the West African colonies could be transported to other colonies and the Spanish mainland, supplying the needs of more than 3000 million Spanish.

Vegetables and fruits produced in Spain can be exported, earning foreign exchange and making Spain's finances more secure.

Given the phosphate reserves in Morocco, Spain will not have to worry about fertilizer production for a long time to come.

As long as there is no shortage of fertilizer, Spain's agricultural production is guaranteed, and there will naturally be no concern about grain yield.

When discussing issues related to food production, the most important one is the growth of Spain's population.

Following the annexation of Morocco, Spain experienced another population boom. Even considering only those with Spanish citizenship within Spain, the total number of Spaniards has now surpassed 3119 million.

The biggest problem for Spain with its rapidly growing population was the pressure on food supplies. Fortunately, Spain had cultivated a large amount of arable land in its West African colonies for agriculture; otherwise, it would have been impossible to feed a population of over 3000 million solely through domestic production.

Due to the continuous surge in its domestic population, even after Spain developed its West African colonies, it could barely meet the food needs of its domestic population.

This also means that Spain cannot be a food exporting country, but it also does not need to import food, and can basically be self-sufficient in terms of food.

To prevent natural disasters and man-made calamities from reducing food production and causing a nationwide famine, Carlo decided to establish a certain amount of food reserves throughout Spain.

Spain's food reserves must be sufficient to feed all Spaniards for at least six months, so that they can cope with natural disasters with ease.

Spain, as one of the driest regions in Europe, experiences numerous drought-related natural disasters. Early prevention is crucial; otherwise, widespread drought outbreaks can have irreversible consequences for agriculture and the economy.

After Carlo raised the request for grain reserves, the Minister of Agriculture, after several days of careful consideration, submitted a plan for grain reserves to Carlo.

Since Spain's population has risen to over 3100 million, it would need to stockpile at least 400 million tons of grain to feed the entire nation for half a year.

Such large grain reserves are a burden on the government. Spain also needs to build a large number of granaries to store these grains, while also bearing the loss of grain.

If these grains are piled up in the warehouse, they will inevitably rot or mold. Even if certain storage methods can reduce rot and mold, it is impossible to prevent the loss of grains due to long-term storage.

Instead of storing such large quantities of grain, it would be better to change the idea of ​​grain reserves.

In West African colonies, crops could be harvested two or even three times a year. Shouldn't the grain grown in the fields be considered as reserves?

Based on the current grain production of the West African colonies, the grain grown in the ground can be considered as a grain reserve of approximately 200 million tons.

This means that Spain only needs to stockpile 200 million tons of grain to meet Carlo's requirements, enough to feed the entire nation for about six months.

In addition, Spain's domestic vegetable and fruit production is even sufficient to exceed Carlo's requirements.

This would also reduce expenditures on food reserves. The only drawback was that when the Spanish government needed food, it would still be necessary to harvest and transfer it from the colonies.

Carlo thought about it and decided that this was a good idea.

After all, if we simply stockpile more than 400 million tons of grain, the cost of purchasing that grain alone would be a huge expense.

Every few years, stored grain needs to be released into the market, and then new grain is purchased for storage. The purpose of this is to consume the old grain that has been stored for several years more quickly, and to store new grain to prevent it from rotting.

The release and purchase of 400 million tons of grain is an enormous undertaking. But if it's reduced to half that, the process of releasing and purchasing grain into the market every few years can save a lot of effort.

If we want to stockpile 400 million tons of grain, based on a mix of mostly wheat, a small amount of corn, and some other mixed grains, the price of 100 million tons of grain would be between 7000 and 8000 million pesetas, so the price of 400 million tons of grain would be close to 3 million pesetas.

Although the stored grain can be sold again, using such a large sum of money for grain reserves puts a considerable strain on the government's finances. If the reserves were reduced to 200 million tons, the Spanish government would only need to spend approximately 1.5 million pesetas to complete the grain reserve program.

While 1.5 million pesetas is a significant sum, it is acceptable to the Spanish government. After all, the benefits of food reserves are obvious, allowing the Spanish government to cope with natural disasters, man-made calamities, and unexpected wars with relative ease.

Of course, although the agricultural sector has decided to stockpile more than 200 million tons of grain, the grain stockpiling work will not be completed within a year.

The 200 million-ton grain reserve will be completed over three years, which means that only about 66 tons of grain need to be reserved each year.

In this way, the government will only need to pay about 5000 million pesetas a year for food reserves, and will only need to pay for the first three years.

The subsequent grain reserve work can generate revenue by releasing old grain into the market, and the money from selling old grain can be used to buy new grain, so the grain reserve will not require much money.

Spreading the 1.5 million pesetas budget over three years can effectively alleviate the financial pressure faced by the government.

This is a good thing for this year's finances, at least each department has enough budget to carry out its work without worrying about this or that work affecting its budget.

After the grain reserve program took away 5000 million pesetas from the budget, government departments began to seek meetings with Carlo more and more frequently.

Unfortunately, the annual fiscal budget is limited.

Spain's fiscal revenue reached 14.462 billion pesetas last year, which brought its total fiscal expenditure share to 14.212 billion pesetas this year, a new high in recent years.

The problem is that the three major sectors of defense, education, and industry have already taken up a significant portion of the fiscal budget.

On this basis, the increase in the fiscal budget for each department was not much to begin with. Only a few months into the year, the medical department took 1500 million pesetas of the budget, and the transportation department took another 1200 million pesetas.

This had already made the ministers of various departments feel the urgency, but unexpectedly, the agricultural department took away a budget of up to 5000 million pesetas without saying a word.

These diverted budget allocations are all additional, totaling a staggering 7700 million pesetas.

It's worth noting that this year's fiscal expenditure only increased by less than 3000 million pesetas compared to last year.

Although last year's budget increased by more than 2000 million pesetas due to the outbreak of war, this year's fiscal expenditure has only increased by 5000 million pesetas.

The budgets allocated to the healthcare, transportation, and agriculture sectors have already reached 7700 million pesetas, which means that the budgets of some sectors will certainly be affected.

Although the impact will certainly not be too great, ministers in various departments are unwilling to have their department's budget cut.

In previous years, it wouldn't have been a big deal, because cabinet ministers' terms had just begun, and even if departmental budgets were cut, it wouldn't have been that important.

But this year is different. The current cabinet government's term began in 1892 and will naturally end in 1897.

With less than a year left in the current cabinet's term, if the department's budget is cut again this year, it will be virtually impossible to achieve anything significant.

Departments whose budgets have been cut are already doing well just to get by, let alone consider anything more.

Without outstanding political achievements, cabinet ministers have even less chance of staying in their positions or advancing further.

The prime minister of this cabinet is Evan Bradley, a prime minister with a military background.

Although Prime Minister Evan Bradley is highly loyal to Carlos, it is clear to everyone that his term as Prime Minister is only for this one term.

Having a military prime minister in power for an extended period is not beneficial to the current Spanish government.

The downsides are actually quite obvious.

First, the prime minister's power is simply too great. Because of his military background, Prime Minister Evan Bradley has already achieved what his predecessor, Prime Minister Primo, had: extremely high prestige in both the military and the political arena.

In a republic, it's naturally a good thing for the president to have immense prestige. But the problem is that Spain is a monarchy, and the ruler of the country is King Juan Carlos, not Prime Minister Evan Bradley.

It's not a good thing for the prime minister to have too much power. Even if Carlo doesn't suspect him, it doesn't mean that this situation can last.

Secondly, there's the awkward relationship between the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister within the cabinet.

Although Evan Bradley is the Prime Minister in the cabinet, this is only in terms of power. In terms of handling day-to-day government affairs, Deputy Prime Minister Howellal Soller is responsible for more of the administrative work.

Prime Minister Evan Bradley's role is more of a transitional one, and if he were to remain in the position for an extended period, it could easily provoke discontent among Deputy Prime Minister Howellal Soler and many other cabinet ministers.

After all, there are only so many positions in the cabinet; some people need to step down so that others can move up.

If the position of prime minister remains unchanged, it means that cabinet ministers are essentially only competing for a limited number of positions.
In particular, Deputy Prime Minister Hoviljal Soller. Having already risen to the position of Deputy Prime Minister, he certainly would not accept returning to the ranks of a regular cabinet minister.

If he cannot climb the ranks to become Prime Minister, he will have no choice but to remain as Deputy Prime Minister or seek other special cabinet positions such as Speaker of the House of Representatives or Justice Secretary.

Although the Speaker of the House of Representatives is a member of the cabinet, he is not subject to the command or leadership of the Prime Minister. In fact, the House of Representatives, represented by the Speaker, is the leader of the cabinet government, which is the reason for the unique nature of his position.

As for the Minister of Justice, he oversees the judicial power of the Spanish government.

The three pillars of political power are legislative, judicial, and executive. As the master of the country, the King of Spain possesses all three powers, which goes without saying.

The cabinet and parliament represent executive and legislative powers respectively, while the remaining authority, the Minister of Justice, represents the judicial power of Spain.

The Minister of Justice is subordinate to the Spanish Senate and is the head of the General Court of Justice, which is under the Senate.

The General Court of Justice also includes the Royal Court, the National Court, and the Military Court. The Royal Court and the Military Court are special cases, as they are only for the Spanish royal family and military personnel.

The National Court, open to all Spaniards, is the highest court in Spain and represents the country's supreme judicial power.

In addition, state courts and city courts exist in each state and municipal government.

If a party is dissatisfied with the city court's judgment, they can appeal to the state court for a new judgment. If they are still dissatisfied with the state court's judgment, they have another opportunity to appeal to the national court.

However, what's unusual is that the state court must rehear the first appeal, which is also to ensure the impartiality of the judiciary.

However, the second appeal against the state court may not be accepted by the national court, which represents the highest judicial authority in Spain.

The state court will review the legality and reasonableness of the case. If it determines that there are no problems with the trial, it will refuse to accept the appeal and uphold the original judgment of the state court.

This is also to reduce the workload of the national courts. If death row inmates are dissatisfied with their sentences handed down by state courts, it doesn't mean the national courts have to handle all cases nationwide.

Only when a national court, after review, determines that a judgment is problematic, will it be retried a third time in the national court.

The third and final hearing, conducted by the State Court, is the only option for the parties involved, regardless of the outcome.

It is precisely because of the special status of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Minister of Justice that Deputy Prime Minister Howelia Soller was able to choose these positions even when he could not advance further.

Although the Speaker of the House and the Attorney General have little presence in the cabinet, no one dares to ignore their influence.

The former is elected by the lower house, and the latter by the upper house; both represent the highest power of the Spanish Parliament.

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(End of this chapter)