African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 405 Behind the Canal

 October 4, 1872.

King Constantine visited Third Town to inspect the canal project. Third Town, as the capital of the East African region (Upper Coastal District) in the former colonial period, relied on its first-mover advantage and was still the second largest city in the coastal province. Second to Tanga City, the provincial capital and seaport city.

As the Ndebele people were escorted to the Central Province as a whole from East Africa, the excavation work of the Central Canal also started for a period of time. Among them, the No. 1 Canal, which connects the Little Rhine River and the lower reaches of the Wami River, has been excavated the fastest.

 Canal No. 1 starts in the third town (Kitunga), less than eight kilometers away from the first town, and ends at Mwomero village on the Wami River.

 Since the adjustment of administrative divisions in East Africa, the gap between the Third Town, a city that was once at the same level as the First Town, has rapidly widened, and it is very likely that it will become part of the First Town like the Second Town (Rufu) in the future.

The development direction of the first town and city is also the same, mainly in the west and north, choosing 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. More than 5 million cubic meters of earth and rock need to be cleared. The total number of workers is 50,000. According to the current construction progress, it should be completed within six months. Done." The person in charge of Canal No. 1 introduced Constantine.

Constantine had no idea about these numbers, but he knew that the Suez Canal took ten years to build, so he asked: "The canal in East Africa was constructed in three sections at the same time. At that time, you said that the length of the central canal after completion would be the same as the Suez Canal, 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 length of the Central Canal can only be compared with the Suez Canal, but other data are too far apart. Take the width as an example, our canal width is designed to be twenty meters, while the width of the Suez Canal is At more than two hundred meters, it is ten times that of ours. At the same time, the depth of the Suez Canal is more than twice that of the Central Canal. Therefore, the total amount of earth and rock that needs to be cleared in the Suez Canal is at least twenty times that of ours, and this is only for Canal No. 1. Data, such as Canal No. 2 and Canal No. 3, must make some concessions due to terrain reasons, and the width and depth cannot meet this standard."

 It turned out to be so, but Constantine still thought that the construction speed was too fast. He asked: "Will such high-intensity work make the laborers unbearable?"

"Your Majesty, our team has fully calculated that each worker needs to complete at least five cubic meters of earth and stone cleaning work every day. This is not difficult for workers who are proficient in using shovels and hoes to dig soil. Some laborers with strong bodies Even ten cubic meters of work can be completed in one day, and 50,000 people can complete at least 250,000 cubic meters of work in one day."

Constantine: "Won't they get sick or injured? I heard that many people died during the digging of the Suez Canal."

“Your Majesty, if you understand the excavation work of the Suez Canal in detail, you will know the reason.

The construction of the Suez Canal did not treat Egyptian laborers as human beings at all, but as disposable consumables. The Suez Canal passed through the desert area, not to mention the unbearable heat, and was extremely short of water. A large number of workers died of thirst every day. This Something that is unimaginable to us.

Drinking water is not provided, and the dietary conditions are predictably worse. The amount of food provided by the Suez Canal Company to workers every day is not enough to satisfy children's hunger. The workers are hungry for a long time and perform high-intensity work. If under such conditions It is strange that people did not die when building the Suez Canal. Egypt sacrificed 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 the idea proposed by Constantine, the specific operations were carried out by Ernst, so Constantine did not know much about the specific conditions of the canal.

“We have enough control over drinking water, and we will use alum in advance to carry out simple purification of drinking water.

We have also done a good job in terms of diet. We distribute food according to the contribution rate. Even the indigenous people with the lowest contribution rate can get the amount of food they need for a day. "

 Speaking, the engineering staff took Constantine to see the canteen at the construction site. The canteen is divided into two parts. One is the dining area for East African nationals (mainly supervisors), and the other is 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 construction conditions are much worse. After all, it is a temporary construction site. The indigenous canteen is very novel. Forget about tables, chairs and benches, it is just a huge place. You can find a place wherever you want when eating.

 “What’s in this pot?” Constantine asked, pointing to the mushy stuff in the pot.

 Cook: “Tapioca fried rice.”

 “Fried rice!” If he hadn’t said it, Constantine would have thought it was porridge or something like that, but it smelled quite fragrant.

Constantine: "What method do you use to fry these things so fragrantly?"

Chef: "Your Majesty, the main thing is to add a lot of oil after the pot is hot, and also add a little spice to give it a base taste, use soaked cassava to pour into it, and finally add salt."

 “That’s it! But isn’t it a bit too much?” Constantine felt a little distressed, it was all money!

The engineer on the side said: "The food for the indigenous workers should not be too bad. This is what His Highness Ernst specifically told us. He specifically asked to use a lot of salt and oil to make the indigenous people stronger, because these workers will be sold in the future. To other countries.”

“That’s good, make the best use of everything, and it’s not incomprehensible to eat better.” Constantine’s face changed instantly. The pigs had to be fattened before being sold, so the cost of feed was unavoidable.

 “This is the only thing they eat every day?”

“Your Majesty, of course not, there are corn, soybeans, etc. on rotation, and occasionally vegetable and fish soup is provided on weekends.”

The food of some indigenous workers in East Africa is not very bad, and their living standards are much better than that of most countries in the world. As for the indigenous workers who dug the Central Canal, their quality of life far exceeds that of Japanese civilians. As for East African nationals, although The income is not high, but the quality of life is comparable to that of Britain and the United States.

In fact, the quality of life of the colonists in the colonies is not too bad. Take Mozambique next door as an example. The Portuguese will definitely not worry about food, clothing, housing and transportation. They mainly want to make more money and then return to their homeland to spend it. The Kingdom of East Africa Although it has become an independent country, it has too many black people and is essentially a semi-colonial country. The citizens of the East African Kingdom also **** the blood of the indigenous people.

Under such conditions, the reason why East Africa's economy has not improved is mainly because East Africa has made relatively large amounts of long-term investment, with inputs higher than output, and the results will take more than ten years to be reflected.

The Central Canal is a typical example. There are not many ships on the entire Little Rhine, and the inland shipping in East Africa is basically zero. The natural rivers have not been effectively used. After the Central Canal is developed, it will be idle for at least a few years, and profitability must be considered for at least ten years. A few years later.

Fortunately, indigenous workers do not need to consider wages, as long as they maintain their basic survival needs, and this part is borne by the East African government. Although there is no agricultural tax in East Africa, food output is completely distributed by the state, and East Africa's arable land resources are higher than In most countries, this means that even when productivity levels are relatively low, East Africa's food output is still considerable, and the government only needs to spend part of it to meet the needs of indigenous labor. After excluding the needs of East African citizens and the basic needs of indigenous labor, the remaining food can still be exported in large quantities.

 At present, there is serious overcapacity in international grain production, and when exports may be blocked, it is impossible for the East African Kingdom to continue to provide higher distribution standards to its citizens. That would easily support lazy people and is not conducive to the functioning of society.

Therefore, there will be more and more projects like the Central Canal in the future. Instead of letting food rot in warehouses, it is better to take it out and implement various large-scale projects and large-scale infrastructure. This is not easy to achieve in other countries, because under the market economy, the bottom class at least enjoys A certain degree of negotiation power, but not much leverage.

 East Africa, an autocratic monarchy that is even more extreme than Prussia, does not need to be considered at all. As long as the size of the army is maintained and the indigenous people are ruled with high pressure at any time, East Africa will have an endless supply of free labor for more than ten years.

 (End of this chapter)