Chapter 97 Progress of Government Work

1870 passed quickly, and 1871 followed.

Carlo attended the Spanish government's summary meeting for 1870 and asked the Spanish government about the progress of building industry and economy.

From the government work report submitted by Prime Minister Primo, we can also see the specific differences in the development of Spain during the Primo government and the interim government.

During the interim government period, the total railway mileage in Spain reached 5,400 kilometers.

This railway mileage data is actually not much different from Italy's 5,700 kilometers. Although it is not as good as the tens of thousands of kilometers of railway mileage in Britain, France and Germany, it is not bad.

So the question is, why did Spain's 5,400 kilometers of railway mileage not make Spain's economy take off?

The real reason is that the width of Spain's railway tracks is not consistent with that of other European countries. Spain's railways have completely become a transportation channel for domestic economy and materials, rather than an international trade route.

Although the width of Spain's railway tracks is the same as that of Portugal, Portugal is a small country after all. If Spain's economy wants to take off, it must speed up economic exchanges with other countries.

Since Prime Minister Primo officially took office, the Spanish government has attached great importance to the construction of railways.

From mid-1869 to the end of 1870, Spain built a total of more than 500 kilometers of railway lines, which also brought the total mileage of railways infinitely close to 6,000 kilometers.

For the Spanish government, this speed of railway construction has far exceeded the previous one. Spain only built 5,400 kilometers of railways from the birth of railways to 1869, but since Prime Minister Primo took office, 500 kilometers of railways have been built in one year. This is one of Prime Minister Primo's achievements.

Of course, in addition to railways, roads are also a very important part of the Spanish government's construction.

In the past year and a half, the Spanish government has built a total of 4,132 kilometers of roads, of which more than 1,500 kilometers of two-way four-lane main roads have been built.

There are always areas where railways cannot radiate, and it becomes necessary to build roads. With the birth of cars, the importance of roads will increase infinitely.

The importance of highway construction to the Spanish government will not decrease in the future, and highways and railways will also be one of the main construction goals of the Spanish government in the future.

Carlo also focused on the education situation in Spain.

When Carlo first came to Spain, the illiterate population in Spain accounted for more than 70% of the total population. So far, more than one million people have received literacy education, and the illiteracy rate has been reduced by at least 5%.

It is expected that in the next four years, the illiterate population in Spain should be reduced by about 15% to 20%. Carlo's long-term goal is to reduce the illiterate population in Spain to less than 40% of the total population before 1880, and to less than 10% of the total population before 1900.

The ultimate long-term goal is definitely to achieve zero illiteracy in Spain. Only by fully realizing free primary education can Spanish teenagers go to society with enough knowledge and become skilled workers and other occupations needed by the country.

Only when the educated population increases and all children of school age can receive education above primary school, can we ensure that universities have enough students when enrolling students.

It makes sense to say that education should start from childhood. If you don't even receive primary education, how can you skip middle school and high school and apply for university directly?

Speaking of universities, all universities in Spain currently enroll more than 4,000 college students each year.

But among these 4,000 people, less than 1,000 choose majors related to physics and chemistry. There are too many students engaged in literature and art in Spanish universities, and even architectural engineering majors are more popular than physics and chemistry.

Spain obviously does not need so many students of literature and art. The next plan is to transform some universities. Either build them into comprehensive universities, or directly transform them into science universities, integrate the colleges of literature together, and have one or two universities.

It is still very difficult to achieve such integration, because most universities in Spain are private institutions, and there are very few universities founded by the government.

The only thing that makes Carlo more relieved is that the population of Spain has been growing steadily in 1869 and 1870.

In 1868, the population growth rate in Spain was the lowest in the past decade. This was not only due to the outbreak of the revolution, but also because a large number of Spanish farmers could no longer afford to raise children in the face of the government's harsh taxes. Since they could not afford to raise children, the best way was not to have children.

After the outbreak of the revolution, the population growth rate returned to normal levels.

Although it is impossible to accurately count the entire population of Spain, it can be roughly estimated based on the population increase and decrease in various places that the current population of Spain has basically exceeded 16.8 million.

In 1870 alone, the population of Spain increased by at least 150,000. If it were not for the underdeveloped medical care that led to the premature death of a large number of children, the population growth data would probably have doubled again.

The low survival rate of newborns and young children is a major problem that all European countries are currently facing.

Not to mention ordinary civilians, even nobles and royal families, premature death of children is very common.

For example, Carlo's father, Vittorio Emanuele II, had two sons who died young, and one of them only lived for a few days.

Carlo was generally satisfied with his travel to this world. The only thing he was not satisfied with was the backward medical technology in this world, which was too bad compared with later generations.

Although the Industrial Revolution brought considerable strength to European countries, there was not much progress in medical technology.

Although the biology and medicine of various countries are constantly making breakthroughs, the fact that the average life expectancy in Europe is below 40 years old is enough to prove the poor medical environment of this era.

Of course, the average life expectancy of 40 years in Europe cannot be entirely blamed on the poor medical environment. After all, most European civilians are being exploited by capitalists, working more than ten hours a day, and it is quite good to live to about 40 years old.

Although Spain currently does not have a specific working time system, some royal enterprises have repeatedly required workers to work no more than 12 hours a day.

Carlo is the king, so it is naturally impossible for him to exploit those workers unscrupulously.

In addition to the clear requirement that the daily work hours should not exceed 12 hours, the royal family's enterprises allow employees to have one day off per month to relieve the fatigue and sleepiness accumulated over a long period of time.

Second update, please support!