I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1389 Industrialized Countries

Joseph flipped through the financial report in front of him, his gaze falling on the pie chart showing the percentage of fiscal revenue sources.

The largest portion still comes from land tax and indirect taxes on agricultural products, which together contribute 36% of France's fiscal revenue.

Meanwhile, industry-related revenues, including industrial product consumption taxes and technology licensing fees, have risen to second place, accounting for 30% of fiscal revenue.

The remaining portion, comprising 34%, consists of service sector taxes, customs duties, stamp duty, postal revenue, government investment revenue, and foreign reparations.

Joseph nodded. To be honest, this income structure pleased him more than the significant increase in income.

It's worth noting that two years ago, agriculture accounted for 39% of France's income, while industry accounted for only 26%.

France's industrial output surged, likely thanks to the large-scale construction of railways. This was even while most of the railways were still under construction and had not yet spurred industrial development along their routes.

Once the railway is fully operational, France's industrial production and trade will undoubtedly experience another significant leap forward.

Even at the current rate of development, it is estimated that France's industrial output will surpass that of agriculture next year, thus becoming the first truly industrialized country in Europe!

After finishing his report on last year's financial situation, Godan casually remarked with a hint of sarcasm, "The island across the way finally achieved a fiscal revenue of 4 million pounds last year. Oh, that's an increase of 1.6% over the previous year."

Everyone in the conference room smiled.

£4000 million is equivalent to 10 billion francs.

Although Britain's total fiscal revenue has always been lower than France's, given Britain's much smaller population, it has always been close to France's, with little difference between them.

Judging from last year's situation, the UK's fiscal revenue has shown a trend of being overtaken by France.

The fact that Britain was able to maintain fiscal revenue growth despite the various financial attacks orchestrated by Joseph is enough to prove that Pitt Jr.'s governing ability far exceeded that of ordinary people.

However, Godan did not mention the UK's spending figure – £4800 million.

In other words, the UK's fiscal deficit is as high as 2 million francs.

It's important to know that Britain doesn't build railways.

Aside from building warships, most of this money was spent on war expenditures in Gibraltar, foreign aid, and subsidies for sugar and grain.

Therefore, in terms of economic health, it has fallen behind France.

As for the financial situations of other countries, the French officials present didn't seem to care much at all—

俄国3.8亿法郎；奥地利2.6亿；普鲁士2.05亿；西班牙3.2亿；米兰4000万；帕尔马1900万；摩德纳2200万；佛罗伦萨3400万；热那亚900万……

After the Crown Prince praised the Treasury's achievements, Archbishop Briand turned his attention to the Minister of Transport.

Tresagae immediately stood up, gave a brief opening speech, and then loudly proclaimed:
"By the end of April, the total length of railways in operation in my country had reached 860 kilometers!"

Joseph knew the details of the railway by heart without even looking at the documents—the 385 kilometers from Paris to Strasbourg, the nearly 100 kilometers from Verdun through Luxembourg to Trier, the 250 kilometers from Paris to Namur, and the more than 110 kilometers from Paris to Lyon, which was only half-built.

In fact, due to the difficulty in making accurate statistics, this figure doesn't even include the numerous unfinished railway lines built by private railway companies, which is estimated to total at least 300 kilometers. For example, the Paris-Lille railway was built by a private railway company. Lines in other small and medium-sized cities are even more prevalent among private companies.

Tresaga continued, "And the planned railway lines already completed exceed 900 kilometers."

"These lines will begin construction no later than the end of this year, and most will be completed within four years!"

The term "completed planning" means that surveys have been conducted along the railway line and it has been determined that sufficient construction funds can be raised, or that a private company has committed to contracting the project.

After introducing the French railway situation, Tresagaet then talked about railway plans in other countries:
"The Karlsruhe-Batterwampen line is the most complete, and at the current pace, it will be open to traffic next August..."

"The routes from Milan through Pavia to Nice, and from Milan through Parma and Modena to Luca, have also started construction and are expected to be completed in two to three years."

"The routes in Bavaria, Hesse, Cologne, and Nassau have mostly completed fundraising and are close to starting construction..."

Thanks to the publicity during the World Cup and the promotion of Joseph's railway patent re-licensing, Germany and Italy experienced a railway construction boom, with almost all capital flowing into railways.

As for why the French cabinet meeting discussed railway plans of other countries?
Because these railways were essentially built for France.

All lines will connect to the French railway network from Nice, Strasbourg, Cologne and other cities, and the technology and construction standards used are all from France.

French goods and francs will be continuously transported to various countries along these railways.

It can be said that the day the railway was completed meant that France had finished integrating these areas.

What the Transport Secretary’s report didn’t mention is that even the British are busy planning railways, but they haven’t produced any trains yet—the steam engine power is stuck at 50 horsepower.

In fact, if Britain had offered to buy the trains, Joseph would have been happy to sell them to them, as long as the price was higher.

After all, if Britain's railways were to fully comply with French standards, it would only increase its dependence on France and destroy its own research and development of related technologies.

Subsequently, the Minister of Trade, the Minister of Civil Affairs, the Minister of Science, Technology and Education, and even the Minister of War all gave reports on their respective areas of responsibility.

In terms of trade, France had achieved control over commercial activities along the Mediterranean coast. Its market had expanded westward to all of Europe except for Great Britain.

In terms of civil affairs, the national population had increased to more than 3400 million by the end of last year – including the non-French-speaking population in North Africa and the Rhineland.

Of course, the population growth rate in mainland France is also continuously increasing. This is mainly due to the fact that affordable healthcare reforms based on physicians have been implemented in more than 75% of the country, and the mortality rate from illness has dropped to less than 20% of what it used to be.

Especially after the mandatory vaccination of all children with cowpox, the number of people who died from smallpox each year dropped from more than 8 to less than 1.2—the deaths were mainly among adults—and since adults did not receive free vaccinations, many were unwilling to pay 3 francs or 4 sodium bicarbonate for a single injection.

Meanwhile, the orphanage system has been implemented in 70% of cities, but the results have not been very good.

Many people send their children to orphanages under the guise of orphans, allowing them to "enjoy" free food and lodging, resulting in many orphanages being overcrowded.

Now, the orphanage has to ask the local police for help in investigating which family's child "suddenly disappeared" and then sending the child back.

(End of this chapter)