Holy Roman Empire

The prosperity of the market equally fueled the boom in the stock market, and in the face of favorable news, everyone’s confidence also reached its peak.

Compared to liquidating physical industries, it’s much easier to pull out of the stock market. With buying and selling happening daily, a few percentage points of change are just normal market fluctuations.

It’s not a period of economic crisis, so these small fluctuations are completely within the market’s capacity to endure, most typically seen in the continued rise of stock prices.

Candidly speaking, speculating in the stock market yields far greater profits than manufacturing. However, with advantages come disadvantages; high returns are also accompanied by high risks.

Without leverage, you can’t make much money, but playing with leverage brings immense risks, and oftentimes, a single random fluctuation in the market sweeps away a large number of speculators.

By contrast, the physical industries are much more stable, especially so in the 19th century.

No matter how the market changes, as long as there are no issues within the company itself, the losses stay within controllable limits. If business is poor, just cut back on production capacity.

"Bankruptcy" usually occurs when a company has internal problems, such as excessive debt requiring significant profit to repay loans; or there are management issues, failing to replace equipment in time, resulting in products losing competitive market edge; or perhaps inventories are too high, tying up substantial capital...

If there are no issues within the company, being squeezed into bankruptcy is quite rare. Plainly put, everyone is in business to make a profit.

Artificially deflating prices to make a noise at a loss, capitalists aren’t that foolish. Except for those wishing to monopolize the market. Incurring losses to gain market exclusivity can only be counted as an initial investment.

For most industries, the conditions for monopolizing are just not there. The barriers to entry are too low; suppress one group of competitors, and new ones will emerge, making monopoly unachievable.

Business isn’t a matter of personal pride, and capitalists usually won’t engage in Pyrrhic victories that harm themselves as much as the enemy.

Market competition is harsh, meaning only that profits are thinner. If an entire industry enters a state of loss, it means it’s on the verge of being eliminated.

Under normal circumstances, even if an economic crisis sparks a Great Depression, only some enterprises will incur losses, while most will see a decline in performance and profit reduction.

As long as operations are normal, and there are no substantial debts, enterprises with strong market competitiveness can still survive.

After all, it’s just the late 19th century, and there are fewer than 10 industrialized nations worldwide, with only two and a half true industrial powerhouses; the market remains in a state of untamed growth, and competition is far less fierce than in later times.

Under the law of the jungle, after eliminating a portion of the weaker entities, the market will normalize. A new round of conflict won’t erupt until the victors have digested their spoils.

One could say this is the golden age of capitalist economy; as long as opportunities are grasped, there are abundant chances to become wealthy.

...

With the market flourishing, factories sprung up from the ground, with job advertisements plastered all over, yet there were few applicants.

As the largest city on the Austria-France border, Milan is also the preferred destination for Italian workers entering Austria. The advantages of being close to home and having higher wages attract a large number of Italians each year.

In the face of the British textile industry’s dominance, Milan’s rise as one of the world’s three major textile centers was significantly aided by the cheap labor from the Italian Area.

While Austria has restrictions on foreign labor, it doesn’t completely prohibit it. Passing a language test and being accepted by a company allows entry.

This is exceedingly inconvenient; it’s very troublesome for enterprises to recruit cross-border, not to mention teaching them German, which requires too much time.

"For every policy, there is a countermeasure." Many foreign workers are brought over by friends and relatives, seeking work in Austria after they enter.

Compared to other regions in Austria, the Milan Kingdom is less strict in managing foreign workers due to its uniqueness.

Many people are employed first and then learn the language. After all, many factories operate semi-closed, so as long as they don’t get caught by the police, no one will probe too deeply.

Under such circumstances, the underground job market emerged. Newfoundland Street, just outside Milan City, is one of the venues where factories recruit cheap labor.

Normally at this time, Newfoundland Street would already be bustling, with many job seekers forming long lines for an opportunity to work.

Suddenly, it quieted down without any apparent reason. Not just Newfoundland Street, but many labor recruitment markets in Austria got quieter, with some areas even experiencing odd situations where there were more recruiters than applicants.

Mirko was one such recruiter, employed at the Daniel Group Machinery Factory. Typically, he would not be in Newfoundland Street, which was considered the lowest end of Milan City’s job market, primarily attracting foreign laborers.

Not only was their educational level inadequate, but it also required a significant amount of time to train them in skills. After expending much effort, at best they were turned into basic industrial workers.

By comparison, Mirko preferred the recruitment centers outside the city. Even though higher wages were demanded, the applicants were of higher quality; after a few years of training in the factory, the outstanding ones could become junior technical workers.

For a machinery factory, such workers with some technical skills are far more valuable than pure laborers.

Only industries that require large labor forces and involve repetitive, unskilled work would recruit large numbers of these laborers.

Mirko might look down on this, but many companies were expanding production capacity and there was a big gap in the labor market, making the competition for workers fierce.

After attending several job fairs in the city without completing his recruitment task, with the equipment all ready and waiting for workers to start working, Mirko had no choice but to lower the recruitment standards.

Looking at the scene before him, Mirko could hardly believe his eyes. Was this still Milan’s hottest job recruitment market? Why were there so few people?

Having been engaged in recruitment work for a long time, Mirko had a broad network of contacts and quickly ran into acquaintances in the same line of work.

"Ferren, what’s going on? Did you guys hire everyone already?"

The middle-aged man rolled his eyes and retorted, "Do I look like I’ve had any success?"

Mirko nodded, "Indeed, with the salaries offered by your textile factories, it must be somewhat difficult to coerce people. However, you could certainly cheat the naive foreigners."

Ferren furrowed his brow, discontentedly responding, "Enough, Mirko, we’re all in the same boat, saving costs for the boss, that’s our inherent duty."

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"Every time I recruit, I make the terms clear and sign contracts according to legal requirements. How could that be considered cheating?"

Mirko gave a faint smile but didn’t continue the topic. If he didn’t know this middle-aged, chubby man better, he would really think he was a good person.

Back in the day, Mirko was nearly bamboozled into signing a servitude contract right after he started his career. Fortunately, he was a local and a high school graduate, which counted as a highly educated individual. Once Ferren understood his background, he didn’t want any trouble and gave up.

Although Milan was a subordinate sub-state, with the push for legal unification, the Labor Protection Law still had to be complied with.

These egregiously unfair servitude contracts would go unnoticed unless someone took them to court. If that happened, the business would be in for real trouble.

By comparison, it was much safer to trick foreign workers. As long as the contract was signed abroad, it would be considered an international case, subject to the laws on the other side as well. The Milan government wasn’t so idle, and at most, the contract would be declared void.

Without having been swindled, the two men didn’t have a good relationship. It was only because of business that they had to interact frequently, and they slowly became acquainted, but there was still a layer separating them from friendship.

Mirko changed the subject: "Ferren, I heard your boss has opened two new branches, and there’s a big shortage of labor. What’s your plan to deal with it? Are you interested in organizing a group to recruit from the inland areas?"

These days, recruitment activities had limited funding, so to save costs, it was most common for several companies to act together and share expenses.

Ferren didn’t even think about it, he just shook his head: "Mirko, you’re too optimistic. Right now, the entire country is short of labor, even the whole of Europe is lacking people."

"You seldom come to Newfoundland Street, so you wouldn’t know, but in the last two months, the number of workers coming into Milan from the Italian Area has declined by nearly seventy percent."

"I asked them, and it turns out that many factories have recently opened in the Italian Area. People are finding work close to home, so they’re not coming here anymore."

"If it’s like this even in the Italian Area, you can imagine what it’s like in the rest of the country. The labor shortage reported in the newspapers is no joke. I’ve already suggested to the boss that we should delay the plan for the new branches."

"In the past few years, the big emigration strategy moved a lot of our surplus labor to Africa. To solve the labor shortage, we’d have to encourage farmers to move to the cities."

Mirko was at a loss for words. Encouraging farmers to move to the cities wasn’t as simple as it sounded. The farmers were doing well, and it wouldn’t be easy to get them to leave their land and the rural life to work in the cities.

The best approach would be for the government to intervene, creating more favorable policies to speed up urbanization.

Unfortunately, the Vienna Government believed there was excess capacity within the country. The government was struggling to contain the rapid growth of production, so how could it introduce policies that would exacerbate the crisis?

Urbanization carries risks—faster isn’t always better. If a crisis erupted and businesses collapsed, leading to widespread unemployment, the entire pressure would fall on the government’s shoulders.

In conditions that weren’t mature enough, Franz preferred a slower pace of urbanization. When compared to workers, farmers were easier to rule over.

As long as they had land and enough produce to feed themselves, people wouldn’t rebel. With the government lowering some taxes, they could also win some public favor.

Workers were different. Once the tide of unemployment hit, a crisis would follow. Without a way to feed them, a revolution could erupt in minutes.

With current productivity, they couldn’t support a high level of urbanization. To enter an era of urban economic transformation, it would take at least another fifty years.

Even in the United Kingdom, which had the highest level of urbanization, one-third of the population was still employed in agriculture. Austria, a large agricultural country, was even more reliant on farming.

After a pause, Mirko finally said slowly, "Tell me, Ferren. I know you’ve got a plan. As long as it’s workable, there will be a reward for you."

Mirko was aware that Ferren was the type who wouldn’t cast his hawk until he saw the rabbit. If there wasn’t enough benefit, he definitely wouldn’t share his plan.

Glancing at Mirko, Ferren shook his head: "It’s not a matter of reward; it’s that our two companies can’t do this together."

"To recruit people from the countryside, we’d have to deal with the Nobility. You should be aware of the changes in the country in recent years. With their intervention, it’s very difficult for us to get cheap labor."

Mirko nodded in understanding. This was one of the characteristics of Austria. The Nobility had given up serfdom and some of their lands, but they still had significant influence locally.

If it were just minor affairs, it wouldn’t matter, but large-scale recruitment always involved dealing with the big local players.

Even now, many traditional Nobility resented the capitalists.

Whether it was to vent their anger or to increase their local prestige, they found ways to get involved.

For example, they would act as representatives for the workers during wage negotiations and sign labor contracts collectively.

Deceiving ordinary workers was easy, but fooling the Nobility was not so simple.

If trouble arose, it would be the Nobility who would lose out.

Going by the book, labor costs would rise by at least fifteen percent. It wouldn’t matter for one or two people, but once the numbers increased, the expense was no small matter.

The increased costs were only one problem. New workers getting higher wages than the existing staff would create unrest sooner or later.

After thinking for a while, Mirko shook his head: "Dealing with the Nobility involves too much, and I can’t decide on something like this on my own. It needs to be reported and decided at the company’s headquarters. I’m not sure if it would be approved."

Mirko knew his place. This wasn’t something he could get involved in, and even if many worked together, they might not achieve their goal.

Although Austria was a capitalist state, political power capital wielded was very limited. To compete with the Nobility for influence, the risks were just too great.

Noticing Mirko’s discomfort, Ferren quickly tried to reassure him: "No, Mirko. You’re thinking too much. I haven’t lived enough yet; I’m not planning to court death. What I meant was that we could pool our money and try to find a solution abroad."

As he spoke, Ferren was sweating bullets. It was just an attempt to show off, but it had been misconstrued as a challenge to the strife between capital and Nobility.

That was something deadly to touch; it was not something that small fry like Ferren, or even their bosses, could get involved in and survive.

It was simply too difficult.

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