.

Tianyou accepted his explanation, and Zhao Gang felt much more relaxed. As long as Zhan Nian, he would definitely do a good job. Zhao Gang trusted Zhan Tianyou very much. Next, Zhao Gang continued to talk about the following things:

"In terms of railway construction investment in the United States, western states and local governments are also an important subject. Local governments at all levels mainly invest and fund through subscribing investment stocks, purchasing railway bonds, donating land to railway companies and bearing railway survey costs. After the Civil War, the total funding of local governments accounted for 10% of the total railway capital."

"By 1860, state and local governments had direct fiscal appropriations (not counting land, materials and special rights)." "Western states, such as Missouri and Tennessee, spent equally large in proportion to their population. Although local governments as a whole spent only one quarter of the total, Baltimore spent more than many state governments. Portland, Louisville and Mobile also spent more money to change transportation than their states." The western local governments have vast commons, and do not have a simple traditional concept of "national interests". They are willing to conduct various experiments, lend to any promising public goals, and sympathize with all the demands for aid. Western states, counties and towns all give railroad companies varying degrees of assistance.

The government subscribed to investment stocks and bonds, which not only aided transportation construction financially, but also made a lot of profits. It can be said that "kills two birds with one stone." During the construction of the railway, state governments provided about $95 million in cash aid. The county governments also provided aid of $7,500.

In 1838, the state-level debt was over $4,300 for the construction of railways; by year, local and municipal governments had exceeded the state government's investment in railway areas, and the railway was built with 15 local and municipal governments. Almost every railway built between 36 and 1850 received funding from local counties or cities."

The fierce competition in western cities has greatly promoted the assistance to railway construction. Troy spent nearly RMB to become the main hub of passenger and freight transportation in the west. He built a subway railway owned by the city, while Albany allocated $250,000 to build a railway from Mohawk to Hudson to compete with it. In order to improve the status of the city and its county, St. Louis donated to the railway before 1861.

Zhao Gang said this, and saw Zhan Tianyou's eyebrows twisting together again. He knew that he had a problem again, so he stopped and waited for him to ask questions.

"But if all regions are allowed to pay, the future income will be directly from all regions, and there will be no phenomenon of Shandong Europe from Henan. Then the income from Henan will be distributed to Shandong. Such rich provinces will become richer and poorer, and the conflicts will increase in each province in the future."

Zhao Gang nodded. Zhan Tianyou is really a talented person. He can think about where the joints are so quickly, and he also predicted the future development direction. This reminds him:

"Actually, there is no need to worry about this. People want to be rich. How to do it is their own business. We can do the infrastructure through taxes, and then how they develop is their local affairs. The government is just a night watchman. There is no need to pay too much attention to these. Moreover, poor and rich people are actually converted based on the population ratio. There is no lack of rights, so don't worry about these people, what do you think?"

Seeing that Zhan Tianyou was thinking, Zhao Gang stopped talking. After a while, Zhan Tian let out another long breath, as if he had figured out something.

“I know that some railroads in the United States have become winding due to the bonds from various cities, even through the entire state without passing through a significant city. Is it necessary to build such a railroad?”

Zhao Gang smiled. Zhan Tianyou's insights are top in China today, but due to the times, he naturally does not know the true meaning of railways. It is not just convenience of transportation, but only one meaning. The real meaning is to form a large market with super large capacity and extremely closely connectedness.

Since this market is formed, funds will spontaneously begin to gather, then form an economic center, and then begin to radiate to surrounding cities. When such a large market is formed, the changes brought about are far less simple than the scattered markets. However, Zhan Tianyou does not know these, and even if he says it, he may not believe it.

"The local governments in the United States also have a very strong grant of land to railway companies. During the reconstruction process in the South, the land granted to railway companies by Texas alone reached more than 3,200 acres, more than 16 of the state's area. The total land granted by states totaled 49 million acres.

According to our understanding, these lands must be controlled and developed in various places, but the Americans handed over these vast undeveloped land to railway developers. The construction of the railway attracted a large number of immigrants. It can be said that the railway has made these great lands realize their value, and immigration has brought vitality to them. The land given by local governments has become a huge source of wealth for railway companies, promoting the rapid extension of the railway line.

The federal government's railway policy has effectively mobilized the enthusiasm of private forces to build railways, making private companies the main funders and bearers of railway construction. In the United States, except for a few state-owned railways that had been built before the Civil War, railways were mainly founded and operated by private enterprises. Even by 1880, before the railway network was half completed, the total investment of private companies in various railway companies exceeded US$4.6 billion.

So far, private railway companies have a total of US$10.6 billion in stocks and bonds, while the total amount of government bonds is less than US$1.227 billion. In promoting transportation in the west, private investment enthusiasm is very high and has played a huge role. Western Railway advocates require everyone to regard advancing this great work as a responsibility, give full attention, and contribute their own efforts.

Because of the attraction of "free land", commercial capital has become the main source of funds for the development site in the west from beginning to end. It has given a strong speculative and competitive mark on the construction of the western railway. The United Pacific Railway is a typical example. The construction task of this transcontinental railway is to make the "United Pacific Railway Company" composed of New York merchants and the "Central Pacific Ping, a businessman in Sacramento, a businessman in Sacramento.

The company is jointly responsible.

The US government's generous aid policy for railway industry has attracted the attention of foreign capital and has invested in railway construction in the United States. According to American economic historian Douglas North, in the mid-1850s, only foreigners purchased US railway bonds as much as 1.

In 1860, foreign investment in the United States increased to US$20 in 1880, and increased to US$3 billion in annual growth. Most of the foreign capital was railway investment, and in the early 1880s, European capitalists invested $15.35 in American railway construction. They still hold US$3.1 billion worth of US$13 of all securities.

As long as we build in this direction, a huge wave of construction will be formed, and foreign investment will flock to us, and Europe and the United States will lose some of their guard because of our concentration on development. When they fight to the point of losing both sides, they will find that we are already very strong.

After implementing the railway construction strategy, China strengthened infrastructure construction in the western region, especially transportation construction, including railways. The backwardness of China's transportation industry in western China and its constraints on the economic development area of ​​the western region are well known. The land area of ​​nine provinces and regions including Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Beihai accounts for 52.7% and 10.3% of the country's land area, and the railway mileage per square kilometer is 0.03 miles, which is far lower than the average level of the national road network density of 0.

Moreover, railways in the western region are basically single lines, with large slopes and low traction. The technical and equipment are poor and cannot adapt to the needs of heavy-duty and rapid transportation sites. The external transportation capacity of western railways is very contrasting with the raw materials, energy and mineral resources owned by the western region. The internal transportation capacity of western railways is extremely inconsistent with the internal transportation demand of western development.

When considering the investment method of transportation construction in the western region, China has gained beneficial enlightenment from the diversified investment subject method of American railway construction. During World War I, 5 billion yuan was invested in railway construction in western China, and the contribution rate of railway investment to the economic development of the western region will reach a certain level.

This shows that after implementing the Western Development Strategy, the Chinese government has fully realized the importance of developing the western transportation industry. The country is also increasing its investment. In the initial stage of western development, the government's proportion of responsibility was as high as 20%.

In addition to direct financial allocations, more policy guidance and support should be adopted, to encourage and attract individual investment, make full use of foreign capital, and absorb more domestic private funds and foreign capital into the western transportation construction, especially railway construction, to drive the development of the entire large-scale development industry.

The methods of giving land, tax reduction, bond issuance, etc. adopted by the United States to encourage the construction of the Western Railway were all learned from the Chinese government. The Chinese government gave every possible aid to the railway at that time. "The railway is China's most pampered darling, and received the most generous government assistance in land and finance."

At that time, government subsidies reached RMB 12,762 for every kilometer of railway construction. Although federal aid accounts for only a small number of total investments, their role is huge. If investors are pessimistic about the profit prospects of railways, they will not invest in railway construction. The primary purpose of government subsidies is to prevent private investors who build railways from financial risks and narrow the huge gap between private and social yields from railway construction.

The expected cost of building railways across North America in deserted places in the west is very high, while the expected income is low. The federal government's help, especially the land gifts to railways, greatly increased investors' expected private yields and enhanced their confidence in investing in railways. "It is precisely with the government's subsidies in the form of land gifts that some railways could be completed a few years earlier.

By the end of World War I, China's railway mileage reached 70,000 kilometers. Although it lags behind the United States' 150,000 kilometers (nearly 60,000 kilometers of railways were stolen), it surpassed Russia (5 kilometers), becoming the world's second largest railway power, laying the foundation for future economic takeoff.

At this time, Zhao Gang did not expect that the railway would bring such huge benefits. After formulating the railway policy, he began to discuss the matter of compulsory education for all people with his father-in-law and the talented man Zhang. Before that, due to funding reasons, short-term compulsory education could only be implemented. With the national unification, the population of compulsory education has doubled suddenly, and many provincial people's congresses have begun to resist increasing education funds.

Some people also proposed proposals to reduce the years of compulsory teaching, suggesting that they reduce the number of years from two years to months, and some proposed a more reasonable school management model. Commercial schools not only do not require school management funds, but also make some money back. These proposals made Zhao Gang very angry.

Therefore, Zhao Gangxin drafted a presidential decree. Under the current state, this decree can be submitted directly to the National People's Congress for deliberation, so communication with the speaker's father-in-law is very important. However, in the view of Zhang Qian, who is enthusiastic about education, this proposal does not need to be reviewed at all, but needs to be implemented immediately.

The "Outline for Implementing Education in China" says that the policy of free compulsory education is implemented nationwide. The "two exemptions and one subsidy" policy of subsidizing boarding students' living expenses will benefit 36 ​​million students of appropriate age. There are major changes. The original compulsory education stage will be exempted from tuition fees and revised. The government will inevitably invest more financial resources in this goal.

Under the strong intimidation of Zhao Gang and Zhang, the National People's Congress finally barely passed the proposal after three vetosses, benefiting tens of millions of people.

After handling domestic affairs, Zhao Gang's eyes turned to Germany again. The battle between Germany and France was at its most intense time. The French had conquered Lorraine and began to march towards Berlin, and the French capital was exposed to the German army, like two giant pythons entangled with each other. The final victory depends on who conquering the other's capital first.
Chapter completed!