1850 American Gold Tycoon.

"The Immigration Bureau has a lot of quotas for the Ministry of Agriculture, but people are not cattle and horses. I can't tie them to the field." Chen Baoliang explained the reason.

"Farming the land doesn't make money, and growing food doesn't make money. A worker who does odd jobs for four or five months in a factory in the San Francisco industrial area is worth a year's income of a grain farmer. Working as an oil worker in Los Angeles, this time It only takes three months.

Today's California is not what it was four years ago. Gone are the days when farmers could be thankful for small favors.

The old farmers took the fields as a burden and dumped the cultivated fields to the new immigrants.

The new immigrants came back to their senses after planting the land for a year or two, and gave the fields to the new immigrants again, and so on.

Therefore, although there are many fertile fields in California, they cannot retain people.

Even for those who stay, farmers often prefer to grow more profitable fruits and vegetables rather than grain. "

California is indeed not what it was four years ago. California four years ago was an indisputably deformed agricultural state in terms of industrial structure.

After four years of rapid industrialization, California has one foot on the threshold of industrial society.

Agriculture is less profitable than industry.

While the profit is low, it also needs to bear greater risks, such as drought, flood, hail, frost, pests and other natural disasters.

Taking market factors into account, the meager profits in agriculture simply cannot withstand the impact of so many risks.

The choice of farmers to abandon farming and go to work is understandable.

Comparing his heart to his heart, if Liang Yao was one of these immigrants, he would vote with his feet to become a worker in a factory instead of a farmer even if he had no connections.

"Is there a way to solve the problem from the root?" Liang Yao asked after thinking for a moment.

"Yes." Chen Baoliang summoned up his courage and said.

"In the early years, there were no machines, and one person could not take care of much land. Now that there are machines, there are more livestock, and each person can take care of more fields every year.

The land quota of seven acres for each immigrant is no longer enough. I think that if the shackles of land quotas are abolished, taxes will be levied according to the amount of land held and the type of land. For those with less land, less land for grain fields will be collected, and those with too much land will be taxed. , commercial crop land, mines and gardens, the tax rate may be appropriately increased as appropriate.This problem can be easily solved.

There are two ways for grain farmers to increase their income. One is to increase unit output, and the other is to have more land to produce more grain.California is sparsely populated, so you can choose the second.

only"

Chen Baoliang said a lot, in a nutshell, he directly engages in the model of large farmers.This model is indeed the most suitable agricultural model for California at the moment.

"Just what?" Liang Yao said, "Don't hesitate, but it doesn't matter."

"Since you have spoken, I will venture to say that you are the one with the most land holdings in California, followed by Mayor Sutter, Governor Fremont and Secretary of State Girwin." Chen Baoliang gritted his teeth and said.

"If this bill is to be passed, only the four of you can set an example, and the councilors can reach a consensus and pass this bill.

These people are all founding fathers of the state, most people can't talk to them, only you can make a difference. "

Chen Baoliang has made it very clear that agriculture wants to make further breakthroughs and guarantee the follow-up agricultural tax sources.

Not only should the land quota be relaxed, but some privileges of the founding fathers of the state should also be cancelled, and the cost of presiding over the land should be increased.

Depriving those with vested interests of their privileges has never been an easy task since ancient times.

"These three, I will try to convince them." Liang Yao said, "But I want you to issue a military order. If you still can't achieve the goal of food self-sufficiency within three years, you should stop being the Minister of Agriculture and let Lao Mo Or the Irish do it."

The main ethnic groups employed in agriculture in California are Chinese, followed by Mexicans and Irish.

The Ministry of Agriculture is basically controlled by these three ethnic groups.

"If you can promise me one more condition, I can complete this goal within two years." Chen Baoliang said.

"What conditions?" Liang Yao asked.

"Higher tariffs on imported food."

Chen Baoliang wants to limit the impact of imported grain on the state's grain through price protection.

California's largest grain importers are Mexico and China.

The labor cost of these two countries is much lower than that of California, especially the labor cost of the Qing Dynasty is ridiculously low. Therefore, after deducting the costs of transportation, storage, management, sales, tariffs, etc., the grains of Mexico and the Qing Dynasty are Local food in California is still very competitive.

What's even more outrageous is that due to the huge difference between the price of grain in California and the price of the Qing Dynasty, Shuo Shu of the Qing Dynasty even sold the best grain and military rations to California to earn snowflake silver.

"That's three years." Liang Yao rejected Chen Baoliang's quid pro quo, "The tariff issue is the federal government's bottom line, and I can't help you with this."

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Crossing the ditch full of iron slag and coal dust and sewage, and walking along the muddy and soot trail intertwined with shoe prints and ruts, Liang saw an ugly scene composed of factories, chimneys, and pollution.

This is San Francisco's industrial area, the foundation of the city's prosperity.

After more than four years of development, the scale of the industrial zone has expanded several times.

Officials at the Ministry of Industry need not worry about not being able to attract investors.

The San Francisco Industrial Zone is the city's biggest business card after the gold rush, and this business card is enough to attract investors from all over the world.

"This industrial area has a nickname, it's called the Heart of the West."

Minister of Industry Fair, a shrewd and capable Irishman, vividly introduced the situation of the San Francisco Industrial Zone to Liang Yao.

"The level here is not inferior to that of New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in the steel industry, metallurgy industry, shipbuilding industry, machinery manufacturing and processing industry, machine tool industry, and steam engine manufacturing industry.

The famous Consolidated Steel Company, San Francisco Shipyard, California Railroad, General Machinery Company, Lotus Garment Works, Pratt & Whitney, Robbins-Lawrence Works, Bran Company, Allaire Works, Republic Engine Company, Jardines Well-known enterprises such as Iron and Steel, Tongfu Metal, and Shuntai Paper.

If the industry here stops, it will affect the lives of more than 200 million people in the west, which means that the heart of the whole west has stopped beating. "

After finishing speaking, Fair, who had a great sense of accomplishment, showed a complacent and proud expression.

The achievements of California industry in the first five-year plan are remarkable, but Fair has the capital to be proud of.

Relying on the support of the government to spare no effort, the primitive accumulation of capital in the gold rush era, the pursuit of the first generation of entrepreneurs in California, and the dedication of workers.Not only does California reach the average for the northern industrial states in terms of steel production and coal production.

California has also cultivated the first batch of well-known enterprises of its own, and there are many enterprises founded by Chinese among these enterprises.

Since California has the most complete industrial categories in the west, the influence of California's economy in the west is also expanding day by day.

The entire west coast region has been incorporated into California's economic system, and California has not stopped its pace of external economic expansion. Now California's economic tentacles are slowly extending to the inland areas.

Markets in Utah, Wyoming, and even Colorado are seeing an increasing presence of California goods.

California is now the industrial center of the entire western region and the only industrial state in the entire western region.

Compared with the three major industrial states in the United States at this time: New York, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming, the industry in California now has only a difference in scale, not in quality.