Chapter 314: Chapter 310: The Second Wave of Agricultural Modernization
May 20, 1851.
Jean Dulles spent more than a week, and after consulting with experts from the Physiocrats of the French Academy of Sciences and biology experts, he finally handed over this 40-page "Agricultural Support and Reform Plan" to Jerome Bonaparte on the morning of the 20th.
The plan proposes that France should build a more comprehensive agricultural security system and create more convenient agricultural market channels. All major regions, provinces, and cities should take action to establish universities and higher vocational colleges based on agriculture. For students entering these colleges, the Republic will waive their tuition and miscellaneous fees.
Graduates willing to take root in the countryside and engage in agricultural construction will be directly given priority access to the French system (in plain terms, temporary workers), becoming a reserve force within the French system.
Agricultural cadres entering the French civil service system will enjoy a stipend several hundred francs higher annually than other cadres of the same level, and excellent agricultural cadres will have the opportunity to go to Paris to promote agricultural experience.
For French youth, entering the system is a "golden rice bowl" that guarantees their survival.
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The plan also dramatically strengthens the power of agricultural cooperatives. Collectives voluntarily joining agricultural cooperatives can enjoy low-interest loans from local banks. Additionally, France provides a small range of subsidies for some agricultural products, with unified sales conducted by government departments.
This favorable effort clearly aims to gradually promote the agricultural cooperative model across all of France, allowing capital to vertically enter the countryside.
To encourage France to cultivate wasteland (there is a lot of wasteland in central France), the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce offers a certain amount of compensation for every acre of reclaimed land.
At the same time, the plan also discusses the fertilization effect of guano for agriculture, urging France to swiftly sign trade agreements with Bolivia and other South American countries.
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Staring at the stack of agricultural reform plans about half a book thick, Jerome Bonaparte frowned slightly, as Jean Dulles’s seriousness about agriculture far exceeded his expectations.
There was no choice but to carefully leaf through the plan Jean Dulles provided, page by page. Sitting at his desk, he unscrewed an opaque glass bottle filled with black ink, took out a quill from the pen holder, so he could circle any issues he didn’t understand and consult Minister Jean Dulles later.
He sat there for over six hours, forgetting about lunch, while the quill in his hand occasionally sketched over parts of the plan.
Gradually, it was around 5 PM when Jerome Bonaparte finally finished reading the over 40-page "Agricultural Reform" plan document.
At this time, the evening sun’s rays pierced through the glass window of the Tuileries Palace and illuminated part of Jerome Bonaparte’s desk, casting an elongated shadow on the wall.
Jerome Bonaparte closed the plan, rubbed his slightly strained eyes, then stood up, stretching and yawning simultaneously.
Sitting for six hours had left Jerome Bonaparte’s legs somewhat numb. He stood up from the chair, walked two laps in the study, then semi-crouched down, rubbing his numbed knees.
After a while, Jerome Bonaparte called over Minister of the Seal De Moreni.
"Your Excellency!" Mornay bowed slightly, showing the due respect to the Monarch in front of him.
"Print these out and order the department ministers to come to the Tuileries Palace tomorrow!" said Jerome Bonaparte after handing Jean Dulles’s agricultural reform plan to him.
De Moreni took the plan without saying a word. After confirming whether Jerome Bonaparte needed anything else, he received a negative response from the Governor and left the study.
On May 21, Cabinet ministers arrived at the Tuileries Palace one after another in carriages.
Jerome Bonaparte distributed Jean Dulles’s reform plan to all the ministers present and asked for their opinions.
Being the new Minister of Finance, Demagne immediately saw that the implementation of the plan required not only the cooperation of the French administrative system but also a huge financial expenditure.
"Your Excellency, I believe this will cause this year’s finances to face a large-scale overspending again! At that time, we will have to continue issuing national debt to maintain!" Mane protested against the agricultural reform plan mildly.
Jerome Bonaparte looked towards Jean Dulles, expecting his performance.
"Minister Mane, some issues cannot just look at the surface of fiscal expenditure!" Jean Dulles decisively refuted Mane: "We must make long-term plans! France must build a scientific agriculture! More than half of France’s fiscal revenue comes from land. We can only collect more agricultural taxes by first enhancing the value of the land itself and increasing its yield. From a short-term perspective, we may face temporary difficulties, but in the long run, enhancing agriculture is completely beneficial to our country’s strategy of advancing agriculture and industry side by side!"
As an educational bureaucracy, Jean Dulles indeed worked hard in some aspects, painting a yet-to-be-realized picture to everyone present and telling them the French finances would get better and better.
Mane did not rebut, but instead, he looked at Jerome Bonaparte, using his eyes to inquire about Jerome Bonaparte’s thoughts. In France, anything decided by the Governor cannot be contested.
"Like this, I have a few questions Minister Dulles could answer for me!" Jerome Bonaparte asked Jean Dulles about issues in agricultural support and reform, including how to store and sell, and how to control local procedures.
Jean Dulles answered Jerome Bonaparte one by one. From Jean Dulles’s solutions, Jerome Bonaparte could clearly feel that Jean Dulles was somewhat influenced by academic idealism.
However, overall, the solution was decent. In Jean Dulles’s plan, the railway became the most crucial means of transport. He hoped the new Minister of Railways Barroso could soon build railways in the central and western regions.
Barroso, who was not yet familiar with the Ministry of Railways he just accepted, could only smile and express that he would consider it as much as possible.
The entire meeting became a solo act for Jean Dulles. After Jean Dulles finished his speech, Jerome Bonaparte looked around again, asking if they had any other matters.
After a moment of silence, Jerome Bonaparte immediately stated that Jean Dulles’s plan could proceed to the next step in the process.
On May 22, Jean Dulles’s plan was submitted to the Council of State for review and amendment, and under Jerome Bonaparte’s orders, the Council of State fully agreed.
On May 23, the plan reached the Legislative Corps. The Bonaparte Faction remaining in the Legislative Corps also agreed to the plan and specially approved funding of 1.5 billion francs for the plan.
Of course, the funding is not disbursed at once, but rather in stages.
This is also Jerome Bonaparte’s intention. His aim is to prevent the bureaucrats in the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce from being too eager for quick results, turning something originally beneficial for the nation and people into a harmful act.
Also, the Governor does not wish for France to experience conditions similar to those of the Late Ming period, where funds, once out of Paris, would be embezzled on all sides, reaching the Major Region and siphoned again, with a final distribution to provinces and cities leaving merely 20% implemented at the grassroots—if lucky.
Each stage of funding is rigorously reviewed and disbursed through the Agricultural Credit Bank.
In a sense, the integrity of bankers is slightly higher than that of some bureaucrats.
After receiving approval from the Legislative Corps, the Agricultural Support and Reform Plan was communicated to the French localities by the "Second Institute."
Upon receiving orders from Paris, while cursing the Paris bureaucrats for making trouble out of nothing, the provinces had no choice but to comply with Paris’s orders and urged localities to establish agricultural cooperatives and higher agricultural vocational colleges (the provincial government set up agricultural classes at universities, and city-level departments founded high vocational colleges based on existing intermediate schools).
Schools like "colleges" sprung up like mushrooms after the rain. To solve the faculty problem of "agricultural schools," local governments had to fill some teachers dismissed due to the Falu Law into agricultural colleges.
On June 15, 1851, the Agricultural Promotion Association and the Agricultural Association were officially established under the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce.
This semi-official organization will serve as a communication channel between the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce and local agriculture.
Meanwhile, an organization named the Agricultural Inspection Group was also established within the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, directly under Jean Dulles, meant to inspect the agricultural construction situation in the provinces and prevent some from faking it.
The Inspection Group’s members are variable, the number is uncertain, and movements are unpredictable. This invisible sharp blade leaves local bureaucrats with less intent to fool around.
After all, no one knows when and in what form the Agricultural Inspection Group will appear.
While everyone’s focus was on the big news created by the newly appointed Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, the Ministry of Public Works quietly established an organization named the Department of Hygiene. Its deputy director, who also acted as the director, was Louis Pasteur. Unlike other technical bureaucrats in the Ministry of Public Works, many officials in this department were doctors. Including the Department of Hygiene and many within it, none understood why their minister wanted to establish this organization.
At the same time, a research institute named Protective Umbrella appeared in a secluded location on the outskirts of Paris, where the deputy director of the Department of Hygiene, Louis Pasteur, was leading a group of like-minded researchers in "experiments," and their test subject was indeed a death row convict.