Chapter 668 Smuggling Trade
Although there were constant frictions between France and the German Confederation, and there were even several tense battles, the French border was still ineffective for the merchants of South Germany.
Austrian goods can enter France without any hindrance, and the latter's raw materials can also enter the former country.
Paul Stenkel is a Bavarian smuggler who has been walking this route for many years. But it was not until the formation of the German Zollverein that he truly escaped the poverty line.
Bavaria at that time was not the heart of Germany as we know it now, but a complete rotten land, also nicknamed "Germany's appendix".
Yes, it is the kind of thing that is dispensable, but can kill people if it gets sick. As a thoroughly agricultural country, it is bound to lag behind in this era of rapid industrial development.
Even more unfortunate is the Wurterbach family that rules Bavaria. Several generations of monarchs have little interest in developing the economy and competing for hegemony.
Therefore, the poverty of Bavarians can be said to be the highest in Germany. Especially after the establishment of the German Customs Union, a large amount of Prussian agricultural products crowded out the already precarious Bavarian agriculture.
Although Austria continues to absorb German refugees and provides job opportunities for Germans.
But there are still many people who are unwilling to leave the land where they were born. However, when agriculture cannot support themselves, they can only choose smuggling.
In fact, they were not the only ones smuggling, the governments of the three South German countries were even involved in smuggling.
In the past, French goods were popular, so they could only tolerate the other party lowering the price of their own goods, and at the same time, they tried their best to get the French to bring more goods, so that they could earn enough fees to cope with the levels of exploitation.
However, after the establishment of the German Customs Union, the price-performance ratio of Austrian products was much better than that of French smuggled goods.
Therefore, the relationship between supply and demand soon became upside down. French goods were no longer popular in the German region, and some French people even began to purchase goods from the German region.
This is the first time that German smugglers have taken the initiative in the transaction, and they naturally want to take advantage of it.
At this time, Paul Stenkohl took out a box of exquisite matches and said.
"Sir, this is specially made according to your request. All wooden handles are made of aged maple wood. The aroma when burning will be reminiscent of the romantic streets of Paris, and the burning time can reach 20 seconds.
The outer packaging is also marked with the words "Romantic Paris" in French according to your request. "
"Lilac? It seems you Bavarians are very knowledgeable!"
(The liquidgum tree is one of Paris’ iconic tree species.)
Several French smugglers on the opposite side repeatedly inspected the appearance, then lit a few matches to check, sniffed a few times through the nose, snorted several times, and finally nodded with satisfaction.
In fact, in addition to matches, there are also agricultural machinery and clocks, rubber shoes, pearls, gems and other goods. The goods brought by the French are also diverse, including all kinds of food, drink, and even ores and cotton.
This match is naturally made in Austria, because the colorful patterns and text on the outer packaging use printing technology that is not available in France.
Even if it is reproduced using similar technology, the cost will be much higher than that of smuggled goods from Austria.
Apart from matches, the best-selling product in Austria is sewing machines. Although the French have also imitated them, the situation is similar to that of the British.
Although they are assembled from the same parts, French products are prone to breakage, and problems always arise.
Therefore, original and genuine products have become the pursuit of wealthy French people. Although these people may not necessarily use such things, they can display their financial resources and status at home.
In fact, even musical instruments such as pianos have joined the ranks of smuggled goods. The Baden government even built a railway in order to stimulate the development of the local economy (border trade).
There are also other items that are not very popular in Austria but are very popular in France, including toothpaste, soap and cosmetics.
France at this time is not that conservative country that has not popularized 3G networks in 2021. On the contrary, the French at this time are very willing to accept new things.
Of course, it is also easier to deceive to a certain extent. To deal with romantic French people, just give them a big picture. Things such as toothpaste, soap and cosmetics can increase their personal charm and make them more attractive.
But Franz didn’t lie. These personal items can indeed increase appearance and personal charm to a certain extent.
It's just that the price is a bit outrageous, but the more expensive it is, the more it appeals to the French upper class.
In addition, Franz had high hopes for paper cigarettes, which became popular among France's upper class.
However, since the French do not have such a thing as a cigarette rolling machine, not only the output is low, but the price is also expensive, so they cannot compete with the smuggled cigarettes from Austria.
But in this era, paper cigarettes were still not mainstream, and people still liked to use pipes and snus.
In the Austrian Empire, only the military and dock workers were the audience for paper cigarettes. Especially in Vienna, let alone paper cigarettes, no one even dared to smoke cigarettes.
In the whole of Austria, only Northern Italy and Hungary have relatively good results in tobacco sales. Due to the nationalism in Bohemia, these spiritual opium has completely eclipsed the status of tobacco.
In short, Franz's dream of relying on tobacco taxes to feed Austria was shattered, although Egypt's Mohammed Ali used tobacco and alcohol to feed his army.
According to the experience of later generations, nicotine is ingested slowly and in small amounts through pipes, cigars, snuff, or directly chewing tobacco, so these traditional smoking methods are not easily addictive.
Therefore, if you want to increase the number of smokers, you must vigorously develop paper cigarettes, so as to increase the income generated by tobacco.
In addition, European cigarettes at this time were also associated with revolution to a certain extent, because the Revolutionary Party was a supporter of cigarettes, while royalists usually preferred traditional pipes and snuff.
However, Franz really didn't have much interest in the road of rejuvenating the country through addiction, but in this era, tobacco and alcohol were indeed an important source of national income.
Therefore, it is necessary to form monopolies in these two industries. Although tobacco can be directly monopolized by issuing administrative orders, it is simply impossible to monopolize the brewing industry in this way.
The former is just an emerging field, while the latter involves the interests of too many people. This benefit is even big enough to make some people choose to take risks. At this time, the tobacco industry obviously does not have such energy.
Franz did make a name for himself in the beer industry, but Austrians love wine more than beer.
The sales volume of Pilsner beer has been doubling in recent years. It must be said that in this era, the profits of this product are frighteningly high.
Civilians may not smoke, but almost no one doesn't drink beer. So as long as people in this era have a little money, beer sales will skyrocket.
As for wine, there is really nothing he can do. After all, Franz does not want to be the enemy of the entire aristocratic class.