Chapter 171 Gold Standard

"Your Highness, since the government has decided to take back the right to mint coins, does the Greek government need to increase its gold reserves?" Banning suddenly asked.

After the Greek government decided to take back the right to mint coins, increasing gold reserves entered the government's vision.

At present, when Greece issues currency, it relies on the foreign exchange it holds, such as pounds, francs or marks, and regards these foreign exchange as disguised gold reserves, and then issues a corresponding number of drachmas for circulation in Greece.

This is because the gold reserves in Greece were limited before, which was not enough to implement a true gold standard.

Now that the government has taken back the right to mint coins, it is urgent to implement the gold standard. It must require a large amount of gold reserves as a deposit for issuing currency.

In the mid-to-late 19th century, major countries in the world successively implemented the gold standard.

The output of gold is limited, and its value is relatively stable.

Silver is different. In the late 19th century, as the output of silver increased significantly, the value of silver continued to depreciate.

Therefore, countries that use the gold standard system have high credit because their currencies can be freely exchanged for gold, and people are more willing to hold such currencies.

With the increase in Greece's fiscal revenue in recent years, it has begun to repay the principal of huge foreign debts, which has caused the domestic gold reserves to further decrease.

"Recently, many new gold mines have been discovered in Congo. If Greece needs it, it can increase gold mining in Congo," Banning said.

"In recent years, with the initial completion of infrastructure construction, Congo's gold exports have surged, and gold mining companies from various countries have gone to Congo to pan for gold," Brute said regretfully.

"This year's gold import and export volume will reach 2 tons. If Greece can get this gold..."

When Congo was acquired in 1885, due to Greece's limited strength, the government itself still needed to rely on borrowing to maintain, and there was no sufficient funds to invest in Congo thousands of miles away. Constantine was eager to gain benefits from Congo, so he could only borrow chickens to lay eggs.

In order to speed up the development of Congo and attract international investment, Constantine specifically asked Banning to encourage people to develop Congo's gold mines.

It is precisely because of the attraction of gold that capital from various countries is willing to come to Congo, overcome numerous difficulties, and build railways and other transportation facilities in the tropical rainforest of Congo.

After the construction of the first railway in Congo, the railway from Matadi to Constantinople, the railway from the upper reaches of the Congo River to Lake Tanganyika and Kayseri and the navigable terminal to the center of Katanga was built. The two lines are connected in Kamina, with a total length of 3,500 kilometers, but the construction is still not completed.

As the saying goes, there are gains and losses. Greece does not have the strength to monopolize Congo's gold. The flow of people and capital attracted by gold has greatly reduced Greece's investment and difficulty in developing Congo.

"So far, Congo's mining industry mainly relies on gold mining and copper mining. Although Congo's other mineral deposits are also rich, there has been little progress so far, otherwise the Congolese government's fiscal revenue will grow rapidly," Banning added.

Congo's mineral deposits are mainly non-ferrous metals and rare metals. To be honest, it may take some time for these minerals to fully demonstrate their value.

At present, the demand for these metals is not large.

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After the afternoon meeting, Constantine and Sophie, led by Banning and Costerblue, went to visit a rubber forest outside Constantinople.

This rubber plantation belongs to the property of the Greek Congo Corporation.

Constantine and his party stepped on the soft and dense fallen leaves and strolled in the neatly arranged and evenly spaced artificial rubber forests. The sun shone through the tight blockade of the tree canopy.

"This rubber plantation covers an area of ​​more than 1,000 hectares and can produce more than 100 tons of rubber every year," Costerblue explained to Constantine.

While talking, workers from the rubber plantation came to cut rubber.

But the appearance of these rubber workers surprised Constantine: black hair and black eyes, yellow skin.

Isn't this the typical appearance of Asians?

"What's wrong with these workers? Asians?" Constantine pointed to several workers who were cutting rubber and asked.

"Oh, these are workers from Southeast Asia," Costerblue explained.

"There is no way. The natives of Congo are too lazy and love freedom. You know, Congo is located in the tropics, rich in resources, and there is no such thing as winter. This makes the natives of Congo very lazy. For them, anyway, they will not starve to death or freeze. At worst, they can go into the rain forest and always find something to eat." At this point, Coster Blue also felt helpless about the natives of Congo.

"When working, hey, they find ways to be lazy and slippery, just like a spinning top. It will only turn if you whip it. If the supervisors don't notice, they will fish in troubled waters."

At this point, Coster Blue shook his head helplessly.

"Later, we noticed that the workers hired from Southeast Asia in the rubber plantations managed by the British were hardworking and efficient, so we followed their example."

"In this way, we also introduced Southeast Asian workers to other plantations. Their efficiency is indeed much higher than that of the natives."

At this point, Costerbrew seemed to remember something and said, "We plan to hire some agricultural experts from Europe in the near future to come here to guide agricultural production."

"It would be best to set up an agricultural research institute in Constantinople to provide long-term guidance for agricultural planting here"

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The day after the visit, upon hearing the news that Constantine had come to Constantinople, chiefs from all over Congo presented Constantine with a large number of gifts.

Such as ivory, lion skin, rhino horn, etc., piled in the room.

One of the chiefs of the Makulu tribe probably specifically asked the Congolese authorities about Constantine and sent a lion hat ingeniously.

In Greek mythology, Hercules, the son of Zeus, was extremely powerful. After killing a lion, Hercules made a lion head into a hat.

In history, the famous Greek Alexander the Great admired Hercules very much and always regarded him as an idol.

In the portraits left by Alexander, he is often seen imitating the image of Hercules wearing a lion hat.

It seems that the chief heard that Constantine was a soldier, so he gave him such a hat, probably to flatter him, meaning that Constantine was a warrior comparable to Alexander.

Constantine liked this gift very much, so he specially gave the chief a gift in return, and gave him the ivory carved pistol that he had always treasured.

Time came to 1908,