Chapter 581: "Locomotive"
Waltz was referring to the undersea cable stretching from the Southern Ryukyu Islands to Fuzhou. The straight-line distance from Miyako Island to Fuzhou is nearly 700 kilometers, making the workload and resource consumption enormous. Hence, the task for the State Cable Factory No. 1 in Dar es Salaam is exceptionally heavy.
Mori said, "Laying undersea cables is no small feat, especially with higher quality standards due to the complex conditions at sea—ordinary cables won't hold up. Could you give me some specs or insider details so our factory can mentally prepare? Do you know how long this Far East undersea cable will be?"
Waltz replied, "Hey, it's not exactly a secret. Didn't we in East Africa have a recent conflict with Japan in the Far East? It was over that chain of islands in the Pacific. Our navy even had a skirmish there. It's basically our territory now, but it's so far from East Africa that communications there must be resolved."
Hearing this, Mori roughly understood. Though he came from a rural German background, he was well-read. By this era's standards, he was "versed in astronomy and geography." This wasn't an exaggeration, as the books available to East African troops included school textbooks, which covered both history and geography.
Mori said, "If the Southern Ryukyu Islands are to have telegraph access, it's certainly not a small project. From what I know, they're several hundred kilometers from the Far East mainland. I'll get a ruler and estimate the distance later to help us plan next year's production schedule. No fighting without preparation."
Waltz responded, "No need to go through all that. The Southern Ryukyu Islands are about 600 to 700 kilometers from the Far East mainland. You can start by producing cables based on a baseline of 500 kilometers. That should be safe, and we can fill in the rest later."
Mori replied, "Telegraph lines aren't simple. Clearly, the Southern Ryukyu Islands hold considerable national significance. I assume other factories have been assigned tasks too?"
Waltz nodded, "You guessed right. Over a dozen factories are involved in this production task, including some European companies that bid for contracts. In East Africa, the main assigned factories are in Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo, Tanga, and Mombasa. Being coastal cities makes production and shipping easier."
Mori said, "This is a big move. We've never had such a major contract before. In the past, all our undersea cables were imported from Europe. Three or four years ago, the cable from Pemba Island to Bagamoyo was shipped in from an Austro-Hungarian factory."
Waltz quipped, "If not from Europe, where else—grow them out of the ground? As I recall, your factory was among East Africa's first cable plants, founded just three or four years ago. Back then, you probably didn't even know how to operate the machines, right?"
Mori chuckled, "You're right. Back then, only two of us knew how to handle machinery. Everything had to be taught from scratch. Even raw materials were imported. We just patched things up and made do."
When East Africa's first cable factories were established, even basic raw materials were scarce. The railroads had only just begun operation, so inland copper mines hadn't been developed yet. Most copper had to be imported from Austria-Hungary and processed along the coast.
As for coal and rubber, East Africa had those in abundance. Its coal mines were close to the coast, and it was the world's top rubber producer—second only to Brazil. Brazil's advantage was proximity to the coast, especially with the Amazon River enabling efficient shipping of collected rubber.
East Africa wasn't so fortunate. Most of its rubber was produced in the eastern Congo Basin. The Congo River wasn't suitable for major transportation, especially since its lower reaches ended in waterfalls. Rubber had to be transported by land to the eastern coast, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive.
However, other rubber-producing regions in East Africa helped fill the gap—especially the coastal plains and highland convergence zones, where rainfall was adequate and rubber could be transported via the Central Railway to Dar es Salaam.
Mombasa's advantage lay in the Northern Railway and Great Lakes shipping, which allowed rubber from the Great Lakes region and Hechingen Province to be transported east. Its drawback was the long distance from East Africa's copper mines.
Thus, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa became like two "locomotives," each unwilling to yield to the other. Calling them locomotives wasn't wrong—East Africa's two most important railways, the Central Railway and the Northern Railway, had their starting points in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, respectively. Of course, the southern end of the Central Railway also included the port city of New Hamburg.
As the saying goes, a fast train depends on the engine. Dar es Salaam and Mombasa played that locomotive role. New Hamburg couldn't compare in foundation or history. Its future was still uncertain.
However, Ernst didn't believe New Hamburg would surpass its two predecessors. It might not even break into the top three coastal cities. He had his eyes on Maputo Port, but that was still in Portuguese hands. When East Africa could finally seize it was unknown. By then, New Hamburg would have had years of head start.
Take the Central Railway's southern segment—if Maputo were under East African control, the line would surely have extended there. But the current situation was already set, and New Hamburg got the jump.
Railways have a massive impact on economic growth, especially trunk lines like the Central Railway. It was unlikely any future East African line would surpass it. Ernst had designed it to strategically cover East Africa's most vital regions.
Along the Central Railway were capital cities like Dodoma (Tanzania), Lusaka (Zambia), Harare (Zimbabwe), and Dar es Salaam (a former capital), as well as Pretoria. Other important cities included Mbeya, Bulawayo, and Lubumbashi.
The route spanned East Africa's key mining areas, cities, and villages. Any city connected to the Central Railway was guaranteed a high starting point for future development.
New Hamburg, as a sea-land transport hub with access to the mineral-rich regions of the former Transvaal Republic and Zulu Kingdom, could potentially rival Mombasa and Dar es Salaam—if its leadership was competent.
For now, though, East Africa's top-tier cities were Dar es Salaam, Mombasa, Mbeya, and Nairobi.
New Hamburg would need further development to stand alongside them. It might eventually surpass Mbeya and Nairobi—it was only a matter of time, since New Hamburg had access to resources the other two couldn't match.
As for overtaking Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, that was nearly impossible. Those two had the best natural conditions and were essential to East Africa's regional economy. Overall, Dar es Salaam still held the upper hand, thanks to the surrounding cities that supported it, whereas Mombasa could only ally with Nairobi and Tanga to hold its ground.
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