Chapter 14: Chapter 14 – Labor Protection

On April 30, 1847, the sudden death of Archduke Charles, the greatest soldier of his generation, brought about the end of an era.

The funeral of Archduke Charles was very grand. Franz’s uncle, Ferdinand I, personally arrived to attend the farewell ceremony. In addition, all the major nobles across Europe sent someone to pay their regards.

Franz was in a depressed mood. Even though he had reincarnated, the concept of death was still not a simple thing for him to face.

Unfortunately, as an heir to the throne, he could not publicly display the emotions that he was feeling.

***

After the funeral, Franz returned back to Hofburg Palace.

“Your Imperial Highness, Mr. Bowenfield from the newspaper office seeks an audience with you!” his maid, Johanna, whispered.

Franz was a bit puzzled about the arrival of this uninvited guest. There seemed to be nothing in the office which required his personal attention. Still, he decided to hear what Bowenfield had to say.

“Send him in!” replied Franz.

After almost rushing into the reception hall, Bowenfield exclaimed, “Your Imperial Highness, something big has happened!”

“Calm down for Christ’s sake; it’s not the end of the world,” Franz replied placidly.

Austria had a newspaper censorship system. As a result, after he registered his newspaper, the government sent a permanent liaison to review the content of his newspaper before it is published. Thus, Franz did not believe that there could be anything controversial in his newspaper.

‘Did someone among the newspaper staff dare to secretly publish prohibited documents?’ Franz wondered.

If that was the case, he wouldn’t mind cleaning up the staff. After all, he was the Imperial Crown Prince. Anyone who dared to backstab him would have to pay a very heavy price.

Edward von Bowenfield calmed himself and explained, “Recently, some newspapers have called for a campaign to pass laws to protect the interests of the workers. We were also one of the newspapers that spoke in its support.”

“That’s it? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” Franz replied, unconcerned.

Bowenfield glanced at Franz’s face and continued uneasily, “We became one of the leading supporters of the act among the newspapers. Additionally, in order to bring more attention to the lives of the struggling workers, we did a few surveys.”

“Just get to the point already!” Franz remarked, frowning.

“Based on the results from the surveys, a few editors put forward a proposal, suggesting that capitalists should provide a sense of security to their workers. Unexpectedly, their proposal aroused the attention of the government which is planning to pass a Labor Protection Act!” Bowenfield answered, terrified.

Franz finally understood the source of Bowenfield’s terror; it was normal for everyone to shout their political opinions in the newspapers. In fact, even slightly radical opinions were acceptable. However, it was a different story if those opinions led to the creation of law.

If the capitalists knew that the Labor Protection Act was birthed through articles published by the newspaper “We Want Bread, We Want Cheese,” then Bowenfield, the editor-in-chief, would soon be a dead man.

Not only would his life be in danger, all the employees of the newspaper would likely follow him to hell. Maybe even Franz, the secret owner of the newspaper, would be troubled.

Franz was caught in a dilemma. He could not stay out of this situation by blaming it all on his staff, but he, the Imperial Crown Prince of Austria, also could not apologize to the capitalists. As a result, he had no choice but to bite the bullet.

“Show me the proposal you published!” Franz grumbled.

Actually, Franz did not blame Bowenfield or the newspaper’s staff as they hadn’t done anything wrong. Their mistake was caused due to their ignorance regarding the internal political struggle.

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Bowenfield handed the original draft of the proposal to Franz with shaking hands. Now, he had no other choice but to rely on Franz. He was sure that Franz, the Imperial Crown Prince who had the support of the nobility, would come out on top even if he had a showdown with the capitalists.

Still, he knew that during showdowns between big shots, small fries like him were the ones in the greatest danger.

Franz took the document and glanced over it. The more he read, the more familiar he found it — was this not this a replica of the “”?

Apart from ten hours of work a day, a total of two hours for meals and a break, and a paid day off a week, the government should set minimum wage standards, the employers must not withhold wages arbitrarily, the employers must not dismiss employees without cause, and the factory should take responsibility for injuries occurring on the job.

Franz did not think there was anything wrong with this proposal. In fact, if 21st century European capitalists saw this proposal, they would find the few conditions too good to believe.

After perusing the proposal, Franz replied, “Mr. Bowenfield, your people did nothing wrong. You don’t have to worry about revenge. I’ll deal with it. The office is right next door to the police station, and I’ll inform them!”

Receiving Franz’ assurance, Bowenfield put his worries to rest. Since the big boss would take responsibility, he had nothing to worry about.

The capitalists were smart people. They would not confront Franz unless it was absolutely necessary. Perhaps, a united bourgeoisie was too much for Franz to deal with, but it would not be a problem for him to deal with one or two of them.

“Your Imperial Highness, should we continue with our work?” Bowenfield asked hesitantly.

“Of course, you don’t have to worry too much. Still, you should avoid provoking the capitalists too much,” Franz replied thoughtfully.

Since Franz had offended the bourgeoisie , he simply needed to put all his eggs in one basket. He would at least get the support of the public.

The worst way to deal with such a situation was to try to please both sides. He knew that, in the end, he would please neither.

Additionally, his paper was not the only one speaking in support of the Labor Protection Act. Since the conservatives had begun taking action, Austrian public opinion was generally sympathetic to the working class.

“Yes, Your Imperial Highness!” Bowenfield replied, relieved.

After he dismissed Bowenfield, Franz began to consider the problems he faced. Usually, the best way to suppress a hot topic was to create an even hotter topic.

What kind of topic would be able to attract the attention of the capitalists? There was no doubt that it was the Labor Protection Act.

For example, should they further lower the 10-hour work day by including the workers’ meal and rest time?

TN: Yeah, idk why the author mentioned including the workers’ meal and rest time again when it was clearly stated above that it was already in discussion.

Or should they further increase the punishment and damages for work-related injuries, or even set a minimum wage?

All in all, so long as the Labor Protection Act which would be finally enacted by the government went further than the contents of the proposal, the people’s attention would be diverted.

The likelihood of the enraged capitalists damaging his newspaper, too, would be minimized.

While considering how to deal with the fallout, Franz suddenly smirked and thought, ‘I already know someone who can become the scapegoat for me: Chancellor Metternich.’

In fact, Chancellor Metternich was bound to react strongly on this issue. He could not be at ease if he did not want to be replaced, since the Labor Protection Act had been proposed by Archduke Louis on behalf of the nobility.

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