"Uncle Karl, if you are willing to support the future construction of the Northern Railway, I do have a solution that kills two birds with one stone. It would neither delay the schedules of East Africa's other projects nor allow the Northern Railway extension to begin ahead of time, opening up the connection between East Africa and the Chad colony as soon as possible and adding another brick to the colonial enterprise of the Sigmaringen line," Ernst said.
Prince Karl was indeed intrigued. He asked, "What kind of solution?"
Ernst did not stand on ceremony and said openly, "Uncle Karl, you know that railway construction itself is not particularly difficult. It is nothing more than a question of money. Just like the United States and Germany before, when capitalists built railways like mad and vast amounts of hot money poured in, causing railway networks in both countries to expand blindly and at breakneck speed every year, eventually triggering the economic crisis of 1873."
"Of course I know that. But the economic crisis has now passed, and the railway market has returned to the right track. Germany is developing in a much more orderly fashion now. Before I came to East Africa, the crisis had already eased considerably, and society was developing very rapidly."
In truth, the world economy was still in a depression and was nowhere near as prosperous as before the crisis. However, society was constantly advancing; it could not truly stagnate. Germany's pace of development had slowed somewhat, but compared with other countries of the era, its prospects were extremely optimistic.
Moreover, people of Prince Karl's generation had seen much of the world. Although the economy had developed rapidly before the crisis, they knew that such conditions were not normal.
Ernst continued, "Therefore, if East Africa wishes to