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Our navy has been neglected for too long. Herr Gutfreund at least understands our navy's needs and has the foresight to plan ahead with a five year plan. If he had asked for this all to be done this year, I'd be skeptical and question our ability to finance such an endeavour, but it seems entirely possible over the suggested time. Now stop being penny-pinchers and accept the fact that it costs money to be a successful nation in this world. If we deprive our armed forces of what they rightly need, we'll fall behind and allow another upstart nation to take our place as the greatest nation in the world.

- Wilhelm von Vandenburg
 
Sir, I do believe that this plan is too costly, and I am the financial minister. I will gladly support a less expensive plan, but at the moment I can't say yes to an expensive plan that doesn't have the chancellor's backing.

I await the chancellor's response, and the supreme justice's response to determine my course: Can I block funding for a plan I consider too expensive?

~Frederick

Herr Carile,

The Finance Minister's ability to defund individual programs is a legal gray area, and one which the constitution does not cover. My personal interpretation is that you have the right to advise Herr Gutfreund, but unless you cut funding for the navy/army as a whole, you cannot effectively "veto" his proposal. However, a future constitutional amendment should probably be devised to cover this scenario directly.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

Herr Carile,

As you yourself stated, I have no naval expertise to speak of, and therefore I rely on the wisdom of Herr Gutfreund to ensure our naval infrastructure is appropriate. Herr Hohenstaufen, who was our Chief of the Naval General Staff for many years, might have something to add, but I wish to stay out of this question for the moment.

Michael von Hohenollzern
 
Sir, I do believe that this plan is too costly, and I am the financial minister. I will gladly support a less expensive plan, but at the moment I can't say yes to an expensive plan that doesn't have the chancellor's backing.

I await the chancellor's response, and the supreme justice's response to determine my course: Can I block funding for a plan I consider too expensive?

~Frederick

War is never too costly. War is the highest act of manhood.

-Herr Liberator
 
War is never too costly. War is the highest act of manhood.

-Herr Liberator

((I give this statement a 9/10 on the Official Brunelli Pacifist Cringe Scale. :p))
 
War is never too costly. War is the highest act of manhood.

-Herr Liberator

While I do enjoy a good war, sir, I believe it not a good idea when there are better things to fund. I'll go ahead and fund the project, but only if my budget can afford it, as is.

~Frederick

((That is, fund the project as much as I am willing to tax; no more than 75%!))
 
Whether we build the bases or don't, has nothing to do with the advancement of our naval technology. Technology will arrive at the pace and with the components set by our Education Minister. It would be tragic, tho, to have the plans in hand to build advanced warships, and no capacity to do so.

Hals Gutfreund, Minister of War

((I've been vague on which bases to build, because I CAN"T READ THE BLOODY MAP, and once we've got the Baltic, North Sea and Med covered, it doesn't really matter which bases get expanded; we're doing it for ship-building capacity))
 
Whether we build the bases or don't, has nothing to do with the advancement of our naval technology. Technology will arrive at the pace and with the components set by our Education Minister. It would be tragic, tho, to have the plans in hand to build advanced warships, and no capacity to do so.

Hals Gutfreund, Minister of War

((I've been vague on which bases to build, because I CAN"T READ THE BLOODY MAP, and once we've got the Baltic, North Sea and Med covered, it doesn't really matter which bases get expanded; we're doing it for ship-building capacity))

((Map isn't clickable to zoom in?

For the record, I knew where you were coming from. :)))
 
((Map isn't clickable to zoom in?

For the record, I knew where you were coming from. :)))

(( It can be pretty hard to interpret, even when you do know the game (well, at least as far as I know the game). Though for all I know, the zoom level is the real issue here.))
 
((Mikkel Glahder, I can't make heads or tails of your plan. Do you want extra NFs to go to bureaucrats or soldiers? You've only got four NFs: give me concrete plans for each one of them, please. :)
((Use the NF's from bureaucrats(when they hit 1.00%) to encourage soldiers where needed.(of your choice of course.) The same applies for the officer NF in Brandenburg.))
 
Gentlemen,

All of those objecting to Herr Gutfreund's naval expansion plan are members of the Conclave. They do not have a vote in matters of military policy; that is left for the Assembly to decide. Unless a member of the Assembly formally objects by tomorrow, his program will pass in 24 hours ))
Of course your honor I simply wished to make my position known. Dr.Fellman stares at Herr Anderson with a annoyed look.
 
War is never too costly. War is the highest act of manhood.

-Herr Liberator
One simple act of war costs so many lives, so many crushed families, an economy that never recovers. You defend death, Herr Meningen, and the only thing you have ever liberated is the souls of men, from their earthly vessels.
This man is emblematic of the hyper-masculine blood-driven attitude in today's Germany.
 
One simple act of war costs so many lives, so many crushed families, an economy that never recovers. You defend death, Herr Meningen, and the only thing you have ever liberated is the souls of men, from their earthly vessels.
This man is emblematic of the hyper-masculine blood-driven attitude in today's Germany.

That is good, because Germany should be a nation of hyper-masculine men willing to make their country great for the cause of liberation.

-Herr Liberator
 
That is good, because Germany should be a nation of hyper-masculine men willing to make their country great for the cause of liberation.

-Herr Liberator
You are a senseless fool unable to realize the damage you cause. Sir, you disgust me, and you are a pitiful individual.
 
All open plans are considered passed. I will play and update either tonight or tomorrow (but probably tonight).
 
I pity the fool who does not respect German greatness.
One does not have to resort to constant bloodshed to respect our great country, which has managed fine with peace.
((Is Franz Mr.T now? :p Also, I'm typing these responses from a Target store.))
 
Germany is great, I agree with you wholeheartedly there, but conquest will only destroy our country, peace and technological advancements will raise Germany to be greater than any nation, past, present, or future.

-Peter von Oldenburg
 
1868: Whispers of corruption

Although there was much harrumphing over the naval construction plan, Minister of Finance Frederick Carile was able to find room in the budget for it. Only a very modest tax increase was necessary -- 5% across the board for 90 days. Flensburg and Marseilles were chosen as the sites for new upgraded naval bases, while ground was broken in Sassari, Corsica, and Senj, Croatia for all new shipyards and ports. The Minister of War, Hals Gutfreund, and President of the State Commission, Friedrich Meier, were daguerreotyped at one of the ceremonies, beaming at the thought of the mighty fleets that would slide from those slipways and the new jobs that would be created as a result.

Back in Nürnberg, Otto von Bismarck, the Foreign Minister, took particular delight in rejecting a British request to open Germany up to their soldiers and ships. "If a single British soldier steps on German soil, many, many more German soldiers will sack your capital city and burn it to the ground." Only France dared voice any shock at the Foreign Minister's tone, but ultimately could do nothing to anger Germany, lest the German army burn Paris instead of London. [1]

m8FbIa.jpg


However, all of the expenditures on the navy led to a meeting of prominent liberals and socialists, who in turn put pressure on some of the radical Stadtholders. The self-appointed "Commission on Health and Hygiene" demand that the Chancellor match the spending on defense with spending on social services, specifically on improved and free healthcare for every German. The Chancellor promised to raise the issue at the next meeting of the Reichstag, which satisfied some but not all of the committee members.

ZGUKEY.jpg


Funding for the Naval War College continued, as better teachers taught smaller classes with the latest in tools and technology, leading to an upsurge in Naval Professionalism. Government funds were also spent on a new lumber mill in East Switzerland. Although none of the presently open factories were on Friedrich Meier's list, the President of the Planning Commission recognized that until new facilities existed to house the workers, closing the existing factories was a mistake. The navy was in the news in the summer of 1868 too, as design contests sponsored by the Naval General Staff resulted in the creation of prototype Ironclads and Monitors, although shipyards did not yet exist that could mass produce the new vessels.

Dc2Iy4.jpg


Meanwhile, liberals and socialists continued to attack the renewed regime of Chancellor Michael von Hohenzollern, saying that he had intentionally excluded the more anti-military members of the Reichstag from his inner circle. Michael pointed to the Minister of Education, who had just provided a grant to the economics department of the University of Nürnberg to study Late Classical Theory. The Commission, as they called themselves, countered with the "appalling apathy of the government towards her people" in the recent Kreuzberg mine just opened; a mine that had rich iron deposits deep within the earth's surface and one which was impossible to exploit without considerable cost in lives.

BaFhWw.jpg


Michael's response, that the mine provided jobs for hundreds of Germans and that every precaution would be taken to ensure the workers' safety, was rejected, and the Commission immediately announced an investigation into the business practices of members of the HUN and New Society. The Commission alleged that contracts were given out to corporations secretly owned by members of the Hohenzollern family and other conservatives in the government. Friedrich Meier himself was accused of fraudulently diverting government funds to support his family's empire in South Tirol. A government inspector sent to South Tirol to set up new recruiting stations for German soldiers took it upon himself to investigate the claims. Although the evidence was dodgy at best, it didn't stop him from giving this evidence to a friend at a prominent newspaper, who published the story without fact checking.

xC9bWG.jpg


The scandal rocked Germany's capital. Crowds of people picketed the January 1869 session of the Reichstag, demanding the imposition of a minimum wage.

HZC0zF.jpg


Other social reformers insisted that continued support to the military cease and that their own pet causes be funded.

vbjmPv.jpg


Some hysterical conservatives, looking for anybody they could scapegoat, attacked Frederick Carile's "frivolous spending policies" and "worthless budget."

JH8u4p.jpg


While it was true that the government had run a small shortfall in the past 72 hours, this shortfall had already started to break and the shortfall was made good by the government treasury. But as the Reichstag opened its doors on 1 January 1869, there was plenty to talk about.

[1] We got a Humiliate France CB that never actually appeared. I think it's a bug in NNM, or perhaps NNM and the converter aren't playing nice.

For the meta-record, I made almost everything up regarding the conservative scandal. Almost everything. ;)

Gentlemen,

I would like to publicly disavow the baseless allegations made by the so-called Commission against Friedrich Meier and my party. The Meiers have served our country selflessly for generations and are above reproach. The Minister of the Interior is free to examine the evidence provided by the Commission and carry out an independent investigation. I think Herr Schwaben will find nothing but lies.

As I promised, however, I am raising the issue of social reforms before the Reichstag. Although I do not personally believe that any such reforms are necessary, I open the floor to debate which, if any reforms, should be put to a vote.

Thank you.

Michael von Hohenzollern

Any and all Constitutional amendments may be proposed for the next 48 hours. Social reforms and anything else would fall under these guidelines.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
 
I would propose a committee to be formed on the question of properly overseeing the safety of German workers in our industries. The recent expansion of the Kreuznach mine and the grand efforts of the German workers to replace the recently lost fleet throws into sharp relief that for all the concern about avoiding war no serious attempt to better the lives of the common people during peacetime has been made. We have allowed too much skilled labor to be lost to the ravages of unsafe working conditions, especially given the efforts demanded by the Naval General Staff's proposed ship designs.

((Propose Minimal Safety Regulations))
 
The only scandal I see is this so-called Commission interfering with the government doing its job. And what is this nonsense about "free healthcare"? Where does this Commission expect the funds for such a program to come from? Germany may be an economic powerhouse, but we can't afford a state-of-the-art army and universal healthcare. We can only afford one or that other, and I certainly wouldn't choose healthcare out of those two. Being able to visit your local doctor for free when you get the chills might be fine and dandy, but it won't be stop a bullet to the head when the British, French, and Poles overrun our borders. Perhaps this Commission should just let the experienced men in government handle such things. Also the fact that Herr Meier has been accused of corruption only further shows what a farce this is. The Meier family has served Germany faithfully for decades. Why would a family of economic geniuses need to steal government funds when they could make a small fortune simply by snapping their fingers. If anyone should be investigated by the Corps of the Gendarmerie, it should be the newspaper that published such nonsense.

- Wilhelm von Vandenburg