The Viennese Waltz(124)

This arrangement had an added advantage. It meant that where there was no rail yet, the railroad became a normal macadam road and the “train car” became a wagon. But if your wagon had the rail wheel, anytime you ran into rail you could crank it down and for as long as the rail ran, you had a much happier team, be they oxen, mule or horse. All of which, taken together, meant that even though the road was still mostly without rail, those stretches that did have rail were making transport easier and cheaper along it. That, in turn, was pulling traffic from other routes.

“It’s already figured in,” Sarah said. “It’s true that Sonny’s innovations have allowed it to start paying dividends sooner and the rail wagons are selling well. However, I think the LIC should consider keeping the rail line, rather than granting it to the railroad company. The way Mr. Fortney has set it up, the rail line is going to be a lot easier to get onto or off of than they were up-time. That’s going to make it easier to use and it will be harder to restrict that use. I think you should consider keeping it as a state-owned road that is available for use by anyone, and make your money back on taxes, which will increase with the increase in trade and industry. At the very least, you ought to consider keeping it a public line and just charging tolls for its use.”

“I’m not sure that would be fair to Herr Fortney or all the other people who have invested in the railroad company in the expectation that they would have a proprietary interest in the rail line.”

Considering that the railroad company was a big part of what he had in mind as a dower for Sarah and inheritance for their morganatic children, that didn’t strike Karl as a great idea. But he couldn’t say that to Sarah. It would look too much like “the not exactly illegal but certainly questionable” transfer of funds from the Liechtenstein coffers to hers. And Sarah was rather unreasonable about potential conflicts of interest.

Abrabanel Offices, outside Vienna

Moses Abrabanel poured his father a beer. “I’m considering releasing some of the barbies that we received in exchange for our endorsement.”

“Why?” Abraham Abrabanel asked. He’d been less than thrilled by Moses’ accepting a bribe in barbies in the first place, and Moses had been expecting him to be happy to be rid of them.

“We have a chance to buy into a freight line that is using steam on barges to go up the Danube.”

“You mean those Pfeifer people?”

“Yes. Jack Pfeifer was talking to me about it on the picnic.”

That earned his father’s scowl. Abraham Abrabanel was not comfortable with socializing with gentiles. You did business with them, you had to. But you didn’t go on picnics with them, even if the stuff in the baskets was supposed to be kosher. Moses was aware of his father’s attitudes, and the reason for them. In the Empire, Jews could often rise high—but they weren’t allowed to be close. Not without converting, at least. Moses, on the other hand, had been a little corrupted by his trip to Grantville, then more corrupted by his dealing with the Fortneys and Sanderlins. And, recently, thoroughly corrupted by Susan Logsden—and had decided he rather liked it. So he ignored his father’s disapproval and started discussing the economic advantages of the relationship. The Pfeifers knew the trade, and the steam engines had made their river boats much more efficient in terms of cost per ton mile. They were gentiles, Catholics, but they, like Moses, had been corrupted by the Fortneys and the Sanderlins, to the extent that Jack was getting serious with a Lutheran girl. And Jack was the most corrupted of the family. He was busily trying to turn the family shipping business into a stock company that could expand. What he was offering Moses was a significant share in the new company, in exchange for financing and they could provide the financing without having to spend any reich money, just using the barbies. He went over the proposal with his father, and his father was ambivalent.

“The barbies are cash on hand, Moses, fully negotiable and we can loan them out without any difficulty. I don’t know about this boat business. We aren’t shippers or shopkeepers. We’re bankers. And you know we can get a good interest rate from the crown.”

“We’re more money lenders, Father. At least, that’s what we have been. And, frankly, I’m getting nervous about how much the crown owes us already. I don’t want Ferdinand III getting any idea of eliminating the loan by getting rid of the lender.”

“Ferdinand III is an honorable young man.”

“I agree, Father. But he’s also under a lot of pressure and too deeply in debt for my peace of mind.”