Chapter 122: Divide and Eat
The monopoly of fruits and tropical vegetables was inevitable. With the support of a number of large Dixie farms and plantation owners, the newly born United Fruit Company would only become stronger. Although Keane had changed from a leader to one of the shareholders, he might not be able to be more dazzling than history.
Because of the strong financial resources, the control of Central and South America may become faster. At least now, in the minds of many shareholders, the small countries in Central and South America have become a delicious cake that can be cut as you like. In the field of planting, people who stay in the United States or go to Brazil are no strangers.
The shareholders of the United Fruit Company not only exercised indirect control like Keane, but also prepared to manage the company themselves. They trusted no one but themselves. In name, everyone was united, but internal competition was inevitable. This kind of competition would not be allowed to happen, but would be controlled within a certain range.
"Who grows bananas, vegetables, and pineapples? I don't want to ask about this kind of thing. Competition is fine, but I can only accept internal competition. Don't go too far and let outside competitors get the upper hand. Among agricultural and animal husbandry products, fruits and vegetables are not the most important, but they can still make huge profits. Everyone has been in this business for decades. I don't need to teach you how to do it." In front of a huge long table, Sheffield lay on the table with his chin on the table, opening and closing. "We should save costs as much as possible. Of course, we should also support friends who are good to us and give up a certain amount of profits appropriately to let local friends who serve us live a good life. Only then will they do their best to serve us."
"Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Haiti, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and even more small countries in the future. These small countries are not very powerful, so we need stability. I personally like the dictatorship, military government and other models, which can ensure long-term stability. As for the relevant talents, I have sent a telegram to Arlington. The black gold staff in Liberia will be back soon. They can be trusted in this regard."
In Sheffield's eyes, there is no difference between high and low political models. However, after a hundred years of history, as a veteran keyboard warrior, he understood a very simple truth: countries that grow under centralized power are all like this, and countries that can return to the top from underestimation are all like this. The Western European countries of Britain, France and Germany a hundred years later are not as important as the three countries in 1895 in terms of national status.
The republics and Soviets that emerged had nothing to do with democracy and freedom. Even Japan and South Korea were fake democracies. They were essentially variants of the United States conglomerates, and became their own chaebols. The Liberal Democratic Party ruled for decades, and South Korea had a long period of military government. Park Chung-hee led the Miracle on the Han River.
Thinking of South Korea, Sheffield couldn't help but sigh. The time when South Korea had the greatest chance to get rid of the chaebol rule was actually during the reign of Park Chung-hee. Although this man was a traitor to South Korea in his early years, he did lead his country to take off after becoming president. In his later years, Park Chung-hee had already begun to clean up the expanding chaebols. This was because he had been dictatorial in South Korea for a long time and had established an intelligence department that specifically obeyed him. In a sense, he got rid of the interference of the US troops stationed in South Korea.
Park Chung-hee was the most powerful person among all the presidents of South Korea. He was so powerful that the chaebols represented by Samsung had already surrendered and handed over most of their shares to the government. However, he was assassinated at this time. Kim Jae-gyu, who assassinated him, once said in person that he had the support of the Americans behind him.
Judging from what happened later, Park Chung-hee had a tendency to lead South Korea to independence, but now as a member of the United States, Sheffield naturally did not want to see this happen. Fortunately, these Central American countries should not be prone to the emergence of powerful figures, and even if they do appear, it will not be difficult to deal with them.
"The advantage of Central America is that there are many small countries there. We need to control them indirectly and directly establish plantations to prevent stupid bastards from destroying the stability of these countries and control their exports. You establish plantations in different countries. Once a problem occurs in a country, you must immediately prevent the situation from spreading and provide as much help as possible to the country in question. This way, you can form a joint guarantee. Isn't it familiar?"
"Don't worry, it's just like when we jointly established patrol teams to deal with the underground railroad." Gale nodded slightly, indicating that he was familiar with this field. "We have enough manpower and weapons to maintain the stability of these countries."
"That's right, it's the way our fathers dealt with the Underground Railroad. All the families joined forces to stop the Yankees from coming and stealing. But this time the enemy is far from being strong. For some of you present here, after losing once in the United States and once in Brazil, if you can't even deal with these small countries, you won't have any excuses." Sheffield sat up straight and clapped his hands. "We can be friends with the powerful people in these small countries, but the powerful people in big countries are our enemies from beginning to end, because we can't control them. The powerful people in big countries will definitely find ways to be independent after a long time. We can't let them be independent and listen to us in everything."
Keane later became the emperor of the banana republics for decades with the help of the United Fruit Company. Sheffield felt that he could do better, and he had a lot of historical experience to learn from. A country that is not this big can make friends with the powerful, but if it is bigger than this, you must have democratic elections and cannot let any strong person hold the position firmly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, look at what this is?" John Connor, who had been away for a while, appeared pushing a huge cake. This was a cake made according to the map of Central America. He put the big cake on the table and nodded with a smile, "Please enjoy."
The huge cake looked very appetizing and made people salivate. Every shareholder present knew that this was not just a cake, but represented their foothold. Several pretty maids appeared and distributed tableware.
"My dearest friends, you all know that we are next to a group of poor countries in the south. The bastards from these countries always want to sneak in. Don't be polite. Controlling these countries is also to protect our own homeland. We must hold them in our hands so that we won't lose control. Don't be polite, please use it!" Sheffield was not polite at all. He directly cut the Cuban part from the cake and said with sympathy, "It's almost the 20th century, and there are still Spanish colonies in America. This is simply a shame for the Monroe Doctrine."
"Good!" With the sound of knife and fork touching, the huge cake was eaten up in an instant. The invisible black hand finally broke out of the ground in Texas, crossed the warm Gulf of Mexico, and hovered over these small countries.
Please add some to your collection, I don’t want to be the one who pushes it too hard.
(End of this chapter)
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