Chapter 272 Xie's Scam
Given the relationship between Mark Hanna and the President, Roosevelt had to think about this issue. If he had no political ambitions, he would not have traveled all the way to Cuba and then turned around to run for governor of New York.
Now that his status in the Republican Party has risen and he has a group of loyal supporters, he has also attracted the attention of the President. Should he put everything aside and compete with the President, or be a collaborator and work independently after he has grown stronger? This is a question he needs to think carefully about.
Roosevelt knew that it was still early before the real election and he still had a chance to judge how to make the best decision to gain the greatest benefit. This meeting was just a test for both parties and how to get along would depend on the other party's conditions.
As for the Democratic Party, the most popular candidate is still William Bryan. History has given Sheffield a dilemma at this time. He hates William Bryan's ideas very much, but this person is very popular among the Democrats, and he cannot do anything to split the Democratic Party.
After the Civil War, the Democratic Party was already in a weak position, and it was not easy for them to win. He had to consider the unity of the overall environment and could not destroy the weak base of the Democratic Party. But William McKinley, the Republican on the other side, seemed to be a good candidate.
Sheffield remembered that William McKinley was assassinated and his successor was Vice President Roosevelt. Sheffield always wanted to maintain the known history as much as possible and had a sense of rejection towards unfamiliar figures because he had not yet gained enough benefits from the familiar environment and it was not time to jump out.
Out of consideration for maintaining the historical order and preventing major changes in history, if no one assassinated the president, Sheffield would have wanted to do it himself. But Roosevelt was a president who was very unfriendly to trusts. Once Roosevelt became president, it would be almost the same as William Bryan becoming president.
It was bad for big business, but he preferred Roosevelt to William Bryan, whom he didn't know much about. He knew one thing about Roosevelt, that he was very greedy for power and wanted to challenge the unspoken rule of re-election. In the third election, in order to get rid of the Republican Party's control, he ran for election alone under the name of a new party, which caused the Republican Party to split, and gave the Democratic Party an opportunity.
That election was more important to the Democratic Party than the Cleveland presidential election, which was the first to break the Republican Party's monopoly on politics. The two-party politics in the United States was back on track, and it was no longer extremely difficult for the Democratic Party to win.
From this point of view, Roosevelt's greed for power actually stimulated the political balance of the United States. If he had not split the Republican Party, the Democratic Party would always have tried to steal elections.
This year's election for Sheffield means he has to watch one bastard and another bastard run for election. There is no one he likes.
"One day I will be able to jump out of the car!" Sheffield held up the draft of the New Orleans reconstruction plan that had not been made public but had already been obtained from the State Assembly, and thanked Gail and McHale. "From past experience, when it comes to election years, these politicians are like cerebral palsy. They are still there, but their souls have long been drained away. To be honest, something was wrong when I wanted to push forward the project this time, but I finally got it."
Sheffield will not mention the strange phenomenon brought about by the four-year election cycle, because this is the national condition of our great America. He knows that this is a weakness of the United States of America. Fortunately, it has not encountered a trade war with an evenly matched opponent, otherwise this weakness alone would be enough to make the United States cry.
Someone once evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of the Soviet Union and the United States. Politically, he believed that the weakness of the United States' elections every four years was too obvious, and it was difficult to form a coherent policy. As long as the Soviet Union continued to move forward according to its goals, it would one day achieve victory over the United States.
However, at the end of the Soviet Union, a famous capitulationist emerged, which exposed the Soviet Union's shortcomings: when it wanted to surrender, no one could stop it. If the US president wanted to surrender himself, he had to see if others were willing.
Under the support of its pig-like opponents, it had already struggled to slaughter Japan and Germany, the beacon of humanity that implemented the Plaza Accord. Without discovering its own institutional problems, it saw the collapse of its opponents first.
"So, when do we start?" Gail and McHale asked. "We have contacted many farmers, almost all over the southern states. Because of the Panama Canal project, many people are interested."
Sheffield smiled. In the hands of the United Company, the Panama Canal project had almost become a pie in the sky. They would talk about it when they met Vanderbilt II and Edith Rockefeller. This golden signboard was really used to the extreme, and he had to admit that this project was really effective as bait.
Judging from his current actions, Sheffield is actually similar to a liar, but the difference is that he is a very rich liar. With the market value of several companies in the stock market and the rights to build the Panama Canal in his hands, no one would think that he is in urgent need of money. No one knows what Sheffield will use his money for.
It can be said that what he is now implementing is the earliest Ponzi scheme, which directly made the founder unemployed.
The First World War had just ended and the world economic system was in chaos. Ponzi took advantage of this chaos. He claimed that he could make money by buying certain postal notes in Europe and then selling them to the United States. Due to factors such as policies and exchange rates between countries, many economic behaviors are generally not easy for ordinary people to understand.
In fact, anyone with a little financial knowledge would point out that it is impossible to make money in this way. However, Ponzi was mysterious in finance and set up a huge bait. Moreover, he gave people the evidence of "seeing is believing": the first batch of "investors" did get the returns promised by Ponzi within the specified time. As a result, a large number of "investors" followed suit.
Now that the Ponzi scheme has not yet appeared, Sheffield has begun to operate his own Sheffield scheme, relying only on the existing industry as bait to obtain funds sufficient to take over Carnegie Steel. Sheffield does not even want to pay a penny, and will use the funds raised to take over.
Even Sheffield was prepared to default on his debts in case of a collapse, or at least for a few years, until the industries he invested in made profits. In this respect, he was even more excessive than the inventor of the Ponzi scheme. He harvested citizens, southern farmers, Vanderbilt II and Edith Rockefeller, almost all classes of people.
Now is the time to take action. Sheffield knows that the risk this time is huge. Fortunately, he is a real rich man and is not trying to get something for nothing. Although his methods are similar to those of a Ponzi scheme, he has the ability to cover the losses. At least everyone believes that he has this ability.
"Of course we have to start as soon as possible. We can't wait even a minute to make money!" Sheffield said, but then asked, "Have you cleared out the black community? Don't cause us any trouble."
"Don't worry, we lied to them. They are all waiting to work abroad. There are even some rumors that the company will provide them with housing so they can work abroad with peace of mind." McHale said, patting his chest.
"If there are not enough people, we can buy people from Puerto Rico." Sheffield hesitated and lowered his voice. In fact, this was already a secret statement. In order for the Panama project to proceed as scheduled, if there is not enough labor, the labor business of that year will be restored.
The Spanish-American War broke out, Spain was defeated, and Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States according to the Treaty of Paris. The United States first took the form of a military government to govern Puerto Rico. During its two years of governance of the island, the military government built schools, roads, railways, hospitals and health facilities.
Although it is cruel, it is still important to try to reduce costs. Even the Chinese workers in San Francisco have been intercepted. Don't go to Panama yet. Let's finish the reconstruction project in New Orleans first.
Less than a week after Sheffield returned to New Orleans, the state government officially announced a plan to redevelop the city. Then the allies of the United Company sent out their own private armed forces to go door to door to urge citizens to relocate, using both soft and hard tactics to get residents to vacate their homes.
Sheffield believes that everything is for the good of these citizens. Of course, some people may not understand, but it doesn’t matter. If a child is disobedient, just give him a couple of slaps. This is all for his future growth.
As for him, he discussed the progress of the project with the Chinese labor leader Zhang Deqing. Based on the considerations of speed, quality and cost-effectiveness, it was more reassuring to use the most efficient labor group. In fact, capitalists throughout the United States liked Chinese workers who worked hard without complaint, but citizens of the United States did not like them. They believed that Chinese workers stole their jobs.
But ordinary capitalists would not have the guts to hire Chinese workers as Sheffield did, despite the Chinese Exclusion Act. Even Zhang Deqing was surprised and suspected that he had misheard, "Are you working in China?"
"Where else can we go? This is not California, what are you afraid of?" Sheffield held his head with one hand and said calmly, "We Dixies are of course very xenophobic, but the order is different from that of the citizens of the Great West. We hate the Yankees the most, then the blacks, and you guys are so far behind."
The order is absolutely correct. Heretics are more hateful than pagans. Sheffield's ranking is very objective and fair.
"I'm just a little surprised. I wonder about the salary?" Zhang Deqing hesitated and asked cautiously.
"70% of the same white people's salary. I will never default on my payment. Considering that it is not an easy job, I will not require you to work sixteen hours a day. I will split it in half, so twelve hours will be enough." Sheffield stated very lenient conditions.
(End of this chapter)
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