Chapter 303 United Tobacco Company
The imbalance of the sex ratio is a serious problem. Let's not talk about the Republic of China a hundred years later. The gender ratio problem of the Chinese workers is much more serious. This cannot be solved by Confucian culture. Many crimes are closely related to this problem. The West Coast citizens have a higher evaluation of the Japanese community than the Chinese community because the gender ratio in the Japanese community is more balanced than that in the Chinese community.
However, the reality is that because the Chinese labor population is too different from the main citizens of the United States in appearance, this part of people cannot be absorbed by the United States, so they have to go to a place where it is easier to live. It is easier to solve this problem in Latin American countries than in the United States.
"Boss, would you like to stay for dinner? Today is a good day." Zhang Deqing made the invitation. After all, there were not many American companies that dared to directly employ Chinese workers, and bosses like Sheffield were not uncommon.
"Saving a meal is a good thing." Sheffield revealed his stingy nature as soon as he heard it. He was ready to have a free meal here and simply ignored the dissatisfaction of several women who followed him.
Zhang Deqing was unaware of this. He had always been somewhat face-blind to these white people. He had never seen any of these women before and could not recognize who was who. He walked to the kitchen and said, "In fact, we overseas Chinese still hope to return to our own country. Unfortunately, the current situation of our Qing Dynasty is worrying. I don't know when we can have a day of revival. What can we learn from the United States?"
"That day will come, but we don't have to learn it from the United States." Sheffield followed him into the kitchen. Zhang Deqing's problem was so big that he couldn't explain it.
In terms of the dynasty's foreign policy, the An-Shi Rebellion was a landmark event. After that, the Central Plains dynasty turned conservative and no longer had the motivation to expand its territory on a large scale. Instead, it turned to self-defense. This is also the reason why the territory of the Song and Ming dynasties was not as large as that of the Han and Tang dynasties. In fact, the Ming Dynasty only had two generations of emperors to expand. After Yongle died, it entered a mode of constantly abolishing administrative agencies and giving up land to defend the Great Wall.
Watching the chef cooking in the kitchen, Sheffield suddenly had an idea and asked, "How much salt should be put in this dish?"
"It requires a little sugar and the right amount of salt, and you need to control the heat yourself." The chef was stunned but still answered truthfully.
"A little? The right amount?" Sheffield looked at Zhang Deqing and said, "That's the problem. Cooking is easy, but many things can't be relied on experience. You have to calculate how much material is needed. Mathematics is extremely important!"
In the field of mathematics in ancient times, it goes without saying that ancient Greece was the leader, and its achievements were more than the sum of all civilizations combined. They were not even on the same level. Algebra was not even the area where ancient Greece was strong. Their real strength was in the field of geometry.
If it had continued to develop in this way, Western civilization would have been the best in the world two thousand years ago. However, since the Roman Empire accepted Christianity, there has been no more research worth mentioning in ancient Greek mathematics. Christians even destroyed the gathering place of mathematicians.
From this point of view, Western civilization fell into the pit earlier than Eastern civilization, but it also emerged from the pit earlier than Eastern civilization. After the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, it seemed that all its meridians were opened up at once, and it soared directly into the sky.
During the unified Roman Empire, Western mathematics died out. In Europe, which had been divided for a long time, countries competed with each other and exploded with powerful energy. So this matter depends on how to make choices and which aspect to pay more attention to.
The slave owner had no ability to explain the issues of historical evolution. He just told Zhang Deqing through cooking that mathematics is important. As for why it is so important, he can figure it out himself.
On this day, Sheffield stayed in the Chinese residence for a day, and felt like overseas Chinese celebrating the Spring Festival. He also let several women witness how he ate grass.
The entire group of Chinese workers did not look frail at all. With adequate food and heavy labor, they all looked muscular. Food was naturally no problem. The head office was the leader in agriculture and animal husbandry in the United States. If the news of insufficient food supply got out, wouldn't it be a laughing stock?
"Would you like to eat something more? You're eating grass again. You're definitely not hungry!" Edith Rockefeller brought out the Texas steak, which was famous for its large size and was sizzling with oil.
"No, I need to keep my food intake moderate, otherwise I'm afraid the rich woman won't want me." Sheffield felt full just by looking at the steak in front of him and quickly declined.
After the Panama Canal was reopened, there has been no valuable news. Every once in a while, the Panama Canal Engineering Company will hold a press conference on time to introduce the progress of the project to the media. To be honest, the reason why many media are concerned about the canal project is largely to wait for news such as the outbreak of the plague. Well, for many people, it is a human tragedy and a sad fact. But for newspapers and media, it is the most eye-catching news.
It's like lawyers hope that every family will have a case, either theft or robbery, or even murder, but these cases must be solved, otherwise it will only be the police who are busy and not them. Doctors hope that every family will be busy with illness, and these night soil collectors are also looking forward to some unexpected events day and night.
However, these media are destined not to wait. Currently, the timber processing in New Orleans is supported by the forests along the Panama Canal. The slave owners are experienced in this area and do not need anyone to teach them what destructive mining is. They cut down valuable wood and burn worthless wood. The smoke and dust in the sky over Panama lasts for a long time, and people who don't know would think a volcano has erupted.
The reason for doing this is, of course, to squeeze out the last bit of natural resources. When the surface of the earth has little value anymore, it is time to use chemical sprays. Sheffield also wants to know whether Bayer is just a name for itself and whether it can live up to the expectations of his ally.
Recently, Sheffield has been busy with the last thing that can attract his attention, which is his involvement in the tobacco industry. Today, he finally waited for representatives from other southern tobacco companies to come to discuss doing something big.
Sheffield started his speech by saying that the tobacco companies were competing fiercely, making insufficient profits, engaging in blind price wars, and having low quality. This was very formatted. In fact, Morgan said something similar when he integrated the railways and entered the steel industry. To put it bluntly, Sheffield was copying Morgan's blueprint and doing the same thing as Morgan. If Morgan were here today, it would be very interesting.
Since there are so many disadvantages to each doing their own thing, it is inevitable that they will unite to become bigger and stronger.
"Currently, the tobacco industry is highly competitive. Tobacco is produced on Dixie land, but we don't have a strong tobacco company. The Yankees have taken the lion's share of the profits. This is not acceptable. I believe that the lion's share of the profits from anything grown on Southern soil should belong to us Dixie people." After a moment of high-sounding nonsense, Sheffield changed the subject and said, "Merger is the only way out. It will reduce competition and give us greater pricing power. Even if we don't raise prices, at least our profits won't shrink. We can even get involved in the export industry."
Currently the largest tobacco company in the United States is American Tobacco, which is making a big push overseas, but Sheffield knows that a year later, in order to quell the fierce trade war, Britain's Imperial Tobacco Company and the United States' American Tobacco Company jointly founded a joint venture, British American Tobacco.
According to the agreement, the two companies will not trade in each other's domestic market, but have the right to use each other's brands and trademarks in their respective markets. The two companies' businesses outside the UK or US domestic markets will be operated by British American Tobacco, allowing the new company's business to spread across the world.
But in fact, the establishment of British American Tobacco Company ultimately benefited the British, and British capital eventually controlled the majority of the shares of the joint venture. Later, American Tobacco Company gave up its shares in the joint venture. In this regard, the old world hegemon taught the new world hegemon a lesson, letting American capital know what it means that old ginger is still spicy.
So Sheffield was ready to start a new business. As greedy as he was, he certainly would not choose to put his hopes on the chance that the British would give him a break, so he started by grabbing the domestic market of the United States. Once the British American Tobacco Company, a joint venture, was established, he criticized the American Tobacco Company for being unpatriotic, a comprador of British imperialism, and a specialist in exploiting citizens of the United States.
"William means that we should set our goal to be on par with American Tobacco Company?" The manager of Sherman Tobacco Company asked doubtfully, "It seems that this goal is too high."
"It's too high to rely on your company alone, but if we all unite, the goal is not too high!" Sheffield said with his head held high, "Because the raw materials are in our hands, and the United Company has multiple national channels, the market is not a problem. The biggest problem is whether you are willing to cooperate. If you are not willing, although we are all Southern enterprises, Dixie people's own company, once the United Company officially enters the tobacco industry, accidental injuries may be inevitable."
Sheffield had made up his mind to enter the tobacco industry! Regardless of whether the managers of these other tobacco companies were in favor or against it, this was inevitable. Lighting a cigar, Sheffield put his hands on the table and asked, "Now that I have finished speaking, who is in favor and who is against it?"
After a suffocating silence, all the managers present acquiesced to this fact. On this day, United Tobacco Company was officially established. Sheffield once again acquired nine tobacco companies, together with Reynolds Tobacco Company, and officially established United Tobacco Company, which was listed in New Orleans. He himself held 60% of the shares.
(End of this chapter)
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