Chapter 320: Justice Delayed
Although the slave owners did not admit that they had anything to do with this matter, they did not say that they could not take advantage of it. Anyway, it was time to put an end to it. The southern states were now full of martial law, which reminded people of the few years after the defeat of the Civil War.
Now the Louisiana Governor Lange Hunt particularly needs Sheffield's help because the number of reports, both true and false, has far exceeded his imagination. There have been tens of thousands of reports in a short period of time. What if he handles all of them?
"Of course we have to deal with them all. This is what some of my allies and I want to do!" Sheffield met with the governor at his Oak Manor and said with a relaxed look, "We can even talk to the patriotic KKK members. Criminals are criminals. We can't just ignore them because there are too many of them. Not dealing with them is condoning crime. Bringing criminals to justice is the best explanation to the citizens."
"But this will cost a lot for the police department!" Langehunt also has his own unspeakable secrets and is afraid that it will affect next year's election.
"If the issue of black people is not handled properly, there may be problems in next year's state assembly election. This matter must be handled properly, which will increase the probability of winning the election. We must never give up just to save public spending." Sheffield refuted Langhunt's idea, which was definitely a move that put the cart before the horse.
If you want to raise high and put down easily now, it will cause big problems in the future. You can't do everything to save money, and money is not saved. This is just like after Yongle died, the Ming Dynasty gave up the territory outside the Great Wall to save money, and entered a vicious circle of shrinking borders from generation to generation, ignoring the outside of the Great Wall. The most important thing is that there is no strong enemy in the grassland. A dynasty took the initiative to shrink itself into an imperial capital and the emperor guarded the national gate, putting itself in danger.
This cannot be covered up by the flattery of being the Son of Heaven guarding the country's border. If Langehunt only thinks about the fiscal surplus during his term, Sheffield's plan will be in vain. He has already invested huge amounts of money in New Orleans. If the governor does not change his mind, the slave owner swears that Langehunt will not survive more than a month.
"You are only responsible for arresting people. Who will investigate false charges and wrongful convictions in this environment? Leave everything to me. It will not cause financial burden to Louisiana. You can sentence them as heavily as possible. Where can you find these free laborers?"
Since he has turned prison operations into a business, Sheffield naturally stated very bluntly that, first of all, he is very opposed to the death penalty because death row prisoners have no value to him. Secondly, he is opposed to lenient sentencing because he needs to make a profit from criminals. The laws of each state are not exactly the same. A rapist can be sentenced to three to eight years, so the sentence must not be less than seven years.
If the sentence is too light, not only Sheffield will be dissatisfied, but public opinion across the country will also be dissatisfied.
"Our governor agreed? I didn't expect that he would hesitate at this point. Wasn't he very tough at the beginning?" After Langehunt left, McHale walked out leisurely and joked, "The attitudes of these politicians are really hard to predict."
"These politicians are like this. They always think about the results of their own elections first. They want to get things done but are afraid of risks. It's not that I look down on them. I borrowed a group of officials from the Qing Dynasty who are more capable than them. At least they can be ruthless when they need to be." Sheffield chuckled and sneered at the United States's election being above all else. In his heart, he never felt that the United States' political system was so advanced. No country can always stay at the top.
But there is one thing that the United States did very well in later generations, and that is to kill the second-largest country. No one can prove that they are stronger than the United States. This basic understanding is still very clear and worthy of admiration.
"There's nothing we can do about it. These politicians can't ignore the election." McHale shook his head and expressed helplessness. "In your opinion, it's better for a country to be strong by implementing an empire, similar to the German Empire?"
"A country like Germany has such a small area and a limited population. No system can be better than the current one. Besides, the imperial system is very disadvantageous to businessmen like us. Few countries that practice the imperial system look up to us." Sheffield snorted insincerely, "So we still have to be grateful. We were born in the great United States. You don't count. You were born in the United States of Brazil..."
I can talk too! I can be patriotic too! McHale was unhappy when he heard this. He had made some contributions but had worked hard. How could he suddenly become a member of the United States of Brazil?
Sheffield had no time to pay attention to McHale's rising American ambitions. He was counting on his fingers. According to last year's United States census data, the permanent population was 76 million. It didn't seem to be as many as claimed, but if the hidden illegal immigrants and uncounted data were included, it must be more than 80 million.
Currently, black people account for 10% of the population, which is about 8 million people. It seems that one in ten people is black, but in fact, the proportion of black people in the United States is decreasing year by year. When the United States was first established, black people accounted for 20% of the entire United States.
This is because North America became the first region for European immigrants, and the birth rate of North America and the influx of foreign European immigrants caused the white population to grow much faster than the black population. According to history, the proportion of blacks will drop to 9% in 30 years.
Of the eight million blacks, half currently live in the southern states, because after the Civil War, the South was destroyed, and blacks gained freedom and there was a trend of migration to the North. The black population in the north and south is about the same, even if it is 4 million.
Excluding women, there are still 2 million left. Apart from the old, weak, sick and disabled, the backbone of the black male population is in the millions. Sheffield is not greedy, just arrest the black criminals. According to the 30% crime rate in a hundred years, it is not an exaggeration to estimate that half of the black people in this era have committed crimes, so arrest 500,000 people.
On average, only 30,000 to 40,000 people were arrested in each of the 13 southern states, which was not a terrible number and was very consistent with historical laws, except that it was brought forward by ten years. If Sheffield had not appeared, the formal action of depriving black people of their political rights in the southern states would have ended in 1910.
Now with Sheffield's promotion, this matter has been done ten years in advance, so the Democratic Party's advantage is even more obvious. In addition, through the shooting of the feminist activist, the search for Tracy movement has attracted attention, and some Yankees who are not afraid of talking too much can change their naive views, which may be beneficial in the next national election.
After meeting with Sheffield, Langerhunt soon appeared in public again, with a solemn tone, fiercely criticizing the public opinion in recent months, believing that such public opinion led to a series of events. However, this time he did not focus on criticizing fake news, but positively acknowledged the supervisory role of public opinion, and then expressed the Louisiana government's determination to solve the problem, "I will use all means to restore Louisiana to its previous prosperity and tranquility, bravely say no to criminals, so that oppressed black women will no longer have to face such atrocities in the future, and let black men know the importance of family instead of hurting women."
After the high-sounding statement, all police forces in Louisiana were operating at full speed. An operation to restore order had already begun in Louisiana. Soon after Langehunt's statement, the southern states that had been hit by the accusation all expressed that they would definitely restore the confidence of their citizens, and advised the protesting crowds, most of whom were organized by the KKK, to believe that they could definitely do what they said.
After the southern states expressed their views one after another, Albert, the famous editor-in-chief of the Chicago Daily Times, wrote a column about how justice may be late but will never be absent, expressing his support for these Democratic governors, but still calling for more than just public relations for public opinion, but to truly solve the problem.
"This editor-in-chief is truly a talent!" Gail expressed his admiration generously while flipping through the Chicago Daily Times.
"Really? Thank you for the compliment!" Albert was very great, but the slave owner was the real hero! Sheffield thanked Gail for the compliment on Albert's behalf. He had come up with the title for Albert.
"It's as if you wrote it. From what I know about you, you don't have that ability." Gail shook his head slightly, thinking that Sheffield was just bragging. He knew that the Chicago Daily Times was a newspaper under his control.
"Starting tomorrow, public opinion will be drawn to other things. We have succeeded in this matter, but it would be better if the process of arresting people does not attract other attention." Sheffield said calmly, "This kind of thing should be done quietly."
"Is this true? What can you do?" Gail asked in disbelief. "It's been several months. The newspapers have been following up on the news. Do you have a way to divert public opinion?"
"You'll know tomorrow. A man has to be harder on himself. I've put myself in it." Sheffield gave a wry smile. Starting tomorrow, he and Edith Rockefeller will be very close in Brazil. Photos of them walking on the beach will be on the headlines of major newspapers. Then their newspapers will follow up and begin to divert the attention of the southern states from the arrest of blacks.
Sure enough, the next day, the Chicago Daily Times published an intimate photo of Edith Rockefeller and a young man in Brazil. The emotional problems of the richest woman in the United States were triggered, and the report was reprinted by many newspapers as soon as it appeared.
(End of this chapter)
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