Chapter 334 Coal Workers' Strike
It is not that the power of the union cannot be used, but it will inevitably be abandoned after it has done its job. This is Carnegie's experience. However, for Sheffield, the coal industry has nothing to do with itself. Although the coal cartel has the influence of Morgan, the coal cartel itself does not have much control over the coal industry.
Naturally, Sheffield did not need to think badly about the Miners' Union. The miners' disturbance would not affect their industry. This time, the coal cartel was attacked by the combination of capitalists and trade unions, which was a new threat.
"Send a few people to follow this hunchback!" Sheffield was not going to do the operation himself. He always believed in shooting secretly. He just asked Jesla to send people to monitor, and he himself had to return to New Orleans.
The slave owner was very busy. The New Orleans World's Fair had been approved by the Louisiana state government and supported by Washington. It could be said that Sheffield himself had serious things to do and just took time out to cause trouble. He planned to make it more lively this time, and at the same time let Washington see the role of the United Company in the development of emerging markets.
The main purpose of this is, "Mr. President, if you want to cause trouble, don't do it during this publicity window, otherwise businessmen around the world will be able to see the internal strife in the country."
Sheffield, who has lived in the United States for many years, has long understood that many human ideas are common, and there is no difference between Eastern and Western cultures. When it is time to cover up, it will be covered up. When it is time for officials and businessmen to collude, they will collude. There is nothing wrong with adapting to the local environment.
"There seems to be a conflict in attitude in your communication with Rockefeller Jr. If you decide to start from case law, and if Roosevelt first gets rid of the trusts influenced by Morgan and then starts with the Rockefeller family, the result of the judgment will be unfavorable according to previous case law." Sheffield returned from a long journey, and naturally did not hide the whole story from the women. Anne was confused after hearing it. Why did it sound like there was no way out?
"Anne, there is only one explanation for William's change of attitude in this matter!" Natalia's eyes turned, and she spoke with a bright look, "He is too greedy. He wants to achieve two almost opposite goals. He wants to weaken Morgan's power and successfully fight against the president's authority. However, this almost requires taking opposing positions. If a group sees Morgan being weakened, then the Rockefeller family will almost certainly be weakened from the perspective of case law. If he wants to fight against the president's authority, he must defeat the antitrust law in the Supreme Court from the very beginning, so that the trusts close to Morgan will not be weakened. In the final analysis, my dear is too greedy and wants everything."
Sheffield sat there with an embarrassment on his face, and finally admitted reluctantly, "Yes, that's essentially it."
They wanted to see Morgan in disgrace, but they also wanted to destroy the dignity of antitrust law and succeed in their fight! The slave owners' minds were full of "I want it all", so they expressed two different opinions.
"But it's not completely impossible to succeed. Strictly speaking, the coal cartel is not a trust company. The difference is very obvious. Large companies have large legal teams. If the federal government uses antitrust laws to deal with the coal cartel, it is almost slander. For many companies, it is the best opportunity to attack. So I think Roosevelt will not make this low-level mistake!" Sheffield analyzed with a cold face, "So even if he takes action against the coal cartel, it will not involve the issue of trusts."
If Roosevelt used the antitrust law to deal with the cartel alliance, it would give the opponent an opportunity. To do such a thing as a president is to say that he does not understand the law, and to put it bluntly, it is trampling on the dignity of the law. It is unknown whether Roosevelt can remain in office as president.
"That's right!" Anne and Natalia nodded at the same time, with an astonishing frequency.
"That's right!" Sheffield said affirmatively. Different people naturally have different considerations. Ordinary workers are concerned about salary increases and improved benefits, while he hopes that his salary will never increase and the lower the better. In essence, the two ideas are in conflict, which is the different perspectives on the problem.
Different perspectives will lead to different results. Take history for example, the Qing Dynasty, which is still alive today. The official and folk evaluations are opposite. The official evaluation in later generations should be said to be not low, which is a bit modest. It can be said that the evaluation of the Qing Dynasty is very high. But the folks don't think so. After all, the majority of the population and the main ethnic groups have a little difficulty in accepting this dynasty.
Now that Sheffield is a citizen of the United States, he does not have to worry about this issue. It has nothing to do with the great American century. However, once there are United States scholars who specialize in East Asian history, their judgment will probably be similar to the official attitude of the Republic, because the territory and population of the Qing Dynasty can be quantified.
As for whether most people can accept it, the official attitude of the Republic can ignore such controversy, and the United States will not take into account the national sentiments of foreigners and say good things about them.
"Can you invite the company and some connections in Paris over?" Sheffield picked up Anne and put her on his lap, asking for help in a sweet and nagging way, his mouth getting closer and closer to her smooth face, causing Anne to avoid him. "Just ask your father. How can I have more connections than your father?"
"Then let's talk about it later!" Sheffield lost interest all of a sudden. If he really handed this matter over to the old man, he suspected that the venue where he held the World Expo would become a place for the old man to pick up girls. Isn't this nonsense? It is obviously a place for him to pick up girls, and the original intention was to make Annie happy.
Sheffield began to contact foreign companies that had business dealings with the United Company in New Orleans, mainly German companies. Of course, he did not forget the Ottoman Empire in terms of human resources trade, and some Latin American businessmen were also invited. Then he asked Rockefeller Jr. to contact some cooperative companies with business dealings to make this World Expo more lively.
Sheffield sent out all the invitations regardless of who the recipients were or whether they would show up in the end. It even invited Japan and the widow of Sato Sukeo to visit.
While the leaders of the thirteen southern states were sending out invitations to heroes, the coal cartel encountered trouble. In fact, the cartel is just a platform to stabilize prices. Of course, the coal cartel is an exception and has more cohesion than other cartels, but it is indeed an open organization and does not violate the law on the surface.
Although there were mistakes on the issue of the Miners' Union, they still firmly controlled the anthracite market. However, these companies did not expect John Mitchell to come with such momentum and stir up the strike that had just cooled down in the name of the Miners' Union, which made Jace and other shareholders of the company very angry.
You have to know that the companies in the coal cartel are most proud of constantly undermining the efforts of coal workers to organize unions. In their eyes, John Mitchell's visit was undoubtedly a provocation.
Although some individual anthracite operators made fortunes in the anthracite mining areas, for decades, the vast majority of anthracite production in the United States was still controlled by the coal cartel and a few other railroads. Because anthracite was controlled by the cartel and caused endless labor struggles, even though anthracite production was actually controlled by the railroads of financiers such as Morgan, the dominance of coal and the coal giants remained in people's minds.
The emergence of John Mitchell broke people's inherent impression. With the help of a team of experienced bituminous coal workers who had fought for the cause, John Mitchell arrived at the anthracite mine and organized a strike of more than 10,000 people in just half a month. This caught the coal cartel, which had always believed that it had solved the problem, off guard.
As the current controller of the coal cartel, Jace informed Morgan of the current difficulties, while expressing a tough attitude to the outside world, hoping to replicate the victory of Gao En leading the coal cartel 20 years ago.
However, the long-term suppression eventually resulted in an avalanche. The strike organized by John Mitchell attracted the response of more than 100,000 anthracite workers within a few days. It can be said that the speed at which things developed far exceeded everyone's expectations.
Morgan in New York was full of surprise, and Sheffield in New Orleans was also uneasy. After thinking for a moment, he ordered the butler, "Go to the bituminous coal area and find out if those coal mines are producing as usual?"
Soon the butler brought back positive news, which made Sheffield stand there for a long time. Natalia asked, "Is there anything to worry about?"
"The leader of the Miners' Union is very powerful. He will win this time!" Sheffield whispered. "At first, I just wanted to find someone to test the power of the coal cartel. I didn't expect that the person I found was a lion. Anthracite is just a good-sounding propaganda. In fact, the production capacity of bituminous coal is far greater than that of anthracite. The coal cartel has been controlling the coal market by taking advantage of information asymmetry and with the help of Morgan. Now there is a strike in the anthracite mines. If it continues, the anthracite market will be replaced by bituminous coal. The bituminous coal mines have not stopped production, but because the production of anthracite has stopped, the entire country's coal consumption has shifted from anthracite to bituminous coal."
"Once this transformation is completed, the coal cartel will be doomed! How could a small union leader do such a thing?" Natalia couldn't help but feel a little scared when she heard this, and said worriedly, "Fortunately it's not targeting you."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
