Chapter 409: The Ministry of Justice Sends Warmth
Anne walked slowly to Arlington Manor, and when she saw the two visitors, she sat down gracefully and asked, "What brings you to this small town?"
"We are investigators from the Federal Department of Justice. It's nothing serious. We just sent two subpoenas." One of them said straightly, "Mrs. William, we have received some complaints against the canned food trust and beef trust involved in the United Company. The temporary court will summon the relevant personnel when appropriate."
"Are you threatening me?" Anne opened her slightly innocent eyes wide, took the coffee handed over by the maid, and said with an expression that said I knew nothing, "I am a woman, just the wife of the boss of the joint company. Are you taking advantage of my husband's absence to bully me? Actually, I am thinking of something."
"I wonder what Mrs. William remembered?" asked the investigator who had just handed in the subpoena.
"I was thinking about kicking you out and charging you with robbery at the manor. But I thought, after you leave, someone will serve you a subpoena, and the matter will still not be resolved." Anne smiled gently, "That's it. I won't let the Arlington Police Department arrest you."
After the two left, Anne sighed slightly, came to Annabelle's room and told her the whole story, and said, "Should we find William right away?"
"Beef? Canned food?" Annabell took off her glasses and put the book aside. "It doesn't seem to be a big deal. I heard Morgan is going to take the case to the Supreme Court? It would be best if we have nothing to do with this matter. Let Morgan try to put pressure on the White House."
"But their court summons has already been delivered!" Annie said hesitantly, "I'm afraid he will come back and tell on me."
"Little William is not an unreasonable person. What right does he have to criticize you? I don't know where you are all year round." Annabelle comforted her granddaughter-in-law, "In this regard, he is just a little more restrained than that prodigal son."
The prodigal son that Annabell mentioned was naturally the one in Paris. It's not that he is very opposed to personal moral shortcomings, but the previous heir really only wanted to spend money and not earn money, just like the style of the Vanderbilt family. This is something she cannot tolerate. The heirs of this generation can spend and earn money, which is still within the range of tolerance.
Sheffield returned to Arlington exactly one month after the St. Louis trial, just as Northern Securities appealed to the Supreme Court.
"Ah? Court summons?" Sheffield's first reaction was that it was fortunate that Alice Roosevelt did not enter the manor with him, but was resting in a house in the city.
This was also a respect for the Arlington hostess, but Sheffield did not expect that the United Company would actually receive a subpoena for prosecution. He thought he could stay out of it and watch Morgan being dealt with by the White House.
But these two subpoenas seemed to shatter the slave owner's fantasy, and it seemed that he could not stay out of it.
"What do you think?" Anne finally breathed a sigh of relief after finally waiting for her husband to come back, and asked the real boss of the joint company if there was any solution.
"Canned food, beef?" Sheffield saw the two categories written on the subpoena. To be honest, he really didn't think these two things were particularly important. The establishment of the trust was actually just for profit. Both of these are agricultural and livestock products, and the profit is already very low.
After the successful layout of supermarket chains, canned food and beef have become easier to cash in by relying on supermarket chains. They are no longer as important as before. Even without these two trusts, the United Company will not be affected.
For a moment, Sheffield wanted to dissolve the two trusts and turn the trusts into cartels. Although cartels are unstable, the members of the cartel have the motive to cheat: this is a typical "prisoner's dilemma". Given that the production quantity and price of other companies remain unchanged, a member company will gain additional huge benefits by secretly increasing production, which will encourage member companies to secretly increase production.
If each member company secretly increases production, the total market supply will obviously increase significantly, the market price will inevitably fall, and the cartel's efforts to limit production and raise prices will collapse. If the cartel cannot effectively solve this problem, it will eventually lead to the disintegration of the cartel.
However, agriculture and animal husbandry are not industries that can easily increase production. To increase production, agriculture must increase land, and animal husbandry must increase the number of livestock. The former can be spotted at a glance. The latter is also very easy to detect because of the growth time of livestock. Unlike industry, once someone secretly increases production, a large number of products can be shipped in a short time.
The more basic the raw materials, the longer the cartel lasts and the more stable it is than the manufacturing cartel. The more advanced and high value-added the industry, the less vitality the cartel has.
Anne looked at her husband with a changeable expression and stood aside quietly without urging him. Finally, Sheffield said, "There's nothing to worry about. Prepare for the lawsuit, notify all the farmers and ranchers in the two trusts, and prepare to respond to the lawsuit. Also, it's impossible that our family is the only one to receive the subpoena. This kind of thing can only happen once. The first Northern Securities Company has appeared. If there is not only one target, then it must be that our family has received the subpoena. There must be others as well. Find out if other companies have received the subpoena."
Sheffield, who was thinking of taking a step back, changed his mind before he could say anything. Don't look at what he said when he evaluated Morgan and Northern Securities. The cartel alliance is the same, and it is not easy to be caught.
But that is to evaluate others. The railway system is not theirs, so of course they can talk without any hesitation. But the two trusts, Niutou and Canning, are theirs. How can they be the same?
Just like when a plague breaks out and other countries ban flights to his country, Sheffield would go crazy on his keyboard, exposing the hypocrisy and discrimination of liberal democracy. On the other hand, if a plague breaks out in another country and his own country does not ban flights, he would become a hater of his country and continue to go crazy on his keyboard, pointing fingers at others.
Slave owners are so shameless and hypocritical, and in fact most people are so shameless.
From the perspective of interests, even if the beef trust and the canned food trust were to disappear, it would not have any impact on the United Company because it has the chain supermarket as a cash flow window.
"Even if these two trusts are gone, it won't affect our family. But receiving the subpoena means that the United Company has been included in the scope of the crackdown. My idea is to use these two unimportant trusts and the White House to buy time. Unimportant industries are suitable for this." Sheffield touched Anne's little hand and said, "Our president is a cowboy-style person. If I dissolve the trust directly, he will think I am afraid of him and may even go further."
"Is that so?" Anne snuggled into her husband's arms. After not seeing him for a long time, the Arlington lady expressed her longing for him. "I'm afraid he won't do anything to the auto industry like Northern Securities did."
"No, don't worry!" Sheffield grabbed a strand of Anne's hair and sniffed it, comforting her.
The beef trust and the canned goods trust were not a big deal for the United Motors. The automobile industry was different. First of all, it was not without competitors. The Detroit auto plants were not doing well, and that was not the fault of the United Motors. The United Motors did not meet the definition of a trust. On the contrary, the United Motors sold engines to these assembly plants, helping them maintain their basic livelihoods.
Although the federal government is rogue, if it can't tell the difference, Sheffield is ready to confront the president in the newspaper about how the Maine sank during the Spanish-American War. At the time, Roosevelt was the Undersecretary of the Navy.
After staying at Arlington Manor for a day, the slave owner made up for the loneliness of the mistress staying alone in the empty room. With his hands in his trouser pockets, he continued his life as a lion. The lioness naturally stayed at home, contacting the members of the two trusts by phone, thinking about how to deal with it together.
"I heard that United received a subpoena from the Department of Justice!" Alice Roosevelt apologized when she saw Sheffield, "I don't know what to say now. This matter must be related to the White House."
The White House and Northern Securities Company were at loggerheads at the time, and the prosecution of other trusts could not have been unrelated to the White House.
Sheffield reached out and touched Alice Roosevelt's chin, then raised his hand and said without being affected at all, "So what? The Department of Justice wants to sue United, and United will respond. What does this have to do with you? Why should you apologize? This is a matter between the federal government and the trust companies. It has nothing to do with you."
"But?" Alice Roosevelt's eyes were filled with tears. She felt that Sheffield had deliberately downplayed the impact on the United Company, and was so moved that she was speechless. She didn't know that even if the case was lost, the impact on the United Company would be almost zero.
"No buts!" Sheffield said with a smile, but firmly, "The United Company has already responded to the lawsuit. Now it depends on the federal government. Where is the temporary court going to be held? You can take some time to tell the Attorney General that it's best not to hold it in the South. I have a lot of members in this trust."
Three days later, Pat, the chief lawyer of the United Company, formally responded to the accusations of the Beef Trust and the Canned Goods Trust. He said in a gentle but firm tone, "The prosecution of the United Company's food processing department by the Ministry of Justice is neither based on evidence nor morality. It is simply the result of the abuse of public power. We will pay attention to the development of the matter, and we will wait and see."
(End of this chapter)
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