Chapter 417 Mr. Judge, please!
After a long while, the two got up one after another and became well-dressed upper-class people again. Who would have thought that they had just done something obscene? Natalia found a suitable shirt for Sheffield before asking, "Why does the United Company want to collect funds? This is not a business under its umbrella, and there are risks."
"No, because I'm not as greedy as those bankers. This is a world of rot. Just like this antitrust storm, I don't have to embarrass the Department of Justice, I just need to get out of it successfully. Roosevelt's term of office is only four years at most, and the main target is definitely not me. As long as I show that I'm not easy to mess with, the Department of Justice will find trouble with others." Sheffield explained easily, "To give an analogy, there is only one track now, and many companies can't get off the existing track. On this track, a wolf named the Department of Justice appears. I don't have to kill this wolf, because I may not be able to beat it, and I don't need to be better than everyone else. I just need to make sure I don't get eaten. The wolf will eventually be full."
The slave owner treated his partner who slept in the same bed with him every day without reservation. "As for why there is an economic crisis, I am safer than those bankers because those bankers are greedier than me. There are many kinds of business, such as selling raw materials, manufacturing, and finance, but there are also certain rules. Bankers in the financial industry can cash out the fastest, but they also have the least foundation. Morgan continued to develop towards the real industry, such as railways and steel. He had two considerations. The first was to make himself no longer look weak, and the second was because of greed. The stock market was where he dominated the world."
Seeing Natalia nodding in understanding, Sheffield said, "The key to the inflated stock market this time is the establishment of the U.S. Steel Company. The Morgan Alliance used a large amount of funds to push up the steel company's stocks. Of course, the Rockefeller family and I are also beneficiaries, but now the valuations of the two steel companies are too inflated. I don't know how many retail investors have been attracted by the bull market caused by this."
"In that case, won't Morgan be in trouble too?" Natalia was confused by Sheffield and asked blankly.
"Capital is the most honest. Morgan must have predicted the coming of the crash, and he would have withdrawn from it before that. As for the plummeting share price of U.S. Steel, it is a completely acceptable loss for his subsequent harvest." Sheffield shrugged and said, "U.S. Steel is just a tool used by Morgan to push up the stock market, just like the railway stocks during the economic crisis thirty years ago."
Sheffield remembered that when the economic crisis came in history, Morgan turned into the savior of the country. He organized a coalition of bankers, set up an emergency audit team, assessed the losses of troubled financial institutions, provided loans to financial institutions in need of funds, and purchased their stocks.
He first injected his own funds to solve the problem, and then the Roosevelt administration gave Morgan the right to use government funds to alleviate the crisis. He then convened in his private library and demanded that other bankers contribute funds and promise to ensure market liquidity. In retrospect, every financial institution supported by Morgan survived.
In the eyes of citizens, Morgan became the savior who turned the tide, but this round of chaos in the stock market and financial industry itself started with the Morgan Alliance's merger with the steel industry, which allowed the U.S. Steel Corporation to go public and become the most valued company in the stock market.
"So Morgan established U.S. Steel for the purpose of having his own foundation in the real industry, and also to use this foundation to absorb cash from retail investors. That's how he made money." Natalia covered her mouth and heard another world from Sheffield. "It's too easy to make money. Such a powerful U.S. Steel is just a tool in Morgan's hands. It's such a waste to treat such a powerful company as a shell company."
"It's easy to pay!" Sheffield tapped Natalia's nose and said softly, "No matter how big a banker is, the financial industry itself is a high-risk industry, and no one can be foolproof. Morgan will soon find that some of his loans cannot be recovered. The Morgan Alliance is at least much looser than the Rockefeller family. Many situations are different."
At least it would be very difficult for Morgan to recover the Japanese loans in a short period of time. It was not that they did not want to repay them, but that Japan really had no money after the Russo-Japanese War.
"Then what kind of company do you think has the best ability to resist this kind of risk?" Natalia was completely interested at this time, and kept asking questions like a curious baby.
"Me!" Sheffield thought for a moment with a cold face, and said with some frustration, "As for companies like DuPont, we are all asset-intensive companies, and we will never lose all our money overnight. So in the past two years, the two companies have been engaged in a price war, and DuPont has not been affected, at least on the surface."
Once an economic crisis breaks out, cash is king. As for whether it would be a problem to withdraw funds from many businesses from now on, Sheffield believes that it would not be a problem. At least in 1905, the United Company's products had no problem selling, and the more basic the products, the better they sold. For example, in the Great West, the price of copper rose by 100%, and the price of lead rose by 92%. There was no backlog, and there was still a little shortage of supply.
Because of this environment, the DuPont consortium is living a very comfortable life and has a good relationship with the joint companies.
Moreover, although Sheffield knew that the stock market was full of junk bonds, the several listed industries he owned were definitely not junk bonds, so he naturally did not need to worry too much.
Not to mention anything else, even at the moment, the importance of Northern Securities to Morgan cannot be compared with the importance of Canned Food and Bullhead Trust to United Company. The contest between Northern Securities and the Ministry of Justice has entered the second stage, the stage of game in the Supreme Court.
At this time, many companies in the United States responded to the lawsuit. While Northern Securities Company and the Ministry of Justice were competing, temporary courts in various places began to try the trust companies involved. This naturally included the United Company. Pat took his legal team to South Dakota to respond to the lawsuit in the temporary court there.
"The Ministry of Justice really knows how to choose a place!" After getting off the train, Pat took a long time to get to the location of the temporary court, Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls was named after the nearby waterfalls.
As the chief lawyer of the joint company, Pat asked himself that this should be the most remote place among the destinations for his lawsuit. This could not be blamed on South Dakota, as the population here was only 200,000. Sioux Falls was already the largest city in the state, with at least 30,000 to 40,000 people.
Under normal circumstances, Pat might not have complained so much, but this time was different. He was used to driving cars, so he had to go back a few years and enjoy the romance of a horse-drawn carriage. As for the two carriages at the back, they were filled with the list of names of the trust's responses and the prepared materials.
The Sioux Falls District Court was very simple. In this sparsely populated state, where the main economy was agriculture and meat processing was the pillar industry, this court had never heard any major cases. Even the local judges could not understand why this place was chosen as the location for the temporary court.
Not to mention the local judges, even the three temporary judges who came here were disappointed when they saw the conditions here. Even if they wanted to prevent people from interfering with the trial, they shouldn't set up the temporary court in the south, but there's no need to hide so far away, right?
The three temporary judges didn't know that even if it was so far away, it would still be useless. South Dakota's pillar industry is meat processing. It is a coincidence that two important members of the beef trust are from South Dakota, and they are ranked very high. In order to avoid suspicion, the Ministry of Justice did not want to move to a big city like New York. They did not dare to put the temporary court in the Dixie place, so they chose this seemingly safe place, but it was still a mistake.
In a court that usually receives little attention, this battle over unfair competition between the beef and canned food trusts began. Prosecutors presented evidence proving that the trusts manipulated prices, as well as the Department of Justice's accusations against the two trusts.
Pat turned a deaf ear to the accusations, still recovering from the long journey. He ignored them all and only nodded from time to time to indicate that he knew about them. His indifferent attitude angered the three temporary judges sent by the Ministry of Justice.
"I'm sorry, judges. I must first say that trusts are not the same. Not all trusts are bad for the country. At least my clients, their trusts are protectors of the vast majority of farmers. Gentlemen in fine clothes should understand that farmers are a vulnerable group." Pat finally listened to the charges against the United Company. He stood up slowly but firmly and said firmly, "I think the Ministry of Justice's attack was very hasty, and so is this trial."
"I wonder if you have any valuable materials to submit, Mr. Lawyer?" one of the temporary judges asked.
"Yes, please wait, it's not easy to bring it here." Pat stretched out his index finger and nodded to the assistant. Then piles of response materials and the client's authorization letter were continuously moved into the court by several assistants. Finally, they were piled together like a small mountain, which surprised several temporary judges.
"These are the response materials of 84 trust members and 452 agents." Pat coughed softly and teased, "Mr. Judges, please? We are all law-abiding businessmen. The Ministry of Justice can send people to verify the people on the list at any time."
(End of this chapter)
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