Chapter 418 Alice's Slander
Looking at the mountain of response materials in front of them, several temporary judges couldn't help but feel their scalps tingling. This was the information of nearly 500 people. Not to mention the three of them, even if all the judges in Sioux Falls were called in, it would take at least a month to obtain the information of all the people and sort out the truth from the falsehood.
"I won't delay your trial. I guess you won't be able to finish reading it today." Pat clapped his hands and said, "By the way, I'm here to enjoy my vacation, which is exactly one month. As for the follow-up materials, my assistants are still collecting them. Because the Ministry of Justice didn't know much about our trust at the beginning, it led to a wrong impression. You may have to collect evidence again."
"Before that, I will make a final statement. I hope the judges can listen carefully. In your eyes, the Beef Trust has monopolized the upstream and downstream markets of meat processing. For the upstream, the "Beef Trust" is a centralized purchaser of various livestock farmers. It has a monopoly position as a buyer and can keep the purchase price as low as possible. As for the downstream, the vast retail market, but since you are from the Ministry of Justice, you should know that the trusts in many industries have been updated. In many industries, the main members and shareholders of the trusts 20 years ago are different from those of the current trusts."
"The beef trust of the six major meat retailers was crushed by United Company a long time ago. It was United Company that killed the beef trust and drove inferior and unsafe meat processing out of the market. You are still young and don't remember this kind of thing. The prosecution of the beef trust by the Ministry of Justice today should be directed at the previous beef trust, not at some organizations of farmers that protect the interests of farmers."
"You won't believe how many members we have. The responding members sent in today are only a small part of them. As long as I am willing to work harder, the number of people submitting the response materials can quickly exceed a thousand. I won't disturb the judges from reading the response materials. I'm going to take a vacation first." After saying that, Pat walked out of the Sioux Falls Courthouse and prepared to find a place to rest.
The attorney left immediately, leaving behind only a huge amount of response materials, which made the three temporary judges look at each other in surprise. They had never seen such a magical scene in their limited life experience.
The other side immediately provided a massive amount of response materials, which seemed to be enough to tire out the three rising stars of the Ministry of Justice.
There are so many piled up response materials that it is daunting to look at them. After the respondent left the court, the judges finally woke up from their dream. What should they do?
"Call the Ministry of Justice for support." The temporary judge in the middle glanced and didn't even want to look at the mountain of response materials in front of him.
"The human wave tactic is such a useful tactic, why do so many people think it is wrong? In my opinion, it is just jealousy. If they can't do it, they will slander. Isn't it, Annie!" After receiving Annie's call, Sheffield still had the leisure to make sarcastic remarks, "I will fight this lawsuit according to the litigation schedule. The Ministry of Justice values our joint company so much, so of course we must provide sufficient evidence, summon all the people involved in the case, and give an explanation to the Ministry of Justice. If we can't beat it, we will entangle it first."
"Whatever you say is right!" Annie said in a reproachful voice, "You are too mean. You know the Ministry of Justice is short-staffed and has to deal with many lawsuits from companies. Isn't this just adding to their workload? Sending people to check once means running all over the country. Just the written materials alone are a headache for the Ministry of Justice."
"There's nothing we can do about it. Agriculture is something that is difficult to create in a concentrated way, much more difficult than other industries. Since we succeeded by chance, more stakeholders are involved, which is also in line with the laws of agriculture." Sheffield said absentmindedly, "Besides, our company's partners are very honest and cooperate with the Ministry of Justice's lawsuit. They will definitely come forward to respond to the lawsuit. Can it be that we are so law-abiding, but the Ministry of Justice does not accept it? This is simply breaking the law knowingly."
Judging from the current situation, there is no need to go to the Supreme Court. The initial stage of the temporary court has been stuck. These large number of respondents alone are enough to keep the Ministry of Justice busy for a while.
"So many respondents have responded voluntarily. Do you hope that the Department of Justice will investigate thoroughly and accept the results no matter what they are?" Attorney General Knox almost vomited the coffee he had just drunk after hearing what his assistant said.
"They hope that the Department of Justice can investigate all the links and let the public know the truth." Knox's assistant was also at a loss. "It has been stated in the response that they are willing to cooperate with all investigations by the Department of Justice. The Bullhead and Can Trust are almost spread across all states in the country. Should we continue the investigation?"
"I'm going to the White House to talk to the president." Knox stood up directly. He had never seen an opponent who came so close to him, nor had he seen a trust with so many members.
For trusts in some industries, having eight or ten important members is already a lot. For example, in some industries, there were only a few people involved in the case at most, but now there are more than 500 members. How can we investigate this?
"So many people volunteered to respond to the lawsuit?" President Roosevelt was also stunned by the Attorney General's words and asked suspiciously, "Could it be that the United Company deliberately put forward so many people to disrupt the Department of Justice's attention?"
Alice Roosevelt's ears immediately pricked up and she sat aside listening expressionlessly.
"The first round of screening alone will take quite a while. We've checked the composition of the United Company's trust, and there are really that many members!" Knox also had a headache, as if he had stirred up a hornet's nest. "The United Company intervened in the trust field, defeated the six United Beef Trusts, and then gathered these farmers to establish the current Beef Trust. Everyone will get their share of the trust's profits. I've never seen anything like this."
"Uncle Noske, with so many members, it's actually no longer a trust. It should be considered an organization like the American Medical Association!" Alice Roosevelt said, "Now it seems that what the lawyer representing the United Company said is that the beef and canned food trusts are the products of the United Company and other farmers fighting against the railroad giants. There is nothing illegal about it."
"After listening to Alice, it seems that there is indeed some difference. Not all trusts are monopoly organizations that hinder competition. It is very difficult to form a monopoly organization in agriculture and animal husbandry." After hearing his daughter's words, President Roosevelt was a little hesitant. In order to fight against the Northern Securities Company, he had always been friendly to farmers in the Midwest, indicating that this was for the benefit of farmers and to fight against the railroad giants who collected tolls.
Now, seeing that the beef and canned food trusts have such a large number of members, I instinctively don't want to make things bigger. At least I have to resolve the main contradiction first and subdue the Northern Securities Company before thinking about other things.
"We still need to show a tough attitude to the outside world. At the same time, we will carefully investigate the organizational models of various trusts, especially the equity distribution. We will first deal with the trusts with serious monopoly." Roosevelt paused and said, "After we deal with these trusts with a small number of people, we will turn around and investigate other companies."
On the surface, Roosevelt asked the Department of Justice to maintain its previous tough attitude and focus its main attention on the truly important goal, which was to announce to the outside world that the prosecution of the corporate trusts was still in progress, while secretly concentrating its efforts on cleaning up the Northern Securities Company.
"Okay, I don't have the manpower to spare right now, let's handle a few cases first." Knox thought about it and decided that this was the only way now. He asked the three temporary judges to bring back the response materials for verification.
Alice Roosevelt let out a barely noticeable sigh. It seemed that United Company would have no trouble recently. This man's company was too troubled. It was affected by the Department of Justice even though it had not violated any regulations.
"The Ministry of Justice should also investigate this issue, otherwise it will be so embarrassing." After the Attorney General left, Alice Roosevelt took the opportunity to make a gossip, "Some trusts in different related industries are hostile to each other. Take the beef and canned food trusts, for example. These companies definitely have a bad relationship with the railway giants. They may not necessarily dislike each other, but they definitely feel that the existence of the other party has prevented them from taking advantage of others."
"We should indeed screen them. Not all trusts are the same. Some industries are indeed weaker." After hearing what his daughter said, President Roosevelt wondered in his heart why his daughter seemed to have such an understanding of business matters?
"I'm also learning it. My father wants to eradicate unfair monopoly competition, so I've read more about this subject recently." Alice Roosevelt said a little embarrassedly.
A month later, the slave owner who had already arrived in Los Angeles heard Evelyn asking about this matter and said very easily, "It's okay. Pat hasn't received any news from the Ministry of Justice. I thought the Ministry of Justice had a big appetite. I was afraid that they wouldn't be full, so they served a giant Texas steak. It's a pity that the Ministry of Justice has a small appetite. In fact, the Ministry of Justice can send people to various states to verify it. It doesn't take much effort. After the verification, we can move on to the next stage."
The Ministry of Justice originally wanted a loaf of bread, and the slave owner was considerate and took out a Texas steak to treat them, but found out that the slaves couldn't eat it at all. Isn't this very embarrassing?
"Right, right! No one knows the trust better than you." Seeing the slave owner who seemed to be in a position of power, Evelyn praised him against her conscience, "You are so amazing. You took the initiative to cooperate with the investigation of the Ministry of Justice and pushed out more than 500 farmers at once. But it was quite effective. There is really no movement. I heard that the first judgment of the tobacco trust has been made, and James Duke is going to appeal to the Supreme Court."
"He told me before that he would help me if I was sued." Sheffield recalled that there seemed to be such an incident.
(End of this chapter)
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