Chapter 515 Investigating DuPont
"Now is not the best time, but it is the time when the political environment is most favorable to me. We can't delay any longer, otherwise it will be too late." In Oak Manor, Sheffield took his wife Anne's arm and took a walk. After the Democratic Party came to power this time, the slave owner's busy time came to an end. He took time to be with Anne and experience the hard-earned relaxed life. "It would have been easier to deal with it earlier, but the political environment is not favorable to me. Standard Oil once had this opportunity, but since the introduction of the antitrust law, Standard Oil has been investigated every year. We must admit that DuPont is really lucky, but this good luck has come to an end."
Anne knew who Sheffield was talking about. The company that her family cared about so much was not Standard Oil or Morgan Bank, but DuPont.
"I heard that DuPont is now a three-strong company, and the executives are all very capable." Annie pouted and said, "You said you were afraid it would be too late in the future. Do you think you can no longer squeeze the other party out by normal means?"
"Well, that's right. So we have to solve this problem within these four years. Otherwise, after these four years, we won't even have much chance to cooperate with the Democrats to deal with DuPont." Sheffield nodded. DuPont couldn't be allowed another chance to make a fortune from the war. Time was running out for Sheffield.
Don’t think that the United States is dominated by strong capital, but the political environment is also very important. Like many companies, DuPont was not facing antitrust laws for the first time. When Roosevelt cracked down on trust companies, he did not give DuPont special treatment, and the company still managed to get through the danger.
The DuPont family now controls 65 companies. DuPont's position in Delaware is similar to that of Sheffield Union in Texas. It even took the lead in establishing a stock exchange. If it were not for this era, we would not have known how great the influence of a company could be. A capital-intensive enterprise actually established a stock exchange alone to serve its own company.
According to what Sheffield knew, the first formal tax cuts and trickle-down effect in the history of the United States were both pioneered by the DuPont Company. It can only be said that the DuPont family, who switched from being political diplomats to being businessmen, never forgot the political talents of their ancestors, and once they encountered difficulties, they would think of how to make politics serve them.
Therefore, Sheffield, which thinks it is very good at collusion between officials and businessmen, should face the opponent this time, which is another company in the United States that knows collusion between officials and businessmen the best. Now it depends on who is qualified to say, "No one knows collusion between officials and businessmen better than me."
Sheffield had seen a piece of news in his previous life. On October 17, a large explosion occurred at BASF, a chemical company located in Ludwigshafen, on the Rhine. Not long ago, DuPont, a nylon production giant, announced that it was planning to increase the price of all nylon products by US$200 per ton, starting on October 15.
The explosion occurred on a chemical raw material transportation pipeline that day. The pipeline has been cut off and the steam cracking unit and other related units have been shut down. As a German chemical giant, BASF will also tighten the global supply of chemical products in the short term. As a competitor, DuPont officially raised the price of nylon on October 15, which makes people wonder whether DuPont has foreseen the future?
This is news from the 21st century. If it were the environment at the beginning of the century, Sheffield could only sigh that the opponent he faced this time was a company that had every bit of bottom line as his own, including collusion between officials and businessmen. If he had not won the national election this time, and the federal government was now controlled by the Democratic Party, he really would have no way to deal with the other party.
Sheffield stopped, which made Anne feel a little strange. It seemed that the walk was a little shorter this time. Then she heard her husband say, "You should go back to Arlington and take Natalia with you. She just gave birth to a child and it's not suitable for her to stay here."
"Does DuPont dare to come to the South?" Anne smiled and comforted her husband, wondering if he was making a big deal out of nothing.
"Others may not dare to do that, but this company may. It's for safety." Sheffield looked at Annie calmly and said slowly, "It's better to be careful. I don't have any problem myself, but I'm worried about you."
Is it really that serious? Didn't you say that the United States is a society ruled by law? Anne kept silent. Seeing her husband's serious look, she didn't dare to take it lightly as usual. "Okay, I'll go back right away."
"That's what I'm saying!" Sheffield finally smiled a little, stretched out his hand to scratch Anne's nose, and said, "I have nothing to be afraid of if he's not your husband. Those Dupont people can even do inbreeding. Maybe they have holes in their brains and do things that are incomprehensible to normal people."
"Then I'll secretly take the train and leave tomorrow!" Anne enjoyed her husband's care and agreed happily.
"I still think it's safe to take a boat. At least our company manufactures boats, but the United Company doesn't manufacture carriages." Sheffield suffered from paranoia and planned a safe route for his wife.
If a group of mistresses followed Anne to Arlington, it would not seem appropriate. Other women should either go to Arlington or stay with her. They should not be left alone outside. Anyway, if the United Company was persecuted by a powerful rival, the United Government, and such an opportunity arose, Sheffield might choose not to see it, or they might fight to the death. The problem is that safety cannot be based on possibility, just like when a plague strikes, you cannot think that you are in good health and not wear a mask. That would be courting death, what if you really die?
Sheffield himself didn't know whether he would go to extremes or give in if faced with the same situation. How could we assume that the DuPont family would give in? Could it be that the Democrats came to power and changed history, giving Sheffield confidence?
"Let John Connor bring back some of the black money from Cuba. The port construction needs someone to look after it." When Sheffield gave the order to the steward of Oak Manor, his words were powerful and righteous.
In a broad sense, this is to ensure that New Orleans will take off again. Although there is a potential meaning, some factors are also due to the slave owners' thinking that there are always unruly people who want to harm them, but the latter is definitely not the main factor.
If the expansion of New Orleans' container port is interrupted due to some external factors, the ones who will suffer will be the outstanding citizens of New Orleans. This is all for the sake of the overall situation.
Rumors have been circulating in Washington that the new Attorney General of the federal government, Olney, has begun to reopen the antitrust investigation into DuPont, citing the same reason that has been used a thousand times, that DuPont's development has constituted abnormal competition. When suing trust companies, most of the reasons are not the direct word "monopoly", but the use of the abnormal competition brought about by the monopoly position as a reason to attack large companies.
It's very simple. If monopoly is used as a reason to attack when all industries are trusts, then all trusts must be attacked. However, unfair competition can leave room for the Ministry of Justice to turn things around.
So even when Roosevelt took action against the Northern Securities Company, he emphasized that monopolies are not purely bad, but some companies use their monopoly position to prevent the emergence of competitors.
In Sheffield's opinion, this kind of rhetoric is like a teacher saying to your mother, "Your child is very smart, but he doesn't use his intelligence to study."
This kind of talk is just for fun. It is clearly directed at monopoly trusts, but it does not mention monopoly. This is all a routine of the federal government. It is just like during an economic downturn, when a company tells its employees that they want to lay off employees, but if everyone can accept a pay cut, we will hold on and perhaps we can get through the crisis.
But in fact, even if everyone agrees to cut salaries, it is still unknown whether the company can survive. In the end, the company can't stand it anymore and lays off employees based on its strength. What can the laid-off people say?
As rumors of antitrust laws against DuPont intensified, many people sought connections to verify Olney's claims.
As for who is seeking verification, it is obvious to everyone. This is the first antitrust investigation handled by the Department of Justice after the Democrats came to power. It has great symbolic significance. If anyone is really targeted by this first one, it will definitely not be a good thing.
After entering May, Washington was in the most comfortable season of the year. Olney, Attorney General who had served as Secretary of State in the Cleveland administration, came to Congress for the first time, a little later than in previous years compared with the practice of previous governments.
Olney was familiar with many members of the House and Senate. As Secretary of State and the second-in-command of the Cleveland administration, he was familiar with many of them and was very calm about this meeting.
Walking directly to the podium, Olney said with a stern look, "This federal government is committed to creating a fair competition environment and eradicating unfair competition and even extremely bad behavior among some companies as much as possible. Some big companies have done things that make every law enforcement officer with a conscience very angry."
Listening to Olney's words, many congressmen were whispering, as if they were guessing who he was referring to. The well-informed congressmen lamented that the recent rumors from the Ministry of Justice were not groundless and that they were definitely going to investigate DuPont.
"As Attorney General, I will investigate this vile behavior and find out the truth," Olney concluded calmly. "Antitrust laws apply to the investigation of DuPont's unfair competition, and the investigation will begin immediately."
(End of this chapter)
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