Chapter 520: An Old Case
When it comes to railway freight rates, usually the highest bidder wins. If it is difficult to allocate transport capacity due to busy transportation, this is very normal. I believe that companies of this size understand this very well. This is normal behavior under a market economy and should not be blamed.
For Delaware, the most important transportation routes must pass through Pennsylvania and New Jersey. These are places where the Rockefeller family has great influence. Pennsylvania is the cradle of many wealthy people in the United States, and New Jersey and New York are the bases of many large companies.
It was also because of this foundation that when the DuPont family was about to be dealt with, the Rockefeller family used New Jersey as their base and built seven factories within a year, controlling the transportation of raw materials along the railway, almost strangling the economic lifeline of Delaware.
Now this foundation fell into Sheffield's hands. The layout of the Rockefeller family back then would facilitate his implementation of the plan. Sheffield even made a phone call to the Vanderbilt family. A lean camel is bigger than a horse. Although the Vanderbilt family has been standing still for a long time, it has a strong foundation and still has a huge influence on the railway system, especially the northeastern railway system with New York as the core.
From many domestic raw material production areas far away from Delaware to New Jersey and Pennsylvania near DuPont's headquarters, Sheffield is like an old man far away in Paris, flipping through the phone book until smoke comes out. No matter whether it is useful or not, he will call first.
The busy scene in the factories in New Jersey has alarmed Rockefeller Jr. in the Rockefeller Estate. These factories were originally owned by the Rockefeller family, so he certainly knows what is going on.
Referring to the recent Justice Department investigation into DuPont, how could Rockefeller Jr. not understand that Sheffield was causing trouble.
"It seems that you are a man of your words. Sooner or later, you will have to decide who is the winner with DuPont." Rockefeller Jr.'s voice on the phone was very steady. "Everything is ready."
"Can a place as small as a booger like Delaware sustain the operation of DuPont? Unless their family is engaged in farming." Sheffield said with a cold smile, "This state, which is a hundred times smaller than Texas, is not as large as Arlington in terms of administrative area. Do you think I care about it?"
"In Delaware, which is also a state, I heard that the Delaware court is ready to file a lawsuit against the United Company. Once a case law emerges, it will be a very troublesome thing." Rockefeller Jr. did not mention the final result. The result does not need to be predicted. He also believes that the DuPont family will undoubtedly win the lawsuit in Delaware.
Now Rockefeller Jr. wanted to know how the United Company would respond to this lawsuit. He thought of the most extreme outcome, which was that Sheffield would make a bold move and abandon the United Company's related business in exchange for the annihilation of the DuPont family.
In terms of the current involvement of the United Company and DuPont, the United Company is certainly far superior to this enemy. If Sheffield is willing to risk the business of some industries, he will exchange the important lifeline of the DuPont family.
Rockefeller Jr. believed that Sheffield could do it. During the previous financial crisis, he had seen slave owners use the Seven Wounds Fist, and would rather not make money than let their opponents collapse.
"Of course I can accept this result, but what about this?" Sheffield said, leaving the question unanswered. "Maybe there is a better way. I am naturally willing to take risks. After all, the DuPont family is extraordinary. They can make the other party lose money by not making any money, or go bankrupt by losing money. What can't they do? I am not interested in money, but in spending it. But if we don't have to do this, who would complain that the US dollars in their hands are too hot?"
"It seems that you have some ideas. I won't ask. Anyway, what is supposed to happen will happen." Rockefeller Jr. stopped there to avoid asking in detail. If things don't go well in Sheffield, he will doubt himself. What can't humans, who are still animals, do?
"Maybe this is life. Sometimes this kind of thing happens." Sheffield chuckled. "As a law-abiding citizen, I firmly believe that in this world, if you have money, you can do whatever you want."
The goal of cleaning up the DuPont family has never changed. In Arlington's recent call, Anne meant that her grandmother took the current situation very seriously and expected a good result. It was like two hundred tons of gold mountains telling her that as a filial son and grandson, the slave owner could not turn a blind eye to this situation.
It is certainly a good idea to intercept the transportation network step by step. Sheffield even felt that it was not enough to do so only in China. It would be best to find a way to block the port of Delaware. But this is not a problem that a businessman can solve. In the environment where state rights and sovereignty are always in conflict in the United States, it is not impossible for the governor of Delaware to imitate the New York governor who threatened the president a hundred years later and declared war on Delaware.
Likewise, the effect of this move to strangle the transportation network will not occur immediately. The United States has its own national conditions, and it is impossible for it to be as blatant as other countries.
However, there is still a lot of room for maneuver on the issue of sovereignty and state rights. Now that the Democratic Party is already the ruling party rather than the opposition party, the original idea that state rights are more important than sovereignty is obsolete. If the position changes, the thinking must also change.
I believe the Ministry of Justice should have already had a preliminary plan for this. Sheffield stretched lazily after hanging up the phone. "The sacred law will always give justice to an upright person like me."
The law must still be obeyed, but Sheffield cannot file a lawsuit against the DuPont family in Texas just because the DuPont family filed a lawsuit in Delaware. If this is the case, it is not a countermeasure at all, but rather a worse solution.
In many cases, this is a world of comparison, which has become Sheffield's catchphrase, but this is premised. When facing a powerful enemy, this catchphrase is valid, but if you have the upper hand, you can't do this. The Republic compares the United States with the United States because the United States is indeed a powerful enemy.
But will the Republic hold on to Hindustan? Not at all. Even if you want to compare the worst, you can't compare yourself with those who are worse than you.
The countermeasure that the slave owners mentioned was to go to the federal court, not the Texas court. Texas is a hundred times larger than Delaware, and its population is more than eight times that of the other state, but the two sides are indeed administrative districts of the same level. This is of course unfair, so let the unfairness come even more violently.
The Justice Department in Washington has disappeared from public view again since Olney showed up in front of Congress, which seems a bit abrupt to both the congressman and himself.
The Federal Department of Justice did not think so. Investigators from the Department of Justice only saw Olney and the assistant attorneys general studying something in a hurry every day. The antitrust director was always with Olney. This clearly told others that the antitrust investigation into the DuPont family was still in full swing.
"The investigation into the DuPont family's infiltration of the Delaware government should yield results soon," Olney said to the new Antitrust Director Pete and the Tax Commissioner John Gress in his office. "More attention should also be paid to the DuPont family's tax issues. No company has ever infiltrated a state government so severely. The DuPont family has clearly gone too far. This situation cannot continue."
"Minister, Delaware is a small state with a small population. It can be said that the largest city accounts for a large proportion of the state's population, and these people rely on the DuPont family's business for their livelihood. Judging from these data, this is indeed a very worrying thing." Antitrust Bureau Director Pete said with some embarrassment, "Any investigation of the DuPont family that does not go through the state government will cause great difficulties, but if we have made up our minds not to go through the Delaware state government, it may cause controversy in Congress."
The controversy is naturally an old issue, the choice between state rights and sovereignty. The United States has been dealing with this choice for more than a hundred years since its founding, but it still doesn't quite understand it.
The Attorney General, the Antitrust Commissioner, and the Tax Commissioner have reached a consensus on this issue. It is almost impossible to impose sanctions on the DuPont family without alerting the Delaware state government. If this is done by force, it will only bring to the surface a problem that has never been solved.
Just as the communication was at a standstill, the Assistant Attorney General opened the door of his office, took out the latest investigation report, and said, "This is the latest investigation report."
Olney's eyes lit up and he quickly opened the investigation report, which was about how the DuPont family manipulated the state constitutional convention and amended the state constitution in order to obtain many franchises for large enterprises. The new constitution gave large enterprises the privilege of tax incentives and also gave the green light to the establishment of large-scale stock companies.
In fact, this is an old case. This is the tax reduction bill that Sheffield admired the DuPont family, the original creator, and was imitated by Reagan and real estate businessmen. It is a case in which the Delaware State Assembly amended the constitution to support the DuPont family and allied companies.
Now, after ten years, it is finally on Olney's desk. Is this report useful? It can be useful or useless, depending on who holds it. Olney read it through as if he had found a treasure. "This is a shocking corruption case."
(End of this chapter)
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