Chapter 80 The Current State of Steel
"I think the most interesting thing is that Chicago is the center of steel, but our steel king is not in Chicago, but in Pennsylvania!" Sheffield finally followed Rockefeller Jr. to Chicago. In order to relieve the loneliness of the journey, he chatted with the newly confirmed partner.
"Carnegie, it's really hard to describe this person!" Rockefeller Jr.'s eyes flashed with a haze, and he said with some difficulty, "He and my father have a subtle relationship."
Old Rockefeller and Carnegie started in the same place, Pennsylvania, and almost at the same time. They can be regarded as giants of the same era. The key point is that Carnegie had a superior named Scott who was both a teacher and a friend, but he fell under Rockefeller's expansion. Scott took good care of Carnegie.
Many years ago, Carnegie also tried to enter the oil industry, but was rejected by Rockefeller. So the relationship between these giants is still a bit complicated. Everyone has companions to help them in the early stage, and there are also competitors. The railroad king Vanderbilt was someone who helped Rockefeller, and Carnegie was a competitor for a period of time.
The relationship between these giants was not so harmonious. The Rockefeller family rarely had contact with Morgan, but had good relations with the families of the Boston Bank who were suppressed by Morgan.
Sheffield didn't need to think about it, he knew that there must be constant dirty fights between these giants. Everyone hoped that there would be as few competitors as possible at their level. If that was not possible, they would form alliances with giants who could not compete with them.
Sheffield is now grateful that many families in the south fled far away because of the defeat in the war, which provided an environment for the rapid development of his family. The wrong decision to immigrate to Brazil was fatal. Although it weakened the economy of the South, it supported his family. From a personal point of view, this is definitely a good thing.
However, although Rockefeller Jr. talked about some past events, he was not too worried. It was very difficult to achieve monopoly in the steel and coal industries because the origins were too widely distributed. Although Carnegie was the largest steel magnate, he only accounted for a small part of the United States' steel production capacity. As for the coal industry, there was no one with Carnegie's share.
This is different from the German Empire. There were giants in the coal industry in Germany. The larger the country, the less likely it is to form a monopoly giant. In fact, the agricultural field is the field least likely to form a giant, because anyone can farm, and the United States has no shortage of land. However, there are also disadvantages to too low a threshold. Everyone can farm, but not everyone will do it. But everyone must eat, and the agricultural product field is extremely easy to be affected by external factors, which can easily lead to panic.
The giants are kings in their respective fields. In addition to using massive amounts of money to compete with others, they also use agents to pass laws that are in their own interests and use legislation to build moats to protect themselves from competition.
Carnegie did just that, and the large steel industry that emerged in the Chicago area was a function of entrepreneurial effort and geographic advantage. Steel mills had easy access to large quantities of cheap iron ore raw materials from the Lake Superior region. Since most of the iron ore used by the U.S. steel industry during its rise was mined in Minnesota and Michigan, steel mills located along the Great Lakes had lower costs than competitors elsewhere.
Pennsylvania steel companies, represented by Carnegie, took advantage of their first-mover advantage to form a large business scale and passed the "Pittsburgh Markup Act". The "Pittsburgh Markup Act" protected Pennsylvania steel mills from competition.
Rockefeller understood the key points since he was a child, and Sheffield seemed to have opened the door to a new world. He was still too young, and thought that his desire to legislate to squeeze out undercapitalized companies was a notorious thing. Now he knows that this is what others have done.
No wonder Rockefeller Jr. was not surprised at all and did not praise himself as a genius. It turned out that similar operations had already appeared. It is indeed a beacon of capitalist countries and the hope of mankind.
"If you want to survive in the United States, you have to be even more cold-blooded and cruel!" Sheffield warned himself in his heart.
When they arrived in Chicago, Rockefeller Jr. took Sheffield and his group to visit some steel companies and introduced their production processes. He said modestly, "In fact, in terms of scale, Chicago's steel industry has surpassed Carnegie's allies, but no giant can compare with Carnegie."
"But this kind of iron ore is cheap, and coupled with Chicago's geographical location, it will eventually make the survival space of Pennsylvania steel companies smaller and smaller, until the Pittsburgh price increase law can no longer protect them." Sheffield pondered for a moment and gave his own judgment. "No wonder you just feel a little regretful when you mention the origin of Rockefeller and Carnegie, but you are not worried."
Sheffield recalled that Carnegie eventually sold his business and it became the property of the Morgan family. It must have been because of the competition from the steel industry in Chicago and Detroit that it became increasingly difficult to continue.
Since Carnegie had such a relationship with the Rockefeller family in his early years, he naturally would not choose to sell it to Rockefeller, but instead chose another giant in the north, Morgan.
Originally, Sheffield only remembered in his mind that Carnegie sold the steel industry to Morgan, and was ready to wait for the opportunity to appear and snatch food from Morgan together with Rockefeller.
Later, when I heard about the relationship between Rockefeller and Carnegie, I felt sorry that I might miss this opportunity. In fact, I knew the fact but not the reason. Without the competition from Chicago steel companies, Carnegie would not feel that he could not curb the development of steel competitors and seek to sell the company.
But since there is such competition, wouldn't it be better for Sheffield to choose Chicago? Why choose a company that is protected by law? Thinking of this, Sheffield has no regrets at all.
"Master William, according to the telegram from the Chicago Farmers and Livestock Association, our German guests have landed in New York?" John Connor took a telegram and handed it to Sheffield.
"Maybe I need to trouble John!" Sheffield took a look at the telegram and said to Rockefeller Jr., "I'm not in Texas now, and the industrial center of the United States happens to be Chicago. How about showing these Hans the industrial strength of the United States so that they don't look down on us?"
Sheffield was never vague when asking for help, and Rockefeller Jr. was also very suitable, as the Rockefeller family was descendants of German immigrants.
"William, is this still a problem?" Rockefeller Jr. said without any hesitation, "We should also make these Germans put away their superior attitude!"
What's the saying? Germans are the most anti-German! Sheffield looked at Rockefeller Jr., the German version of the banana man! But then again, his family seems to be of British descent.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
