Chapter 203 Sugar Trust
When Britain and France started competing for Hawaii, a stalemate was formed here. Then two latecomers appeared. One was Japan, which is also an island country, and the other was the United States on the east coast of the Pacific Ocean. Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean, became the main battleground for the two. As two important countries in the Pacific region, Japan and the United States have set their sights on Hawaii. The United States and Japan have been constantly infiltrating Hawaii.
When the United States was fighting for Hawaii, it had an obvious disadvantage, that is, the United States had a huge land area, and even the population of the three western states was only more than two million. Citizens in the country had no intention of immigrating to Hawaii, while Japan had a small land area. Compared with the small land area, Japan had a strong desire to immigrate. Knowing that it was not strong enough, it took a roundabout route and immigrated to Hawaii. With the encouragement of the Japanese government, a large number of Japanese moved to Hawaii.
The Hawaiian Kingdom, which still existed at the time, had already sensed the United States' intentions towards it. After all, the population had not yet arrived, so military presence became particularly important. Realizing the seriousness of this problem, the Hawaiian Kingdom, in the absence of a rapid increase in its own indigenous population, turned its attention to the west coast of the Pacific Ocean in order to offset the impact of American and British immigrants on the country, dilute the proportion of British and American immigrants in the country, and solve its own labor problem. In previous occasional contacts and exchanges, East Asian countries, especially Japan, left a deep impression on the Hawaiian Kingdom, because in exchanges between countries, China and Japan were not as aggressive as Western countries such as Britain and the United States, but were friendly and amiable.
The Japanese immigrants who had already appeared in Hawaii at that time were not as arrogant as the American immigrants, but rather hardworking and willing to work. From then on, the Kingdom of Hawaii began to introduce a large number of Chinese and Japanese immigrants through the state.
Japan is also a maritime country, so it naturally attaches great importance to Hawaii, believing that Hawaii is the main strategic fulcrum for Japan's eastward expansion. If the Japanese want to dominate the Pacific Ocean and expand eastward, they must take Hawaii. The Hawaiian Kingdom's move to balance Britain and the United States is exactly what they want. In order to control Hawaii, the Japanese continue to immigrate to Hawaii.
Although the federal government could not allow its citizens to live in Hawaii, military control had never been relaxed. Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party knew that once the Japanese occupied the transit point in the center of the Pacific, the United States would have an irreparable disadvantage in the Pacific direction, and at present, the Japanese government did not seem to be a good neighbor to get along with.
"There seems to be a lot of Japanese people!" Sheffield walked on the streets of Hawaii and saw groups of Asian-looking people hurrying around everywhere. These people seemed to be living in peace, but was it really so?
Did he know that when the United States overthrew the Kingdom of Hawaii a few years ago, Japanese warships appeared near Hawaiian waters?
"According to statistics, among the current population of Hawaii of 400,000, the Japanese population is close to 40%, the Chinese population is 15%, the Portuguese population is 10%, and citizens of the United States account for 5%. The rest are indigenous people. This is because the Hawaiian Islands were previously dominated by the sugar industry, which required a large amount of labor." Evelyn followed Sheffield and kept reporting the collected data.
"This is not a good thing for the United States to establish control over Hawaii." Sheffield frowned. The reason why the Japanese Combined Fleet attacked the US Pacific Fleet in the Pacific War and won a great victory was that in addition to the conspiracy theory that the United States was deliberately attacked, there was also a large Japanese population on the island of Hawaii. As long as the Japanese wanted to attack, it would be impossible to defend against it.
The current population composition of Hawaii makes Sheffield realize that the current ruling structure here is a standard pyramid. Only 5% of the people are Americans, who run most of the farms in Hawaii to make sugar for sale in the United States.
Sheffield fell into deep thought. Hawaii's pillar industry seemed to conflict with Cuba. Cuba was also famous for its sugar production and was now being taken over by the United States military.
Of course, the state that hated the two places the most was Colorado, and the reason was too simple. Because Colorado was the sugar production center of the United States, Colorado lawmakers strongly opposed the Spanish-American War and voted against it in order to prevent Cuba's sugar industry from impacting the state's industry.
Sheffield understood the situation. As a man from Northeast China, he was definitely against going to war with Russia. If it was to fight Vietnam, he would definitely not object, but he believed that the people of Guangxi thought exactly the opposite of what he thought.
In order to internationalize the United Company, the heir came out to investigate in person, and naturally he had to find out where he could make a profit. Sheffield quickly set a few priorities and instructed, "United Bank will open here immediately. Although Hawaii is far away from the mainland, it is a place that the United States focuses on controlling. Citizens who come here represent a certain economic strength. In addition, the military strength of this island is extremely important, which means it is very safe and can be the focus of the bank's operations."
Moreover, Hawaii in later generations relied on tourism as its mainstay, and tourism itself represented consumption. If Sheffield Union Bank could grow and develop here, and even gain a dominant position, the benefits would be more than just a small dot of Hawaiian land on the map.
Sheffield then took the Alamo Guards to investigate suitable locations for investment. An idea gradually emerged in his mind, but he did not take action first. Instead, he came to Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor stretches inland like a bird's foot. Located at the southern tip of the Waipio Peninsula between West Bay and Central Bay, Oahu, the island where Pearl Harbor is located, is one of the Hawaiian Islands and the seat of the state capital of Hawaii.
Unfortunately, Pearl Harbor had been in the hands of the United States Navy for nearly twenty years. This prevented the patriotic entrepreneur Sheffield from seizing the land first and selling it to the federal government at a high price. This is a very sad story.
If it were a later republic, a private company would snatch the business that the state is interested in and then resell it to make a profit. I believe the end would be tragic. However, in the United States, it is not impossible to do so. First of all, if you are born in a family like Sheffield, there is no second rule.
"The federal government does nothing every day!" Looking at Pearl Harbor, which has been in operation for many years, Sheffield cursed the decision makers in Washington. Every time major companies provide you with campaign funds, is it to let you serve the citizens?
The curse made Evelyn and several secretaries look sideways, while Sheffield's personal bodyguards and members of the Alamo Guards seemed not to have heard it. What did it have to do with them? The one who was cursing was the federal government. It was well known that they were Texans, and that was it...
"Go and ask whether it is unowned land or owned, and buy all the land around Pearl Harbor." After cursing, Sheffield still did not give up. The current US Navy is definitely not comparable to that of a few decades later. Even the annexation of Hawaii has just happened, and the expansion of Pearl Harbor is definitely inevitable. Therefore, the nearby land still has room for appreciation.
"I'm afraid it won't go so smoothly!" A clerk with glasses said weakly, "Do we need the military's consent to be near the naval port?"
"What's wrong with the military? Do they know how much the United Company has contributed to the United States?" Sheffield glanced at the secretary who spoke and said calmly, "How do you know it's not going well if you don't ask?"
"It's no big deal to go and ask!" Evelyn said to the girl who had just entered the joint company with a smile on her face.
Hawaii has bright scenery, attractive beaches, and the sun, moon, and stars create colorful landscapes: under the clear sky, the beautiful Wilkie Beach is lined with parasols like flowers; in the morning glow, banana groves and coconut trees on the shore sing softly for lovers; under the moonlight, Polynesians dance on straw mats.
All this had nothing to do with Sheffield. He was naturally not interested in anything beautiful. After looking at Pearl Harbor, Sheffield left directly and went to the seat of the Hawaiian government. The person he met was Sanford Dole, the former president of the Republic of Hawaii.
Sanford Dole was born in Honolulu to a white Protestant missionary family from New England, USA. He later became the pineapple king and founded the famous Dole Company. Dole was a member of the wealthy and outstanding immigrant group in the Hawaiian Islands and played an important role in the local political environment.
Sheffield was first struck by Sanford Dole's chest-length beard. It would be a pity if such a special beard was not used to play a hermit in a movie. The first time they met, the pineapple king left a deep impression on Sheffield. He was very interested in this king and that king.
Businessmen have a lot in common, and as the person who led the annexation of Hawaii to the United States, Sheffield no longer had to pretend to be deep in front of him. Sanford Dole's move was similar to the DuPont family's move when they were born in France but sold France to help the United States government and negotiate the annexation of Louisiana to the United States.
But Hawaii was obviously a bit smaller than Louisiana, and it was not enough for Sanford Dole to become DuPont. Out of sympathy for the founding father of the country, Sheffield decided to help him and said calmly, "Hawaii's local industry is single, and if you want to develop it, you must invest heavily. It is not easy to solve this problem and let local citizens live a good life."
"I wonder what Mr. William thinks?" Sanford Dole was worthy of being a former president. He knew that Sheffield was definitely not here to experience the scenery of Hawaii, and he came to him now with a purpose.
"The pillar industries should be integrated in an orderly manner to enhance the voice of the industry!" Sheffield raised his head slightly and said, "This is very important for Hawaii!" Although he didn't say it so bluntly, the meaning was clear. Sheffield wanted to set up a sugar trust.
(End of this chapter)
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