"Gaughan? Is he the original leader of the coal cartel?" Sheffield put his hands in his pockets and said with great interest, "It seems that like your father, Morgan also had mountains of bones at his feet, and he committed suicide later?"

"In fact, for this strike, we can first focus Roosevelt's attention on the coal industry, so that we can see how Morgan responds. If he can withstand Roosevelt's pressure, then using his example, it will not be difficult for us to fight."

Rockefeller Jr. put down the newspaper about the settlement between the coal parties and said with a hint of regret, "What a pity, Morgan doesn't seem ready to try Roosevelt's power for us."

"No one wants to be the first unlucky person! It's understandable!" Sheffield said with a wry smile, "But even if there is the first unlucky person sooner or later, in terms of the current penetration of the financial industry, Morgan should still be the first to compare.

Your family can feel the threat more. He has intervened in too many industries. Although his control is not high and many shares are not large. But from a probability point of view, the first hit should be greater than Standard Oil, but this is not

Representing the Rockefeller family is safe. If Roosevelt gets a taste of the sweetness, he will definitely take action against Standard Oil and this trust benchmark at the right time."

Standard Oil is the representative of trust companies. Without defeating Standard Oil, Roosevelt's attack on trust companies will ultimately be just a small effort and unlikely to gain huge public support. This is obviously not consistent with the first person who wants to break the re-election

Unspoken thoughts of the president.

Standard Oil is a powerful presence among trust companies. If we don't dismantle it, how can we defeat the trusts?

Rockefeller Jr. nodded to express his approval of Sheffield's analysis. He also felt that Roosevelt should have done the easy things first and then the difficult ones. After successfully killing several small trusts and accumulating public opinion, he was well prepared to cause trouble in the past.

"Since Roosevelt is going to attack sooner or later, we are ready to fight him. We must take the case to the Supreme Court. Among the nine justices, how many are leaning towards us?" Rockefeller Jr. paused at this.

"As long as you can get two of them together, there's a way to rule in our favor."

"Yes, according to case law, once we can get a verdict in our favor in the first judgment, everything after that will be easier to handle. But I still say that it is best not to help Morgan's trust.

"Our relationship with Morgan is already like this. Roosevelt has a term. Who knows how many years Morgan can live? The threat he gives us is long-term. I will not help Morgan." Sheffield still remembered his ethics all the time.

, heretics can talk, heretics must die. He would rather face Roosevelt's attack on his own than seek to unite with Morgan.

The basic idea of ​​case law is to recognize that the law itself cannot be complete. Legislators can only focus on the principle provisions of a law. When a judge encounters a specific case, he should make specific decisions based on the specific circumstances and the essence of the legal provisions.

Interpretation and determination. The basic principle is "following precedent", that is, when a court hears a case, it must use the precedents of previous courts as the legal basis for hearing and ruling; for issues that have been dealt with by the effective judgments of this court and the superior court.

If the same or similar case is encountered again, and there are no new circumstances and no more sufficient reasons can be provided, a judgment that is contrary or inconsistent with the past judgment shall not be made until one day in the future the Supreme Court will rule in another similar case.

until a different verdict is reached.

Therefore, once Union Company and Standard Oil took the case to the Supreme Court after Roosevelt invoked antitrust laws and obtained the support of a majority of nine justices, at least within a few years Roosevelt would have to collect evidence if he wanted to launch an attack.

Because the case was launched in a short period of time and if the cases are similar, the case law is likely to affect the outcome.

"But I still want to attract Roosevelt's attention on this matter." Sheffield pondered for a moment and said, "We have to prepare for the worst, but until then, it's best not to go to the Supreme Court, because when the time comes

At that time, many things could not be hidden. Now the coal cartel chooses to reconcile in order not to attract attention. We need to find a way to prevent them from reconciling and make people pay attention to this matter."

Things are different now than they were 20 years ago. Back then, the coal cartel was able to call out thieves and catch thieves. It not only dismantled the miners' union, but also hanged workers who participated in strikes. But the United States is so big that anyone can dominate it. Now it has been crushed.

After many miners' unions, there is now a powerful absenteeism union in the United States.

"What can you do?" Rockefeller Jr. was stunned for a moment and then reacted, "Use the power of the union? Learn from Carnegie?"

"Yeah, but I will do it secretly. It would be embarrassing if it failed. I don't believe in the union so I can't bribe it. Besides, this is also for the sake of the miners' lives." Sheffield nodded simply, preparing to follow Carnegie's example and use the union

Stimulus stokes the coal cartel.

Because of Gaughan's glorious record of leading the coal cartel and hanging striking miners, there were no unions in the coal field for a long time, and even if they did appear, they were quickly dismantled.

However, there are always times when coal cartels are negligent, and this negligence is closely related to the development of the coal industry, because in the era of the coal cartel, anthracite was the focus of everyone's attention, and the amount of coal needed by industry and individuals was not large. But now in the past two years

Ten years later, things have changed. The United States' need for coal is so great that the coal cartel built on anthracite has slowed down.

The country now consumes four times as much bituminous coal as anthracite, and one reason is that bituminous coal is more widely distributed. In addition to the rich coal seams along the Appalachian Mountains from Pittsburgh to Alabama, there are also coal seams in Illinois and

Indiana also has concentrated bituminous coal fields. Unlike the anthracite coal industry, the bituminous coal industry was relatively decentralized and was not initially favored by the coal cartel that controlled anthracite coal.

In the bituminous coal mining areas, a miners' union emerged that was not broken up by the coal cartel. A miners' union successfully won formal recognition. This was the first miners' union to be able to exist for a long time in twenty years, and its official name was

Absenteeism Federation.

Sheffield was ready to have a serious talk with the Miners' Union, and said to Rockefeller, "I will do this. This is all for the workers' treatment. I believe they will thank us."

The shareholders of Rockefeller Jr. and Standard Oil left after clarifying the attitudes of both parties. Sheffield continued to stay in St. Louis because of its good geographical location and the most suitable location for neutral negotiations. It is not far from anywhere.

, save the time of traveling back and forth.

The leader of the Union of Mineworkers was a young man named John Mitchell. Mitchell began working in the mines at the age of twelve and suffered a permanent hunchback. A few years later, he left the mines and began working for

He was busy promoting the union of workers and traveled all over the coal fields of Illinois.

When John Mitchell was found by the people from Sheffield, his face was full of shock and he almost straightened his back. However, after knowing the purpose of the visitor, he still agreed to go to St. Louis.

A few days later, Sheffield met the miner leader. After all, this man's physical characteristics were too obvious, and he would never mistake him for the wrong person. He motioned to sit down, and the slave owner explained his purpose, "I hope you can

Help the anthracite miners get the rights they deserve."

"Why are you doing this!" John Mitchell only knew that he was facing a big boss, but he didn't know Sheffield's true identity. However, he still knew that there was no such thing as pie in the sky. This person would definitely find him.

has his purpose.

"You can think of me as a competitor of the coal cartel. In fact, we businessmen are not all interested in profit. Sometimes we are also angry. The coal cartel has conflicts with my company, so I want to find out.

They are in trouble, so I thought of your union." Sheffield smiled and stated his purpose unhurriedly, "I know you are confused and even despise me, but it doesn't matter, you can do it

Treat this incident as a dog-eat-dog competition among capitalists to achieve your own goals. If you want money, I can bribe you. If you want to benefit more miners, you need my help even more."

"I need your help, where is this help?" John Mitchell sneered, "I didn't find it."

"I own several newspapers!" Sheffield said with a proud face. This pride was true. Now he was becoming more and more proud of his media layout. "When the time comes, I can help you with public opinion."

John Mitchell is silent. Workers in the anthracite coal fields work longer hours and are subject to stricter supervision, making them worse off than the bituminous coal miners in the American Midwest. The miners often live in company dormitories, so

Later, they were not only far away from the care of the miners' union, but also more exposed to the surveillance of the company's spies. Child labor was rampant here.

This is exactly where John Mitchell wants to go, to bring the influence of the Union of Mineworkers into the coal cartel that has been crushing the establishment of the miners' union, to fight against these ugly capitalists, and to fight for the legitimate rights and interests of the miners.

Although the capitalist in front of me is not a good person, it is not shameful if the contradictions within the capitalist can be used to achieve the goal! Although you are dog-eat-dog, John Mitchell finally agreed. For the rights of the miners, he can

Temporarily cooperate with other capitalists.
Chapter completed!