Chapter 522: President, What's Wrong with You Today?

This was the first time that Americans in the East felt that the West Coast region, which was two or three thousand miles away, would have such a great impact on their daily lives.

The strikes organized by the Huaxia Chamber of Commerce caused waves of Chinese businessmen to go on strike.

The media in various places exaggerated this matter and the atrocities against Chinese people in various places.

In cities with a large number of Chinese people, such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore, armed blockades were set off to ensure their safety.

The streets near the armed blockades were filled with a strong and pungent smell of gunpowder and the stench of corpses.

To prevent the situation from escalating, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Maryland have sent local fire brigades and national guards to the city to maintain order.

The Atlantic Railway Company has announced the suspension of operations. The suspension of this large railway company with Baltimore to Philadelphia and Philadelphia to New York has caused great inconvenience to the residents of these three major cities.

Before the railway crisis broke out, if any company dared to go on strike and stop operating, within a quarter, a new railway company would immediately build a new line next to the stopped line to replace it.

Unfortunately, now during the economic crisis, major railway companies have difficulty in protecting themselves, not to mention laying new lines.

The railway tycoons who were once ambitious and claimed to build railways to every corner of America are now either declaring bankruptcy or on the way to bankruptcy.

More than a month after the Huaxia Chamber of Commerce announced the strike, many non-Chinese-funded small and medium-sized railway companies also announced the suspension of operations and published statements in newspapers. They are using practical actions to support the strike of the Huaxia Chamber of Commerce and support the Chinese in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests.

They even sent a telegram to California to inform them of the matter, fearing that California would not know about their suspension of operations.

Liang Yao soon learned about this. He knew that this was not because these small and medium-sized railway companies were kind, but because these railway companies used locomotives, carriages and accompanying maintenance services provided by California Railway Company.

In the short term, it will be difficult for these railway companies to find alternative locomotive suppliers.

Even if they find it, the other party may not be willing to supply it.

The California Railway has authorized the New York Central Railway Company and the Illinois Railway Company to produce the Pioneer and some of its improved models.

However, Liang Yao has already sent a letter to the president of the Illinois Railway Company in advance. If the Illinois Railway Company violates the contract and privately sells the Pioneer and its modified locomotives to third parties without the permission of the California Railway Company and provides maintenance services, the California Railway Company will terminate all cooperation projects with the Illinois Railway Company.

Some smarter railway companies thought of buying locomotives and related services from the British as an emergency.

When the American Railway Association unified the railway gauge, it used the same railway gauge as the British.

But they soon returned disappointed, because the American railroad, except for the gauge and the British railway, the track form and track structure are different.

In other words, even if they bought a locomotive from the British, they could not put it into use directly.

What's more, British businessmen prefer to add icing on the cake rather than provide timely assistance.

The British are well aware of the current economic situation in the United States, especially the poor economic situation of the American Railway Company. They were not willing to take the risk of providing locomotives for the American Railway Company.

The craze for building railways has made most cities in the United States connected to railways in the past few years, and people have developed the habit of traveling by rail, especially cheap rail travel.

The suspension of more and more railway companies has brought many inconveniences to the lives of residents along the line.

They now urgently hope that the government can reach a settlement with Chinese businessmen and the West and restore normal economic order as soon as possible.

In addition to travel, the goods that the strike of the Huaxia Chamber of Commerce has the greatest impact on the lives of Americans in the East are cheap and good quality vaseline and kerosene.

Because vaseline does not have the odor of animal fats, it has a comfortable and greasy feeling when in contact with the skin, coupled with a price that is hard to refuse.

Vaseline has long replaced traditional animal oils and some expensive vegetable oil cosmetics and skin care products.

It quickly became the new favorite of American women.

Now these ladies who are used to applying vaseline petrolatum are absolutely unacceptable to switch to animal fats with odors and not cheap prices.

In addition to these ladies, workers in the east also suffered when they could not buy Vaseline.

Workers in the east also had the habit of buying cheap Vaseline antifreeze cream to apply on their hands and faces to prevent frostbite. They praised this cheap and practical antifreeze cream.

However, this antifreeze cream is no longer available on store shelves. Some people are reselling California-made antifreeze cream on the black market, but the price is comparable to high-end cosmetics, which is not affordable for ordinary workers like them.

The situation of kerosene, a necessity of life, is even more serious. Street lights in major cities, including New York, the largest city in the United States, are no longer on at night, and the night of the city has become dim again.

When kerosene was in sufficient supply, New York was a veritable city that never sleeps. The economic crisis and the suspension of kerosene supply brought the prosperous New York back to its original state overnight.

Not everyone suffered losses in the crisis and conflict, but a few people benefited from it.

The vendors who sold animal fats such as whale oil made a lot of money from the strike of Chinese merchants.

However, the production of animal fats is still very limited, and it is completely unable to fill the gap of kerosene. Its high price also means that animal fats cannot replace kerosene.

It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality.

Kerosene has become a necessity for Americans, and Americans have developed the habit of using kerosene for lighting.

The first thing many children do after school is to carry bottles and cans to the kerosene store to line up for kerosene.

After getting the kerosene, they secretly pour a little into a small bottle, and then exchange some snacks with second-hand dealers who specialize in purchasing kerosene.

The 18-year-old Rockefeller is one of them. Over the years, Rockefeller has not only paid off the high tuition fees by reselling oil, but also saved a considerable fortune.

At the beginning of the economic crisis, Rockefeller noticed that there were unfriendly behaviors towards Chinese people on the streets of Cleveland, although there were not many Chinese people in Cleveland.

When Rockefeller learned that this had become a common phenomenon in the eastern United States, he realized that his chance had come.

Liang Yao, who started from scratch, was Rockefeller's idol. Although Rockefeller had no chance to meet Liang Yao, he carefully studied and analyzed how Liang Yao succeeded and read all of Liang Yao's published articles.

Based on his understanding of this idol, Rockefeller believed that Liang Yao, as a leader in the West and a leader of the Chinese, would not give up.

Rockefeller believed that his chance had come.

He resolutely resigned from his accounting job at Witt-Tartt.

Although this decent and stable job that earns 70 cents a day is envied by many people, Rockefeller only regards this job as a part-time job.

"I really don't know what's in your head. If you don't do accounting, do you want to sell snake oil with me?"

When Rockefeller's father, old Dr. Rockefeller, learned that Rockefeller had resigned from his accounting job, he was not surprised at all, but rather a little happy. He knew his son's character and he would not be satisfied with being an accountant.

Dr. Rockefeller was just a nickname given to him by his neighbors. He was not a professional doctor.

He lived a more comfortable life than all the doctors in Cleveland by selling a prescription that claimed to cure all diseases but was actually useless: Snake Oil.

Although doctors in Cleveland despised the way Rockefeller made a living.

But there are always more ignorant people than smart people in this world. With his eloquence, Rockefeller had no worries about not being able to sell his Snake Oil.

"Father, this is my first job and will be my last job. From now on, I will not work for others." Rockefeller said with a very firm attitude.

If other children said this to their father, they would inevitably be taught a lesson of love, but Rockefeller was not an ordinary father. He patted Rockefeller on the shoulder with satisfaction and said.

"This is like my Rockefeller's child. Tell me, what do you want to do?"

"I want to stock up on a batch of kerosene. Are you interested in doing this business together, father?" Rockefeller expressed his thoughts.

"But I only have $1,565 now. If I had more start-up capital, I could earn more. Father, I want to borrow some money from you. I can pay the interest."

Rockefeller has made a lot of money as a kerosene middleman over the years: a full $1,200 (historically, Rockefeller had saved $800 when he was 19 years old).

Including the $365 borrowed from colleagues and friends, Rockefeller collected $1,565.

But he was not satisfied with this. He wanted to collect more start-up capital. He knew that his father had a considerable amount of deposits.

"As far as I know, the current kerosene price is stable and declining. Although your behavior is very risky, my child, I support you."

Old Rockefeller was also very happy. After asking Rockefeller to write an IOU for a loan of $1,500 with an interest of 15%, he happily handed over the $1,500 to Rockefeller.

Rockefeller used $3,000 to stock up on kerosene, and the remaining $65 was used to maintain his daily life and buy newspaper information. He was particularly concerned about the recent whereabouts of California politicians.

Soon, as Rockefeller expected, his adventure was successful.

Chinese Chambers of Commerce of all sizes in the eastern states responded to the call of the Huaxia Chamber of Commerce and announced a strike in protest.

The price of kerosene gradually rose.

By January 1857, Rockefeller was one of the few people in Cleveland and even in Ohio who still had a lot of kerosene.

Merchants came to buy kerosene from him in an endless stream, and some merchants were even willing to pay $6,500 to buy the kerosene that Rockefeller had originally bought for $3,000.

Rockefeller remained indifferent and just read the newspaper quietly.

In mid-January, news that California Senator Pan Zhengwei was about to arrive in Washington reached Ohio.

This time, even old Rockefeller couldn't sit still and thought the time to sell was ripe.

Once Pan Zhengwei reached an agreement with Washington on behalf of California and California resumed the supply of kerosene to the eastern region, the price of kerosene in Rockefeller's hands would quickly fall back to normal levels.

Rockefeller simply replied: Congressman Pan is not important enough, and the best time to sell has not yet arrived. He still had no plans to sell kerosene.

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The White House in Washington at this time.

Buchanan, who was in the second year of his presidency, was in a state of confusion.

The conflict between the North and the South had not yet subsided, and the dispute between the East and the West had started again. Racial issues, economic crisis issues, fiscal issues, capital outflow issues, tariff issues and many other issues would have been enough to make the previous presidents suffer if they had encountered even one of these issues.

But these problems happened to the lucky Buchanan almost at the same time.

Sometimes, Buchanan even felt that he was not sitting on the presidential throne, but on a powder keg with fuses.

Buchanan hated the former president's inaction and dumped all the messes on him, the unlucky guy.

Thinking of Fillmore, Buchanan thought of the opening ceremony of the Pacific Railway. Liang Yao and Vanderbilt did not invite him to participate, but chose to invite the former president and cabinet members.

Buchanan became more and more angry.

Fillmore was the good guy, and Buchanan had to clean up the mess. Damn, these people are so hateful.

Buchanan originally wanted to show his face at the opening ceremony of the Pacific Railway to improve his image. At the same time, he hoped that this super project of the Pacific Railway could stimulate the railway industry in the United States and boost people's confidence in the railway industry.

For this reason, Buchanan even prepared an impassioned speech, but he didn't expect Liang Yao and Vanderbilt to do this in the end.

It seems that this idea has failed, at least the idea of ​​improving his image through the opening ceremony of the Pacific Railway has failed.

Buchanan is not a president without cultivation and low quality. He grew up in a small family in Pennsylvania and received a good education.

It's just that anyone who encounters these bad things will inevitably feel unbalanced.

"Mr. President, New York State Senator Edward wants to discuss the tariff rate with you."

"Get lost!"

"Mr. President, Governor Robinson of Kansas wants to report to you in person the conflict between slaveholders and anti-slavery people in Topeka on January 21."

"Get lost!"

"Mr. President, the president of Tokmak Railroad has been waiting outside the White House for two days."

"Get lost!"

"Mr. President, the British envoy wants to see you. The British envoy is concerned about the recent discussion in Congress on tariff rates and hopes to talk to you."

"Get lost, the British envoy can't let him get lost. Tell him that I'm not feeling well these days and it's inconvenient for me to receive you."

"Yes, Mr. President, what's wrong with you today?"

"Think about it yourself!" Buchanan became increasingly irritable.

Not long after, his assistant turned back.

"Mr. President, California Senator Pan Zhengwei wants to see you"

"Get lost, California Senator?"

"Yes, sir."

"Bring him to see me quietly."