Chapter 610 Oregon in 1860

Chapter 603 Oregon in 1860

"The Democratic Party split as early as last year. The Northern Democratic Party nominated Douglas and the Southern Democratic Party nominated Breckinridge. Judging from the current situation, although the Republican Party is a new party, it may not be unable to defeat the Democratic Party." Fremont, who had just returned to California by train from the East, analyzed the current election situation.

In terms of the foundation and strength of the two parties, there is no doubt that the Democratic Party is the old party and the base camp of the traditional aristocratic families in the East, especially in the northern part of the East. Its strength and base are far stronger than the Republican Party.

But the problem is that the Democratic Party is now divided. The Northern and Southern factions have withdrawn from their respective presidential candidates, which undoubtedly dispersed the power of the Democratic Party and gave the Republican Party, the Democratic Party's biggest competitor, an opportunity to take advantage of it.

On the other hand, William Seward and Simon Cameron, the bigwigs in the Republican Party, did not turn against Lincoln after losing the qualification for the party nomination. Instead, they pushed all their supporters to Lincoln's side.

Combined with his own experience in the East, Fremont even believed that a united Republican Party was more likely to win this election.

"The Southerners have already threatened that if the Republicans win, the Union will disintegrate. Will the Southerners vote for Douglas to oppose the Republicans? If Douglas can get the support of the South, the situation will be very different." Pan Zhengwei said.

"The South is not monolithic. Compared with Douglas, the Southerners are more willing to vote for Breckinridge." Liang Yao analyzed.

"If Douglas is willing to work hard, he may get more support from some swing states in the South, such as Tennessee, Kentucky and other states. As for the votes of South Carolina and Georgia, which are hardcore slave states, Douglas will not be able to take these hardcore slave states unless he offends his base in the North and offers very generous compromise conditions to the South."

"Does your Excellency mean that the Republicans will definitely win the election? A full-scale military conflict between the North and the South is inevitable?" Robinson frowned.

Although Robinson is on the side of the free states, he does not want a full-scale military conflict to break out between the North and the South.

"I didn't say that, but we have to prepare for the worst." Liang Yao said.

"If, I mean if, if the situation in the east has reached an irreversible point, both sides force us to take a stand and ask us to take sides, how should we express our position and who should we support?

You know, we have a lot of economic interests in both the south and the north. No matter how we express our position, it means losing one of the high-quality markets. The economy of the west will also be affected." Ge Wen looked at Liang Yao worriedly.

"Support ourselves." Liang Yao's sharp eyes swept across all the white people in the living room, and his tone of voice gradually became heavier.

"I know that all of you are leaning towards your hometown in your hearts, but I have to remind you now that you are all westerners now, and you must speak and act from the standpoint and interests of the west.

If I find that anyone among you is betraying you, no matter who it is, don't blame me, Liang, for turning my face and not recognizing you."

The civil war is inevitable, and Liang Yao feels that it is still necessary to give these white people in the west a shot of prevention.

After the tea party, Liang Yao invited Oregon Governor Wu Yuanhua and Liangzhou Governor Strauss to his study to talk. He wanted to learn about the development of Oregon and Liangzhou.

In addition to California, the other two states in the West Coast, Oregon and Liangzhou, are also the core areas of the West.

Although compared with California, the western giant, the population and economic size of Oregon and Liangzhou are somewhat dwarfed.

But thanks to the industrial welfare of California and the reasonable planning at the beginning of the establishment of the state, Oregon and Liangzhou have a good development momentum. The population of both states has exceeded 500,000, far better than the border states in the eastern region and some states with relatively backward economic development.

"Tell me about the situation in Oregon and Liangzhou."

After Wu Yuanhua and Strauss entered the study, Liang Yao motioned them to sit down and asked about the situation in Oregon and Liangzhou.

After Wu Yuanhua sat down, he took the teacup from Zeiss, put it on the coffee table beside him and said, "As of the end of last year, Oregon had a population of 730,000, of which 440,000 were young and strong. In addition to the militiamen who have been incorporated into the 102nd Brigade, there are still 4,800 registered reservists and militiamen.

As for the economy and people's livelihood, thanks to the blessing of California, Oregon is currently thriving in all industries, and the people are living and working in peace and contentment."

After speaking, Wu Yuanhua presented the report he had prepared long ago to Liang Yao, who was also the governor.

Liang Yao carefully read the report presented by Wu Yuanhua.

Since the Oregon region has rich forestry resources, the wood processing industry and furniture manufacturing industry are the pillar industries of Oregon.

More than 70% of the oil barrels used to store oil in Los Angeles and the wine barrels used by wineries on the West Coast come from Oregon. As for the high-quality wood and furniture produced in Oregon, they are not only very popular in the entire western region, but also exported to the Qing Dynasty, Japan, and Borneo in Southeast Asia.

In addition, Oregon's mining industry is also relatively developed, with thousands of gold, silver, copper, iron, coal and other mines. However, compared with California, Oregon's mines are not very large, mostly small and medium-sized mines, and there are relatively few large mines.

Oregon also has the ability to process metal ores, but Oregon's industry is relatively weak compared to California, and it cannot digest all the ores mined in the state. Most of the copper and iron ores are still transported to San Francisco and digested by the copper smelters and steel mills in the San Francisco Industrial Zone.

In terms of agriculture, thanks to Oregon's suitable climate, fertile soil, and abundant water resources, Oregon's agriculture is very developed. Oregon not only achieved food self-sufficiency very early, but also exported a large amount of food.

Several major agricultural production areas in Oregon are mainly concentrated in river valleys and basins in the western and southern regions.

The Willamette Valley is the most important agricultural area in Oregon, known as the granary of Oregon. It mainly grows crops such as wheat, corn, soybeans, and oats. At the same time, the local animal husbandry is also very developed. Salem, the capital of Oregon, and Eugene, the third largest city, are located in the Willamette Valley.

Another major agricultural production area in Oregon is the Rogue Valley, located in southwestern Oregon, near the California border. In addition to growing conventional grain crops, the local fruit, especially grape planting, is very developed in the Rogue Valley, and it has a complete wine industry chain.

Of course, in addition to this, Oregon also has several smaller agricultural production areas such as the Klamath Basin, which are not mentioned here one by one.

The only drawback is that most areas in Oregon are not suitable for growing rice.

Since most Chinese immigrants in the West Coast are from the South, they prefer to eat rice.

However, there are not many large fields suitable for growing rice in the entire Western region. Only the Central Valley in central California and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in the north have warm summers, sufficient water sources, and swampy soil, which are suitable for growing rice.

Therefore, in the Western region, the price of rice is much higher than that of wheat. Cheap wheat and expensive rice have always been the norm in the Western region.

In addition to the financially constrained new immigrants who would choose cheap wheat as their staple food, those who have a little more money would try to buy rice to satisfy their appetite. After all, eating habits are difficult to change.

There are also many merchants engaged in grain trade who have seen the business opportunities, buying low-priced wheat from the west coast, using steamships to transport it to Japan and the southern coastal areas of the Qing Dynasty, exchanging wheat with local grain merchants or even government warehouses for rice, and then transporting it back to the west coast to sell it at a high price for profit.

In addition, the fur industry in Oregon is also very developed, especially the local characteristic beaver skin industry, which can be said to be extremely profitable. An ordinary beaver skin hat that costs only more than 80 cents can be easily sold at a high price of seven or eight dollars as long as it is shipped to the European continent.

Especially in the London metropolitan area, local British gentlemen are even willing to spend more than ten or twenty pounds to buy a high-quality beaver skin hat.