Chapter 293 Roosevelt's Inauguration (1/2)

"Now, the World Journal belongs to you, Mr. Colin Luper."

In the New Pulitzer Building, after completing the final transfer procedures, Royne Howard signed his name on the contract and said to Colin in front of him.

"I believe Joseph Pulitzer is very happy that the newspaper he founded will continue to be passed on in the hands of excellent media people like you, Mr. Colin Luper."

The sale of the World Journal also gave Royne Howard's Scripps-Howard newspaper group a rare respite.

In recent years, the Scripps-Howard newspaper group has continuously expanded its newspaper territory, adding an average of 1-6 newspapers per year during the craziest period.

Such unrestrained expansion has obviously brought consequences today. With the occurrence of the Great Depression, newspaper sales have generally declined. Last year alone, more than six newspapers under the Scripps-Howard newspaper group went bankrupt, forcing Royne Howard to adjust the development plan of the newspaper group and sell off some unnecessary newspaper industries, such as the current World Journal.

I don't think Joseph Pulitzer would like to see this scene.

Faced with Royne Howard's praise, Colin was somewhat disapproving.

In fact, Joseph Pulitzer had clearly left a stipulation in his will before his death: "The World Journal shall never be sold."

The reason why the Scripps-Howard newspaper group was able to buy the newspaper was thanks to the cooperation of Pulitzer's son Herbert, who hired a lawyer and revised Pulitzer's will after a long and tortuous judicial process.

However, the unfilial children and grandchildren are the Pulitzer family's problem.

At least for Royne Howard and Colin at the moment, they are the beneficiaries of this will modification.

Without Herbert's cooperation, they would not have been able to trade the World Journal so easily.

After completing the legal contract of the World Journal, Royne Howard did not stay in the new Pulitzer Building for long and left in a hurry.

The Scripps-Howard newspaper group still has a lot of things waiting for him to deal with.

Watching the back of Luo Yin Howard leaving, Colin began to visit the building accompanied by the editor-in-chief of the World Journal. The Pulitzer Building has a total of 20 floors. Although it is an old building built forty years ago, it is generally well maintained. The entire basement is neatly arranged with printing presses. Among them, Colin even saw the four-color double-sided offset printing press produced by his own factory.

Obviously, these are the results of Lange Wurst's hard work.

Going up from the basement where the printing press is placed, the first floor is the business department of the Pulitzer Building, the second to tenth floors are high-end office buildings for rent, and the tenth floor and above are the hub center of the World Journal. In addition, the eleventh floor is a neat bedroom suite, which is specially used for editors who work overtime and cannot go home.

Of course, after the Great Depression, many editors simply moved here to live.

Going up from the Pulitzer Building, Colin came to the place where Joseph Pulitzer worked before his death, a huge office in the gilded round top floor.

"Call the editors-in-chief of the various departments currently in charge of the World Journal..."

Sitting down in the office, Colin looked at the editor-in-chief of the World Journal who had followed him all the way, and then made his first order after taking over the newspaper.

...

Just as Colin took over the World Journal and reorganized it, the Great Depression that swept across the United States finally pushed down the last domino of the American economy.

On February 14, 1933, Valentine's Day and the eve of Roosevelt's inauguration, the entire American bank began to collapse. Trust companies in various states had reached the point of exhaustion, and banks closed down in batches. The national bank had less than 6 billion yuan in gold reserves, but had to deal with 41 billion yuan in deposits. There were crowds of people in front of the bank, and the run on the bank spread across the country.

The collapse of financial trusts seemed to be without warning, but in fact there were precedents before.

As soon as the bank announced its bankruptcy, Colin sent the reporter of the Daily Courier, who acquired the World Journal and merged it into the Courier World, to the office of the "Banking and Currency Committee".

The committee was a special team commissioned by U.S. senators to investigate the transactions that led to the collapse of Wall Street when the Great Depression broke out.

Since the committee was established, they have been trying to find out the truth, but the bankers have always refused to hand over bank records. This dispute lasted for a full year. Finally, the committee concluded: "The condition of the banking system is so bad that it would be too dangerous if it were all made public or reported to the House of Representatives."

Now, the collapse of the bank seems to confirm the committee's conclusion.

At the first moment of the collapse of the banking system, the "Banking and Currency Committee" established a subcommittee led by Ferdinand Picaro, former deputy prosecutor and legal counsel of the New York District.

The reporter of "Le Monde Courier" filmed the bankers being brought to Picaro one by one and asked to be responsible for their misconduct.

The public was shocked to find that their favorite businessmen and guardians of American companies were exposed.

On the day that J.P. Morgan, the most profitable banker in the United States, was summoned, the Courier-World reported immediately: "A crowd of onlookers" gathered at the door and crowded the corridor of the committee room. In the morning, the staff had to struggle to get through it. When Morgan boldly declared: "I have no hesitation in stating that I consider private bankers to be assets to the country, not creators of national dangers", Picaro retorted: "What is your business or profession?" When Morgan answered "Private banker", the whole room burst into laughter. "

Dishonest and selfish bankers like Morgan are ultimately dangerous to the United States. According to survey statistics, they did not pay any taxes from 1930 to 1932. For this reason, Colin gave them an appropriate name in the Courier World - "Bank Gangsters".

In addition to Morgan, many people who the public can only look up to have their true faces revealed. Samuel Insull is such a person. He is a public utility tycoon. When his company began to collapse, he fled to Europe.

When he was accused of embezzlement, he simply asked: "What banker and business tycoon has not done what I did? ”

Among the first bankers called before Picaro was Charles Mitchell, chairman of National City Bank, the nation’s second-largest bank, which was believed to have played a leading role in the “wild speculation that led to the collapse of the business.”

In 1929, Mitchell earned $1,206,195, and to avoid paying income taxes, he sold his stock to his wife at a much lower price than it actually was, and then bought it back at the same price.

“Frankly, I sold the stock to avoid paying taxes. "Charles Michel admitted that the bank provided its executives with an interest-free loan of $2.4 million to help them preserve their investments.

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The editor of Le Monde, which reported the news, commented: "The only difference between a bank thief and a bank president is that the thief works at night. "

The collapse of banks in large numbers eventually triggered a huge financial disaster throughout the United States.

People thought that the Great Depression had reached its worst, but they did not expect that there was a possibility of something worse.

Reporters from the Courier World did not need to go too far, and could take a photo surrounded by a crowd at the door of any bank.

At this time, the only one who felt fortunate was perhaps Hoover.

Because he had handed this mess over to Roosevelt.

While the country was in a huge financial disaster, Superman also serialized a comic about banks in a very timely manner.

The story follows the plot of the Breadbag Universe. Superman exiled himself after thinking that he had killed someone. In the universe, during one of his exiles, he accidentally came to a magical planet where everything was controlled by a bank, and everyone could freely sell everything they had through the bank.

Superman saw with his own eyes that a child entered a bank and walked out as a white-haired old man.

From someone else, Superman learned that this was because the child sold his age in the bank. In this banking world, only bankers are the real masters. They control all the resources of this planet, and even air needs to be purchased from them.

Everyone has a special machine to provide them with the air they need for the day.

People on the entire planet Working for the bankers, they only earn enough money to live every day, and once they cannot pay the price, they are forced to sell their lives.

When Superman came to this world, he could survive without breathing, so he was considered by the bankers to be a disadvantageous factor threatening their rule.

In order to eliminate Superman, the bankers sent their men to try to eliminate Superman.

However, they underestimated Superman's power. Under the powerful force, the bankers' methods were completely useless. In the end, Superman destroyed the bank and found out the bankers hiding in the bank. It turned out that their true appearance was an ugly alien rat.

This serial about the banking world in the "Messenger World" was quickly published. It caused a huge response throughout New York.

At a time of economic turmoil, everyone was worried about the problems of banks. The story of "Superman" fits the public's expectations very well, although in real life, they crowded at the door of the bank for their savings and prayed that the bank they deposited their savings in would not go bankrupt.

However, deep down, they undoubtedly hated the bankers who caused all this.

Especially at the end of the comic, the scene where Superman caught the bankers from the bank and exposed their ugly appearance made the readers who saw it vent a little of the anger that had been suppressed in their hearts.

These alien rats are not the greedy bankers in real life.

There is no doubt that the serialization of Colin's cartoon has aroused strong dissatisfaction among financial institutions, especially bankers. They believe that the description in the cartoon distorts their image and is a malicious slander.

However, Colin didn't care about this.

With the financial collapse, these bankers have already fallen from their high status. It can be said that the bankruptcy of the bank caused serious losses to the people who had firmly believed that saving money was the right move, and thus changed a generation. The American concept of saving.

When banks are not trustworthy, they can only spend their money on useful things, so that at least they don't have to wait until the bank fails to regret it.

Of course, the content of comics is just a channel for expressing dissatisfaction with reality and cannot really change what actually happened.

On the day Roosevelt was sworn in, the nation's financial heart stopped beating and the stock exchange officially closed.

On March 4, 1933, the East Portico of Congress was packed with people attending Roosevelt's oath of office.

"I, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, solemnly swear..."

In front of Capitol Hill, Roosevelt solemnly made an oath. The impact of the bank failure was greater than imagined. What Roosevelt took over from Hoover was a dilapidated country.

"I am certain that my fellow citizens expect that when I take office as President I will address them with the candor and decisiveness that the present situation of our country demands. There is no better time than now to speak the truth frankly and courageously, to tell the whole truth. moment. We don't have to be timid and face the situation of our country today. This great country will persevere and it will revive and prosper..."

Having said this, Roosevelt in the wheelchair took a deep breath. His eyes fell on the speech in front of him, and he paused on a paragraph in it.

This was the content of the speech that he finalized after repeated discussions and confirmations during his meeting with Colin, and the next paragraph was what Colin insisted on adding.

“Let me, therefore, begin by stating my firm belief that the only thing we fear is fear itself, an inexplicable, irrational, unfounded fear that nullifies all the efforts required of man. Everyone who lives in our country In times of heavy clouds, frank and energetic leadership has won the understanding and support of the people, thus preparing the necessary conditions for victory. I believe that in the current critical moment, everyone will give the same support again..."

"Did it get filmed?"

In front of the VIP table on the east porch of Parliament Hill, Colin turned to Little John and asked.

"It was filmed."

Nodding, Little John nodded to Colin while carrying a camera to record Roosevelt's inaugural speech in front of Capitol Hill.

What Little John is carrying on his shoulders is the latest camera modified by Philo Farnsworth after Colin's suggestion. Compared with the heavy model that originally required wheels to move, the new generation of electronic cameras is more convenient for shooting. Convenient, the picture imaging is also clearer.