Many scholars who have studied American history in later generations regard the wedding of Scrooge and Dorothea as a symbol of the reconstruction of the South, and also as a symbol of the resurgence of the Democratic Party. Because shortly after the wedding, the Democratic Party received a large government donation. In return, Democrats have once again introduced bills in both chambers to lower tariffs. Of course, such a motion was undoubtedly shot. At one point, however, the question of tariffs became a matter of debate.

In terms of public opinion, the Republican Party's reaction was the same at the beginning, accusing the Democrats of being unpatriotic and unkind, and in the midst of such economic difficulties, they also wanted to let European goods encroach on their own markets, which would only bring a lot of damage to the United States.

But the angle of the Democratic Party's counterattack has been changed to a new angle. Democrats have published articles in the newspapers, pointing out that Republicans have failed to keep up with the times, that they still lived a few years ago, and that they have no idea about the display of American national power. One by one, they compared the prices of various industrial and agricultural products in the United States before and after the war with those on the international market. Then the following conclusions were drawn:

First of all, the United States still has a clear advantage in price over Europe's agricultural products, except for a small amount of tea and other things, the vast majority of American agricultural products still have strong competitiveness in the international market, even if freight and tariffs are added, and if the two sides can jointly reduce tariffs through guò diplomatic activities, then in the international competition, American agriculture will undoubtedly become the winner, and American farmers can take advantage of this to obtain more income.

On the industrial side, the situation is more complicated. Many products in Europe do have cost advantages, but we can't forget that the world is constantly changing, as the Republicans did. In the past few years, the United States has made great progress, in many important basic industries, has not been weaker than Europe, taking steel as an example, due to technological progress, now the market price of American steel is lower than Europe. Based on this, including shipbuilding, including trains, although the cost is still slightly higher than in Europe, but considering the convenience of maintenance and the cost of transportation, even if the market is opened, they will not be affected too much.

Democrats have even put forward the so-called "catfish effect" in the newspapers (according to an unreliable legend, Mrs. MacDonald told this story to President Andrew), arguing that the opening of certain markets can further promote the development of companies that have temporarily lagged behind Europe.

What's more, the United States still has an overwhelming advantage over other countries in industry, for example, in the construction of the New York Tower, the United States has an advantage in electricity and other aspects, which is simply overwhelming compared to Europe. Therefore, now that the industry of the United States has completely grown, on the contrary, the domestic market is gradually saturated, and going out to occupy the international market is the only way for the United States to become rich and powerful.

It has to be said that this round of propaganda by the Democratic Party is quite clever, although the Republicans have found various experts to use various figures to show that many industries in the United States are not yet able to compete with European industrial products. However, on this issue, the Democrats are saying that the United States is good, while the Republicans are desperately saying that the United States is bad. Well, although there are sayings in the West such as "good medicine is bitter, good words are against the ear", or "clever words make the color fresh and benevolent", at any time, it is always easier to be emotionally liked than bad words. Therefore, although this round of public opinion confrontation has not been able to change the policy of the United States, for the Democratic Party, they have been quite successful.

……

By the beginning of May of '66, the snow and ice in Alaska began to melt, and the snow covered in the mining area finally smiled a little. The final preparations before mining the gold can finally begin.

The first is security. Boris first gathered all the workers together for a meeting.

"As you all know, we're here to mine gold. Gold is a good thing, everyone wants it. But I want to tell you that the gold here already has an owner. Don't think you can sneak away with the gold, you can't run away. The snow has melted, and it is more than 2,000 kilometers from here to the nearest settlement that is not under our control, and there is no man's land all the way. Die on the road, and no one knows how you died. In case you didn't know, we were looking forward to your escape after stealing the company's gold. Because every time we kill such a fool, we will get a reward, and this reward is how much gold you steal, and this gold will be distributed directly in our hands. This is allowed by the company, so just run away with the gold. To make sure we can catch up with the good guys who gave us gold, we've just gotten support - a pack of bloodhounds, and a bunch of horses. Those dogs are not the foolish dogs you are already familiar with who can only pull sleds, they can smell the scent you leave behind from ten kilometers away, and then lead us to find you easily. Has anyone seen Uncle Tom's Cabin? This is the dog that the person mentioned in it used to hunt down fugitive slaves.

But the company is kind and doesn't want to give you a chance to make mistakes. So two barbed wire fences were used to enclose the mining area and the living area. Between these two barbed wires, you planted a lot of mines with us the other day, and that thing, if you step on it, it will explode, and whoever wants to try their luck will run out of there and fall down. As long as you are lucky, there is a possibility that you will not be able to step on a single mine.

In addition, you have all seen a watchtower surrounded by barbed wire, every other distance. The tower is guarded by armed guards at all times. Anyone who stove through the barbed wire fence was shot.

And don't try to bribe the guards, not because we can't be bought. We're not that decent. After today, anyone will come to me and say to me, I've gotten some gold, let's run away. I'll gladly say yes, and then I'll take him out of the mine, and shoot him in the head again, and the gold will be completely legal to me.

In fact, the company pays you a lot of wages, and you don't need money for food and clothing. If you work honestly for two years, you will earn enough money to go to the west and buy a piece of land to become a farmer. In order to prevent you from making mistakes, everyone needs to go to the bathroom to change into a full set of work clothes before going to work, and after the casual work, go back to the bathroom to change into full body clothes. Anyone who tries to get their hands on gold will be fired from the company immediately. After expelling, he will have all the company's security supplies confiscated and then driven straight out of the mine. If he's lucky, he might be able to make it all the way back to the United States. If we're unlucky, it's none of our business. ”

Even with such measures, there were people who tried to steal the gold and escape, and on May 10, there were people who tried to escape with the gold. As a result, only two days later, the man was caught, and the gold he brought out was divided among the guards of Blackwater, and even the padded jacket he was wearing when he fled was brought back, and there were even blood stains on it. As for what happened to that guy, needless to say, everyone knows it.

But this did not stop some people from taking the risk, and several others fled at night, cutting the barbed wire with homemade scissors and then trying to touch the minefield. As a result, the convoy appeared, one person was shot and killed by the guards, and two more had their feet blown off by mines. Early the next morning, the head of the mine announced that the two men had been fired for theft. Then, in front of everyone, the two men were carried out of the mine and left on the side of the road. Obviously, such a person with a broken leg will not be able to get out of this wasteland under any circumstances. In fact, they didn't even dare to go too far from the mining area, because outside the mining area, maybe someone would throw a little food and go into the wilderness, which was almost a dead end.

However, it was still very dangerous to stay outside the barbed wire, and one night a few days later, it rained heavily, and the next morning, people found that the two men were dead.

By the end of May, the first shipment of gold was delivered to the port, where a specially built fast carrier had long been waiting.

……

"Dorothea, our first ship of gold has been delivered." Scrooge said to Dorothea with a grin.

"How many, how do you get it?" Dorothea asked.

"A little more than three tons, just right, two million dollars." "From Alaska on a specially built clipper ship, by sea, around the Strait of Magellan, and finally to New York," Scrooge said. This route is long, but it is the safest. It's just a little longer, and although our ship is fast, it still takes three months to arrive. ”

"That means it won't be delivered until the end of August?" Dorothea said, "It's too slow. After such a long time at sea, will you encounter pirates? ”

"That's not a problem, not to mention pirates, even the navy can't intercept a ship with a degree of up to 27 knots, and the ship won't dock during the entire voyage, and the pirates can't accurately grasp his whereabouts. Well, in order to make it run so far in one go, a ship of more than two thousand tons is almost entirely loaded with fuel. After loading sailors, fresh water, and food, there were only about ten tons of goods that could be loaded. If it is not used to transport gold, it is simply a loss to transport everything. ”

"It's a pity it's still too slow." Dorothea looked at the large world map on the wall, "It's going to be so far. Well, Scrooge, how wide is this paragraph? ”

Scrooge looked at it, and Dorothea was pointing to the Panama section.

"Forty to fifty miles." Scrooge said.

"When are we going to buy this land and dig a canal?" Dorothea said, "And then you can make a lot of money by collecting a river crossing fee." ”

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