628 [The effect of flickering far exceeds expectations]
Although the San Francisco Chronicle is the newspaper with the largest circulation on the West Coast of the United States, its main readers are concentrated in northern and central California. As long as it pleases local readers in California and its reports attract the attention of local readers, it will have no worries about sales.
The day after Zhou Hexuan delivered his speech, the "San Francisco Chronicle" published relevant content on the second page of the headline, with the headline "The Silver Act is pushing the United States into the abyss."
Not only that, American left-wing writer Philip Rahv also took the opportunity to open fire, publishing an article in Partisan Review magazine:
"The promulgation of the United States Silver Act was first of all a manifestation of the loss of national dignity. In July 1933, that is, last year, eight major silver-producing or silver-using countries, including the United States, China, and India, signed the International Silver Agreement at the World Economic Conference in London.
”, in order to stabilize the international silver price, it is stipulated that the U.S. government cannot purchase more than 35 million ounces of silver every year. However, less than a year after the signing of the “International Silver Agreement”, the United States enacted the Silver Act, which is equivalent to unilaterally tearing up this international agreement.
."
"The United States has violated its international obligations to stabilize silver prices, which will inevitably bring about a series of international problems. This kind of unilateral breach of contract is not what a major country should do. The United States will gradually lose its international credibility and influence."
"Some people may say that as long as it can help the United States get out of the Great Depression, then all the breach of trust is worth it. But the Silver Act does more harm than good to the United States. As more and more countries abandon the silver standard, the value of silver is actually
It is falling. The United States relies on laws and state purchases to raise the price of silver, which is equivalent to using limited national finances to purchase silver whose value is constantly decreasing. Judging from the trend of silver prices, the U.S. government’s investment has made money, but in fact
This is not the case. The United States can only keep buying silver to maintain the price of silver. Once sold, the price of silver will inevitably plummet. This is a bottomless pit, and only the silver group makes money."
"The rise in silver prices has increased commodity prices to a certain extent. This is what capitalists are happy to see, because it can stimulate industrial production and help the United States get out of the economic crisis. But we should see that although commodity prices have increased, people's income has not increased accordingly.
, but it makes people’s lives more difficult.”
"In the Far East, the United States is arousing China's hostility because the Silver Act caused China's financial chaos. The Chinese's boycott of American goods will inevitably lead to a reduction in the export of American goods. Only Britain, France, Germany and Japan will really benefit."
"The evil capitalists are tying a rope around the necks of the American people. President Roosevelt has been kidnapped by the Silver Group. The Great Depression in the United States is not over, it is just the beginning. The capitalists are using another method to rob the American people of their last hope.
Split the money and steal the last piece of bread from the American people..."
The United States during the Great Depression of the 1930s was an era of chaos.
Not only did liberalism and the civil rights movement rise, but left-wing ideas also spread like a flood. Countless Americans began to study communism, and some even shouted: "Only communism can save the United States!"
Partisan Review is such a left-wing magazine. Although it has only been in existence for half a year, it has become the home base of American public intellectuals.
Everyone knows what public knowledge looks like. The most indispensable thing during the Great Depression in the United States was public knowledge. They criticized the government and policies at every turn, and even openly questioned the rationality of the American political system. The harder they criticized, the more readers liked it. Who made the United States
People's lives are so difficult.
At this moment in the United States, the entire country is showing signs of a left-leaning trend.
Of course, the right-wing forces in the United States are also very powerful, but the Silver Act is undoubtedly contrary to right-wing ideas. The right-wing advocates economic laissez-faire and hopes that the government will interfere less and less in the market, which is a serious conflict with Roosevelt's New Deal.
Once a newspaper began to question the "Silver Act", the left and right wing of the United States jumped out at the same time and began to curse the current government. The leftists had the responsibility of "pleading for the people", while the rightists purely wanted to oppose Roosevelt.
Roosevelt’s New Deal offended too many people.
Zhou Hexuan only gave one speech, which directly ignited the flames of public opinion in California, and continued to spread to several neighboring states. The effect was so good that even Zhou Hexuan himself could not believe it.
The United States during the Great Depression was a powder keg of public opinion.
In addition, Zhou Hexuan also played a huge role in it. He is an internationally renowned scholar. He has successfully predicted the economic crisis. He wrote "Titanic" which was popular throughout the United States. His every word and deed has attracted the attention of the American media.
If it were Song Ziwen, he would definitely not be able to achieve good results, because no one in the United States pays attention to him at all.
On the sixth day after Zhou Hexuan arrived in the United States, demonstrations took place on the streets of San Francisco, followed closely by Los Angeles, where countless people called on the government to cancel the Silver Act.
"How could the situation develop so fast?" Song Ziwen flipped through the newspaper in surprise.
"Yes," Fan Heyan also said, "The newspapers are all against the Silver Bill, and the public opinion is almost one-sided. Who would believe it if no one is behind it?"
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Of course there are people pushing it."
Fan Heyan asked curiously: "Mr. Zhou has many friends in the United States? Are they helping with publicity?"
"I don't have that kind of ability," Zhou Hexuan said with a playful smile, "We seem to be involved in the political struggle in the United States."
"What's going on?" Song Ziwen asked confused.
Zhou Hexuan said: "Someone wanted to attack Baiyin Group, and we just provided an excuse."
"Who?" Fan Heyan asked.
Zhou Hexuan said uncertainly: "It may be a senator from the non-Silver Group, or it may be Roosevelt himself."
Fan He said: "I still don't understand."
Zhou Hexuan explained: "There are 49 states in the United States, each state has 2 Senate representatives, a total of 98 senators, and the seven silver provinces have one-seventh of the seats. The silver bill will definitely infringe on the interests of some states, only
However, they reached a compromise through political bargaining. Now that we are standing up to stir up trouble, naturally some people are willing to take the opportunity to give eye drops to the Silver State. Of course, it may have nothing to do with the states, and maybe it was instructed by Roosevelt. Roosevelt had long been against the Seven Silver States.
If you are dissatisfied, it’s okay to do whatever you want.”
Song Ziwen shook his head and said: "Probably not. American politicians are all about rules, a set of rules set by themselves. If there are any conflicts, they can be resolved through private negotiation. It is impossible for them to cause trouble and make it public. Once these rules are broken,
, it’s like flipping the table.”
"Haha." Zhou Hexuan smiled and said nothing.
Politicians cannot be trusted even more than capitalists, and their integrity has no bottom line at all.
American politics is very interesting. If a policy is to be enacted, simply put, the president proposes a bill and the Senate passes or amends the bill. This often happens: the Senate vetoes a president's bill, the president vetoes the Senate's veto, and the Senate vetoes it again.
The President overrides the Senate veto. There is no end in sight...
The Senate represents the interests of various groups. This group is not a certain company or consortium, but an interest group composed of many companies and consortiums. It is called an "outside group". For example, the Baiyin Group is a typical outside group.
The interest group of the seven silver-producing states in the United States holds one-seventh of the voting power in the U.S. Senate.
In order to successfully implement his New Deal, Roosevelt had to make compromises, but he himself hated the Silver Group. There were also many other lobby groups in the United States who disliked the Silver Group, such as the American Farmers Union.
The Silver Act seriously damaged the interests of the "American Farmers Union" and caused the domestic agricultural products in the United States to become increasingly unsaleable. Originally, the "American Farmers Union" hoped to open up overseas markets, such as selling grain to silver-standard countries, because the Silver Act
This will cause the currency values of these countries to rise, thus improving the overseas competitiveness of U.S. agricultural products.
However, I never expected that as soon as the Silver Act came out, many silver-standard countries announced that they would abandon the silver standard. Even countries that did not abandon the silver standard did not necessarily have to buy American grain. The Soviet Union took the opportunity to grab many orders. The Soviet Union raised money by selling grain.
funds to develop industry.
So the "American Farmers Union" was confused. The domestic market shrank and the foreign market did not expand. They were also victims of the Silver Act.
There are more than one outside group like the "American Farmers Union", such as the "American Chamber of Commerce". Their losses are even greater. They found that after the introduction of the Silver Act, the amount of Chinese imports of American goods did not increase as expected, but actually decreased.
Yes! The British later took the initiative for this reason. The Silver Act caused the sales of British goods in the Chinese market to plummet. This was the consequence of the destruction of the Chinese market.
Both the "American Farmers Union" and the "U.S. Chamber of Commerce" hope that the damn silver bill will be canceled as soon as possible.
Zhou Hexuan just provided them with an opportunity.
Historically, the American Silver League split after the promulgation of the Silver Act because external political pressure was too great and various exchanges of interests led to internal strife in the Silver League. Roosevelt completely subdued the Silver League through conflicts among major outside groups.
Wolf.
Even if Zhou Hexuan had not taken action, things would have developed in that direction, but it would have been delayed for a long time, a full two years. For China, the day lilies were already cold by then, and it was unknown how much profit was lost.
