The second volume is full of glory and splendor in the capital, and the spirit is full of vitality in the foggy city. Chapter 263: Little Morgan (Part 2)
Subtitle of this chapter: The train to the East... should I get on it?
Compared to John , his son Jack P. Morgan is much less famous and has a much lower historical evaluation.
So some people say that after old Morgan, "there is no more king on Wall Street."
To be fair, it’s not that the second generation is really inferior to the first generation, but the one who maintains the status quo can never be as legendary as the one who founded it.
There is another key factor. The people of America and even the world are very wary of super-giant trusts like the Morgan Consortium, and with the development of capitalism, people around the world are becoming more and more vigilant.
In the late 19th century, an antitrust movement emerged in the United States. Against this backdrop, in 1890, the U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, the first law in history to authorize the federal government to control and intervene in the economy.
As the name suggests, this act is aimed at combating monopolies. Section 1 states that any person who restrains interstate or foreign commerce by establishing a trust or any similar form of trust is illegal, and offenders are subject to a fine of not more than $5,000, imprisonment of not more than one year, or both.
This act forced the Rockefeller family to split their Standard Oil Empire into 37 independent regional oil companies in 1911.
In 1914, the Clayton Act, supplementing the Sherman Act, went further to prevent the formation of monopoly trusts in certain industries. For example, Section 7 strictly regulated companies from acquiring stock in competitors in the same industry, preventing hostile takeovers.
However, these two bills have done little to address monopolistic behavior in the financial sector.
In the 1930s, the American people, who suffered heavy losses in the Great Depression, pointed the finger at Wall Street, and the Morgan consortium, which attracted attention due to its size, was naturally the first to bear the brunt.
Ironically, the investigation into Wall Street was initially launched by the Morgan consortium and President Hoover, a close friend of Master Yuan. The initial target was not the bankers on Wall Street, but the "massive short sellers" who he believed were destabilizing the stock market.
Hoover believed that these short-sellers were backed by the vicious power of the Democratic Party, and that the Democrats were manipulating the stock market in order to humiliate his efforts to revive the economy and his attempt to seek re-election.
In early 1932, Hoover asked the Senate Banking and Currency Committee to investigate short selling at the time. This investigation failed in its search for a "Democratic conspiracy," but was very successful in drawing public attention back to the 1930s.
The painful memories of 1929 were brought back to life, and as the hearings progressed, public sentiment grew like grapes of anger.
In response to the American people's call, Roosevelt, when he took office in 1933, urged the Senate Banking Committee to conduct a more comprehensive investigation to examine "all the effects of the bad banking practices."
The dark side was finally revealed, and all kinds of ugly deeds of Morgan and his partners were exposed to the public.
The surging public opinion and the need to sever ties with Morgan immediately prompted FDR to take drastic measures as soon as possible to dismember the Morgan consortium as punishment for its ugly behavior.
In 1933, Roosevelt signed the Glass-Steagall Act into law. This law strictly separated commercial and investment banks. From then on, banks could either engage in deposit and loan services or trade securities . Commercial banks could only purchase bonds issued by the Federal Reserve.
In 1935, the Morgan consortium had to set up another investment bank - Morgan Stanley, which would become the "Big Morgan" in the future financial world.
By the way, in the 1990s, thanks to the joint efforts of the Democrats and Republicans, this law was repealed. Commercial banking groups like Citigroup and Goldman Sachs made a comeback...
Then, there was the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008.
Regardless, the financial empire built by J.P. Morgan Sr. was dismantled by J.P. Morgan Jr. The saying "a tiger father produces a dog son" became truly authentic.
"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Morgan."
Our Master Yuan maintained a warm yet reserved smile on his face, and his posture looked respectful but not to the point of fawning.
In a nutshell, it can be summed up in eight words: be neither humble nor arrogant, and be polite and well-mannered.
While he was looking at the "King of Wall Street", others were also looking at him.
Jack P. Morgan... I don't know if it was a coincidence or if it was intentional by Mr. C., but the Titanic was built by his father, and the male protagonist of the movie in later generations also happened to be named Jack.
He had heard of Neo Yuan's name a long time ago. It was on November 1, 1920, the "NYU Big Gambling Night" when Yuan Yanshu bet $500,000 on "250" electoral votes.
Morgan Jr. also lost his NYPR shares to Mr. Baker Sr..
However, the stakes in that bet were only a few hundred thousand US dollars, which was of no importance to the head of the Morgan Consortium. Instead, it made him a little curious about this Chinese man.
As for the novels written by our Master Yuan and the big news he made later, Morgan, who was also in New York, couldn't have been unaware of them. This made him even more curious.
Of course, this little curiosity is not enough to make the "King of Wall Street" insist on meeting "NY of NY".
The real reason for this meeting was that the Morgan Group was eager to expand its business in East Asia.
Therefore, the Morgan Consortium really needs an expert on East Asian affairs.
Mr. George Baker told Morgan Jr. that if he wanted to find a partner in East Asia, Neo Yuan would be the best candidate.
So this meeting is actually just an interview!
As an interviewee, Dr. Yuan, with a charm value of 17 points, won the favor of the "King of Wall Street" just by his appearance.
"Nice to meet you too, Dr. Yuan. I really enjoyed your Detective Dee stories."
"Thank you, Mr. Morgan."
The second generation of the Morgan Consortium shook hands with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Yuan Financial Empire.
"Mr. Morgan, since we're talking about my 'Detective Dee'..." Yuan Yan suddenly pulled out a beautifully decorated book from her briefcase and handed it over, saying, "It's just a small gift, not a token of respect."
Little Morgan took it and looked at it. There was an abstract train pattern on the cover of the book, and the smoke from the train formed the title of the book and the author's name.
The former is "Murder on the Orient Express" and the latter is "Purple Bishop".
"Murder on the Orient Express... The Purple Bishop..."
"Mr. Morgan, the Purple Bishop is my pen name when I publish detective novels."
Master Yuan said in a deep, deep baritone, "I'm very grateful for your invitation. As a 'poor student' like me, I don't have anything to offer you..."
"I heard from Mr. Louis Baker before that you are also a fan of detective novels..."
"I just finished a detective novel these days, and I haven't had time to submit it yet, so I'm giving it to you as a meeting gift."
