The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 676

In the California State Government Chamber, the crystal chandelier shook amid the sound of gunfire. Governor Weller clutched the "Declaration" with the ink still wet. Every word on it made this California Democratic politician tremble with fear.

"What's going on? How did the anti-Chinese movement turn into a revolution?" Weller threw the leaflet in the face of former Governor Bigler. "It's the Manifesto again! It's a workers' regime again! Tell me what's the difference between this and Paris in 1848. Who are you working with? The Irish trade unions, or the thugs from Europe?"

"This, this." Bigler took the leaflet thrown by Weller with trembling hands, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead - Irish trade unions and European revolutionaries. They seem to be the same thing!
If we trace back to the European Revolution of 1848, isn’t that the Revolution of 1830 and the Charter Movement in Britain? Carney, a fifty-year-old Irish labor leader, almost certainly participated in the Charter Movement, and there is a high probability that he also participated in the Revolution of 1848.
"Damn it!" Bigler clutched the flyer, shaking with anger. "I was deceived by that Irish bastard. He didn't want to exclude the Chinese at all. He just wanted to replicate the Revolution of 1848 in California!"

When Weller heard him say this, he happened to catch a glimpse of black smoke rising from the window - the striking workers had set the State Library on fire with kerosene. The California governor's Adam's apple rolled twice, and just as he was about to declare a state of emergency, a secretary rushed in, "State, Governor. The union has sent negotiators, led by Carney, the president of the Irish Brotherhood of Labor."

"He should be arrested immediately!" Bigler roared.

But he is not the governor now, so the secretary just stood there motionless.

"Please let him in!" Weller finally recovered.

Today, the Chinese population in California is the largest, and the Irish population is the second largest. He is now discriminating against the Chinese, and has already fallen out with the Chinese! If he arrests the leader of the Irish, then he will become the first governor in American history to be driven out of the state capital by the state's citizens.
Carney also looked a bit embarrassed. The Irish union chairman's peaked cap was nowhere to be found, revealing his half-bald head, and his overalls were covered in mud. He did not seem to have expected that the strike would suddenly get out of control - although he called Zhao Si "Gennoser", he did not intend to launch an armed uprising. He still wanted an economic strike to seek greater economic benefits for his Irish brothers.

But unexpectedly, the strike got out of control and turned into a revolution!
And this time, he really can’t be blamed for losing control!
When he took the leaflet, the fingers of this Irish labor leader trembled violently over the words "Chairman of the Workers' Committee Carney" - this is to make him the chairman! This is to send him to the gallows!

"This is a conspiracy of the Chinese Labor Association. I know nothing about this." Carney betrayed immediately!

"It's no use talking about this now!" Seeing that Carney had "betrayed", Governor Weller immediately became excited and said, "Send your workers back to work!"

"I can't go back." Carney suddenly pulled open his collar, revealing the purple marks on his neck. "Just now, I wanted to persuade the workers to go home, but they almost strangled me to death."

"Strangle you?" Bigler asked. "Why? Aren't you their leader?"

"Sir, do you know how much a barrel of flour costs now? Fifteen dollars! And eggs are now one dollar each!" Carney said, "The prices have gone up like crazy in the past two days. The workers can't even eat!"

"What?" Weller was shocked. "What's going on? Why are the prices so high?"

It seems that he is a governor who doesn't buy groceries or cook. He has been busy planning anti-Chinese activities and dealing with strikes that are gradually getting out of control these past two days, and has never cared about prices at all.

There was a loud sound of bricks and stones breaking outside the window. The California Treasurer broke open the door and reported in panic: "The governor's militia opened fire on the parade! Some workers used explosives."

Weller rushed to the window just as he saw the state flagpole fall down. Twenty or so Irish miners wearing red turbans pushed carts piled with detonators toward Parliament Square. The state militia's rifles hit the iron of the carts, sparks flew, but they could not stop this hungry mob.

"Stop them!" Weller's roar was drowned out by the explosion, and the closed doors of the California State Capitol collapsed in the explosion.
Carney's trembling voice rang in Governor Weller's ears: "Mr. Governor, if prices cannot be lowered, no one can control the crazy Irish. The current prices in California remind them of the Great Famine in Ireland! This is the nightmare of all Irish people! We really went hungry."

Weller ordered in a trembling voice: "Quick, go and invite Mr. Stanford, Mr. Huntington, Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Crocker to the state government quickly!"

When Leland Stanford walked in, the California mining tycoon still had the report his accountant had given him this morning in his pocket - his Stanford Company had just made a profit of $100,000 from the price increase of necessities such as flour, eggs, beef, butter, and salt! This price increase is great!

By the way, the current US dollar is not an unsecured paper currency, but a real hard currency linked to gold! With the black-hearted US dollars earned in California, you can exchange them for gold from the Federal Reserve Bank!

"What? To stabilize prices?" Leland Stanford was inexplicably surprised when he heard Weller's request. "Governor, this is America!" Collis Huntington, who came with Stanford, was also shocked and said, "Yes, this is America. How can you ask merchants to lower prices? Who gave you this power?"

Mark Hopkins nodded and said, "Prices are determined by supply and demand. Right now, supply is less than demand. Price increases are a spontaneous phenomenon in the market to regulate supply. If you want to stabilize prices, you must increase supply or suppress demand!"

"Increase supply? How?" Weller asked.

The big boss of Crocker National Bank said: "More than 70% of California's food supply is controlled by the Chinese. If you exclude beef, milk, butter, and potatoes, it's 90%. Vegetables, eggs, chicken, fish, rice, salt, and spices are 100%!"

"Chinese." Weller gritted his teeth and said, "How about confiscating Chinese farms?"

"That's private property!" the California Attorney General reminded weakly, "and you don't have the power to confiscate anyone's property, only the court can do that."

Weller's anger suddenly deflated - this is America!

It is a violation of the law of heaven for the government to confiscate private property without a court trial! Even if it is the private property of Chinese people, it is still a violation of the law of heaven - you can confiscate the private property of Chinese people today, and you may confiscate the private property of white people tomorrow! As a governor, do you study the European revolution at home every day?
Of course, the government cannot confiscate them, and the white mobs can buy them for free themselves. But now there are more Chinese in California than white people, and everyone has a gun and is well organized. It seems that we cannot defeat them!
“What about wartime requisitioning?” Bigler, the former governor of California, whispered, “According to Section 1850 of the California Militia Act of 7.”

"Article 7 states that the property of the rioters will be confiscated!" The owner of Crocker National Bank sneered, "Now the people causing trouble are the Irish. I am very worried that the next time the Irish riot, whose property will you confiscate?"

Crocker's worries were certainly justified - the grain from the Chinese farms was sold to him and the Stanford, Hopkins, and Huntington families at high prices, so how could the state government confiscate it? If the state government confiscated the grain and sold it at a fair price, the four major families would lose money!

What is your former governor thinking? Is he a revolutionary?
Weller wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Then give out subsidies to lower food prices first, otherwise those Irish thugs will go crazy!"

"Where does the money come from?" the leaders of the four major families asked in unison.

"Auction of gold mines!" Bigler's eyes were bloodshot. "The True Covenant people control many gold mines in Northern California."

"Without a court ruling, it's robbery!" Stanford's stick made the marble tiles clang loudly. "Today we can confiscate the gold mines controlled by the Chinese, but what about tomorrow?"

Huntington followed up with this: "Will it be possible to confiscate the black slaves of the Southern slave owners tomorrow?"

This is a dead end! Southern Democrats will rebel if they hear the words "confiscate the slaves."

"Why don't we ask the federal government for help?" Mark Hopkins said, "It was the federal government that originally asked us to exclude the Chinese. Now that exclusion has turned into a revolution, the federal government must take responsibility. Either provide subsidies or withdraw the Chinese Exclusion Act!"

"Retract the Chinese Exclusion Act?" Bigler looked at Hopkins in surprise. "Mark, what are you talking about?"

Mark Hopkins shrugged. "Sir, isn't the current situation obvious? Exclusion from the Chinese caused prices to soar, and the soaring prices made it hard for the Irish to eat. The Irish who couldn't eat wanted to riot, and to suppress the riots, prices had to be lowered. And lowering prices without the Chinese was unlikely, so the only way was to withdraw the Chinese Exclusion Act, wasn't it?"

"There is another way!" Bigler said, "On the surface, this riot was started by the Irish, but in fact it was the Chinese True Creed who were behind it. We can declare that what happened in California was a Chinese rebellion, so that we can mobilize state troops to suppress the Chinese. At the same time, we can negotiate with Hong Renzheng and force him to hand over enough food to atone for his sins!"

"This..." Weller took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead - this seems to be perjury! But at this point, it seems that there is no other way, "Two-pronged approach, on the one hand, ask the federal government for help, on the other hand, declare a state of emergency and call up all the reserve militia!" He paused and added, "Send someone to negotiate with Hong Renzheng. As long as he is willing to hand over enough flour, eggs, beef, and potatoes, California can temporarily suspend the implementation of anti-Chinese."

(End of this chapter)