1855 United States Tycoon

At the end of the interview program, Scrooge told everyone:

"At present, there is no effective treatment for the virus. This is really a terrible fact. Any medicine in our hands, whether it is sulfa or other things, has no effect on the virus. Moreover, because we still don’t understand the cause of the virus. The pathogenesis, yes, we only have the most superficial understanding of this. We have observed that red blood cells collapse rapidly after infection, but we don’t know how the virus invades cells and how they destroy cells. So we made it in a short period of time. There are no targeted drugs, and the research on antiviral drugs is now completely like ancient alchemy, relying on luck."

"But, Mr. MacDonald, I remember you mentioned that the flu is also caused by the virus, right? But why do we all think that heroin can be very effective in treating this disease?" Bill asked.

"Ah, Bill, there is a common misunderstanding in this. In fact, even without any treatment, in most cases, patients can recover in a week. We don't know what the mechanism is, yes, In the face of nature, we are very ignorant. Heroin only relieves symptoms after use. It originally took a week to get better, but it still takes a week to use heroin. Heroin only guarantees you for more than a week. It’s a little more comfortable in it, and it won’t make your whole body sore and can’t move. But if you unfortunately get some kind of fatal flu, heroin has almost no effect on saving lives.” Scrooge replied.

"So doesn't it mean that we have nothing to do with the virus?" Bill asked in a worried tone.

"That's not true. At least, I understand how it is transmitted. For example, influenza is spread by droplets, so when the flu is epidemic, a mask can block the vast majority of influenza viruses. In addition, we have proved that The yellow fever virus is transmitted through mosquitoes. As long as this link can be controlled, yellow fever can be defeated." Shi Gaozhi replied.

"So do we have the means to control this link now? If we re-dig the Panama Canal now, can we control the spread of yellow fever?" Bill asked.

"Of course, we now have DDT, a highly effective and low-toxic insecticide, which can completely wipe out the mosquitoes in the canal area. In this way, without the vector of mosquitoes, yellow fever will not become a threat. ." Scrooge replied.

"I remember when you left the Panama Canal construction site, you once swore that you would defeat yellow fever and you would return. Now, do you think you can announce,'I'm back'?" Bill asked road.

"I think I can say that, um, Panama jungle, I Scrooge is back! Soon, my friends and I will return to Panama and restart the Panama Canal project." Scrooge replied.

...

Joshua reached out and turned off the radio. He now knew what the so-called good news could make the railroad stock crash. The discovery of a new pathogenic factor-virus, is definitely a good thing in the history of biology, medicine, and pathology, and science has taken another big step forward. Finding a way for the virus to spread, and having the technology to cut off this way of transmission, so as to keep mankind away from dangerous diseases, is a good thing for all mankind. Being able to start digging the Panama Canal again is a good thing for the transportation between the east and west coasts of United States, and it is even better for the Panamanian people who owe a large amount of debt. But for the United States railway, it is not necessarily true.

In terms of freight, at least in the transportation of bulk goods, sea transportation is still the cheapest mode of transportation until the 21st century. For those goods that are not very time sensitive, it is definitely cheaper to go by sea than by rail. If the Panama Canal can be navigable, although the sea route from the east coast to the west coast is still much longer than the direct railway, of course, it will be much slower, but in terms of transportation costs, it is much cheaper than the railway. This of course also means that some goods that originally needed to be transported by rail no longer need to travel by rail. This is certainly not good news for railways. With this news as a starting point, and then with a series of short sellers, it is no wonder that the railway stocks do not collapse.

And now, Joshua can also think of where to spend the money Scrooge just made. The Panama Canal project also issued stocks and long-term bonds. Later, after the outbreak of the great plague, these things fell like waste paper. Even the various bonds issued by the Panamanian government fell into a mess. Now that this news is disclosed, and Scrooge announced that he will restart the project, especially if it is confirmed that yellow fever really no longer causes problems after the start of the project, the value of these things will definitely skyrocket. Joshua is almost certain now that a large part of these things have been bought into his pockets by Scrooge quietly.

...

This truth is not a complicated matter. Joshua can understand it, and the financial news of various newspapers can also understand it. They are like receiving some instructions, and together they started a bearish chorus on the railway stocks. .

So the expected crash occurred. In this era, there is no lower limit and daily limit system for later generations. This is an era of free trade. During stock trading hours, stocks rise as they want, and fall as they want. Everything is free.

In such a completely free market, irrational frenzy is the easiest to form. At the beginning of this trading day, the inertia of doing more has resisted for a while, but as more and more stocks are being sold, the stock price is very high. It's almost lost. The first is the Pacific Railway, which is most affected by cargo transportation. Then the prices of various railways fell rapidly. Traders in vests ran back and forth at maximum speed, erasing the old price on the blackboard, writing the new transaction price, and then immediately erasing the new one, writing the newer one, or even directly writing the newer one. Almost all agents have received calls, and these calls have only one content: throw away, throw away, throw away desperately, the sooner the better!

When the sell-off becomes a frenzy, all rational judgments are pushed aside. The more you sell, the more fearful people become, and then the faster you sell. The stock price is like a snowball that rolls down from a height. The bigger and faster it rolls, the faster it rolls. In the end, even stocks in other related industries began to dive, and a big avalanche was formed. In just one trading day, the entire railway stock must have fallen by two-thirds of its price. If it is not time for the stock exchange market to close, I still don’t know what it will end up like.

Wise failed to sell the stock today. He just hesitated for a moment, just a blink of an eye. Then, whenever he wrote a new price, he saw that the current transaction price was already low. Because of his selling price, he didn't write it at all later, because after the price was sold, there was not much money left.

"Fortunately, I'm not like Nelson. I don't have a loan to speculate in stocks. It's just that my family's savings for more than ten years have been lost once, but I can still work, and our family is not in debt, at least I can survive. . I just don’t know what happened to Nelson. He borrowed so much money and didn’t know if he threw it out in time. Nelson is a clever person. He should..."

As Wise thought, he walked home on foot. His home is a bit far away, and it takes more than an hour to walk on foot. A few days ago, when the stock market was very hot, Wise, who made money, would treat himself preferentially and spend money on a rental carriage to go home. And now, let's go...

Turning a corner, in front of you is the tallest building in New York-the New York Tower. It is said that there is a very luxurious restaurant on it. You sell the most delicious food in the world, so delicious that you can't even imagine it. When the stock market was very profitable, Wise once imagined that one day he could bring his wife and children here to have a big meal. But now, the imaginary roast goose on a silver plate with shiny silver knives and forks has flapped its wings and does not know where it is flying. Wise can only look at the towering New York Tower and sigh. .

Looking up at the New York Tower for a while, Wise lowered his head and saw that his neighbor Nelson was also standing on the side of the street and looking up at the tower. His expression was particularly hideous.

"Nelson, are you here? Have you thrown it away?" Wise asked with concern.

"No, not at all, I just slowed down a little bit..." Nelson's voice was a little fluttering, not as if he was speaking from his mouth, but as if he was floating from a farther and darker place.

"Wise, I originally planned to make money, so I brought my family here to have a big meal, but now...fortunately, all the money I have...ah, I'm still five cents away. Can Sneez lend me five cents?"

"What are you doing?" Wise looked at Nelson's expression, feeling a bit wrong.

"If you lend me five cents, I can take Shanni and Little Louis up to the tower to have a look. Little Louis has always wanted to go up and see, he is only that small..." Nelson suddenly lost control Squatted down and wept loudly.

This cry was particularly contagious, tears flooded Wise's eyes immediately, and beside them, several men couldn't help sobbing.

"Nielsen, don't think about it." Wise resisted the urge to cry, squatted down and patted Nelson on the shoulder and said, "Tomorrow is Sunday, and the stock market will be closed for one day. Maybe this will calm everyone down, maybe Houtian. It's just another look."

Countless people are thanking God for inventing Sunday, and letting the stock market rest for a day on Sunday, as a buffer. "Maybe Houtian will have another look." Many people thought.

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