The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

After initially provoking public opinion, the entire visiting regiment was divided into three groups——

Zhou Hexuan went to the north and accepted invitations from major universities in the United States. While giving academic lectures, he united with people from the American cultural circles and called on the US government to cancel the Silver Act;

Mei Lanfang, Meng Xiaodong, and Vivien Leigh went south, performing tours along the way, and at the same time stated the suffering brought by the Silver Act to China, and asked the American art circle to help build momentum;

Song Ziwen and Fan Heyan went directly to Washington, got in touch with Shi Zhaoji, the Chinese Minister to the United States, and sent a telegram to ask the consulates in various places to cooperate with each other, secretly contacting those outside the court who opposed the silver bill.

With the mutual cooperation of these three aspects, coupled with the help of American right-wingers and left-wingers who bring their own dry food, and some groups outside the hospital to add fuel to the flames, the matter finally... completely turned into a big mess!

Facing the attacks of public opinion from all sides, the Silver Group, of course, could not be idle. While lobbying to stabilize the White House, it spent money to buy newspapers to defend itself, and kept saying: The Silver Act will help the United States get out of the Great Depression and help improve the life of the American people. Life.

Many economists who took the money have stood up to express their opinions and used their professional knowledge to clear up the grievances of the Baiyin Group.

However, economists in the United States have long been notorious. When the stock market crashed, they said it was just a technical adjustment, and I don’t know how many Americans went bankrupt. Economists are fine if they don't speak, but when they speak, public opinion becomes even more violent.

Especially Comrade Raff mentioned in the previous chapter, this left-wing writer can be called "American Lu Xun". He scolds everything, scolding the government, scolding capitalists, scolding the federal government, as long as he doesn't like it, he will spit it out. He himself is a left-wing writer, but he still scolds the old American left in the 1920s, believing that the old left has formulaic thinking, mechanical materialism, dictatorship and so on. He is keen on studying communism theory and longs for the Soviet Union's political model, but he often catches Stalin talking about him, saying that Stalin is a traitor to communism.

Even Raff's friends commented: "His article is not literary criticism, but literary murder!"

No, just as those economists were talking about money, Raff went all out. One of the economists, named Owen, was even caught in the pigtails by Raff, who recounted his past ugly deeds and called him "the running dog of the capitalist" and "the scavenging economic vulture".

Public opinion in the entire United States exploded, and discussions surrounding the Silver Act even overshadowed Roosevelt's New Deal in a short period of time.

At this time, Song Ziwen suddenly accepted an interview with the "Wall Street Journal", publicly declaring that China is about to launch a currency reform plan, intends to abandon the silver standard within half a year, and issue paper legal tender, and hopes that the United States can provide assistance. If the United States does not help, China will consider seeking help from Japan.

And far away in Asia, the Japanese foreign minister began to promote "China-Japan friendship", and the Japanese envoy to China contacted Wang Zhaoming in Nanjing. Chang Kaishen and Wang Zhaoming jointly issued the "Order to Prohibit the Anti-Japanese Movement". For a while, it seemed that China and Japan were going to reach a comprehensive economic cooperation.

The Yankees couldn't sit still for a while. The US Consul General in Shanghai, Kenningham, called US President Roosevelt, pointing out that the representative of Japan is in active contact with China. The two countries may reach an unpredictable economic cooperation. Once the cooperation is confirmed, Japan may completely control China. The financial and economic system... At the same time, I want to emphasize that the British are also taking action. The British envoy to China met with Chinese leader Chang Kaishen yesterday.

White House.

President Roosevelt of the United States is smoking a cigar in a wheelchair. Like Churchill, he is very addicted to cigarettes.

Also in the room was Morgenthau, the self-proclaimed "apple farmer" of the United States Treasury Secretary. The guy looked at the telegram and said, "Don't worry about it. I have consulted with experts on the Far East. It is impossible for China to fall to Japan, unless the rulers of China are all lunatics."

Roosevelt worried: "It is undeniable that there have been many lunatics among the rulers of China."

"Maybe." Morgenthau shrugged.

Roosevelt asked: "Does the Silver Act really have that much impact on China?"

Morgenthau said helplessly: "It should be so."

Neither US President Roosevelt nor Treasury Secretary Morgenthau had any idea before promulgating the Silver Act that this move would bring huge troubles to China. What's more, the Silver Act would affect the situation in the Far East, involving great powers such as Britain, France, and Japan.

If Zhou Hexuan hadn't made a big disturbance in the United States, the United States at this time would not care about China's life or death. Historically, it wasn't until next year that China began to fall into the arms of Japan that Roosevelt finally became alert.

It is undeniable that the development of things has completely exceeded Roosevelt's expectations. He didn't have too complicated ideas for promulgating the Silver Act, it was just to win over the Silver Group, which was voted by one-seventh of the senators, which could make his New Deal more smoothly implemented.

Roosevelt asked, "What about the other groups?"

"The Farmers Union wants to terminate the Silver Act." Morgenthau said with a wry smile. In fact, he himself was a member of the "American Farmers Union". Before he met Roosevelt, Morgenthau was not a businessman or a politician, but a real farmer.

Roosevelt asked for advice: "What do you suggest?"

Morgenthau said: "From the standpoint of a farmer, I hope to terminate the Silver Act. But as your political partner, I would advise you not to pay attention to outside public opinion. The voting rights of the Silver Group are too important. Once you anger those guys, Many of our New Deals will not pass."

The value of silver output in the United States is far inferior to the value of agricultural output, and even inferior to that of potatoes.

From this point of view, it seems that the "American Farmers Union" is far more powerful than the "Silver Group".

But it’s not that simple. There are farmers everywhere, scattered in various parts of the United States. They seem powerful, but in fact their political rights are scattered and they have very few Senate seats. As for the Baiyin Group, it is concentrated in the seven silver-producing states and has 14 seats in the Senate.

That's why Roosevelt hated the Baiyin Group very much. These guys brought little benefits but possessed too many political resources. They must be defeated in the future!

Roosevelt thought for a while: "What about the British side? The telegram said that British diplomats are in contact with the Nanjing government."

Morgan cable said: "This issue must be discussed by experts on the Far East. As for domestic public opinion, we don't need to pay attention to it, and let the Baiyin Group solve it by itself. If they can solve it, then everything will continue as usual; if they can't solve it, we can take advantage of the trend Cancel the Silver Act. In any case, the White House cannot take the initiative to cancel the Silver Act, otherwise the Silver Group will make more greedy demands."

"Thank you, old man, your suggestion opened my mind." Roosevelt smiled.

"Then I'll take my leave first." Morgenthau left voluntarily, knowing that Roosevelt would meet with other officials and advisers.

Roosevelt sat in a wheelchair, smoking a cigar alone and smiling wryly. He is too useless as a president, and there are many obstacles to the New Deal, which almost arouses opposition from the business community. The biggest purpose of promulgating the Silver Act is actually to win over the Silver Group to fight against the "U.S. Chamber of Commerce" and maintain a delicate political balance.

The biggest enemy of Roosevelt's New Deal was not the Silver Group, but the American Chamber of Commerce.

Once the Silver Act is cancelled, it will inevitably cause a rebound from the Silver Group, and the political balance he painstakingly maintained will be broken, and Roosevelt's New Deal may also face failure.

Zhou Hexuan stirred up public opinion in the United States this time, posing a big problem for Roosevelt. As long as the Silver Group does not take the initiative to propose the abolition of the Silver Act, Roosevelt can only grit his teeth and continue even if he bears the national infamy.

Zhou Hexuan's task is very difficult!