Chapter 572 Current Status of Utah Territory
Chapter 565 Current Situation of Utah Territory
Liang Shaoyu, Stanford and others were busy dividing up the Mormon church property in Utah Territory, while Liang Yao was busy confiscating the property of the Funing Group in Funing Mountain in Nevada.
The silver output of the Funing Mountain Mine (Comstock Mine) was extremely astonishing, so Liang Yao decided to get involved.
Although the 19th century was an era when the gold standard prevailed, the value of silver continued to depreciate relative to gold. However, some major countries still use silver as the main currency.
For example, the Qing Dynasty and Japan, both of which are major trading partners in the West Coast region. Mastering the Funing Mountain Mine is equivalent to guarding a money printing machine.
"Huang Kangrui is really greedy. He guards such a large silver mountain and still takes risks to do these illegal activities." When the seizure work was basically completed, Deng Wenyu couldn't help but sighed, it's really greedy.
The Huang family discovered and occupied such a rich mine. If they just kept it, they could have become the richest man in the entire West and even America. But they chose to break the law.
"In danger? Before we came, he didn't think that doing these illegal activities was dangerous. The Huang family was very comfortable being the local tyrants here." Liang Yao looked at the majestic and tall mountains in front of him and asked, "Who gave Huang Kangrui the confidence to do this kind of thing? Have you found out?"
"It's clear that people from the Jardine Group, Tongfu Group, and Boston Group are indeed involved." Deng Wenyu reported his investigation results to Liang Yao, "It's mainly the banking departments of the three major groups and the management of the mint that are involved. The molds and die-casting machines used by the Funing Mint were leaked in the name of the scrapped machines of the mints of the three major groups.
In addition, they also print banknotes of the three major banks. These notes are no different from the real ones. Fortunately, the number of prints is not large. It has not yet hurt the foundation of California's economy."
"Are people from the Americas Group involved in this case?" This is the issue that Liang Yao is most concerned about at the moment. After all, the Americas Group is his base.
"There is no evidence that anyone from the American Group is involved in this counterfeit case." Deng Wenyu answered with his head held high, "In addition, the Georgia Group of the Fremont family is also clean."
There are only five banks with the right to mint coins in the West Coast, namely Bank of America, Bank of Boston, Jardine Matheson Bank, Tongfu Bank and Georgia Bank. Behind these five banks stand the five most powerful top financial groups in the West Coast.
"Very good, let your sister find an opportunity to give bonuses to the staff of our group's banking department and mint. They did a good job and didn't let me down." Liang Yao turned to ask Deng Wenyu, "Wenyu, do you think Wu Yuanhua, Pan Zhengwei, and Robinson know about this?"
Deng Wenyu folded his hands, thought carefully and said: "Robinson is busy with the campaign in Kansas. It's hard to say whether he knows about this. But in my humble opinion, Brother Wu and Old Pan should be aware of this. It's just that this matter is profitable, so they turned a blind eye to the people below.
Anyway, as long as they are not found out, why not make more money? If they are found out, it doesn't matter. At most, they will hand them over on the grounds that the people below are doing something wrong."
"You have made great progress. I have high hopes for you." Penton nodded with great satisfaction. Deng Wenyu's analysis of Wu Yuanhua and Pan Zhengwei is still quite accurate.
"It's just that some things can be turned a blind eye, but some things can't. Privately minting coins is digging into the lifeblood of the West Coast. Since they are touching the lifeblood of the West Coast, don't blame me for being ruthless. If there are children of the Wu family and the Pan family involved in this private currency case, no matter how close or distant they are, they should be directly prosecuted without mercy. Some people should also be punished."
Industry and commerce are the foundation of the West Coast, and trade is the lifeblood of the West Coast. Minting inferior coins, disrupting market order, and undermining the credibility of the California dollar are not an exaggeration to say that they are touching the lifeblood of the West Coast.
"I understand." Deng Wenyu nodded, and then asked, "Third brother, what should we do with the machines in the Funing Mint? Destroy them directly?"
"Such a good machine, why destroy it?" Penton said with a smile, "Take it back to the state. Since the three banks like to help the private coin factory in Funing Town to mint private coins, let them be good people to the end and allocate a part of their coinage quota to the mint in Funing Town. Otherwise, these people will not remember it."
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After dealing with the troubles in Funing Town, Liang Yao continued to head east by train according to the itinerary and came to Utah Territory.
At this time, Utah Territory was still clearing Mormons, but Penton did not interfere with the excessive liquidation of Mormons.
He really needed population, but he needed secular population, not the oblique believers who could not be effectively controlled and transformed into effective manpower.
Moreover, Mormons are all white.
The Chinese are currently the dominant ethnic group in Utah Territory, but not the absolutely dominant ethnic group, and the population proportion has not yet exceeded half. Since the liquidation of Mormons can reduce the proportion of white people in the area and does not require any pressure from public opinion, why not do it?
"Although the existence of Mormons has hindered our immigration development in Utah Territory, thanks to the completion of the Pacific Railway. The number of immigrants pouring into Utah Territory in recent years is still very considerable.
According to last year's statistics, the total population of Utah Territory is about 87,000, of which about 36,000 are Chinese.
There are three cities in Utah with a population of over 10,000, namely Salt Lake City, Provo, and Ogden. Among them, Salt Lake City has the largest population, with a population of approximately 28,000.
Other important villages and towns include Brigham, Logan, St. George, Parapoint, Nephi, etc. "
After Liang Yao arrived in Salt Lake City, Liang Shaoyu, who was in charge of the immigration work in the Utah Territory, reported to him the situation in the Utah Territory.
The development momentum of Utah Territory is better than Liang Yao expected.
To be honest, the natural environment of the Utah Territory is relatively harsh, and its population carrying capacity is not high. Liang Yao estimated that the population of the Utah Territory at this time, including the local Indians, would only be 50,000 or 60,000. He did not expect that there would be a population of nearly 90,000.
It seems that the opening of the Pacific Railway has greatly promoted the development of areas along the route, especially the Utah Territory, which is an important transfer station between the east and west.
"Have the Mormon Church's religious assets been clearly distributed?" Liang Yao asked. The liquidation of the Mormon Church has been going on for more than two months, and most of the Mormon Church's assets in the Utah Territory are concentrated in Salt Lake City, Provo, Major cities such as Ogden are relatively concentrated, so it is not too difficult to inventory and distribute them.
"The distribution is clear, everyone is very satisfied, and they all think General Liang is very generous." Liang Shaoyu nodded and said.
"Uncle, you are my uncle." Pengton stood up and looked at the map of North America hanging inside the special train.
"I sent you from the flower-filled Golden Mountain (San Francisco) to the bitter cold and dry land of Utah to do the hard work of immigration. Do you think my nephew is too unkind?"