Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 236 Acquisition of "World Journal"

The sandstorm sweeping across New York lasted for an entire afternoon before it ended.

The dust storm is gone, but the problems it created are just beginning.

Coming out of Louise's house, the whole street has been covered with a thin layer of dust, and figures with shovels and brooms can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys.

The visibility in the urban area became extremely low. If it weren't for the existence of [Super Perspective], Ke Lin couldn't even see the direction of the messenger newspaper office at the corner of the block.Residents living nearby could only grope their way through the foggy streets, and some even tied ropes around their bodies to prevent them from finding their way back when they turned around.

However, New York was the least affected city.

It is said that as far as Chicago, 1200 million tons of dust fell into the urban area, and it took several months to clean it up.

Even ocean liners 300 miles off the Atlantic coast are covered in a brown blanket.

The ravages of sandstorms also contributed to the prosperity of the 'rainmaking business', not only in various towns, but also in the streets and alleys of New York.

The history of the "rainmaking business" in the United States is not long. It originated in 1902, when a salesman named Charles Hatfield composed 23 chemical components into a reagent and named it "rainwater accelerator".Relying on the understanding of astronomical knowledge and the salesman's sales talent.

From 1902 to 1904, in just two years, the cost of Charles' artificial rainfall rose from $50 to $1000.

Despite this, there are still an endless stream of people who come to him to ask him to rain, and Charles also got the nickname "The Rainmaker".

Relying on his identity as a "rainmaker", Charles lived a smooth life for a long time, until the end of 1915, he received an invitation from the San Diego government to take charge of a rain-seeking work.

At that time, there was no rain in San Diego for almost a whole year, and the drought was extremely severe.

Therefore, as a last resort, the government can only place its hope on Charles, the well-known "rainmaker" for rainfall.

After receiving an invitation to negotiate a price, Charles quickly started working on his own.

He set up a platform with a height of six meters beside the Morena Reservoir, and placed a large pot on it, which was filled with clean water.After that, a bottle of "Rain Water Accelerator" was poured into the pot, and a thick fog suddenly rose in the pot.

According to a bystander who was present at the time, "It smelled like a cheese factory explosion."

Charles' rain was successful, or a little too successful.

Beginning on January 1916, 1, the heavy rain turned to a torrential rain and continued until the 5th.It became a flood, and Santiago suffered heavy losses, and the two went to court because of this. From 10 to now, they have been fighting lawsuits for more than ten years, but there has never been any conclusion.

Although later, the U.S. National Geological Survey re-investigated the torrential rain and floods, and found that as early as January 1916, 1, the weather monitoring points near San Diego collected reports of heavy rain in San Diego and its surrounding areas.

However, the 'rainmaking business' has also prospered because of this. During the more than ten years when Charles Hatfield became famous, various people under the name of artificial rainfall emerged in an endless stream.Especially in arid areas where sandstorms are raging, hope is pinned on these people.

Colin once saw related advertisements in the newspapers. A man named Tex Thornton swore that the potion in his hands could make the sky rain and even prevent sandstorms.

Such an obviously gimmicky description actually aroused the belief of many people.

It is said that there is also a group of people in New York City who intend to raise funds to ask the other party to stop the sandstorm. Obviously, the sandstorm sweeping the city has left a huge shadow in the hearts of many people.

However, Colin knew that this approach was obviously useless.

This sandstorm will rage for a full decade, leaving everyone with a deep memory of the "Dirty 30s".

The "Dirty 30s" may become history, but the traces it left will always be engraved in the memory of a generation.

And handed down with their memories, there is also the "Superman" serial about sandstorms in the "Daily Courier".

In the decades that followed, whenever those witnesses who experienced the sandstorm mentioned the thrilling disaster, they couldn't forget the story in "Superman".

……

The dust that filled New York did not dissipate completely until the next day.

It took half a day for the Messenger newspaper, Colin, John and his team to completely clean up the dust on the roof and surrounding areas.

Judging from radio reports, this sudden sandstorm caused dozens of deaths and more than [-] million losses.

Many homeless people on the streets had no time to hide, and hundreds of families in 'Hoover Village' lost their only shelter in the sandstorm.

That kind of house that is simply put together with wooden planks can't resist the violent power of the sandstorm at all.

Although the streets of the city have cleared passable roads, the railways still cannot pass normally.

According to the railway company's instructions, it will take about a week for them to clean up the dust covering the railway. At the same time, not only cars were flooded by the sandstorm, but two trains of the railway company were lifted off the track, causing serious loss.

A huge sandstorm caused Colin's originally planned trip to San Francisco to be repeatedly delayed, but it also brought him unexpected gains.

"Scripps-Howard, the current current owner of the Journal of the World, intends to sell the paper."

This is the news that Lange Voorster brought to Colin the day after he left in the dust storm sweeping New York.

Unknown to now, "World Journal" has changed its owner three times.

In 1911, Joseph Pulitzer stipulated in his will that the Le Monde would never be sold.

However, the emergence of the Great Depression changed all that. In 1931, Pulitzer's son Herbert sold the World Journal to the Scripps-Howard newspaper group during the Great Depression.To this end, Herbert also hired a lawyer, and after a lengthy judicial process, including changing the name of the newspaper, he finally amended Pulitzer's will.

After the Scripps-Howard newspaper group took over the "World Journal", it tried to make a newspaper.

To this end, he has carried out various efforts, including the serialization of the copycat Superman, which also happened during the period of the Scripps-Howard newspaper group.

It's just that the wave of the Great Depression was more violent than expected, and the incident of copycat Superman also dealt a certain blow to the "World Journal".

Colin relied on the best-selling of "Superman" to make the "Daily Courier" rise successfully.

The "World Journal" fell into depression because of this, and the last straw that led to the Scripps-Howard newspaper group's decision to sell the newspaper came from the huge sandstorm that occurred in New York these days.

According to Lange Vorst, because of the sandstorm, many assets of the Scripps-Howard newspaper group in New York were damaged. Or loss-making business abandoned.There is no doubt that the World Journal is what Scripps-Howard considers an unprofitable business.

In fact, the Scripps-Howard newspaper group itself also operates more than a dozen newspaper offices, and they obviously have their own plans to acquire the "World Journal".

It's just that the Great Depression and the occurrence of sandstorms have dealt a huge blow to the newspaper group's plan.

Judging from the news disclosed by the Scripps-Howard newspaper group, in addition to selling the "World Journal", the newspaper group also has the idea of ​​directly applying for bankruptcy of the newspaper.

"Get me in touch with the Scripps-Howard newspaper group and say that Colin Looper of the Daily Courier is interested in his copy of the Daily World."

Colin didn't have much of an impression of the Scripps-Howard newspaper group.

However, it itself has great influence in the American newspaper industry. The predecessor of the Scripps-Howard newspaper group under the other party, the Scripps Newspaper Group, also known as the Scripps-McRae Newspaper United Organization, is The first newspaper group in American history.

The newspaper group's business is mainly based on cheap mass newspapers, using small headlines and short messages, saving redundant words, so that the newspapers publish as many news and comments as possible.

Because of this development concept, the Scripps-Howard newspaper group acquired various newspapers all the year round, and also caused the closure of 1923 newspapers in 1924-15.

If Ke Lin hadn't intervened, perhaps "World Journal" would have become one of the closed newspapers under this newspaper group.

……

That night, in Club 21.

Colin met the chairman of the Scripps-Howard newspaper group, Roy Howard.

"Good evening, Mr. Colin Looper."

"Evening, Mr Roy Howard.

Roy Howard has a huge weight in the Scripps-Howard newspaper group, which can be seen from the name of the newspaper.

He served as the general manager of the newspaper since 1920 and became the chairman of the newspaper group in the same year. Afterwards, he deepened the cooperation with the boss, and finally changed the name of the newspaper from the original Scripps newspaper group to the current Scripps-Howard Report to the group.

When Colin was looking at Roy Howard, the other party was also looking at him.

The "World Journal" acquired by the Scripps-Howard newspaper group has had contact with his "Daily Courier" more than once, and there are often disputes in the newspapers.

However, unlike the current precarious business situation of "World Journal", the development of "Daily Courier" is getting smoother and smoother.

And that's because of Superman.

For the "Superman" comic, the Scripps-Howard newspaper group said it was false if it was not eye-catching.

According to the current survey and statistics, the serial income of "Superman" alone has exceeded 90.00% of newspapers in New York.

If it were another creator, the Scripps-Howard newspaper group could spend money to invite it to be serialized in its own newspaper.

Unfortunately, the creator of the manga is the owner of the newspaper.

It is precisely because of this that many methods of the newspaper group cannot be used. By the time Roy Howard reacted, the "Daily Courier" has become a major newspaper in New York that is comparable to the "World Journal".

It is also the first time in the history of the newspaper industry that comics have become best-selling newspapers.

"Mr. Luper, seems to be interested in the World Journal?"

Instead of entangled in the issue of "Superman", Roy Howard was quickly led by the topic to the reason why the two met.

"Actually, I'm interested in any newspaper."

In this regard, Ke Lin did not give a positive answer. The resources left by the "World Journal" may be important, but they are not completely indispensable to him.

In fact, whether the final result is the acquisition of the newspaper or the declaration of bankruptcy, it is not a bad thing for his "Daily Courier".

Once the "World Journal" falls, the most likely to take its place is the "Daily Courier".

Nodding his head, Roy Howard was also a little noncommittal about Colin's answer.

The development of the "Daily Courier" today has reached a certain scale, especially the various news reports during the general election period, as well as the drastic revision of the layout of the newspaper layout, it can be seen that the "Daily Courier" is not willing to be inferior to others.Coupled with the blessing of the "Superman" comics, in fact, in New York today, there are few newspapers that can compete with the "Daily Courier" in terms of sales.

"I just don't know if Mr. Roy Howard is willing to let go."

Looking up at Roy Howard in front of him, Colin threw the question back.

"..."

Facing the question given by Colin, Roy Howard fell silent in a rare way.

From the standpoint of the Scripps-Howard newspaper group, if the "World Journal" can be sold, it is naturally a good thing to collect part of the funds.

However, considering the sales volume of the "Daily Courier" in Colin's hands in New York, once he is allowed to acquire the "World Journal", it will obviously replace the original position of the "World Journal" and become the largest newspaper in New York City.

This is not necessarily a good thing for the Scripps-Howard newspaper group, which has been working hard to develop.

Judging from the development of the newspaper, the "Daily Courier" is much more stable than the "World Journal".

In addition, there are some other issues that Roy Howard takes into account.

As the actual owner of more than a dozen newspapers, the Scripps-Howard newspaper group has a wide range of internal news channels, and it is precisely because of him that he knows that the Colin Luper in front of him is not just the owner of the Courier newspaper. , the creator of the "Superman" comics, himself even has a very close relationship with the incoming President Roosevelt.

The "Daily Courier" stood firmly behind Roosevelt during the general election, and Roy Howard learned about it from special channels.

Not so long ago, Roosevelt had dinner with Colin Looper.

The place where they met was in the 21 club where the two were at the moment.

(End of this chapter)