British writer

The atmosphere inside the yacht is a bit strange.

Carnegie said it as if the White House was owned by his family.

Very outrageous.

Lu Shi coughed slightly,

"Mr. Carnegie, you... uh... if I remember correctly, you sold the Carnegie Steel Company to Morgan for $500 million, right?"

Carnegie's eyes flashed,

"Yes, this happened in February this year. However, in order to prevent the change in equity from affecting the company, the matter did not spread widely. Professor Lu was far away in a foreign country, but he actually knew everything about this matter. It was somewhat... humph... not really , too many unexpected things have happened to you."

Wodehouse wondered,

"The reason for selling the company?"

Carnegie looked at him and smiled,

"Sir, I'm just a soft cartel advocate."

cartel, cartel,

This is a form of monopoly organization that is different from a trust.

It consists of a series of independent enterprises that produce similar products. Through collective actions, they increase the price of such products and control their output.

The most typical example is OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries).

To summarize simply,

Cartel = association of trades.

Carnegie said: "Carnegie Steel Company is the world's largest steel company, with more than 20,000 employees and the world's most advanced equipment. Its annual output exceeds the UK's national steel production, and its annual revenue reaches eight figures."

It’s over, Britain has become a unit...

Wodehouse was depressed.

Lu Shi took over the conversation,

"This data is very dangerous in the wake of the Sherman Antitrust Act."

Carnegie smiled, peeled a sweet shrimp and put it in his mouth.

No answer is also an answer.

He finished chewing carefully and said: "In short, I don't think Carnegie Steel is a trust now, and it is unreasonable to attack it."

"Tsk..."

Lu Shi was speechless.

"Mr. Carnegie, is it boring to play word games?"

Carnegie still didn't answer.

As a big businessman, he certainly knows that there is no point in pursuing definition when the president has already raised his butcher knife.

Lu Shi looked at each other, lost in thought,

In memory, Theodore should not have taken direct action against the Carnegie Steel Company, but only passed a series of stricter regulations and restrictions,

There must be a reason for this.

The corners of Carnegie's mouth curled up,

"Professor Lu, you have more influence in the White House than me."

Lu Shi: "..."

"You don't want me to influence Mr. President... No, this is too unrealistic!"

Besides, he had no reason to help Carnegie.

But he quickly thought of Carnegie's other identity, and suddenly had some reasonable inferences in his mind, so he asked: "Speaking of which, why do you want to establish a university?"

Carnegie touched his nose awkwardly,

"That...Carnegie is not enough to be called a 'university', it is just a technical school. As for the reason for its establishment, it is simply to cultivate the industrial professionals needed for Pittsburgh in the three-year system."

This is not difficult to see from the school’s professional settings.

Current Carnegie includes:

Science and technology schools to train craftsmen and assistant engineers;

art schools to train designers and craftsmen;

schools for apprentices and journeymen in manufacturing and construction;

Margaret Molaison Carnegie School for training housewives and secretaries.

It is equivalent to a modern junior college.

Lu Shi said: "Pittsburgh? Mr. Carnegie's second hometown..."

Carnegie showed a gentle smile and praised: "'Second hometown'...Professor Lu is indeed a literary man. I like it very much for being able to come up with such an appropriate and romantic description. Yes, I have made money and am determined to give back to Pittsburgh." "

Lu Shi whispered: "This can be considered a kind of charity."

"charitable?"

Carnegie was slightly stunned,

Suddenly, he stood up and shook hands with Lu Shi excitedly.

"Professor Lu, I understand! But how exactly..."

Lu Shi was touched by the other party and his hands were full of oil. He quickly wiped them clean with a tablecloth, and then said: "Mr. Carnegie, you can even make money. Do you still need guidance from others on how to spend money?"

Carnegie laughed,

"With Professor Lu here, I don't even want to think about spending money."

Lu Shi said: "It's very simple. First, you can invest money to set up relief and pension funds for steelmaking workers. After all, these employees have also contributed to your success, and you need to express your gratitude."

Carnegie raised his hand,

"Just wait a moment."

He stood up, rummaged around in the yacht, finally found paper and pen, and then recorded it carefully like a primary school student.

Looking at the absurd scene in front of him, Wodehouse couldn't help but mutter in his heart,

In front of Lu Shi, everyone must be a student.

He couldn't help but think of a great man in China——

Confucius.

If Lu Shi knew that Wodehouse thought this way, he would be under great pressure.

In China, who dares to compare himself to the most holy teacher?

He continued: "The second point is to establish..."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Carnegie: "Professor, is it better to set up a fund or donate the money to the labor union?"

Lu Shi drank a glass of juice.

"Mr. President is Zhang Juzheng, not Li Zicheng."

Carnegie:? ? ?

Didn't understand.

Wodehouse explained: "Zang Ju was a famous prime minister of the Ming Dynasty. He was shrewd and capable. He carried out reforms with strong tactics and maintained the rule of the Ming Dynasty... As for the other person, it seems that he was the leader of the peasant uprising army?"

He used a questioning tone.

Lu Shi said, "That's right."

Wodehouse was somewhat pleased with himself;

"It seems that my memory is pretty good."

He turned to Carnegie,

"Mr. Carnegie, the two people just mentioned are historical figures and were introduced in Lu's book "The Insignificant Year 1587."

Carnegie decided to go home and study.

Read it over and over again,

You can’t even understand it, you have to read it thoroughly, chew it up and swallow it.

He thought about the relationship between the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty and the leader of the peasant uprising army.

If the United States is the Ming Dynasty,

Then a conclusion can be drawn:

Although the president wants to deal with the trusts, he may not be willing to wear the same pants as the unions.

At the same time, Lu Shi sighed again and said: "Furthermore, at the beginning of the 20th century, if money was donated to labor unions, it would not matter whether they would use it for worker relief and pension. This goes against the principles of charity. Original intention.”

Carnegie glanced at Lu Shi,

"You are a truly kind person."

Lu Shi shook his head and said, "It's just what we can do."

After speaking, he chuckled and said: "Mr. Carnegie, you have never played the tabletop game "Monopoly" I designed. Anyone who has played that game has one emotion, 'This is so capitalist!'"

Carnegie couldn't help but laugh,

"Professor Lu, you really should stay in the United States. You will be like a fish in water here."

Lu Shi didn't want to talk more about this topic.

He continued: "There is a saying in China, 'It is not about the heart that matters when it comes to deeds, but there are few perfect people in the world when it comes to heart.' Can you understand it?"

Carnegie replied: "Yes. Literally, it means that to evaluate a person's character, one should look at his actual behavior, rather than just relying on subjective conjecture or looking at his heart. If we talk about the heart, there is no perfect person in the world. People."

Lu Shi said "hmm\

,""So, no matter what the purpose of charity is, since we have done it, we must still hope that the money will go to the people who need it, right?"

Carnegie gently twirled his beard,

In fact, he wanted to do charity, otherwise he would not have built a school in Pittsburgh.

Of course, it would be better to take the opportunity to solve the problem.

He said sincerely: "I have learned a lesson. Professor Lu, you just said the first point. Is there any follow-up?"

Lu Shi said: "Of course. The second point is to donate money to build a library."

The library is the foundation of education,

Carnegie agreed: "Let's start in Pittsburgh."

Lu Shi said: "My suggestion is New York. From the perspective of utilization, it is far more cost-effective to build the library in New York State than in Pennsylvania."

Carnegie was a little confused.

It is difficult to accept that a person who just kept talking about charity suddenly engages in educational discrimination.

Lu Shi could understand the other party's surprise.

He coughed lightly,

"Um...if I remember correctly, Mr. President was the governor of New York State?"

"puff!"

Wodehouse on the side burst into laughter.

The drunkard's intention is not wine,

I see.

The Roosevelt family is indeed the leader in New York State.

They own a large amount of real estate, which is an important asset of the family not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of influence.

In addition, they have trust funds in New York State and have extensive business.

The most outrageous thing is that Roosevelt and Roosevelt both served as governors of New York State. It is not an exaggeration to say that New York State is the place where the family thrives.

Carnegie was stunned,

After a while, he said: "Professor Lu said that I should listen to you."

Historically, he donated a total of 12 million US dollars to build 3,500 libraries. This library construction project lasted for 16 years.

Particular emphasis is placed on New York State,

In New York City alone, 68 libraries were built.

It is difficult to evaluate whether there is any influence from Theodore Roosevelt.

Lu Shi continued: "The third point is to develop Carnegie Vocational School into a comprehensive university and provide a certain proportion of scholarships to every student studying here as much as possible."

Carnegie couldn't help but said "Huh?"

"this……"

He sighed,

"Professor Lu, you know that expanding subjects requires teachers. And my school...sigh..."

Vocational colleges are indeed at the bottom of the contempt chain.

But Lu Shi was not worried,

He said: "It doesn't matter. Carnegie School can completely build a school based on engineering majors. Now is the wildest period of industrial development. It won't be long before a large number of new majors such as automobile manufacturing will appear."

Carnegie hesitated;

"Industry, commerce, liberal arts, science, how can I do it if I only have engineering majors?"

Lu Shidao: "Isn't there another partner who invested in building the school with you?"

When Carnegie looked at the landing like a monster,

"You know this too?"

Of course Lu Shi knew that,

Because Carnegie Technical School was later renamed Carnegie Mellon University, and "Mellon" was the last name of another partner.

This man's name is Andrew Mellon, a famous American banker and the patriarch of the Mellon Financial Group. He served as the Secretary of the Treasury from 1921 to 1932 and survived three governments.

Lu Shi said: "I think your school should not lack business resources, right?"

Carnegie felt like he had been seen through.

He really admired Lu Shi.

Wodehouse interjected: "I am familiar with building schools. As long as the schooling system is changed to four years, and then an industrial research institute is established based on engineering, it can be upgraded from a technical school to a university. But a comprehensive university has a heavy task. And it’s a long way to go.”

"certainly……"

He paused slightly and glanced at Lu Shi,

"It's not necessarily that there are no shortcuts."

Carnegie was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered that there was a very powerful figure in the academic and educational circles in front of him, and his eyes became eager.

Lu Shi was happy to see this.

"I happen to be a trustee of Columbia University, and I can speak a few words at Harvard. I can ask professors to serve as lecturers. But there are two prerequisites. First, the scholarship ratio must be high; second, the proportion of Chinese students must be guaranteed to be 10%. above."

Carnegie wholeheartedly agreed,

"no problem!"

He thought this was a pie-in-the-sky good thing, and even added: "Professor Lu, I want to name the School of Humanities and Social Sciences after you. Or do you prefer the School of Public Policy and Management?"

Lu Shi waved his hand,

"False name, just a false name."

Carnegie: "..."

He made up his mind and named the School of Humanities and Social Sciences after Lu Shi.

Anyway, there is nothing wrong with the horoscope.

What if we could really invite professors from Harvard and Columbia to give them a little "fake reputation"?

No matter how you think about it, it doesn’t hurt!

He weighed it for a while, then suddenly thought of something and said: "Professor Lu, I still feel that relying on charity alone is not safe. After all, it relies on tacit understanding rather than explicit laws, and the Sherman Antitrust Act is there. With..."

Lu Shi was surprised,

“Doesn’t America encourage charity?”

Carnegie smiled bitterly,

"well……"

He sighed deeply and said, "Of course it's encouragement, but..."

He hesitated to speak.

Lu Shi was even more surprised when he saw him like this, and said: "There is no express law? This is wrong... Under the U.S. tax law, aren't charitable organizations or private foundations exempt from tax? In this case, it is impossible to be difficult and criticized. .”

Carnegie:? ? ?

Wodehouse:? ? ?

Both of them looked at Lu Shi in confusion.

After a few seconds, Carnegie slammed the table and said, "Yes! It can still be like this!"

While he was thinking, he wrote a few lines of text on the paper:

religious organizations;

private foundation;

universities and other educational organizations;

Social welfare organizations, civil unions, social clubs, labor organizations;

…

The smile on Carnegie's face grew bigger and bigger.

He stopped the pen in his hand and said: "Professor Lu's idea is really fantastic. Currently, in the U.S. tax law, only federal, state and local governments can exempt various types of taxes, such as federal income tax and sales tax. But I think... "

Carnegie held up the list in his hand,

"These subjects should also be tax-free, and kind-hearted Americans cannot object. If these are related to tax-free, then more and more big capitalists will be willing to do charity, and the world will get better and better. Mr. President responded Monopolies will not be too aggressive.”

Lu Shi was stunned,

Could it be that there is no charitable tax exemption in the current federal tax law?

He thought of Carnegie's title, "Father of American Philanthropy," and couldn't help but want to slap himself in the mouth.

Before Carnegie, there may have been no systematic charity activities.

Naturally, there is no tax exemption.

Carnegie stood up,

"Professor Lu, if you really establish a private foundation in the future, I will definitely add your name. You will become the 'Father of Philanthropy', and the American people... no, it should be the people of the world! The people of the world will thank you for proposing today of great imagination.”

Lu Shi: "..."

"Wait, I didn't..."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by the other party.

Carnegie said: "Professor Lu, there is no need to be modest. 'No one is perfect in terms of deeds, and no one is perfect in terms of heart.' Isn't that what you just said?"