He is Already a Tycoon at a Young Age! - Chapter 76



Only Krnovel

Episode 76 – The President’s Compound H

May 1921.

U.S. Steel announced it would cut wages for 150,000 workers.

As the world wars ended, labor supply became more stable, and companies announced wage cuts and longer working hours.

Hourly wages for U.S. Steel workers fell from an average of 46 cents to 36 cents.

“Then where are we supposed to find jobs!”

In the midst of this chaos, telegrams continued to arrive at an office in Morgan House.

“Ford offered $32 per share.”

“Tell them it’s not less than 35 a week. I don’t know how many times I’ve said the same thing.”

Africa-Chemical Liaison Office.

This was the only publicly available contact for the company, which owns 8 percent of Ford stock.

Africa Chemical received a lukewarm response to Henry Ford’s acquisition offer.

As time passed, telegrams arrived more frequently and in greater numbers.

“They want to negotiate face to face. How do I do that?”

“You’re the one who’s disappointed. Ask for an answer by telegram. 35 degrees would be a reasonable price.”

Employees stayed up all night in the office working on calculations.

They were also promised a salty bonus if they succeeded.

“How about 34? Ford would accept it right away.”

“No, even 350,000 is a good deal for Ford. There’s no way he’d turn down the offer. The stock price will probably jump again tomorrow.”

A few days passed like that.

As Chairman Jack Morgan arrived at the office, an employee read out the telegram.

“We have decided to acquire all of your shares of Ford Motors at a price of 35 per share…”

Before he could finish speaking, the employees were shaking their fists and cheering.

The same goes for Jack Morgan.

He sighed and put his pipe in his mouth.

“That crazy guy really did it.”

＊＊＊

“I spent a lot more than I expected.”

“This alone is a success, Father. Didn’t you acquire it at a lower price than the stock price before it crashed?”

“…”

Ford looked at his son without answering.

“What happened to that car factory that Hitler guy started?”

“It has been announced that groundbreaking will soon begin. It seems that the site for the factory has also been selected.”

“The site selection was completed as soon as I acquired the stock. Doesn’t that seem a bit odd?”

“Do you really think Hitler is involved in this?”

“Africa Chemical. It was a company with no proper records. It doesn’t make sense that they had the funds to buy such a large amount of stock.”

Henry Ford said,

“There must have been someone who put a proxy in the middle, and with Morgan’s active support at that.”

“Then how about making it public through your father’s newspaper? Even if there is no legal problem, it will be criticized by society…”

“There is no clear evidence. And if I let this situation grow, I’ll only get hurt more.”

Ford clicked his tongue.

“They made a fake announcement that they were leaving the company to buy the stock at a low price. If this gets bigger, we’ll be in trouble.”

“…”

“You don’t have to worry too much about it. Hitler will fail anyway. We have the know-how accumulated over twenty years.”

Ford said.

“I can easily surpass Hitler or GM.”

“But Hitler has a lot of fans. Wasn’t he popular among farmers and demobilized soldiers? He has a great talent for marketing.”

“Cost reduction and quality improvement cannot be achieved through marketing. In the case of automobiles, the system is important, not the popularity of individuals.”

Ford said.

How you design your system initially determines everything in your factory.

The Germans built the first internal combustion engine car, but failed to mass-produce it.

A uniquely stubborn craftsman’s attitude.

You can’t change the culture just by touring the factory a few times.

“We buy the most parts from Detroit anyway. You can’t get them for less than us.”

Ford said.

“No matter what car that Hitler guy comes out with, we just have to lower our prices to match.”

The exact financial resources of the Hitler Company are unknown, but it was probably less than that of Ford Motors.

While Ford focused on automobiles, Hitler had many different businesses.

Ford has the advantage in price competition.

“20 years. At least 20 years, we will remain the winners.”

＊＊＊

“It is impossible to make a cheaper car than Ford right now. Our engineers will try their best, but…”

Porsche said.

“If we combine Mr. Hitler’s design with our new engine, the price will be at least twice as high. It may even be higher until the production process is established.”

“Double… I don’t mind selling it for a little more.”

“yes?”

“If you fight Ford on price, you’re going to lose. Even a newborn baby knows that. There’s no need for a low-price position.”

You can’t make a car cheaper than Ford in America right now.

‘But what’s important isn’t the price.’

Pepsi rose to the number two position in the cola market dominated by Coca-Cola.

How was that possible?

‘It wasn’t successful because it was sold cheaper than Coca-Cola.’

Pepsi’s marketing is thoroughly targeted at the younger generation.

Coca-Cola had an image of being the original.

When you think of cola, the first thing that comes to mind is Coca-Cola.

‘If you confront that image head-on, the damage will be greater.’

Images of polar opposites.

I guess I’ll have to target the vulnerable part.

How GM, General Motors, Beat Ford in the First Century.

“What image do you think Ford Motor Company has for Americans today?”

“Well… isn’t it a car that anyone can ride at a low cost?”

“That’s right. A car for the common people. That’s the image.”

That’s why Ford is so popular with workers.

There are more households that have cars but not bathtubs.

“On the other side of the Ford, you have cars like Lincoln, which are luxury cars for the upper class.”

“So, are you saying we should make a high-end line of cars?”

“That’s not it either.”

If Porsche makes a car, it will be a great luxury car, but it is difficult to influence society with that.

“What we should aim for is the middle ground. A car that is more expensive than a Ford, but that the upper-middle class can afford.”

“…”

“A product that everyone has isn’t very appealing.”

This is especially true for cars.

20s, 30s, 40s.

Male, female, etc.

Each group has a different preferred car model.

Some cars are disliked because they are used a lot as taxis, and some cars are disliked because they look like cars driven by gangsters.

‘That’s why car companies usually focus on only one position.’

Some cars are innovative, some are cost-effective, some are efficient and safe, some are off-road, etc.

These car models are released under different names even though they are from the same company.

Sometimes, a model name is more famous than the car company.

“What kind of car would young men prefer to drive when they pick up their girlfriends? A black car like their fathers drive? Or would they prefer a more expensive, but nice and fast car?”

A sports car can’t even reach full speed in the city.

But people tend to want sports cars once they get rich.

It’s more about buying the image that the car gives than the car itself.

The feeling of being different from ordinary people.

“We’re going to sell cars with that image. If we can install radios and air conditioning, we can give them a high-tech feel.”

“It’s cutting edge. It’s an element that goes well with Mr. Hitler’s design.”

Porsche muttered.

“Instead of competing with Ford on price, we take the opposite position. That makes sense.”

“It’s not just about being cutting edge. It can represent the essence of German engineering. If we build that image, it will be easier to enter the German market.”

In Germany, on the other hand, you can sell cars to the masses.

Because there are only luxury cars there.

“It is important to adopt a strategy that suits the country.”

“Then the name is important too. The company name is Hitler Motors, and what will the car model name be?”

“It can’t be a boring name like Model T. It needs to be something new and innovative…”

Now that I think about it, the reason Porsche came to me was because of Rocketman.

Should I get one from you?

Rockets have already established themselves as an innovative image. If we can use that image…

“How about New Frontier?”

“New Frontier. You mean that rocket? Hitler Motors’ New Frontier. It doesn’t look so bad.”

“Volkswagen, isn’t it better than the People’s Car?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at Porsche’s puzzled reaction.

“I have a separate design in mind.”

After saying that, I took out my notepad.

Porsche’s eyes widened when he saw the picture.

“This is…”

“This is the 911 model that Mr. Porsche will make.”

＊＊＊

British Empire

St. Mary’s Hospital Laboratory

“Hey, Alexander. What kind of mold are you playing with?”

“Oh, you’re welcome. I just needed some tears. I need to get some donations from you.”

“Tears? What the….what the hell!”

The man suddenly swore at the lemon juice that was splashed in his eyes.

“Are you out of your mind? It’s just me, so don’t do this to other people.”

“If not you, then who else would I do this to?”

The researcher chuckled and collected the tears in a beaker.

“Animal tissue, saliva, tears, milk, egg whites. Who knew that these were natural antibacterial enzymes? More experiments are needed, though.”

He continued speaking in a very excited tone.

“There was a reason why egg whites were applied to wounds in the Middle Ages.”

“It’s a wonder no one has discovered this before. After all, who else but you, Alexander, would care about egg whites?”

“I just rediscovered what was already in use. Even before humans discovered buoyancy, they were able to float boats on water.”

The researcher said with a sly smile.

Alexander Fleming.

He moved busily, checking the beakers and experimental equipment.

“But tears and saliva can only kill very weak bacteria. If only we could find a more powerful substance…”

The noise echoed in his head.

A loud gunfire.

A shaking field hospital tent.

Soldiers with amputated limbs.

If he closed his eyes, he could see the scene again. Fleming flinched without realizing it.

“Doctor, please mark it quickly.”

“Doctor?”

As a military doctor, he had to decide who to save and who to abandon.

Those who had no hope of survival were marked with a red mark on their foreheads.

Giving them up would save the other soldiers.

‘Even soldiers whose wounds were not severe died from infection.’

In the trenches, filled with sewage and mud, even minor wounds could quickly lead to serious infections.

The faces of soldiers turned pale when they heard that their limbs had to be amputated.

After the war, Fleming devoted himself to research into ways to prevent such infections.

“What on earth are they researching with these molds? What a random project.”

“Oh, this time I decided to do research in return for support from a certain foundation.”

“A foundation?”

“I heard it was a foundation created by a successful German businessman. In German, it’s called Hope? Hoffnung (Hope) Foundation.”

“It looks like the Rockefeller Foundation is getting a lot of support these days.”

“Don’t the Rockefeller side only support projects with a high probability of success? This is the first time our department has received support.”

As he said that, Fleming looked at the glass bottles. The molds were collected by color.

His client was particularly obsessed with blue mold, the Penicillium family.

“By the way, you want me to use the molds for antibacterial testing? That’s quite a unique request. Aren’t you someone who’s obsessed with strange folk remedies?”

“Well, it doesn’t matter to me as the person receiving the money. I can do other experiments, too.”

Fleming placed his bacterial specimens one by one into bottles containing mold.

“Let’s call it a day. How about having a beer together?”

“Then let’s go quickly before it’s too late. If we come in late again, my wife will be very…”

Monday morning after the weekend.

Back in his laboratory, Fleming couldn’t believe his eyes as he looked through the microscope.

“All the germs…are gone?”

===＊＊＊===

Author’s Note

Q: Was the discovery of penicillin really an accident?

A: Yes, that’s partly true. Penicillin is also well known as an accidental discovery. One day in September 1928, Dr. Alexander Fleming of St. Mary’s Hospital came back from vacation and was checking the culture dishes piled up on his laboratory table. One of the dishes was contaminated with mold, and he noticed that the staphylococci around the contaminated dish had dissolved and looked like dewdrops.

He immediately cultured the mold and transferred it into a test tube. It is thought that the blue mold came from the mold laboratory below Fleming’s laboratory, or naturally from outside a window.

However, that does not mean that Dr. Fleming did not make any contributions. He had continued to conduct research on the subject, such as accidentally discovering lysozyme, a natural antibacterial substance, from nasal mucus and tears. He later said to the press, “If I had not been interested in this subject in the past, I would not have discovered penicillin and would have just thrown it away.”

After the discovery of penicillin, Dr. Fleming and his team tried to purify it but failed. They eventually stopped their research on penicillin and studied other antibacterial substances, sulfa drugs. It was 12 years later that Florey and Chain discovered the method of purifying and mass producing penicillin.

Since then, penicillin has been praised as a miracle drug and has been credited with redefining modern medicine.

‘Fleming was really lucky in a big way. He observed very keenly what would have been a very rare combination of circumstances. – Professor Chain, Symposium commemorating the 13th anniversary of the clinical application of penicillin, 1971’

(Source – The Story of Penicillin Told by Fleming, Kim Young-ho)