The welcome reception was held at the estate of a wealthy Cleveland businessman named Subby Jones. Sobey was a shipbuilder who produced all kinds of inland lake (river) ships in his factory. At the same time he also owned a small section of the railroad, before the economic crisis, he was the leading businessman in Cleveland, after the crisis, although he managed well and coped well, still suffered some losses. But because others have lost more, so relatively speaking, he appears to be richer and richer. So taking advantage of the opportunity of a large number of bankruptcy, he even further expanded his industry - he bought a section of the railroad at a very low price. People believe that when the crisis is over, their assets will be greatly increased. Mr. Sobey was an old Whig, a staunch abolitionist. Although he did say things like, "The intelligence of niggers is somewhere between that of a human and a gorilla, or even closer to it, so don't expect them to be able to do any complicated work - even sawing planks with a garden saw - they can only do a little pushing and hauling. They can only do silly things like pushing a cart to carry wood".

Scrooge and Rockefeller rode in a carriage with Gardner to the entrance of Mr. Sobey's manor house. It was a European-style building with white walls and black ironwork gates. As soon as the carriage stopped, a uniformed black attendant came up and opened the door so that the passengers could get off.

"Why is there a black slave here?" Scrooge whispered to Gardner.

"That's not a Negro, that's just a Negro waiter, a free Negro who ran away from the South. Mr. Sobey was a staunch abolitionist, and many of the Negroes who came to the North via the Underground Railroad in pursuit of freedom were helped by him to get the opportunity to work freely in his factories or other enterprises. If it hadn't been for the damn Fugitive Slave Act, many more blacks would have been helped by him." Gardner replied.

Scrooge knew that the Fugitive Slave Act Gardner was referring to was not the Fugitive Slave Act signed by Washington, the fallen cherry axe who owned over 300 slaves (60 percent of them women) and liked to pull out the teeth of black slaves in exchange for his own, but the enhanced Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which was passed with the support of the South to stop more and more slaves from fleeing to the abolitionist states of the North. The Fugitive Slave Act, even allowed slave owners from the Southern states to come to the free states in the North to hunt down runaway slaves and bring them back to the South.

Gardner showed his invitation at the door, and a servant shouted, "Mr. Gardner, Mr. Rockefeller, and Mr. Scrooge are here." This was a bit like those Southern slave masters who pretended to be aristocrats.

In the center of the fountain was a marble statue that Scrooge recognized as a replica of the great Michelangelo's "Slave in Bondage. The statue depicts a slave fighting to the death, and Mr. Sobey's placement of it in this position is a clear indication of his intentions.

Around the fountain and the statue is a small building with a Romanesque portico. Although it is very different from the Van der Fest mansion, it is imitating its style.

The main man, Sobey, was greeting his guests at the door. He was a tall, thin man who looked about 1.8 meters tall, with a thin face that had deep wrinkles that looked like they had been chiseled out with a knife, and two small eyes like eagle falcons.

When Scrooge and the others approached the building, Mr. Sobey was talking with several other guests, but he saw Scrooge and the others - in fact, with the big guy Gardner here, it was not easy to be inconspicuous. So Subby whispered a few more words to the guests, then turned his head, smiled, and greeted them.

"Ah, welcome, Gardner! My old friend!"

"And thank you for your hospitality!" Gardner smiled back and went up to shake Sobey's hand and introduce him to his two companions.

"This is my friend Rockefeller, a very hard-working and capable businessman."

"Ah, I've heard of you." Sobey shook Rockefeller's hand, "In today's economy, you lead a company that is still profitable, that's remarkable. If you didn't have your own company, I'd like to hire you as my business manager."

"You flatter me," Rockefeller said, "I've studied your recent investments with Scrooge and a few other friends, and we all think your recent railroad acquisitions are classic and will serve as success stories for future generations to follow in the business schools of the universities. "

"You think so?" Subi's small eyes shone with curiosity, "Many people are not optimistic about my acquisition, they think I am playing with fire."

"The crisis can't last forever. And the value of that railroad can be much more than the current price. Some mediocre people are scared out of their wits by a crisis and think it's the end of the world. These cowards' views are not worth mentioning, they will be scared to death by their imaginary phantoms. If I could have that kind of money, I would have joined the acquisition of the railroad." Rockefeller said.

Anyone likes to hear people pat themselves on the back. Even those who claim they hate the act of flattery. The reason why the so-called people do not like to pat themselves on the back, it is just because the people who patted him did not get to the point, want to pat on the back, but ended up patting the horse's hoof. Everyone has their own innermost valued, the proudest of things, sometimes, they always like to hide it, deliberately not to show it. But if you are at this time to his these aspects to praise, well, that will certainly be able to shoot him comfortably.

Sobey, too, in the crisis of the acquisition of the railroad, is his most proud of the investment, but this investment has not been able to earn him money, and many people are still, therefore, attacking him is not confused. At this time, to hear such comments, he is certainly very happy.

"Good boy! Do a good job! You will all become very rich." Sobey as a predecessor to encourage Rockefeller said so. Of course, decades later, when the aging Sobey retired to take care of his grandson, he told him that he had a keen eye and saw right away that Scrooge and Rockefeller were not the best. Although when he said this, he was mainly just being polite. Many of the so-called wise men in history have been of this type.

"Mr. Sobey, this is the Mr. Scrooge that you asked me to bring here." Gardner went on to introduce his fellow traveler to Sobey.

"Hello, Mr. Sobey!" Scrooge shook Sovee's hand.

"Ah, Scrooge. I didn't realize you were really ...... so young. You are so young that Cleveland and even the entire U.S. arms merchants will have to tremble in your shadow for a long time to come. The Sobey felt that his evaluation of Scrooge had been high enough, but it was he who had not anticipated the length and scope of the future shadow of this child.

"You're too kind, you'll make me look bad," Scrooge said.

"If you can be praised, I bet all the arms dealers in the United States will come to praise you. Well, I've heard Clark talk about your vision for the future of the United States, and you think there's going to be a civil war?" Subby said.

Scrooge gave it a moment's thought and replied, "Yes, sir. I think this war is inevitable." Subby was a transportation businessman, and both rail and river transportation was important to the war. To him, a war that was bound to be won was not a bad thing.

"Ah, many people have been saying that we should avoid war as much as possible and that we should try to reach a compromise with the South for this purpose. What do you think of this, Scrooge?" Sobey continued.

"I certainly support the effort to avoid war. If the Southerners were less brutal, if they were reasonable, if they respected the basic principles of the Declaration of Independence, if they abolished the inhumane system of slavery, and if they worked together with us to protect the interests of American business, we certainly would not want a civil war. However, if they blatantly refuse to do so, act against the tide of history for their selfish interests, continue to violate the spirit of the American nation, and smear the face of the United States, then, to uphold the "self-evident truth" that "all men are created equal," we can even do so without the need to protect the interests of the American people. We were able to face the armed-to-the-teeth army of the world's most powerful empire without fear, and now we are afraid of the separatist rebels? We have always waved the olive branch in our hands, please don't let it slip from our hands." In response to this question, Scrooge immediately gave a righteous and resounding answer.

"Well said! You have said everything that I wanted to say in my heart. You seem to be a natural Republican. How about it? Are you interested in joining the Republican Party?" Subby extended an invitation to Scrooge, "As a matter of principle, we don't take in minors, but if you want to, it's not a big deal."

"My father was a staunch Whig supporter (in fact, Joseph Sr. had no apparent political leanings, but Scrooge felt that as a Protestant father, he was more likely to support the Whigs), and I would join any organization that was true to God and the ideals of the American Founding." Although it is the Nationalist Party that is now in power, it is clear that the economic crisis, and the Buchanan administration's incompetence during it, has angered most Northerners, and his attempts to smooth things over between the North and the South have not been well received by Southerners. Some radical Southerners even called him a traitor for his unwillingness to use federal violence to ensure that the implementation of the Fugitive Slave Act would not be obstructed. So, in the next election, it is questionable whether the Democratic Party can guarantee that it will not be divided. The Republican Party, which has largely been consolidated, is bound to win after the '57 crisis. And Scrooge knew that the Republican Party would be in power not only in the next election but for decades after the war. Joining the Republican Party was the right choice.