"Councilor Charles, there are no schools in Pittsburgh now, and children have no way to get an education. I have a piece of land that I am willing to sell to the town council to build a school, and it only costs three hundred pounds."
"Submit a report and a proposal!" Education is also a priority and cannot be ignored.
"Pittsburgh should establish a postman service and a relay station. I have a few good horses, only selling for..."
"Submit a report..."
Once someone took the lead, others followed suit, trying every possible way to get money from Charles Godfrey. Charles did not refuse, uniformly asking them to submit reports and proposals. Anyway, whether the funds would actually be allocated would require careful investigation and slow discussion to pass.
For now, in front of others, he still had to give them this courtesy. At the same time, he told those eager to write proposals not to rush, as he would be staying in Pittsburgh for a few more days, so they could prepare detailed information and write as complete a proposal as possible before submitting their applications.
Charles Godfrey's approach of simply asking them to write proposals naturally won the favor of these people. Some impatient ones had already started writing proposals where they would be among the beneficiaries, not forgetting to praise Charles a few times.
As a result, Charles received a stack of proposals. Even Greenspan quietly submitted several proposals, requesting the establishment of a market for wholesale and retail of commonly circulated goods, based on the original Godfrey Family trading center; requesting the militia to purchase cannons and firearms produced by the Godfrey Family workshops; and requesting the canal project to use many tools and equipment provided by the Godfrey Family, and so on.
Adding to what others had proposed and what had not yet been proposed, Charles believed that this allocation would be very troublesome. He simply waved his hand, letting Moulton, his translator and foreign language teacher, temporarily take over James' secretarial work to help process the proposals.
He then quietly pulled Greenspan aside, preparing to ask about the family's situation over the past two months. The general outcome was, of course, very satisfactory: income increased, and all work progressed smoothly.
Charles also mentioned the matter of establishing a bank to Greenspan. However, the true bank in Charles' concept was quite complicated, so for now, an unofficial Pittsburgh Bank would be established. The goal was to first control Pittsburgh's finances and provide financial services.
Originally, the biggest obstacle to establishing a bank was sufficient reserve funds, but now he had two sums of fifty thousand pounds in cash—one from Pittsburgh and one of his own.
With such a startup fund, providing financial services to the entire West would not be a problem. Moreover, early banks in America were not standardized anyway. The banks most trusted by residents were not those with the best services and business, but the safest ones.
With the protection of his militia militia, his bank would undoubtedly be the safest in the West, and he wouldn't even need to find an extra building; he could simply use part of the trading center. This was something others could absolutely not achieve in Pittsburgh.
It was difficult to find bank tellers. Among his white indentured servants, there were a few accountants and secretaries who could provide counter services, but he lacked the talent to manage the bank and handle large-scale business.
The only person who might be able to fill this role was James, who remained in Philadelphia. After much consideration, he finally decided to let Greenspan temporarily serve as the bank manager, to be replaced when a suitable candidate was found in the future.
When Charles announced on the spot to the other people in the bar that he would establish the Pittsburgh Bank, these wealthy gentlemen immediately expressed strong welcome.
"Respected Councilor Charles! I think this is the best news I've heard today. Our grocery store often uses bartering now due to a lack of cash, which is absolutely a very foolish way of trading. After you establish the bank, you will definitely provide cash exchange services, right?" Tom, the grocery store owner and glass workshop proprietor, said excitedly.
"Haha! The bank primarily provides deposit safekeeping, and of course, it will also provide cash exchange services. However, this exchange will incur a certain fee, and everyone should have a maximum exchange limit. How about we set it at fifty pounds for now? But I hope you can deposit large cash incomes in the bank.
This way, you will be safe, and my bank can also ensure it has enough cash. As a return for your frequent deposits and loans, I can also waive your deposit safekeeping fees." Charles did not want all his pounds to be exchanged away.
Due to the long-term chaos and insecurity in America, bank robberies occurred frequently. Early banks all charged deposit safekeeping fees, and even in Europe now, many banks have such fees. Charles' bank, being the first and only bank in the Western region, charging a safekeeping fee for deposits was, of course, understandable to these people.
"Good, that's good. Setting a limit is no problem, and deposits are also necessary!" Tom nodded repeatedly.
He could only exchange fifty pounds himself, but he could also call others who came to buy things to exchange. Anyway, it wasn't for his own use; it was mainly to reduce the trouble when buying and selling things. As for deposits, the public order in Pittsburgh was very poor now, so he naturally dared not keep too much cash at home. If not in the bank, where else would he put it?
Spencer, the tavern owner, faced the same problem. After hearing Charles resolve Tom's doubts, he no longer asked separate questions.
In fact, Charles knew in his heart that neither cash exchange nor deposit and loan services would be the main source of income for his bank. The real profits would come from those wealthy magnates in Philadelphia.
They would certainly need to invest large sums of money to develop land and build canals in Pittsburgh, and bringing large sums of money from distant Philadelphia would entail great risks. If the Pittsburgh Bank could provide inter-city deposit and exchange services, it would surely be welcomed by them. And this would undoubtedly be a huge source of income for his Pittsburgh Bank.
This business would also be very simple to operate. As long as he established another branch in Philadelphia, the wealthy individuals could deposit money in Philadelphia, and then, with receipts, the money could be delivered to the wealthy individuals in Pittsburgh. The wealthy individuals would pay wages to workers, the workers would spend money in various shops, and then the shops would deposit the money in his bank, thus forming a virtuous cycle.
And if he needed to buy and sell things in Philadelphia, he could directly use the money from the Philadelphia branch. Once the Philadelphia branch accumulated more money, he could even engage in lending business in Philadelphia. Once this cycle was formed, it would be difficult for others to establish a new bank and insert themselves into it.
The financial industry has always been the most profitable. The Biddle family in Philadelphia, without a formal bank, developed into one of Philadelphia's prominent families by merely providing private lending services. With a bank, the speed of making money would naturally accelerate significantly.
Money making money, it's that simple. Charles thought with a hint of smugness.
Charles' plan to control Pittsburgh's purse strings was not just about controlling the government council's finances, but also private capital. And a bank, without a doubt, was the best means of control.
______
"Gentlemen, citizens of Pittsburgh!" Charles Godfrey, full of vigor, sat on a high-backed chair in the tavern, delivering a speech to the more than one hundred original voting residents of Pittsburgh.
"I have called everyone together again today to discuss Pittsburgh's development plan for the coming year. The mayor and other gentry have proposed several motions, asking me for appropriations.
Because many of these are major issues concerning Pittsburgh's future, I have invited everyone to bear witness, so that you can better supervise the proposers in implementing their work in the future."
"Work? We still have to work ourselves. Pittsburgh is so small and poor, what good plans could there be? Councilor, you and the mayor can just handle those matters together."
"Yes! Yes!"
Those so-called "councilors" all opposed, mostly wearing work clothes, having come directly from their workplaces. Although they had arrived in Pittsburgh years earlier than the new immigrants and vagrants, these original small-town residents were equally poor, many even worse off than the new immigrants.
This time, with Pittsburgh's major development, they were also among the beneficiaries and felt a certain gratitude towards Charles. If anyone else had suddenly called them to a meeting, these people would have simply ignored it.
"Hahahaha! gentlemen, if you trust us two to make the decisions, you will definitely regret it." Charles Godfrey laughed loudly. "That's a huge sum of nearly two hundred seventy thousand pounds! When Pittsburgh develops in the future, the amount of money to be approved each year will definitely increase more and more."
Patrick, beside him, listened with a pang of heartache.
Yes, that was a huge sum of money. Even if he couldn't control it all, sharing half with Charles would be good. Yet, he was letting these commoners participate in the money distribution. However, this past Charles controlled the hearts of the people and the army, so he couldn't possibly object. It was better to honestly follow the procedure to collect the money and then find ways to skim off some profits.