Dutch pressed his hand down, and the veterans, with their excellent discipline, calmed down despite their immense excitement.
"Gentlemen, I have always believed that veterans are the foundation of a nation, the soul of a nation. A country that cherishes its veterans is a noble country, and a country that respects its veterans is a beautiful country! Providing a livelihood for retired veterans should be the most fundamental bottom line of any nation. Yet, unexpectedly, under the leadership of those congressmen, our America has become utterly limitless, immoral, and devoid of human rights!
They flaunt slogans of freedom and democracy, yet engage in acts of murder and exploitation!
But it doesn't matter. If they won't give you a way to live, I will!
My original intention in establishing the Veteran Club was precisely this: to allow all retired veterans to live normal lives, to have ideal lives, to marry and have children, and to have their own happy families!
So, gentlemen, for my dream, and for your lives, I founded the Veteran Club, providing you with free food and drink to the best of my ability.
But this is not enough. Your lives are still barely at subsistence level, and your futures remain without hope."
Watching the veterans grow increasingly silent as he spoke, seeing the sorrowful expressions on their faces, Dutch raised his right hand high and spoke with fervor.
"But it doesn't matter, gentlemen, your lives will be ushered into a new chapter by me, Dutch! You will ultimately gain families, you will ultimately gain happiness, you will ultimately gain goodness!"
Dutch's speech was deafening, at least for these veterans; his words resonated deeply within their hearts.
"Good!!!"
"That was wonderfully said, Mr. Dutch, please allow me to follow in your footsteps!"
The veterans below were thoroughly invigorated; they cheered, loudly praising Dutch's greatness, their eyes filled with tears, feeling that Dutch had become their complete spiritual pillar.
But this was not enough. If Dutch merely spoke words, then his speech would be meaningless.
So Dutch waved his hand, once again quieting the crowd.
"Alright, gentlemen. Next, I want to discuss my plan with you.
There is a classic saying in the distant East: 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.' This means that providing you with free food and drink is actually not as good as providing you with a good job. So I believe that providing you with a good job, allowing you to pursue a bright future on your own, is true help.
Therefore, I have decided to give you a job, a decent job, a job where you won't have to sleep on the street or in a stable at night, a job that will allow you to rebuild your families!"
Upon hearing "decent job," the crowd below became even more excited.
Why did they come to the Veteran Club for free food? It must be because their lives were difficult. And why were their lives difficult? It must be because their jobs were bad.
The money they earned from a day of hard labor was barely enough to cover food and drink, and even accommodation was an issue; they could only sleep by the roadside at night, or secretly in stables.
So a decent job, one where they wouldn't have to sleep in a stable, completely ignited their true passion.
Dutch looked at the fervent veterans before him with great satisfaction. He didn't drag out their anticipation but spoke directly.
"Gentlemen, to be frank, I am a businessman, and I have a clothing factory under my name that is about to begin operations, so I can offer you some decent jobs.
I came here this time to provide you with work.
Currently, the scale of our clothing factory is not too large, so the number of people we are hiring is limited. Those who are not hired should not worry, because our subsequent recruitment will continue as production increases.
Alright, gentlemen, without further ado, I want to explain my recruitment quotas to you.
First, our clothing factory needs to hire 10 cleaning staff, with no age limit. You will have a six-square-meter room as your living space, where all bedding and daily necessities are fully prepared. Your daily three meals will be directly provided by the factory, free of charge.
You can bring your family members to live with you in the same room. The factory allows your family members to come, also with free food and drink, but each person can bring a maximum of three family members. After all, if you are a large family, with hundreds of people, that would certainly bankrupt me."
"Hahaha…" The eyes of the crowd below were fervent, almost glowing red.
And Dutch's words continued.
"And the salary I can offer you is twenty dollars a month. In the factory, you will have no extra expenses, which means you will be able to save twenty dollars in salary each month, or two hundred and forty dollars a year. Working in my factory for a year, you will have enough money to marry and have children.
Furthermore, the factory will prioritize hiring your family members as factory employees. You will learn about the specific salary items and benefits when the time comes.
How about it, gentlemen, with these conditions, do you want to work?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the scene instantly erupted!
Twenty dollars a month!!!
With food and accommodation provided, and even the ability to bring family! Just as Dutch said, all the money you earn can be saved, and in just a few years, you could become a wealthy family with no worries about food or clothing!
A monthly salary of twenty dollars was not high. America was developing rapidly at the time; in 1900, a white-collar worker in the West earned twenty-eight dollars a month, but this changed completely a few years later.
Currently, a day laborer earned about eighty cents, and although that might add up to more than twenty dollars a month, it didn't include food or accommodation! And it wasn't stable.
They would be lucky to save three dollars and twenty cents throughout the year, as most of their earnings went towards food, drink, and clothes.
But now, they could consistently save twenty dollars, which was equivalent to purely earning twenty dollars a month. These twenty dollars could be saved or used to buy clothes; wasn't this pure profit?
So the more they thought about it, the more excited and happy they became.
Immediately, they clamored, vying to shout that they needed jobs, fearing that they would lose their spot.