I was the Founding Father of the United States

Chapter 14 First Shareholders' Meeting

The next afternoon.

At a sermon held inside the Baptist church, Pastor Jensen announced to more than 300 people in Providence that Chen Wenbin had joined the Baptist church as a member of the community.

Captain George Mills of the INS Jenna, First Officer Gene, sailors whom Chen Wenbin had treated, including Andrew, David Klein, Chris, Anthony, and Benjamin, along with their families, were all present to welcome Chen Wenbin.

Within an afternoon, the news had spread throughout Providence—a small town of only twenty or thirty thousand people—and everyone knew that an Eastern doctor and inventor had arrived. Many new immigrants began inquiring about Jenna's textile factory's recruitment of workers, while gentlemen living in the city center wanted to know if the new spinning machines were reliable and worth investing in.

After the evangelistic meeting, Chen Wenbin took the opportunity to convene a shareholders' meeting at Pastor Jason's home, bringing together the major shareholders of Jenna United Textile Company.

The investments that have already been received by Jenna's textile mill include £1000 from the church and Reverend Jason, £300 from Captain George Mills, and £366 from the sailors.

As for the 10% stake that Governor Hopkins purchased for £300, it was transferred from Chen Wenbin's name and is not included.

The other initial shareholders who had not paid their share capital, namely the sailors of the Jenna, either indicated that they would give up their investment or remained undecided.

To ensure fairness, the first resolution of this shareholders' meeting was to require the sailors who signed the letters of intent to invest to pay their share capital within one week, or they would be deemed to have abandoned their investment.

The second resolution was to adopt the budget proposal jointly put forward by Chen Wenbin and Pastor Jansen, which involved purchasing land and recruiting craftsmen to build factories and manufacture machinery.

Including land investment, the initial cost will be £500, approximately 2400 silver dollars.

Governor Hopkins's butler, Mads, and Captain George Mills offered some suggestions on the specific budget.

They were able to contact suppliers of brick and timber materials who were asking for lower prices, and the governor could also use his own black slaves as construction workers to build the factory, which ultimately reduced the budget by £120.

The third resolution, however, determined the specific shares held by each shareholder.

With the strong support of Pastor Jason and sailors' representatives such as David Andrew, Chen Wenbin, the inventor and factory operator of the Jenna spinning machine, will hold 34 percent of the shares, Providence Baptist Church will hold 31 percent, Governor Stephen Hopkins and Captain George Mills will each hold 10 percent, and the Jenna sailors, including David and Andrew, will hold approximately 13 percent.

The remaining approximately two percent of the shares belonged to the sailors who had not yet paid up their share capital, but two days had passed, and they were unlikely to invest.

At the suggestion of Chen Wenbin and Pastor Jansen, everyone had to agree to use the two percent of shares as an option pool to reward the management and workers who contributed to the company, as well as to provide workers with labor protection and work injury compensation.

To be honest, this was indeed a bit ahead of its time, but after Chen Wenbin made these suggestions to Pastor Jensen, the latter agreed almost without hesitation. In particular, the compensation and relief for the injured workers aroused the sincere admiration of the middle-aged pastor.

Thus, this shareholders' meeting resolution was made. Chen Wenbin and Pastor Jansen, who represented the church, together held 65% of the shares. The other shareholders could not object to what they supported.

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It can only be said that Protestantism in this era still has some progressive aspects, especially the Baptist Church, which emphasizes equality, advocates community responsibility and social relief, and has indeed done well in some aspects.

Of course, this is also due to the fact that Baptists are relatively weak in the competition among various churches. Moreover, Chen Wenbin has made it clear that he will give priority to hiring Baptist believers, and Pastor Jensen also wants to expand his influence through this.

After the business was settled, everyone started chatting.

Chen Wenbin heard that George Mills's Jenna would be setting sail for the Caribbean in a week and returning in about five weeks, so he asked him to introduce other captains to help transport a batch of cotton and wool from the Virginia colony as raw materials for the initial spinning process.

Captain George, of course, wanted the textile mill to generate profits as soon as possible, so he immediately agreed to introduce the best cargo ship captain.

The first shareholders' meeting of Jenna United Textiles concluded at 3:30 p.m.

Captain George was the first to take his leave, but Governor Hopkins' butler, Mads—a middle-aged man with a hooked nose and a silver wig—called Chen Wenbin back as he was about to go upstairs.

"...Dr. Robin, please wait a moment!"

Chen Wenbin glanced at Pastor Jensen, who also looked puzzled, and asked, "What's wrong, Mr. Mads?"

Butler Medes said in that distinctive English aristocratic tone, "I've heard you have some miraculous medicines... that can cure dysentery and cholera!"

I wonder if I could ask you to see a distinguished patient... She is Miss Diana, the Governor's wife's niece. She has only recently arrived in North America and has unfortunately fallen into the water and contracted whooping cough. If you can cure this poor lady, the Governor is willing to pay £20 for her treatment!

Even if you cannot cure him, the governor will still pay you £2 as a reward.

Twenty pounds!

David, Andrew, and the others looked at Chen Wenbin with a mixture of envy and admiration when they heard the figure. 20 pounds was almost the annual income of an ordinary farm worker in Providence. Being a doctor really makes money!

However, Chen Wenbin didn't pay attention to any of that; he was just thinking about the few bottles of medicine he had left.

Amoxicillin should be effective at this point, but he doesn't have much left and will have to wait until a critical moment to use it.

Moreover, the best medicines for treating whooping cough are erythromycin, azithromycin, and clarithromycin, which he doesn't have... wait!

Or should we use that one?

This should be enough for now, right?

Thinking of this, he directly said to the butler, "Mr. Mads, where is this Miss Diana you mentioned? I'll go check on her right away!"

Upon hearing this, Mads immediately said, "It's on White Street, not far from the City Hall. Please take the Governor's carriage, Dr. Robin!"

"Okay, I'll go upstairs to get my things!"

After saying that, Chen Wenbin went straight upstairs, took out an amoxicillin tablet from his backpack for later use, then went downstairs to call David, and they took a carriage to White Street.

This area is considered the city center, and the houses are generally taller and more beautiful. Miss Diana lived in a two-story red brick villa with a garden.

The butler, Mads, knocked on the door. A young maid of about sixteen or seventeen opened it. Her eyes lit up when she saw Chen Wenbin and David. She quickly curtsied and exclaimed with delight, "You must be that amazing Eastern doctor... um, Dr. Robin?"

"it's me."

Chen Wenbin took out a blue medical mask and put it on, then asked, "Where is the patient? Take me to her!"

"Ah! Okay! Okay! Please follow me!" The maid immediately led everyone to the second floor and knocked on the door of a room filled with perfume.

Chen Wenbin looked inside and saw a spacious and exquisite boudoir with simple decorations. Opposite the dressing table, on a large wooden bed, lay a beautiful young woman with golden-brown hair.

She looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, with beautiful and bright features, somewhat resembling Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco. She was indeed a rare Western beauty, but at this moment she was pale and coughing incessantly, and her condition seemed to be very serious.