America 1919

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"Of course, General Pan Xing has always been a general I greatly admire!" Donnie said with satisfaction.

Although the Constitution of the United States stipulates that the appointment of the Secretary of War is signed by the President, in reality, there is a very large gap between the military and the government in the United States.

Otherwise, Donnie would not be thinking about leveraging his relationship with Marshall, despite having Harry's connection, to solve his problems.

Although General Pan Xing had not been officially appointed as the United States Army Chief of Staff, he was already effectively the top person in the U.S. Army.

The National Government of the United States has always been quite dissatisfied with the military's separate lineage and hoped to allow more non-combat personnel to enter the senior ranks of the military.

Therefore, in 1899, the National Government and the newly appointed Secretary of War, Elihu Root, reached a consensus of interests.

Under the joint promotion of both parties, the position of Army Commander was abolished and replaced by the Chief of Staff of the Army, and a War Department was established. The War Department was led by the Chief of Staff, planning work, and developing war plans that could cope with emergencies.

Such a change also allowed more civilian-born Secretaries of War to smoothly control the power of the military.

This proposal was put forward in 1899, and in 1903 Congress officially passed the "War Department Act", abolishing the Army Commander and establishing the position of the Chief of Staff of the Army, with Liaosai Yang becoming the first-ever United States Army Chief of Staff.

By 1917, Congress passed another resolution, stipulating: The Chief of Staff should have a rank and status higher than all other officers in the U.S. Army.
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The following year, the United States Army Chief of Staff, Peyton March, established four divisions within the War Department: Operations, Military Intelligence, Procurement Storage and Transportation, and War Plans.

By this time, the number of people in the entire Army War Department had increased from a few dozen at the start to 1,072.

This also allowed the National Government to divide the influence of the U.S. military forces to a certain extent.

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"Bent, something's not right!" Ace Casas said apprehensively in the guest room of the Ritz Hotel in Atlantic City.

"It's already been two days, and there's not a peep from Donnie. Could he have a way to handle this himself?"

Shapiro Bent calmly swirled his red wine glass and spoke softly, "Relax, if Donnie really had a way to deal with this, our company would have called us by now!"

If you're in the arms business in the United States and you don't have connections in the Military Department, then that's impossible.

Shapiro Bent and Ace Casas hadn't yet received a call from their company, which in their view, meant Donnie had not found a way to resolve the issue!

"I think we shouldn't underestimate Donnie. He has a good relationship with Harding, and if he goes through Harding to solve this, those people will definitely give Harding face," Ace Casas said worriedly.

Bent shook his head confidently, "No, the deal Donnie is doing with us isn't big. If he goes to Harding over such a small matter, do you really think Donnie is Harding's illegitimate child? Letting the future President of the United States greet people in the Military Department for such a trivial matter is unacceptable to me!"

Ace Casas thought for a moment and said, "You make sense. Still, I can't shake the feeling that we might be missing something."

Bent said, "You're overthinking it. I've already inquired clearly, the trucks that Donnie ordered from Ford are already on their way to Atlantic City."

"Moreover, I found out that the bootleg booze in Elwood Village has already piled up to the village entrance. For Donnie now, the most important thing is to get this bootleg booze to other states as quickly as possible."

"Do you know how much this bootleg booze is worth?"

"How much?" Ace Casas asked.

"The value of this batch of bootleg booze is at least half a million, and it will bring Donnie a net profit of over 300,000. Do you think Donnie would risk such a huge profit for something so trivial?" Bent's eyes gleamed with envy.

In previous years, the sales of Springfield Company were definitely higher, but the profits couldn't compare with the business Donnie was doing. Moreover, with the end of the war, the entire arms industry had entered a period of decline.

Therefore, even if Donnie's order with their company wasn't very big, Springfield Company still wanted to maximize profits.

The strategy now for Springfield and Colt was to take as much as they could.

"Moreover, this is just the first phase of the bootleg booze Donnie is dealing in. I've calculated it, just considering the profits from the nearby states alone. Once Donnie completely takes over all the markets, he would make at least three million in profits each month!"

"How much?" This time it was Ace Casas who was shocked.

A profit of three million was something even Colt, in its heyday, wouldn't dare to dream of!

In reality, Bent's figure was wrong. While the profits from the bootleg business were indeed that high, Donnie didn't keep it all to himself. Among his partners were Nucky, Harry, and the police departments of various states, city law enforcement, and local gangs all had to share substantial profits.

The real profit that fell into Donnie's pockets was likely around seven or eight hundred thousand US dollars.

Al Capone, a gangland boss during the Prohibition era in the United States, earned profits of over a million US dollars each month just by operating in Chicago.

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