America 1919

"The great Atlantic City, the great Donnie Block"-- "The New York Times"

"A conflict that almost replicated the Tulsa incident ended in a way acceptable to all, thanks to the mediation of Donnie Block..."

This incident in Atlantic City quickly spread to cities beyond Atlantic City. As the newspaper with the largest circulation in the United States, The New York Times reported on the incident immediately.

In this report, The New York Times highly praised Donnie's performance in this conflict, depicting him as a noble, pure, and loving individual.

"...We believe that if it weren't for the intervention of Mr. Block, the incident in Atlantic City would certainly have become a second Tulsa incident."

"...However, in this incident, we can also see that many people don't know how to be grateful. Atlantic City gave them room to live, wealth, and families, but these people were not content and still committed despicable acts. This is why incidents like the Tulsa incident keep happening. We suggest that the White House should quickly enact legal measures to curb this situation...."

The New York Times report not only praised Donnie's actions but also subtly criticized Black people.

After this report was published, it immediately caused a significant sensation nationwide.

Each incident has different impacts on different people. For example, after the report came out, a new round of crackdown on Black people began across the United States, with many places issuing clear mandates.

For instance, they forbade Black people from riding in the same elevator as White people, banned Black people from appearing in White-dominated areas, and barred them from beaches, but such mandates were essentially specific to each state and could not be synchronized!

This made life in the United States even harder for Black people.

Logically, Donnie should have been the most benefited from this incident, and these Black people who were persecuted in the incident should have hated Donnie.

But contrary to this, these Black people were very thankful to Donnie, grateful that he had prevented a massacre against their fellow men of color.

This made many Black people start considering whether to move to Atlantic City.

Some who had already taken action, upon arriving in Atlantic City, hoped to meet with Donnie, not to ask for help, but simply to sincerely thank him!

Such actions from the Black people also did not cause any dissatisfaction among the Whites; they were equally grateful to Donnie.

Because Donnie had built schools and hospitals for the White people of Atlantic City, allowing them to enjoy better treatment than Black people. Also, because The New York Times report mentioned the welfare Donnie provided to Atlantic City.

This also led to many White people considering moving to Atlantic City.

So, in such an environment, Atlantic City's population once again exploded. Before this, the permanent population of Atlantic City was around 60,000. In just over a month, Atlantic City had increased by more than 20,000 residents!

"Donnie, this time you've become a celebrity in the United States!"

Nucky came to Donnie's office with The New York Times in hand, teasing him.

"It's been a month, and you're just mentioning this now?" Donnie laughed, "What's the use of such fame? It can't bring us any benefits. On the contrary, the number of people coming to Atlantic City has been increasing, which is actually a good thing for us!"

Nucky set the newspaper aside and asked Donnie, "What are you thinking?"

Donnie replied, "The more people there are, the more various needs for living in Atlantic City will naturally increase. Isn't that a good thing for us?"

The growth of population welfare is inseparable from the essentials of food, clothing, housing, and transportation. In just this one month, Atlantic City had added dozens of restaurants, clothing stores, and boarding apartments, all due to the rapid increase in population.

"So, Donnie, you see the business opportunities inside?"

Nucky, thinking of something, looked at Donnie with some delight.

Donnie said, "Nucky, there's no need to pretend you don't know. I've heard that just during this period, you've already started building apartments and villas on your own land!"

Nucky's rule over Atlantic City for the past decade or so had quickly accumulated a lot of property for him. It's no exaggeration to say that now, Nucky is the biggest landowner in Atlantic City.

Even though Donnie had also taken advantage of John's money-lending business to secure some land in Atlantic City in the past two years, his holdings were nothing compared to the land Nucky had!

Nucky laughed heartily, "I knew I couldn't keep this from you!"

Although Donnie was also keen on this business, he had no intention of competing with Nucky for these existing resources.

"Nucky, have you noticed something?" Donnie asked Nucky.

Not knowing what Donnie was referring to, Nucky asked, "What is it?"

Donnie said, "Atlantic City is clearly running out of land now, and looking at the number of newcomers, I even wonder whether the permanent population of Atlantic City will exceed 100,000 in a few years!"