Making a steady income during the upcoming Great Depression? That's going to be incredibly difficult. Many government employees weren't even getting paid—they were handed IOUs from the U.S. government.
It's said that in Chicago alone, 70% of public school teachers survived by pawning those government IOUs to the mob and loan sharks—worth $10 on paper, sold for just $3 or $5—barely scraping by.
As for former white-collar workers, even bank managers and company partners who once had hundreds of thousands or even millions in assets, many ended up on the streets begging with signs. A church in Philadelphia recorded that among the people lining up for charity porridge, there were even once-wealthy tycoons from the shipping industry.
It was better not to overthink things—just staying alive was good enough.
"I think you should stop worrying about all that messy stuff and focus on opening the hotel in Chicago. That's what matters," said Niall, scratching his head and offering serious advice.
"I was just saying, not that I'm actually going to do it." Frederick was quite conservative in areas he didn't understand—better safe than sorry.
"Oh right, that reminds me of something."
If you want to make money, and make it reliably, what could be easier than selling cheap ginger beer? As long as the world keeps spinning, coal from Brook County can be sold—it's just a matter of quantity.
At most, some low-output coal mines would be eliminated, leaving a few relatively cash-rich ones to survive. As long as the mines kept running, there would be single male miners with disposable income.
Their earnings might shrink, but their two simplest desires—alcohol and sex—wouldn't disappear. Cheap ginger beer could be openly sold now. It would serve as Niall's way of returning a favor to Frederick. After all, Frederick had introduced him to the Italian mafia—it was only right to show his own value.
The moment it came to his family's business, Frederick's mind moved quickly. Without needing Niall to explain further, he immediately understood.
A cheap alcohol substitute!
The two of them returned to the hotel. Light beer could be sold legally. The waiter quickly brought several bottles to the room. As for ginger powder, they'd already stopped by a spice shop on the way back.
As expected, when Frederick added a heavy dose of ginger powder to the beer and took a big gulp, he instantly realized it was genius. It was the perfect replacement for bootleg liquor—extremely cheap and likely to stay popular for years to come.
Even after the economic crisis ended and the Depression was over, this kind of cheap drink—having occupied people's taste buds for years—would likely still hold a place in the market.
"How'd you even come up with this? It's genius!" Frederick exclaimed in amazement.
"It's just something I thought of…" Niall casually opened a bottle of ginger soda and another of light beer. Mixing them, that first sip—indescribable.
"You're something else."
Frederick immediately got up and went to the hotel front desk to borrow the phone. Buying light beer was easy—just call the brewery. While many breweries had ties to organized crime, the mob often had legitimate businesses too. Look at future Japanese mobsters—many of them cleaned up their act.
They opened bubble tea shops, fresh produce delivery businesses, or pachinko parlors…
One yakuza boss even said outright that he never imagined money could be so easy to make—just open a bubble tea shop at a busy intersection and wait for the 3 million yen to roll in every month. His entire organization had now transformed into a large bubble tea franchise—it made way more money than extortion or smuggling ever did.
Frederick ordered a sizable amount of beer, which would be shipped to Brook County. America's rail freight system was still thriving, with a well-developed logistics network, so there was little to worry about. He just had to wait at home for the delivery—of course, payment had to be on time. If you dared skip payment, some "energetic social organizations" would come knocking.
Plus, buying large and stable quantities of beer made them a valuable customer. They might even use this as leverage to negotiate an 80% or 90% discount later.
As for ginger powder, buying a whole case would last a long time. If they ran out, they could just buy more. No need to order from Pittsburgh—local general stores in Brook County carried it. It was just a matter of volume.
And don't worry about "leaking secrets." This trick was already being used by several breweries in the East to survive the Depression. Niall wasn't the only one who knew—lots of people did. But so what? Even if you had nationwide production capacity, could you really sell nationwide?
America is a federation, a country where every state has its own constitution. Regional protectionism exists—even into the 21st century.
Besides, the U.S. government has been aggressive in cracking down on monopolies. Everyone's heard of Rockefeller's Standard Oil, right? The guy had connections straight to the president, but in the end, it was still ruled a monopoly and split into several companies.
"I think you should tell this to Mr. Meyer Lansky," Niall suggested.
This would be incredibly helpful to the Italian mafia, whose bootlegging operations had taken a major hit. If Lansky was the first to launch cheap ginger beer, he might be able to grab territory in the bootleg market that originally belonged to the Italians.
It'd be a great favor!
Exchanging this idea for Lansky's friendship—Niall didn't think they'd be losing out. At least for Frederick, it would be a huge win.
Of course, someone might wonder—what's in it for Niall? Aside from some vague friendship, it doesn't seem like he gets anything concrete. But Niall believed that with Frederick's character, once he made money, he wouldn't forget to share the profit.
They were already brothers who had revealed everything to each other—what was there to worry about? Niall didn't dream of gold mines—he just wanted to secure enough to cover college tuition and living expenses. That would be success enough.
Whatever happened afterward was their business. Niall certainly didn't want to spend his whole life trapped in the coal pits of Brook County. To move forward, nothing was more straightforward than going to a good university.
"If this works out, you'll definitely get your share!" Frederick said, his face full of bright dreams for the future.