Prohibition’s memorable cartoon character—“a man with threadbare black
clothes, a prim-faced, red-nosed man with a long thin countenance”—
originated in print with the British novelist Charles Dickens, who had taken a
strong dislike to the “English Nonconformist” ministers of the late 19th century
and so-caricatured them in his Pickwick Papers. British beverage interests,
under attack from the Nonconformists, dressed the fellow up in a frock suit and
stove-pipe hat, carrying the Englishman’s customary umbrella, to symbolize
their opposition to the ministers’ ideas of reform. The New York World liked his
looks and imported him to symbolize the American Prohibitionist.
clothes, a prim-faced, red-nosed man with a long thin countenance”—
originated in print with the British novelist Charles Dickens, who had taken a
strong dislike to the “English Nonconformist” ministers of the late 19th century
and so-caricatured them in his Pickwick Papers. British beverage interests,
under attack from the Nonconformists, dressed the fellow up in a frock suit and
stove-pipe hat, carrying the Englishman’s customary umbrella, to symbolize
their opposition to the ministers’ ideas of reform. The New York World liked his
looks and imported him to symbolize the American Prohibitionist.
| “John Barleycorn,” the unkempt, beer-bellied fellow sometimes tipsy and sometimes pathetic, was used by both sides to represent the “boozer” when not looking like a responsible moderate drinker. He was inspired by Jack London’s book by the same name published in 1913. London had been a heavy drinker in his early years and later lamented, “A cocktail or several, before dinner, enabled me to laugh wholeheartedly at things which had long since ceased being laughable. The cocktail was a prod, a spur, a kick, to my jaded mind and bored spirits.” |
| Your benefactor long assumed these characters were cooked up by a couple of early editorial cartoonists and replicated by others until he discovered that each had an interesting history--both inspired by early novelists who hardly expected their creations to inspire an entire generation. |
washing down salty, greasy, or rancid food. Getting a little drunk in the
process was the cross one had to bear.
The social cost of widespread drunkenness was conspicuous in city
streets that looked like battlefields littered with dead and wounded, and in
the destruction of families dependent on a man's wages to pay for food
and rent instead of the solace of the saloon. "Drink is the curse of the
working class," declared the captains of industry, plagued with
absenteeism and reeling workmen.
“Temperance” had its firmest roots in Kansas as a poorly organized
women's campaign, but by the turn of the century many states, acceding to
a rural value system, had enacted their own prohibition laws. This
campaign might have failed in the major cities, whose large immigrant
populations considered beer and wine a birthright and also depended on
the neighborhood tavern for many personal and community services not
provided by the city. Besides being the only source of recreation for the
working poor, the saloon functioned as a post office, message center, first-
aid station, counseling clinic, soup kitchen and a campaign headquarters
for ward bosses and aldermen.
But “temperance,” as a moral crusade led by the likes of saloon-busting
Carrie Nation, found an ally in the new Progressive Movement composed
of a bunch of secular do-gooders appalled at the crime, vice, poverty, and
political corruption that prevailed in the urban slums. (Okay, so maybe
Susan B. Anthony and her Hull House made a dent in the squalor and got
themselves a U.S. Postage stamp, and Teddy Roosevelt’s trust-busting
broke up some industrial monopolies, we’ll still call ‘em do-gooders
because they…well…they done some good.)
process was the cross one had to bear.
The social cost of widespread drunkenness was conspicuous in city
streets that looked like battlefields littered with dead and wounded, and in
the destruction of families dependent on a man's wages to pay for food
and rent instead of the solace of the saloon. "Drink is the curse of the
working class," declared the captains of industry, plagued with
absenteeism and reeling workmen.
“Temperance” had its firmest roots in Kansas as a poorly organized
women's campaign, but by the turn of the century many states, acceding to
a rural value system, had enacted their own prohibition laws. This
campaign might have failed in the major cities, whose large immigrant
populations considered beer and wine a birthright and also depended on
the neighborhood tavern for many personal and community services not
provided by the city. Besides being the only source of recreation for the
working poor, the saloon functioned as a post office, message center, first-
aid station, counseling clinic, soup kitchen and a campaign headquarters
for ward bosses and aldermen.
But “temperance,” as a moral crusade led by the likes of saloon-busting
Carrie Nation, found an ally in the new Progressive Movement composed
of a bunch of secular do-gooders appalled at the crime, vice, poverty, and
political corruption that prevailed in the urban slums. (Okay, so maybe
Susan B. Anthony and her Hull House made a dent in the squalor and got
themselves a U.S. Postage stamp, and Teddy Roosevelt’s trust-busting
broke up some industrial monopolies, we’ll still call ‘em do-gooders
because they…well…they done some good.)
| THESE ARE THE GUYS CHOSEN BY VIRTUALLY EVERY METROPOLITAN NEWSPAPER THAT DECIDED PROHIBITION WAS NOT GOING TO USHER IN AN ERA OF "CLEAR THINKING AND CLEAN LIVING." |
| Which is not to say there weren't a few full-blown alcoholics who tended to complicate the issue. |
THE NOBLE EXPERIMENT
In Colonial America alcohol
was considered nutritious, an
aid to digestion, a convenient
substitute for water that not
only lacked "food value” but
also was often contaminated.
It was essential to farm
animals (which further
diminished its appeal), but
otherwise was useful mainly
for cooking, washing and
navigation. Liquor also
reflected the increasing
abundance of grain whose
most manageable and
marketable form was whiskey,
preferred over sour wines
and bitter brews. Sometimes
it was a victual necessity for
In Colonial America alcohol
was considered nutritious, an
aid to digestion, a convenient
substitute for water that not
only lacked "food value” but
also was often contaminated.
It was essential to farm
animals (which further
diminished its appeal), but
otherwise was useful mainly
for cooking, washing and
navigation. Liquor also
reflected the increasing
abundance of grain whose
most manageable and
marketable form was whiskey,
preferred over sour wines
and bitter brews. Sometimes
it was a victual necessity for
Meanwhile, a lot of politicians jumped on the Progressive
bandwagon, paid lip service to the Women’s Christian Temperance
Union, but had to reckon with the rapidly-expanding Anti-Saloon
League, even the Ku Klux Klan as it became more and more
nativist, and got themselves elected to everything from
governorships to the U.S. Congress.
A complete standoff was averted by the First World War and
appeals to patriotism. The idea that grain and other foodstuffs
were being denied starving orphans in Europe inspired politicians
to enact a presumably temporary wartime prohibition law which
gave the president authority over agricultural production.
With so many drinking-age citizens in the military, and the
remainder either accommodating the restrictions or ignoring
bandwagon, paid lip service to the Women’s Christian Temperance
Union, but had to reckon with the rapidly-expanding Anti-Saloon
League, even the Ku Klux Klan as it became more and more
nativist, and got themselves elected to everything from
governorships to the U.S. Congress.
A complete standoff was averted by the First World War and
appeals to patriotism. The idea that grain and other foodstuffs
were being denied starving orphans in Europe inspired politicians
to enact a presumably temporary wartime prohibition law which
gave the president authority over agricultural production.
With so many drinking-age citizens in the military, and the
remainder either accommodating the restrictions or ignoring
| FULLY INTENDING to scare the bejusus out of people...and sell booze...a few thousand liquor stores ran ads like ol' Henry's that soon would close...or be closed once the Revenooers struck. |
them, national prohibition found the support of the necessary 36 state legislatures and the 18th
Amendment was ratified in January 1919, barely two months after the Armistice, without much thought
given to its enforcement.
It was actually believed that a decree enshrined in so hallowed a document as the U.S.
Constitution would be observed by nearly everyone as a matter of principle; and it gave distillers,
brewers and taverns a transitional period of exactly one year before the amendment took effect. To
deal with those who might think they could ignore such a powerful mandate, Congress then passed a
criminal law commonly called the Volstead Act (over a presidential veto) which provided fines up to
$1000 and up to six months in jail for a first offense--at a time when the average city worker made
less than $1500 per year. Congress also allocated only a modest sum to establish a federal
enforcement agency, partly because many politicians and businessmen privately held interests in the
liquor and beer industries, and partly because the law also required the states to pass their own
versions of the Volstead Act.
Amendment was ratified in January 1919, barely two months after the Armistice, without much thought
given to its enforcement.
It was actually believed that a decree enshrined in so hallowed a document as the U.S.
Constitution would be observed by nearly everyone as a matter of principle; and it gave distillers,
brewers and taverns a transitional period of exactly one year before the amendment took effect. To
deal with those who might think they could ignore such a powerful mandate, Congress then passed a
criminal law commonly called the Volstead Act (over a presidential veto) which provided fines up to
$1000 and up to six months in jail for a first offense--at a time when the average city worker made
less than $1500 per year. Congress also allocated only a modest sum to establish a federal
enforcement agency, partly because many politicians and businessmen privately held interests in the
liquor and beer industries, and partly because the law also required the states to pass their own
versions of the Volstead Act.
The flush of that victory did not last long. The
opportunities afforded by Prohibition provided the urban poor
with what historian Daniel Bell would one day call a "queer
ladder of upward social mobility" that accomplished precisely
the opposite of what the Prohibitionists intended. Beer and
liquor Prohibition, like drug criminalization later, transformed
many relatively harmless neighborhood gangs into wealthy
underworld organizations that corrupted government from
top to bottom, including the police, who ranged from a few
genuinely dedicated public servants to thinly disguised goon
squads controlled by the ruling ward boss.
The 18th Amendment banned the manufacture,
transportation, and sale--everything but the actual drinking--
of any beverage containing more than one-half of one percent
of alcohol. At last awakening to what this meant, several
states belatedly rebelled, only to have their efforts to
circumvent or modify the national law quickly knocked in the
head by the U.S. Supreme Court. So the Amendment took
effect on January 16, 1920--a day remembered for the
desperate efforts of Americans using everything from wagons
to baby carriages to stock their cellars--and one minute after
that midnight the Volstead Act officially created a “dry”
America. Each time it was challenged, the Supreme Court only
tightened its provisions.
opportunities afforded by Prohibition provided the urban poor
with what historian Daniel Bell would one day call a "queer
ladder of upward social mobility" that accomplished precisely
the opposite of what the Prohibitionists intended. Beer and
liquor Prohibition, like drug criminalization later, transformed
many relatively harmless neighborhood gangs into wealthy
underworld organizations that corrupted government from
top to bottom, including the police, who ranged from a few
genuinely dedicated public servants to thinly disguised goon
squads controlled by the ruling ward boss.
The 18th Amendment banned the manufacture,
transportation, and sale--everything but the actual drinking--
of any beverage containing more than one-half of one percent
of alcohol. At last awakening to what this meant, several
states belatedly rebelled, only to have their efforts to
circumvent or modify the national law quickly knocked in the
head by the U.S. Supreme Court. So the Amendment took
effect on January 16, 1920--a day remembered for the
desperate efforts of Americans using everything from wagons
to baby carriages to stock their cellars--and one minute after
that midnight the Volstead Act officially created a “dry”
America. Each time it was challenged, the Supreme Court only
tightened its provisions.
Promoted as "era of clear thinking and clean living," Prohibition was much more than that. It was a
major victory for an ascetic rural and Protestant value system over the vice and depravity of the city—
fostered by tidal waves of immigrant Catholics from Italy and Ireland (who had only their religion in
common), but also beer-guzzling Germans and mercernary Jews, all of whom were seen as rejecting
traditional American values.
major victory for an ascetic rural and Protestant value system over the vice and depravity of the city—
fostered by tidal waves of immigrant Catholics from Italy and Ireland (who had only their religion in
common), but also beer-guzzling Germans and mercernary Jews, all of whom were seen as rejecting
traditional American values.
Prohibition briefly reduced per capita
drinking but turned it from a working-class
vice into a form of safe, middle-class
rebellion against stodginess and
respectability. Worse, it made
drunkenness fashionable among the
middle class and almost obligatory among
the wealthy few. Intoxication was even
humorous (figurines of drunks hanging on
lamp posts, songs like “How Dry I Am”), and
that, combined with the proliferation of
automobiles and drunk driving, created an
even greater national problem.
After thirteen years of home-brewing,
rum-running, bootlegging, and beer wars,
Prohibition was repealed and the local
gangs that had prospered from it began to
concentrate on racketeering, traveling the
intercity routes established in the
Twenties for the distribution of liquor.
What began as a collaboration with their
criminal counterparts around the country
evolved into a powerful and profitable
nationwide confederation in the 1930s and
drinking but turned it from a working-class
vice into a form of safe, middle-class
rebellion against stodginess and
respectability. Worse, it made
drunkenness fashionable among the
middle class and almost obligatory among
the wealthy few. Intoxication was even
humorous (figurines of drunks hanging on
lamp posts, songs like “How Dry I Am”), and
that, combined with the proliferation of
automobiles and drunk driving, created an
even greater national problem.
After thirteen years of home-brewing,
rum-running, bootlegging, and beer wars,
Prohibition was repealed and the local
gangs that had prospered from it began to
concentrate on racketeering, traveling the
intercity routes established in the
Twenties for the distribution of liquor.
What began as a collaboration with their
criminal counterparts around the country
evolved into a powerful and profitable
nationwide confederation in the 1930s and
THE PRICE OF PROHIBITION
The cost of the noble experiment in
money, lives and permanent disabilities was
impossible to calculate since both Wets and
Drys were equally willing to distort any data
available. Prohibitionists were well aware
that many politicians owned stock in
distilleries, would vote dry but drink wet,
and were loathe to spend money on anything
resembling strict or even intelligent
enforcement. The Hearst newspapers
reveled in Prohibition's failure and routinely
published feature articles listing the names
of every Prohibition fatality, without always
describing the circumstances. Its count in
1929 was 1,360 dead, illustrated by a Winsor
McCay cartoon of armed Prohibitionists
riding gaunt horses past endless rows of
corpses—a parody of a famous painting
whose riders had been conquerors of the
past.
Meanwhile, American brewers were
allowed to operate and produce real beer
but were required by law to shipped to
separate plant where it was “de-alcoholized”
into “near beer,” which could be brought by
up to proof by later by “needling” it with
grain alcohol or simply diverted to
bootlegging gangs by bad record keeping.
Canada had enacted its own Prohibition law
that screwed things up for the Canucks, but
our Friends to the North exporting booze to
any foreign country—including the U.S. But
Uncle Sam prohibited such imports, and the
result was a thriving “rum row” just outside
the three-mile limit. That was soon extended
to twelve miles, which only required rum-
runners to get bigger and faster boats.
Cuba and other Caribbean islands joined
the Canadians, and large sea-going vessels
crossed the Atlantic filled with Gordon’s Gin
and various name brands of Scotch.
These were “The Real McCoy,” whose
name came to represent Captain William
McCoy, whose goods were always legit—at
least until they hit shore and, through
judicious cutting, were transubstantiated
into look-alike bottles with a smidgen of the
real thing plus counterfeit seals and labels,
then repacked in crates and soaked in brine
to be peddled as “just off the boat.”
Prisons overflowed with small-time
bootleggers, including a few who received
"life for a pint" under a drastic state law
passed in Michigan. Wet and Dry leaders
would continually dispute how many
thousands were permanently maimed,
blinded or killed by industrial alcohols
“poisoned” by the previous administration in
its search for denaturing methods that
would defy rectification by "alky-cookers"
(not many of whom had degrees in chemistry
or, for that matter, lost much sleep over the
purity of their product).
These gave rise to the cocktail and the
highball that used goofy flavorings to mask
the taste of whatever alcohol has handy at
the time.
The safest source of good booze was
the local pharmacist who could issue cold-
sufferers (or anybody else) up to a pint a
week of "medicinal spirits" on a doctor's
prescription--which was often issued for
treating a head cold whose symptoms could
not yet be detected--or even merely as a
sensible precaution against colds that were
“going around.” This led to a few hundred
thousand doctors and pharmacists obtaining
licenses to dispense "medicinal spirits," and
to the prosecution of many for turning this
loophole into their major source of income.
It also sustained several large distilleries,
some of which did little more than add "for
medicinal purposes only" to the label on
their booze bottles.
Chicago’s City Council had voted to
oppose local funding of that state’s Volstead
act as early as 1922, and in 1924 New York
had started a trend by repealing its own
version of the law altogether. The federal
government had to fall back more and more
on its own Prohibition agents, and when a
civil service exam was held in 1928, only 500
out of 2000 were able to pass.
A small irony is the fact that Mr. Capone
turned 21 the same day that Prohibition
became the law of the land.
by the 1950s represented modern organized crime. In 1920, before the "noble experiment" blew up in the
country's face, the Literary Digest sampled opinion from newspapers of the day expressing varying degrees
of hope, righteousness, apprehension, disgust and fatalistic acceptance of a legal reality:
Providence Journal: "No law-abiding citizen will think of attempting to evade the Volstead Act, which,
strictly construed, is a criminal statute.”
New York Evening World: "The people of the United States are in the grip of a law which a majority of
them do not approve and which large numbers of them do not respect. A law can be constitutional without
being the will of the people....a costly and unsuccessful effort productive of evasion, subterfuge, and
hypocrisy.”
Boston Herald: "The Prohibition Amendment may have been unwise; it may or may not express actually
the majority sentiment of the people, but the act was passed and ratified -- and there you are.”
country's face, the Literary Digest sampled opinion from newspapers of the day expressing varying degrees
of hope, righteousness, apprehension, disgust and fatalistic acceptance of a legal reality:
Providence Journal: "No law-abiding citizen will think of attempting to evade the Volstead Act, which,
strictly construed, is a criminal statute.”
New York Evening World: "The people of the United States are in the grip of a law which a majority of
them do not approve and which large numbers of them do not respect. A law can be constitutional without
being the will of the people....a costly and unsuccessful effort productive of evasion, subterfuge, and
hypocrisy.”
Boston Herald: "The Prohibition Amendment may have been unwise; it may or may not express actually
the majority sentiment of the people, but the act was passed and ratified -- and there you are.”
