Prohibition in the USA

From 1920-33, making, selling or transporting alcoholic drinks was illegal in the USA. This is now referred to as prohibition and was the result of years of campaigning by many who felt that alcohol was having a derogatory effect on the country. Unfortunately, however, prohibition led to many adverse effects, and is widely considered to have been a failure.

Why was prohibition introduced?

1) To reduce crime, corruption, alcohol related problems.

2) People were starting to realise that alcohol was damaging to your health. (Heart attacks and liver disease.)

3) Labourers were missing work due to drunkenness and hangovers.

4) People were wasting family savings on alcohol rather than more useful things.

5) Prohibition was seen as an act of self-sacrifice for devout Christians.  

Many forms of Christianity, like Mormonism do not allow the consumption of alcohol.

As stated in the Bible “Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.”

6) There was a nationwide campaign headed by organizations like the ‘Anti-Saloon Organization’ to make prohibition law. This meant that a government that would pass laws of prohibition could win more votes.

7) In much of Europe, drinking and becoming drunk had become somewhat tradition and culture. Many Americans did not want this.

8) Many brewers in the USA were German, and just after WW1, people were generally hostile to these ‘alien enemies’. The Anti-Saloon League even went as far as saying that you were a traitor to the country if you drank beer.

How was a nation of people who drank regularly forced to stop drinking?

The actual act of drinking was not illegal.

The 18^th amendment to the constitution meant that:

Manufacture, importation or sale of alcohol was officially illegal.

There were two exceptions to the 18^th Amendment. You were still allowed to consume alcohol for medical and sacramental purposes. All of a sudden people felt the great urge to become religious. In the space of two years (1922 – 1924) the amount of wine bought to be used for sacramental purposes increased by 800, 000 gallons. Doctors reportedly earned $40 million by writing prescription for whisky in 1928.

Problems:

1. The Prohibition basically created the gangsters. Gangs of illegal alcohol traffickers (called gangsters), comparable to today's illegal drug crews, became common. They were able to charge a high price for smuggling alcohol into the country and thrived in these years.
2. European "rum fleets" appeared. Small boats would sail out to ships waiting in international waters and bring back large quantities of alcohol. The USA has 30 000 km of coastline and land borders so this was not hard to do. It was also very easy to smuggle alcohol from Canada or Mexico.
3. Prior to Prohibition, there were fewer than 15,000 legal bars in the United States. By 1927, however, thousands of venues were serving alcohol illegally across the whole country. Also approximately 100,000 people brewed alcohol illegally from home.
4. Political corruption exploded, as those who were profiting from illegal trafficking were able to provide corrupt officials with huge bribes. Police raided and trashed many vendors to stop their trade. Sometimes however, the police took their share of the whiskey they were supposed to break, and paid reporters to look the other way. Those who were caught selling or transporting illegal alcohol could easily bribe a police officer with either the illegal alcohol or with the money they had made with the illegal drinks.
5. People started making their own, homemade alcohol beverages. They didn’t know how to make them properly though and so they often ended up having far too much alcohol in them. This subsequently led to alcohol poisoning and even death.
6. It led many drinkers to switch to opium, marijuana, patent medicines, cocaine, and other dangerous substances that they would have been unlikely to encounter in the absence of Prohibition. Many average Americans became criminals during the age of Prohibition. They found innovative new ways to drink, produce and transport liquor. People used hip flasks, false books, coconut shells, hot water bottles and garden hoses to transport illegal liquor. One man was even caught hustling liquor over the border in two boxes of eggs.

Gangsters and Bootlegging:

Gangsters and Bootlegging were very closely related. Throughout the Prohibition the crime rate increased greatly. Bootleggers were people who made and sold their own whiskey. They were often also gangsters. One of the most famous of these gangsters was Al Capone. Capone's bootlegging operation earned him approximately 60 million dollars a year. One example of gang related crime was the St. Valentines’ Day Massacre, in which Capone's gang gunned down and killed seven members of "Bugs" Morgan's gang.

Speakeasies:

Speakeasies were opened in the 1920s as a way to get around the 18th Amendment. As many legitimate saloons closed as a result of the new law, many underground bars sprung up. These speakeasies were one of the many ways that people during the 1920s and early 1930s obtained illegal alcohol. By the middle of the 20s there were thought to be 32,000 speakeasies in New York City alone. Secret drinking was considered a glamorous thing, even at Washington parties. The owners of these speakeasies earned a lot of money, often enough to bribe policemen to look away whenever beer was being delivered.

Results:

Deaths caused by cirrhosis of the liver in men dropped significantly for men and women between 1911 and 1929.

On the other hand, adulterated or contaminated liquor contributed to more than 50,000 deaths and many cases of blindness and paralysis. Is fairly certain that this would not have happened in a country where liquor production was monitored and regulated.

According to official figures, alcohol consumption during Prohibition declined between 30 and 50 percent, although these figures may not be fully reliable.  

By the end of the 1920s, there were more alcoholics and illegal drinking establishments than before Prohibition.

A failure?

1) Although consumption of alcohol fell at the beginning of Prohibition, it subsequently increased.

2) Alcohol became more dangerous to consume; crime increased and became "organized"; the court and prison systems were stretched to the breaking point.

3) Corruption of public officials, law enforcement and other government workers increased.

 4) No measurable gains were made in productivity and absenteeism was not reduced.

5) Prohibition removed a significant source of tax revenue and greatly increased government spending. The brewing industry was ruined.

6) Many drinkers switched to opium, marijuana, patent medicines, cocaine, and other dangerous substances that they would have been unlikely to encounter in the absence of Prohibition.

How democratic was prohibition?

Many argue that the government cutting off the alcohol supply of America was undemocratic, removing peoples’ primary rights.

When the importation, manufacture and selling of alcohol was banned, many companies suffered considerably. In the brewing industry many jobs were lost.

Most people didn’t want prohibition. Was it right to have prohibition against their will?

Crime and gangsters tightened their deadly grip upon the US during the period of prohibition. The rise in crime during the period was largely due to the prohibition of alcohol.

Alcohol consumption did go down, however, and it can be argued that health standards improved, with fewer alcohol related diseases. Less money was spent on average on alcohol; the money was possibly used for more useful things.

Considering the huge campaign for prohibition in the early 20^th century, some believe it would not have been democratic for the government to not pass the 18^th amendment.

In the end, prohibition turned out to have been nothing more than an experiment, an experiment that didn’t work. Prohibition ended in 1933, and most saw this as a good thing.