According to Washington State University, prohibition has had a negative impact on the U.S. economy. Prohibition has resulted in the loss of at least $226 million per year in tax revenue for spirits alone; Supporters of the ban expected an increase in soft drink sales to replace money from alcohol sales, but that didn`t happen. In addition, “prohibition resulted in the closure of more than 200 distilleries, a thousand breweries and more than 170,000 liquor stores.” Finally, it should be noted that “the amount of money used to enforce prohibition began at $6.3 million in 1921 and increased to $13.4 million in 1930, nearly double the original amount.” [153] A 2015 study estimated that the repeal of prohibition had a net social benefit of “$432 million per year in 1934-1937, or about 0.33% of gross domestic product. The total benefit of $3.25 billion consists mainly of increased consumer and producer surpluses, tax revenues and reduced costs of criminal violence. [154] The temperance movement had popularized the belief that alcohol was the main cause of most personal and social problems, and that prohibition was seen as a solution to poverty, crime, violence, and other ills of the nation. [134] After the amendment was ratified, evangelist Billy Sunday said, “The slums will soon be a thing of the past. We will turn our prisons into factories and our prisons into warehouses and corn nurseries. Because alcohol had to be banned and was considered the cause of most, if not all, of the crimes, some communities sold their prisons. [135] After the ban, criminal gangs took control of the supply of beer and spirits in many cities. In the late 1920s, a new opposition to prohibition emerged nationwide.
Critics attacked the policy to cause crime, reduce local incomes, and impose “rural” Protestant religious values on “urban” America. [3] The prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 5, 1933, although prohibition continued in some states. To date, this is the only time in American history that a constitutional amendment has been passed to repeal another. In 1929 – the year of the stock market crash that seemed to increase the country`s desire for illegal alcohol – Eliot Ness was hired as a special agent of the U.S. Department of Justice to head the Bureau of Prohibition in Chicago, with the express purpose of investigating and harassing Capone. Because the men Ness hired to help him were extremely dedicated and incorruptible, they were called the Untouchables. The public learned about them when major raids on breweries, speakeasys and other places of lawlessness made headlines. The infiltration of the underworld by the untouchables yielded evidence that helped Capone end up in jail for tax evasion in 1932. Prohibition was an important force in national and local politics from the 1840s to the 1930s. Many historical studies have shown that the political forces involved were ethno-religious. [47] Prohibition was supported by the Dries, primarily Pietist Protestant denominations that included Methodists, Northern Baptists, Southern Baptists, New School Presbyterians, Disciples of Christ, Congregationalists, Quakers and Scandinavian Lutherans, but also the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America and, to some extent, of Latter-day Saints. These religious groups identified saloons as politically corrupt and alcohol as a personal sin.
Other active organizations include the Women`s Church Federation, the Women`s Temperance Crusade, and the Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction. They were rejected by the Nassen, especially liturgical Protestants (German Episcopalians and Lutherans) and Catholics, who condemned the idea that government should define morality. [48] Even in the damp bastion of New York, there was an active prohibition movement, led by Norwegian religious groups and African-American labor activists who believed prohibition would benefit workers, especially African Americans. Tea merchants and soda fountain manufacturers generally supported the ban and felt that a ban on alcohol would increase sales of their products. [49] A particularly effective player on the political front was Wayne Wheeler of the Anti-Saloon League,[50] who made prohibition a corner issue and managed to elect many pro-prohibition candidates. Originally from Ohio, his deep aversion to alcohol began at a young age. He was injured on a farm by a drunk worker. This event transformed Wheeler. He started deep in the ranks and quickly rose through the ranks due to his deep-seated hatred of alcohol. He later realized that he needed more public approval to move the movement forward, and fast.
This was the beginning of his policy called “Wheelerism,” in which he used the media to make it look like the public was “in” on a particular issue. Wheeler became known as the “dry boss” because of his influence and power. [51] Herbert Hoover called prohibition a “noble experiment,” but efforts to regulate people`s behavior soon ran into problems. Enforcement of the ban has become very difficult. Soon, terms like “Bootlegger,” “Bath When Gin,” and “Speakeasy” became common words. Gangster gangs became more powerful when they traded alcohol. By the 1930s, a majority of Americans were fed up with this noble experience, and the 18th Amendment was repealed. By the turn of the 20th century, temperance societies were widespread in the United States. Concerned citizens had begun warning others about the effects of alcohol nearly 100 years earlier.
In 1826, the American Temperance Society was founded to convince people to abstain from drinking. Soon after, the Women`s Christian Temperance Union promised not only to ban alcohol and drugs, but also to improve public morale. The Anti-Saloon League was founded in 1893 and eventually became a powerful political force by passing a nationwide ban on alcoholic beverages. The American Temperance Society (ATS), founded in 1826, helped launch the first temperance movement and served as the basis for many later groups. By 1835, the ATS had 1.5 million members, with women representing 35% to 60% of its branches. [32] On November 18, 1918, prior to ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, the U.S. Congress passed the temporary War Time Prohibition Act, which prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content greater than 1.28%. [12] (This law, which was intended to save grain for the war effort, was passed after the armistice was signed at the end of World War I on November 11, 1918.) The Wartime Prohibition Act came into effect on June 30, 1919, and on July 1, 1919, became known as “Thirsty First.” [13] [14] The proliferation of neighborhood salons in the post-Civil War period became a phenomenon of an increasingly industrialized urban workforce. Working-class bars were popular social meeting places for work and private life.
The brewing industry has been actively involved in establishing saloons as a lucrative consumer base in their chain stores. In most cases, the salons were linked to a particular brewery, where the saloon owner`s operation was financed by a brewery and was contractually obliged to sell the brewery`s product to the exclusion of competing brands. A saloon`s business model often involved offering a free lunch, where the bill usually consisted of highly salty foods designed to induce thirst, and the purchase of drinks. [45] During the Progressive Era (1890–1920), hostility to saloons and their political influence spread, with the Anti-Saloon League replacing the Prohibition Party and the Woman`s Christian Temperance Union as the most influential supporters of prohibition, after the latter two groups had extended their efforts to support other social reform issues such as women`s suffrage to their prohibition platform. [46] However, these statistics do not reflect growing disobedience to the law and law enforcement agencies. The intensity of the abstinence advocates was surpassed only by the inventiveness of those who wanted to continue drinking. Enforcement of the ban has proved extremely difficult. Illegal production and distribution of alcohol or smuggling was rampant, and the national government had no way or desire to try to enforce all borders, lakes, rivers, and speakeasy in America. In fact, there were between 30,000 and 100,000 speakeasy clubs in New York City in 1925 alone. Prohibitionists first attempted to end the liquor trade in the 19th century. Led by pietist Protestants, they aimed to cure what they saw as a sick society plagued by alcohol-related problems such as alcoholism, domestic violence, and political corruption in saloons.
Many communities introduced alcohol bans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the enforcement of these new prohibition laws became a topic of discussion. Proponents of so-called “dry” prohibition portray it as a struggle for public morality and health. The movement was taken up by progressives from the prohibitionist, Democratic and Republican parties, and gained a national base through the Woman`s Christian Temperance Union.