Buy an essay on Prohibition in the 1920’s

First prohibitions relating to alcohol intake were taken in the United States in the middle of the 19th century. In the period from 1846 to 1855, prohibition was introduced in 13 states, but was subsequently terminated and declared unconstitutional. By the end of the 19th century, the opponents of alcohol intake started gaining political power and setting appropriate restrictions. In 1905, the prohibition acted in Kansas, Maine, Nebraska and North Dakota; by 1912, it covered nine states and 26 states in 1916. After the U.S. entered the World War I, the government sought to preserve grain stocks, and supporters of Prohibition introduced the nationwide ban on the production of alcoholic beverages (Behr 23-31).
In 1917, the Congress passed and sent for approval the state project of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution concerning the introduction of “dry law”. In September 1917, the country halted the production of whiskey, and in May 1919 the same fate befell the production of beer. In October 1919, the Volstead Act that regulated the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment (despite the veto of President Woodrow Wilson) was passed. Starting from July 1, 1919, the sale of alcoholic beverages was completely prohibited in the U.S., and on January 16, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution entered into force. The Act deprived of license the business of winemakers, distillers, suppliers and vendors of alcohol; the law prohibited the import, manufacture and sale of any beverage stronger than 0.5 degrees (United States National Archives).
The introduction of Prohibition in the United States factually led to some positive changes (Behr 75-111):
– Crime rate in the U.S. decreased by 70%. In particular, in less than three years after dry law introduction, the number of arrests decreased by 3,5 times, including vagrancy, while the operating conditions and unemployment remained unchanged. In 9 months after dry law introduction, there were 1100 empty prisons and cells in Philadelphia, and the number of prisoners decreased from 2000 to 474, i.e. by 4,2 times. On April 1, 1920, 600 prisoners out of 25,000 remained in the prison of Chicago.
– Vacant places in psychiatric hospitals were transferred to tuberculosis patients, whose numbers grew in the years of free alcohol trading.
– The consumption of milk increased the society.
– Family foundations were strengthened. Instead of the previous dismal gloom in workers’ families, they gained prosperity, peace and happiness. Morals and hygiene rated improved.
– Number of injuries and accidents decreased, losses from which reached $ 250 million. The number of fires dramatically reduced. General mortality rates decreased.
– The welfare state of the people improved; the volume of savings increased.
– Labor savings were going to building houses; product purchase became more appropriate.
– In general, 1092 breweries and 236 distilleries were closed in the USA, as well as 177,790 drinking establishments. Numerous closed breweries and distilleries were quickly, economically and with great benefit converted to produce needed food and products: syrup, canned fruits and vegetables, soap, chocolate, oil, clothing, gloves, books, and were reequipped in hotels.
According to statistic data, with the introduction of Prohibition the residents of the United States began to drink less. American historian William Joseph Rorabaugh has calculated that between 1920 and 1933, the average annual alcohol consumption per capita was at 2.3 liters (in terms of pure alcohol), which was two times less than before the prohibition. However, the law didn’t manage to make the nation stop drinking alcohol (Cherrington 217).
In search of alcohol, people drank everything that came to hand: from industrial alcohol to alcohol containing drugs. The most popular was the tincture of extract of Jamaican ginger, containing up to 85% ethanol. The Ministry of Finance ordered a change in the formula of tincture to make it bitter and unpleasant for intake in large quantities. Aiming to deceive the tests, pharmacists added industrial plasticizer considered nontoxic. However, some chemical elements of plasticizer affected the cells of brain and spinal cord. As a result, the consumers of so called “Jake” got legs or hands paralyzed, or died (Cherrington 59-61). During the same period, Americans got addicted to cocktails. In the case of police raids, bartenders of underground bars diluted bootlegger alcohol with soft drinks to change the color and taste of spirits. One of the most popular cocktails of that time was so called “Dry Law Cocktail” (Cherrington 65-67).
Finally, the prohibition led to unexpected results: organized crime which obtained an opportunity to get fabulous profits rates sharply increased (Schrad 437-63). This does not contradict to the earlier figures, as petty and household crime really decreased, as well as the number of offenses committed in a drunken state. The common people and “bottom dwellers” actually began to drink much less, as they simply didn’t have money for contraband liquor.
Organized criminal groups, by contrast, grew rapidly; their customers were people who could pay a lot of money for secretly imported or produced alcoholic drinks. The network of underground drinking establishments was also rapidly growing. The states of Connecticut, Illinois, Rhode Island and Wisconsin argued against the ratification of the Prohibition. It was from there that other states received smuggling alcohol. Gangster groups (bootleggers) profited from smuggling and clandestine trade in tax-free liquor (Schrad 437-63).
Venturesome Americans accumulated private stocks of alcohol before the start of the experiment. Consuming and storing alcohol were not considered crimes until 1929, when the Jones Act was passed removing this loophole in the law. Domestic production of alcohol was also allowed until 1929 on the condition that it was intended for personal consumption (United States National Archives; Schrad 437-63).
However, little home shops quickly united into large networks led by bootleggers. Clandestine alcohol sellers bought alcohol or other spirits from hundreds of people picking up the goods at the appointed time. Industry became another reliable source of alcohol for bootleggers. At the beginning of the 20th century alcohol was used in the production much more actively than ever. Automotive industry, which used antifreeze, became one of the main suppliers of black market. The need for clean and high quality alcohol was satisfied by directors and suppliers of cosmetic companies, leather processing companies, as well as production of paints and plastics (Cherrington 116-122).
U.S. authorities from time to time tried to prevent the illegal cooperation of industrialists with bootleggers, obliging, for example, to use in the production methyl alcohol only. But when visitors of clandestine bars started to go blind or even die, the experiment was abandoned. Police also found it difficult to prove that alcohol was produced for commercial purposes, and even if several moonshiners were caught red-handed, it could not cause a serious damage to the network. Buyers were willing to pay generously for alcohol, and its sale brought huge profits to anyone who would deal with it – from the fishermen of coastal villages up to the mafia (Schrad 437-63).
By the mid 1920-ies gangsters virtually brought the law to naught. For the import of alcohol special fleets were set up, road and rail transport was fully used. Naturally, corruption in the police and customs structures rose sky high. According to official figures, the underground production of alcohol was 7-8 times higher than the official production of alcohol for medical and technical purposes. By the end of the 1920-ies the profits of clandestine sales of alcoholic beverages were giving the Mafia more than two billion dollars a year (Schrad 437-63).
The authorities proved unable to block the importation of alcohol into the country. The State appointed 2,5 thousand special agents controlling the implementation of the law, but they proved ineffective. A senior official of the Ministry of Finance acknowledged that only 5% of alcohol smugglers were intercepted by the authorities. The state suffered enormous losses from non-taxable clandestine trade. The fight against violators cost more than twelve million dollars.
Curiously, apart from the politicians fighting for the rating, women’s organizations and churches, the struggle with alcohol beverages was actively supported by the union of pharmacists. Their interest was obvious as at that time they were actively promoting toners, which used Colombian coca. Cocaine was legal at that time and was not considered drug. But consumers preferred whiskey from a store or saloon to refreshing drinks from the pharmacy. Prohibition of the sale of alcohol could give pharmacists fabulous profits; it was worth fighting, besides they could show themselves as guardians of the health of the nation (Behr 134).
Prohibition survived four presidents: from Woodrow Wilson to Franklin Roosevelt, but the most memorable story is related to Hoover, Herbert Clark. In 1931, the 31st President traditionally came to the play of the Washington baseball team to hit the ball. The audience roared from the stands: We want beer! Hoover only laughed in response; later he was not elected for the second term.
In general, the Republican Party supported the Prohibition system and collected a lot of votes in the elections, while the Democratic Party opposition demanded the abolition of the law. The severe crisis of 1929-1933 weakened the ruling party, resulting in the victory of the Democrats in 1932. Under the public pressure, the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted in December 1933, abolishing the national “dry law”. Restrictions remained only at the level of individual states: Oklahoma, Kansas and Mississippi remained “dry” till 1948; and Mississippi was the last state which lifted restrictions in 1966 (United States National Archives).
By introducing the dry law, the U.S. government surely pursued good intentions. However, prohibition badly damaged the country’s budget: the state did not receive nearly a billion dollars of taxes annually. To comply with the law, the state required 250 thousand police officers, and to avoid the development of corruption – other 200,000 police officers who would monitor their colleagues. Each year, more than 75 thousand people were arrested. The penalty for the dry law violation reached one thousand dollars; those who could not pay it, had to serve six months in jail. During 13 years, up to 50 thousand people suffered from “Jake”, more than 1500 died from low-quality alcohol, and hundreds of people became blind (Behr 234-39).
After the abolition of Prohibition, it took years to somehow curb the appetites of the mafia and corrupt officials, who gained strength and serious capital in the underground alcohol trade. The experience of the United States shows that the introduction of similar laws restricting the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages will be effective only on condition that the state will actually ensure their implementation and have the basis for them.

Works Cited:
Behr, Edward. Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America. Arcade Publishing, 1996. Print.
Cherrington, Ernest Hurst. The Evolution Of Prohibition In The United States Of America: A Chronological History Of The Liquor Problem And The Temperance Reform (1920). Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2009. Print.
Schrad, Mark Lawrence. “Constitutional Blemishes: American Alcohol Prohibition and Repeal as Policy Punctuation.” Policy Studies Journal 35.3 (2007): 437-463. Print
United States National Archives. Teaching With Documents: The Volstead Act and Related Prohibition Documents.