Organized for Prohibiton
Essay title: Organized for Prohibiton
Kerr, K. Austin. Organized for Prohibition: A New History of the Anti-Saloon League.
Ed. Sally Harris. Chelsea, Michigan: Bookcrafters, Inc, 1985.
In Austin Kerr’s book, Organized for Prohibition, the timeline of the Anti-Saloon League is followed from the creation of the Prohibition Party in 1869, (which eventually turns into the Anti-Saloon League in 1893) all the way to the fall of the fall of the Anti-Saloon League in 1933.
I decided to read this book because alcohol has always been a major part of our nation’s history. Now that I’m in college, it play’s an even bigger role for me. I have always been interested in the prohibition movement and the forces behind it. This book taught me all about prohibition from the perspective of the Anti-Saloon League. Prohibition was one of the most controversial American policies to ever be put into effect. The Anti-Saloon League was one of the top contributors to have amendment eighteen added into our constitution. They are the group that is most responsible for Prohibition. This was a very in remarkable book and the views of the Anti-Saloon League showed me a perspective I had never seen before.
Organized for Prohibition begins with a chapter titled, The Business of Drink, in this chapter the author shows us what life was like in the time period where the liquor industry was growing to new heights. In 1825, the annual per capita consumption of whiskey in the United States was just less than five gallons. In 1915 that number had been reduced to just above 1 gallon. This is due to the fact that people were shying away from hard alcohol and becoming more interested in beer and social drinking. Many people who supported prohibition believed that to make a sober nation the liquor industry needed to be exposed. Kerr believed this was a reason for the decreasing trend in whiskey consumption. People of the time also felt they were being ripped off by liquor companies. This caused them to start purchasing more beer or making their own liquor because it was a simple and cheap process. A certain man named Howard Russell viewed alcohol as a threat to American society. Russell had a small gathering of people that started protesting alcohol sales and manufacturing. They formed the Prohibition Party in 1869. They spread many news printings regarding alcohol in a negative outlook. They weren’t very successful until another man named Ernest Cherrington was able to get congress to vote on their proposed amendment. This was a huge step, but still nothing was accomplished until the end of World War I. Using a national feeling of patriotism after the war the eighteenth amendment was passed by congress and prohibition was ratified. Many states were reluctant to ratify the amendment, but on January 17, 1920 it went into effect as a law. The Anti-Saloon League had peaked, and many problems would soon arrive for them shortly.
The Anti-Saloon League faced many problems very soon after prohibition was introduced. The group suffered financially because they had many problems getting the funds they needed to continue. Congress began investigating their financial records and one of their highest members was convicted of criminal activity in regards to their funds. Many Americans were also demanding jobs. Jobs that