Tuesday, July 15, 2008 3:13 PM CDT
COLUMN: Americans will wonder if they'll have to go to Belgium to get a 'Bud'
By HARRY REYNOLDS, Editorial page editor
hreynolds@jg-tc.com
Mary Holt of Charleston wrote me a brief note, accompanied by a clipping, in connection with last Tuesday’s column (“Court ruling blow to efforts to strip Americans of guns”).
She wasn’t as interested in guns as in the following comments I made in connection with Prohibition:
“Good intentions often spawn bad outcomes. A bad idea is a bad idea. We found that out with Prohibition.
“Prohibition, instigated with a tender heart and a self-righteous, crusading mindset, put millions in the mob’s hand; gave us upstanding citizen Al Capone, who rivaled Babe Ruth when it came to swinging a bat; created the speakeasies; introduced moonshine to millions of Americans; and put bathtubs to a new use.
“We did get NASCAR. I wonder what Carrie Nation’s thoughts would be on that. She, the wielder of the ax in many a saloon.
“Graves were filled with people who loved their booze, but didn’t know how to make it. Admittedly, they yawned before for drinkers with bad livers prior to the great imposition, but the quality of alcohol was better.
“We never learn — at least some of us. The crusading spirit seeks a better world free of imperfection, a risk-free, do-the-right thing world in which we are born and from which we exit totally bored.
“Society is already careening at high speed toward life without privacy and denial of the right to make our own choices — bad or good.”
Prohibition came about, thanks in large part to the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. WCTU was founded in 1873, its main objective being the abolition of alcohol. WCTU was more than a temperance movement, however, also championing suffrage and other issues involving women’s rights.
The WCTU’s objective wasn’t so much stopping the consumption of the devil’s brew as it was to head off the tendency of drunken men to come home from the taverns and beat their wives. These fellows tended to spend money that could be used to buy groceries and provide clothing and other necessities of life for their families.
Which reminds me of the story of the drunk who, arriving home in a foul mood, beat his wife. This got to be a habit. Finally, the wife got tired of being a punching bag.
One night she waited until he was on the bed, completely out of it. She rolled him up in the sheets, took her frying pan (I suspect it was of the iron variety) and beat the heck out of him.
He awoke to intense pain.
This pattern occurred several nights until the fellow begin to associate drinking with bruising. He quit the habit, becoming a responsible husband, remaining oblivious to the fact the frying pan — used in preparation of his eggs and bacon — had other uses.
Wrote Holt: “In one of your editorials the other day you mentioned how prohibition has failed. Enclosed is another side of that coin.”
The clipping encompassed a list of beneficial effects of Prohibition prepared by H. Wayne Pyle, chairman of the Central Baptist Social Action in Quincy, Illinois.
Pyle’s list of Prohibition’s achievements, if accurate, are impressive. I’ll assume they are:
“ n Wife beating and lack of family support decreased 82 percent.
n Drunkenness was down 55.3 percent.
n Assault was down 53.1 percent.
n Vagrancy decreased 52.8 percent.
n Disorderly conduct decreased 51.5 percent.
n Delinquency was down 50 percent.
n Cirrhosis deaths decreased 50 percent.
n Houses of correction had a 4 times reduction of inmates.
n General domestic complaints decreased 3 times.
n County hospitals had the lowest death rate in history.
n Many correctional institutions were closed.
n Alcohol almost disappeared.
n Even prostitution decreased.
n Crime throughout the nation, excluding Chicago, was down 38 percent.
n Crime in Chicago was DOWN 25 percent.
n Savings accounts tripled.
n Insurance policies written were doubled.
n Real estate values increased.
n Families were better clothed.
n Factory attendance and work output greatly increased.
n Welfare assistance Mission’s work was cut in half.”
I’m willing to concede all these points. I’ll even concede Prohibition was a good thing.
Of course, there’s a theory early man evolved from nomad in search of game to farmer in search of grain when he stumble on fermentation.
Life being harder, alcohol made it a little brighter — until morning.
Man hasn’t changed much. He either drinks in moderation, or he doesn’t. Occasionally, he gets frying-panned.
The problem with Prohibition stems from the ornery nature of Americans. They don’t like to be dictated to. Especially, when it involves a habit they enjoy.
Franklin D. Roosevelt promised to seek repeal of Prohibition when he ran for president. The country was in the Great Depression and the great majority of Americans were ready for a drink. Most wanted to forget all those guys jumping off buildings. They also worried about other mundane things — banks closing and taking their life savings with them, losing their jobs, having no safety net, etc.
Pulling up their boot straps was not an option. There were no boot straps.
The guys at the top, the ones sitting on money while yapping about self-reliance, who use your money like poker chips, didn’t get that then. They don’t get it now.
But, that’s meat for another column.
Until we’re all holding hands and singing about peace and really into Rodney King’s question: “Why can’t we all just all get along?” Prohibition will remain a commendable, but unrealistic dream.
Americans will continue to drink, particularly beer.
Right now, many of them are wondering whether they will have to go to Belgium to get a “Bud.”
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Read all over wrote on Jul 15, 2008 4:42 PM:
C'mon, Harry, watch those subjects and verbs. They need to agree:
"Pyles list of Prohibitions achievements, if accurate, is impressive."
I'm surprised though that as a journalist you don't feel you have an obligation to investigate accuracy before printing these statements. There's much evidence that Prohibition was a social and legal disaster for the United States. "