After the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the
Constitution, which brought Prohibition into national law, Congress was tasked
with finding a way to enforce the seemingly un-enforceable. The solution was known as the Volstead Act,
which was passed by Congress in January 1920.
In addition to providing regulations for the alcohol industry, the law
also stated that, "no beverage shall be legal that contains over one half
of one percent of alcohol."[1] Such a low percentage of alcohol permitted
within a drink effectively rendered the brewing, winemaking, and liquor
industries of America illegal in one fell swoop if they could not successfully
transition to a "dry" state of operation.
There
were plenty of Americans who were disinclined to follow the law of the land,
however. The bootleggers, ne'er-do-wells
who profited off of providing now-illegal alcohol to society became a household
word. One such case covered by the Cincinnati Enquirer in January 1924 was
hardly atypical of the state of affairs that most law enforcement groups faced
during the decade. An article gracing
the back page of the paper asserts that, "five cafe owners were arrested
on Federal Warrants... charging them with having conducted 'common nuisances'
in violation of the Volstead Act.[2]"
Perhaps most interestingly about this article is its location in the paper, at
the very end. The increasingly common
violations of Prohibition, such as this case, reflect the dim view that at
least urban America held towards the dry laws, even a scant four years after
their ratification. Cincinnati may not
have been unique in this regard, but it was affected nonetheless.
Edge, Walter E. "The Non-Effectiveness of the
Volstead Act." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and
Social Science109 (1923): 67-84.
http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.libraries.wright.edu/stable/1014995.
"Five Hamilton Men Held on 'Nuisance' Charge
Under Dry Law-- Clean-Up Promised." Cincinnati Enquirer
(1923-2009), January 24, 1924. 20. Retrieved from
https://search-proquest-com.research.cincinnatilibrary.org/docview/1881940281?accountid=39387
[1] Edge,
Walter E. "The Non-Effectiveness of the Volstead Act." The
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 109 (1923):
67.
[2] "Five
Hamilton Men Held on 'Nuisance' Charge Under Dry Law-- Clean-Up Promised." Cincinnati
Enquirer (1923-2009), January 24, 1924. 20.
No comments:
Post a Comment