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Prohibition History Film Clips  "Our boys are to be drafted into service. We cannot afford to draft them into a demoralizing environment." -the words of Mr. Raymond B. Fosdick (who would later be lampooned by Chester Gould in the comic strip, "Dick Tracy" as "Fearless Fosdick") as he announced the intentions of the Federal Commission on Training Camp Activities. This long forgotten and failed government program was set up two years prior to prohibition to combat the "demoralizing influences" so the officers and men could concentrate on more sublime topics, like chemical warfare. A chic (if anonymous) poet printed in a fashionable society magazine sings "farewell"to champagne and pities the poor man-about-town who must now stroll the boulevards with only lemonade on his breath. When only a few "wet" months were left before all alcohol was banned from the United States, THE NATION reviewed the 1918 "Anti-Prohibition Manual" and the "Year Book of the United States Brewers Association" (1917) and came away with this brief, but amusing and informative history of drinking. An outraged editorial writer opines that the prohibition of alcohol will serve to corrupt the morality of more Americans than it could possibly save. Additionally, the writer alludes to the fact that, at the time, the U.S. Congress was discussing the prohibition of tobacco, as well:
"It is coming time to write the obituary of Joy. Less than a year ago
the Cheering Cup was removed from American life. Now we are told that just as soon as enough Congressmen can be intimidated, not a difficult job, the Soothing Weed is also to be extinguished."
The writer places blame more upon the apathetic American voter rather than the "grafters" in Congress. Alderson Prison in lovely West Virginia was not simply the first Federal prison intended for women, but also the very first prison ever built on American shores to house women only; for as you might have read in this 1924 article, thousands of American women were running afoul of the law as a result of Prohibition. |
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