A 1930 reminiscence by screen writer, illustrator and all-around literary misfit Rob Wagner (1872 – 1942) as he recalled the bad old days of 1918, when he was hoodwinked into believing that the widespread prohibition of alcohol would aid in the defeat of Kaiser Wilhelm. As the war ended and time passed, he noticed how the Noble Experiment was evolving into something quite different, and how it was altering not only his friends and neighbors, but American culture as a whole.
“Before Prohibition, the average business or professional man, never dreamed of drinking spirits during the working day… Now, however, a full-grown man with the sparkle in his eye of a naughty sophomore, will meet you on Spring Street at eleven in the morning, slap you on the back, and ask you to duck up to his office where he will uncork his forbidden treasure…”
