Almost any website one goes to will explain that prohibition was a complete failure, in relation to what it wanted to do anyway. Drunkenness and crime was at an all-time high, and rebellious was the way to be. But what is prohibition? Generally, it is the taking away or “prohibiting” of something, but in this paper I’m talking about when alcohol was restricted in the U.S between 1920-1933. I’ll be covering the issues leading up to and that may have cause nationwide prohibition, and what people did to avoid it.
During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s was the industrialization of America. In these big booming cities, there were a lot of hard working men who needed refreshment or escape from the busy stressful world around them, and they found this in beer. But, as one can imagine there were still a lot of people out there who were rural and against all this big business, namely puritans, plantation owners, etc. throughout these years they fought the alcoholism and apparent evil it caused by putting prohibition in certain cities and even states. (There was some crime going on to supply alcohol to these areas, but it was just easier to go to places were it was legal so there wasn’t a significant amount of it.) eventually it got to the point where they just up and petitioned the government for nationwide prohibition.
It is human nature to rebel; but there is more than that as to why there was such a struggle to get a hold on some spirits. First off as any AA member will tell you they were just plain addicted. But, from the flappers to jazz, the 1920’s was a very rebellious era. All the teens wanted to drink to make them look cool. The adults wanted to drink either because it was just a part of their life and no amendment was going to change that or they too wanted to do something risky.
A lot of people got a thrill out of providing the alcohol, too. I think the real genius was behind how they got around (and sometimes behind) the government in order to get the alcohol to the people. Now, the people who smuggled in the alcohol were called bootleggers, and the process was called bootlegging. The first thing that had to be done was to get alcohol to a safe place. The bootlegger would either get it from another neighboring country, or from home distilleries. Maybe they would put it in a fast boat or disguised truck and carefully take it to the bar. Or, in smaller portions people are said to have done everything from hiding flasks in their garters to hiding them in lunches.
Well once the wines and spirits arrived at the bar, or speakeasy, the owner had to find a way of hiding it incase of a raid, or more importantly keeping the whole operation private. I think it’s important to note that there were certain parts of the country where they didn’t have to be so secret. There was a street in New York where people say that every building along it was a speakeasy, and you could just walk right in and get a cold one. But in the much more frequent case of the secret speakeasy, usually there would first be a façade of an average store of some sort, the maybe there would be what looked like a closet door. If somebody knew the password, it would just be a closet door to them.
There were many ways in which an owner could hide their operations. But the owner also had to take into consideration the ‘what if’ when an officer did find out about the speakeasy and decided to hold a raid. There might be a chute staff could quick put beer bottles down, or in one case an owner was said to put five switches around the room incase a police man was by one, they could just go to the other.
If an owner didn’t want to spend their money and wanted a stress-free way out of it, they could just pay money to the system. It might cost more, but they wouldn’t have a thing to worry about either.
Throughout America’s history, there has been prohibition, but only once it became nation wide did organized crime become commonplace. It was the perfect opportunity for gangsters, and a preacher’s nightmare. America almost literally became alcoholic overnight, and whether this is a good or bad thing I guess just depends on your point of view.
