PROGRESSIVES 



635 1 



PROHIBITION 



with modulation. " Progression of 

 parts" is a term used in respect 

 to the relative motion of the 

 various parts. 



Progressives. Name applied 

 to one of the parties on the London 

 County Council since its foundation 

 in 1889. Composed of men holding 

 advanced views, it was opposed by 



the Moderates, later the municipal 

 reformers. The Progressives ob- 

 tained a majority at the elections 

 of 1889,1892, 1898, 1901, and 1904, 

 and were equal to the moderates 

 in 1895. In 1907 and at later 

 elections they were beaten by 

 the municipal reformers. See 

 London. 



PROHIBITION: NATIONAL AND LOCAL 



F. A. MoKenzie, Special Correspondent in America 



In addition to this historical sketch of prohibition the reader is re- 

 ferred to the articles Licensing Laws ; Liquor Control ; Temperance. 

 See also Johnson, W. E. ; United States : History 



The movement for the pro- 

 hibition of the manufacture and 

 sale of alcoholic liquors for bever- 

 age purposes originated in the 

 eastern United States. A com- 

 mittee of the Maine legislature 

 recommended in 1837 that " the 

 law giving the right to sell ardent 

 spirits should be repealed [and] 

 a law should be passed to prohibit 

 the traffic in them, except so far 

 as the arts or the practice of 

 medicine may be concerned." 

 Neal Dow led a vigorous cam- 

 paign, and as a result the first Pro- 

 hibition Act an experimental 

 measure was passed by the 

 Maine state legislature in 1846. It 

 dealt only with spirits and was an 

 admitted failure. Five years later, 

 Dow, then mayor of Portland, 

 Maine, formulated a more rigid 

 law prohibiting alcoholic drinks of 

 any kind. This was rushed through 

 the state legislature in two days, 

 and at once strictly enforced. 

 Attempted Legislation in 1855 



The idea was being debated in 

 other states, and by 1855 pro- 

 hibition laws had been carried in 

 New Hampshire, Vermont, Mas- 

 sachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 

 necticut, New York, Pennsylvania, 

 Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, 

 and Nebraska. There came a re- 

 action in 1856. In Maine a riot at 

 Portland, when the crowd at- 

 tempted to seize some confiscated 

 liquor and a man was killed, so 

 influenced public opinion that the 

 law was repealed there, but it was 

 re-carried two years later. In New 

 York, Indiana, and other states, 

 prohibition was declared uncon- 

 stitutional a judicial decision 

 later repealed. In some states the 

 law was not enforced. In a very 

 short time prohibition was re- 

 pealed or a dead letter every- 

 where, except in Maine, New 

 Hampshire, and Vermont. 



In the early eighties the crusade 

 was revived in the Middle West, 

 and prohibition was adopted in the 

 ttate of Kansas by a very small 

 majority. The reformers, learning 

 from experience, now adopted the 

 policy of securing an amendment 



to the constitutions of the different 

 states, thus preventing its being 

 repealed by temporary party 

 majorities. The state of Kansas 

 still remains an outstanding ex- 

 ample of the favourable operation 

 of the law. In Iowa, which quickly 

 followed the example of Kansas, 

 the result was not nearly so satis- 

 factory, and prohibition was 

 temporarily suspended, an extra- 

 ordinary measure known as the 

 Mulct law being put in its place. 

 This law was framed to meet the 

 requirements of localities where 

 open saloons still existed in spite 

 of all efforts to close them. The 

 state legislature refused to license 

 these saloons or to legalize the 

 traffic, but it provided that any 

 persons who kept saloons in spite 

 of their being prohibited should 

 put up bonds, and conduct the 

 saloons under strict conditions. 

 This law was later on repealed, and 

 prohibition re-enforced. 



The prohibitionists made steady 

 progress, mainly in the middle and 

 far west, but they soon found that 

 the passage of prohibitory acts or 

 constitutional amendments was 

 only the commencement of the 

 fight, for continuous struggles had 

 to be maintained to prevent the 

 law from becoming a dead letter. 

 Anti-Saloon League 



The liquor question became more 

 and more the main issue in state 

 elections. One section of the pro- 

 hibitionists established an inde- 

 pendent political party of their 

 own and nominated candidates for 

 the presidency without much suc- 

 cess. A more efficient organization, 

 the Anti-Saloon League, was 

 formed in 1898, which disavowed 

 any political purpose except the 

 prohibition of the liquor traffic. 

 It soon became the centre of 

 activity throughout the Union. 



The cause underwent develop- 

 ments which greatly increased its 

 fighting strength. Started mainly 

 as a moral crusade, it gradually 

 won the support of the big business 

 interests, which had become con- 

 vinced that the absence of alco- 

 holic drinks added to the efficiency 



of industrial life and increased 

 general prosperity. State after 

 state was won between 1912 and 

 1917, and no fewer than twenty- 

 seven states out of a total of 

 forty-five including the whole of 

 the West, except California, and 

 nearly all the South carried pro- 

 hibitory laws. 



Effect of Great War 



The reformers, moving beyond 

 the policy of securing prohibition 

 by state legislation, organized in 

 1913, in cooperation with the 

 Women's Christian Temperance 

 Union, a committee of 1,000 to 

 obtain a prohibition amendment 

 to the constitution of the United 

 States. To secure this, it would be 

 necessary to secure first a two- 

 thirds majority in congress, and 

 then ratification by the legisla- 

 tures of at least three-fourths of the 

 whole number of states in the 

 Union. The amendment was at 

 first rejected by congress. The 

 entry of America into the Great 

 War still further strengthened the 

 hands of the prohibition party, and 

 on Dec. 17, 1917, a joint resolution 

 was carried through congress by a 

 vote of 282-128, for the submission 

 of the amendment to the different 

 states. This amendment, known 

 subsequently as the " 18th Amend- 

 ment," declared : 



" After one year from the ratifi- 

 cation of this article the manufac- 

 ture, sale, or transportation of in- 

 toxicating liquors within, the im- 

 portation thereof into, or the ex- 

 portation thereof from, the United 

 States and all territory subject to 

 the jurisdiction thereof for bever- 

 age purposes is hereby prohibited." 



A strenuous campaign followed 

 hi the different states and by 

 January 6, 1919, the necessary 36 

 states had approved of the amend- 

 ment. Eventually every state ex- 

 cept three, Connecticut, New 

 Jersey, and Rhode Island, carried 

 the amendment, and in most 

 states the vote of the legislature 

 hi favour was overwhelming or 

 unanimous. The amendment was 

 not to come into force until Jan. 

 16, 1920, one year after ratification, 

 but President Wilson hastened it 

 by the passage of a war measure 

 which did not operate until the war 

 was many months old prohibit- 

 ing the sale of drink throughout 

 the United States from July 1, 1919. 



From that date the United 

 States has been under absolute 

 prohibition. The results are a sub- 

 ject of acute controversy. A con- 

 siderable amount of drinking still 

 goes on in parts of the United 

 States. Many people accumulated 

 private cellars of wines and spirits 

 before the law came into effect, 

 which they are legally allowed to 



